Brands and Bullshit

by Bernhard Schroeder

  5.BRAND EQUITY. Brand equity is the value of a brand. It may include tangible financial value such as market share and revenue as well as intangible aspects such as strategic benefits of the brand. For example Apple is a major technology brand and people perceive it is a premium, cutting edge manufacturer of quality products. So, it is not only the sales but the sheer image that takes the brand equity to a different level altogether.

  6.BRAND EXPERIENCE. Brand experience is a combination of everything that a customer goes through while purchasing and using that brand. For example how does one feel while ordering food and eating at KFC? How does the staff behave and how fast do they deliver the food, and of course how did the food taste? Also, since it has many stores all over the world, customers expect all of them to maintain uniform standards of brand experience.

  7.BRAND DIFFERENTIATION. Differentiation, as the word suggests is how a brand stands out in the crowd. For instance Dell Computers lets people choose their components and assemble their own computer system, thus making it different from others who just sell readymade computers at retail stores with no scope for customization.

  8.BRAND COMMUNICATION. Brand communication is the core message that is delivered through various media sources like advertising, brochures, online marketing, trade shows, packaging, etc. If the brand has to grow, it must be able to clearly communicate its core benefits to its customers. Consistently across all media.

  9.BRAND GAP Brand gap is the difference between what a brand promises to deliver in its communications and what it actually does. For its own sake, the gap should not be very large at all. A successful brand must be able to deliver what it promises. By the way, no amount of advertising or content marketing efforts can save a bad product or weak service.

  10.BRAND EXTENSION. Brand extension is basically the idea of going beyond ones original products and services and exploring newer fields. For example Google started as a search engine. But now it provides many other services including email, adwords advertising and a mobile operating system called Android. This is how it has extended the brand but it must be done in a manner so that the existing brand equity complements the newer initiatives. Google’s great brand equity was acquired through its stellar search operations and this is what enabled it to develop other services related to its core brand.

  If creating a brand today takes expertise, knowledge of the marketplace, understanding the completion and the customers, what happens when you accelerate everything? Markets are being created or disrupted so quickly today that it is very challenging for marketers. With this increased speed, you do need to act or react but how you do it, not how fast you do it, is what will determine if you overcome the challenges facing you and your brand.

  BRAND INSIGHT

  This brand was first created in 1888. Yes, 1888. They were pioneers with their technology which involved the early creation of photographic cameras that were inexpensive. Over the years, they became experts on the innovation of film and even sophisticated x-ray technology. Then in the early 1990’s, they actually invented the ability to take a digital photograph. Their products and technology were utilized in virtually every camera in the marketplace. While they were certainly market leaders in photo technology, they completely misread the photography marketplace as digital photos exploded. First with digital cameras and obviously now with Smartphones. The world did not stop taking photos. The amount of photos taken in the world keeps increasing especially with the rise of social media. Somehow this multi-billion brand missed all of that. And so Kodak, the brand which once owned the very “thought” of photography went away.

  KEY TAKEAWAY

  Customers did not want to take film-based analog photos anymore. They want to take digital photos. Kodak should have adapted and become a version of Flickr or better yet, have embraced digital photography as a medium and created or bought Instagram or even Snapchat. The world is constantly changing and relevant brands need to adapt in order to survive. If customers don’t “feel” you anymore, you will go away.

  3

  CHAPTER THREE

  THE CHALLENGE OF BRANDING TODAY.

  * * *

  The challenge of branding today is that it is very easy for someone to create a logo. As a matter of a fact almost anyone can create a logo. There are online crowd based websites, where for $5 to $99, designers from all over the world will create a logo. And then some executive or marketer from that company will slap that logo on the website and launch the company. However, that does not even come close to creating a brand. What is the brand meaning behind the logo? What does it begin to stand for in the marketplace? How is the product or service differentiation reflected in the brand? What do we want the customer to feel? You can’t create a logo for a company and think that you are creating a brand. You need to do your homework, understand the marketplace and trends, understand your competition and most important, understand your potential customers.

  CUSTOMERS ARE NOT ALWAYS RIGHT, BUT THEY ARE NEVER WRONG

  I have met thousands of customers in my career and you know what, I never get tired of meeting them. And neither should you. Today, my customers are college students who are taking my creativity and entrepreneurship courses and participating in the Lavin Entrepreneurship Center programs. I get constant feedback through interactions in the classroom and through student surveys. The survey feedback has both quantitative scores and qualitative comments. I read everything. I look for little aha’s—those comments that point toward ways to improve my courses. Just when I think I have created the world’s best entrepreneurship course, a student comment will let me know that I have yards to go. Even though we know we really need it, sometimes “customer truth” is hard to accept. And yet this truth yields incredible customer insights.

  Customer truth is the heart of understanding exactly what kind of brand to create. There is a logical reason for this. As a marketer, your biggest ally is your customer.

  If you connect with your customers and keep your brand promise, those customers will help you with your marketing. They will write solid reviews. Via word of mouth, they will tell others about your product or service. But ignore them and you do so at your peril. A great brand strategy that’s poorly executed with customers is in real trouble. Especially if those customers have the option to buy a similar type of product or service from your competitors. A service company I consulted with recently was revisiting its brand and marketing strategy. I asked the employees to name a company they admired for its customer service but that they had never met an employee of that company. They were puzzled for a few minutes. Then one person said, “Amazon.” I asked why. The person said, “They keep their promise.” The rest of the employees in the room murmured their agrement.

  In your lifetime, you may not ever meet an Amazon employee face to face. So why is this “brand” so successful? Because “they” never stop responding to their customers’ needs. In 1996, when Jeff Bezos asked our agency to handle all of Amazon’s initial branding and marketing, we spent months trying to figure out how to differentiate this “brand” from its competitors. We didn’t even work on any creative elements for the first three months. Instead, we focused on the customers, on their expectations and what would delight them. Our agency team was stalled in some initial brainstorming, so we asked ourselves, “Who delights us with service?” After some discussion, we all agreed it was boutique hotel concierges. So we went out in Portland and Seattle and visited them. We saw how these concierges remembered and greeted people who came back repeatedly to stay with them. How they provided reviews and recommendations for local restaurants. How they retrieved newspapers for guests. How they asked people if they enjoyed their stay. This “concierge mentality” was designed into the Amazon experience that you still see today based on a branding strategy created in 1996. And if the branding is done well, it could be timeless. Seek customer truth so that you discover how to delight your customers.

  MARKETPLACE CREATION AND DISRUPTION

  In
the world we live in today, everything seems to be moving so fast. Products and services seem to be falling from the sky. Maybe one day they will. It used to be that marketplaces formed over longer periods of time. Not anymore. Uber was not here yesterday, here today. And that company creation spawned a number of companies moving into and growing that marketplace. Is it a product or brand race? Time will tell but the good news is, that if you are a marketer, you can take advantage of marketplaces that used to be difficult or expensive to enter. You just need to notice a customer trend shifting in the marketplace and create a brand to meet a new or expanding need. I could buy pet food at the store. Or I could have it delivered by a new brand to the house via a subscription model. Same $24 billion industry. Tremendous opportunities for marketers to architect new brands and create or disrupt large marketplaces. But you have to really understand the marketplace and know what kind of brand will capture your potential customer’s hearts.

  I network with quite a few online marketers. So, I get to hear lots of interesting ideas. These marketers are pitching me all time about brands they want to create, launch or even to discuss the brand they work at today. For a brand strategy to work, you need to have identified the initial niche segment of your target market that would care about your product or service. And honestly, the marketplace itself should hopefully be potentially large. I am a big fan of large, emerging, or disrupted marketplaces. The notion that marketers just need to come up with new ideas to drive the marketing for a successful company may work sometimes but I have learned that it’s the marketplace that matters most. You can have an amazing brand or market strategy, but if there is no clear market opportunity, it might just as well be worthless. Remember: big marketplace, big opportunity. So when you think of a potentially great product or service, or perhaps a solution to a current problem, put that idea into an existing marketplace. And then ask yourself some simple questions:

  Is this a large marketplace?

  Is the market easily defined?

  Can I reach people in the marketplace easily?

  Is the market growing?

  Is the marketplace being disrupted?

  Is the marketplace fragmented?

  Who are the competitors?

  Who is the top competitor?

  What frustrates customers?

  What are customers valuing?

  Are customers’ needs changing?

  What brand strategy allows me to be the leader?

  You really can’t put together a brand or marketing strategy on any product or service unless you understand the marketplace and its potential customers. The more you examine that potential marketplace, the more likely you will then spot something that you can really investigate. Just remember, if you have a large opportunity, going back to the beginning of the chapter, creating a logo or doing some tactical digital marketing does not create a brand.

  DON’T MAKE THESE TEN DIGITAL MARKETING MISTAKES

  In the age of marketing, digital marketing is still relatively new and emerging however companies in many industries recognize the importance and impact of this new medium on their brands. From smartphones to social media, digital marketing has become an integral element in the way consumers operate day-to-day. And for many new brands, it is the way the customer interacts with the brand.

  Yet, while all companies currently reside at different levels of how they integrate digital marketing into their brand efforts, all run the risk of committing the very faux pas that may hinder future progress and success. Let’s look at the 10 most common digital marketing mistakes that brands and marketers make today, while also offering advice on how companies, and especially marketers, can modify their perspective as they work to realign their mindset with respect to digital marketing and branding:

  ONE. Traditional marketing and digital marketing teams frequently operate as two separate entities. Just as entire organizations cannot function properly with siloed departments in place, marketing teams cannot succeed if traditional and digital channels remain divided. Thus, these disparate teams act cautiously, disregarding innovation and advanced strategies as neither group wants to run the risk of losing budget to the more effective channel.

  WHAT TO DO: Break down silos to develop an informed cross-channel branding strategy. If companies truly want to run integrated, cross-channel campaigns, they must create an organizational structure that supports that very philosophy. Ultimately, such integrated teams can leverage historical data captured by traditional means over the years to guide digital programs and initiatives, while also leveraging digital to test new approaches and programs before investing in traditional media.

  TWO. Companies often attempt to rush progress via digital marketing because they can move faster, inevitably implementing the wrong technology and creating confusion. Many brands lack vision, planning, and commitment when they first enact their digital marketing strategies. Thus, marketers rush to choose a product or technology via marketing that may not be able to solve the important problems at hand. Implementing the incorrect marketing strategy at the start may inevitably warrant another partnership or product to manage in the future, leading teams to underperform.

  WHAT TO DO: Establish goals, develop plans, and research available technologies prior to adoption. Before companies can verify the proper technology, they must establish goals and develop plans that will guide their journey forward. However, jumping on the slick new product bandwagon may become costly. Therefore, once KPIs (critical performance indicators) have been determined, marketers must thoroughly research the available marketing platforms and tools in the market to ensure that the solution is the right fit for their needs, will integrate with existing platforms, and can scale with their growing needs.

  THREE. Digital marketers implement programs simply because they can. Though counterintuitive, many digital marketers implement programs that lack purpose and diminish trust. For instance, marketers will create loyalty programs despite the fact that they provide no loyalty incentives whatsoever. They look to collect customer data, but they fail to offer any rewards or tailored engagements in return.

  WHAT TO DO: Make sure all initiatives drive value and support trust. Poorly planned and unsupported initiatives may drive customers to the competition, as they detract from the ability to truly engage and convert consumers and actually hurt the brand. Thus, digital marketers must refrain from running to the latest tools because focusing on fewer initiatives that deliver value will positively impact trust more than any scattered strategy in the marketplace.

  FOUR. Brands produce content for the sake of having content rather than offer relevant messaging that speaks to customers’ specific interests. Most brands believe the ability to post and share content across channels means they must produce an endless flood of information. Marketers understand that customer interactions take place across all touchpoints, leading them to believe that they must provide a constant stream of content no matter the platform, for they believe that visibility will result in engagement when, in reality, this strategy typically diminishes interest and again could hurt the brand.

  WHAT TO DO: Post engaging content that demonstrates the importance of quality over quantity. Because content has clearly become an integral element of the digital marketing experience, companies must approach this trend carefully, as other brands have also hopped on the bandwagon. Instead of focusing on quantity, marketers must focus on the quality of their content. Engaging material has the power to strengthen customer loyalty and advocacy, while mediocre content will likely have the opposite effect.

  FIVE. Marketers think they can (and should) monitor and measure every customer interaction point possible. Though marketers now have the ability to gather, analyze, and act upon data across the customer lifecycle, many will find that the power of digital can also hinder progress. Most marketers find themselves drowning in a sea of unnecessary data because they insist on tracking everything imaginable. Ultimately, however, not all customer information and behavioral data can
be brought to action, nor should it be.

  WHAT TO DO: Take one step at a time to determine which touchpoints and metrics truly impact the bottom line. Marketers must develop a better balance via constant testing and strategy reconfiguration. Not every touchpoint will yield information that pertains to the brand’s bottom line, and these relevant touchpoints are likely to change as the customer experience evolves. Sometimes less is more.

  SIX. Marketers dream of a multi-channel strategy, but fail to centralize the incoming digital data. For years, marketers have romanticized the notion of a multi-channel experience. Yet, while many talk about breaking down the departmental silos that stall progress, few have successfully implemented this unified approach to customer experience and data collection, as companies typically lack a cohesive organizational structure, as well as the technological infrastructure to bring all incoming information together under one roof.

  WHAT TO DO: Integrate customer information to understand the customer experience and drive strategic development. Ultimately, data centralization will be the primary component standing between success and failure; companies that neglect to integrate disparate systems are destined to struggle, hindering customer experience. When it comes to data centralization, organizations must invest in the integrated technologies that enable marketers to be more efficient and effective with regard to actionable decision-making. Ideally, companies will have such a marketing infrastructure in place from the start, as those who fail to implement such systems are destined to fight an uphill battle against resource decisions, siloed information, and enterprise wide inefficiencies. Unfortunately, however, such is the case for many on the journey toward digital proficiency, as few brands currently have the ability to blend incoming data across the entire organization.

  SEVEN. Marketers, especially digital marketers, rarely look to consumer behavior for guidance, ultimately failing to uphold the brand promise. Despite the fact that consumer behavior ultimately drives brand success or failure, many marketers neglect to tap into said actions to derive insight from this incoming data. These companies rush to implement the latest digital strategy because it’s the newest trend. But seeking solutions from this “business first” standpoint signals the wrong approach, as marketers disregard their own customers’ needs, desires, bad experiences, and demands for brand engagement.