Thought Spark Detail
March 1, 2010 - The care and feeding of your brand
Your brand is your company’s most valuable asset. It needs commitment, continual care and feeding to reach its full potential.
Your brand is a collection of perceptions in a consumer’s mind. It is the gut feeling your customers and prospects have about your business, products and services. It is the essence of what makes you different, and why people choose to do business with you over your competitors. Your brand isn’t what you say it is. It’s what the consumer says it is.
So how are you doing with the care and feeding of your brand? To find out, take this quick quiz:
1. Is your brand differentiated? The most common brand issue I encounter is companies struggling to determine who they are. You can’t differentiate your brand if you can’t articulate what your brand is all about. And, as I’ve mentioned before, your brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what the consumer says it is. The best way to find out what consumers are thinking is to ask them.
What first comes to mind for your customers when they hear your name? What do your customers think you’re good at? Who do they think your top competitors are? And how do you compare to those top competitors when it comes to the things you’re good at?
It is a lot easier for a customer to decide if they want to buy your product or service if they understand what differentiates your brand from competitors. And it is a lot easier for you to determine how to position your marketing messages if you truly understand your company’s brand differentiators from the perspective of customers and potential customers.
2. Is your brand relevant? More importantly, do you know why your brand is relevant to your customers? The brand promise you communicate and demonstrate must be the brand promise your potential customers are looking for. You need to know why your customers choose to buy from you and what they find most valuable in working with your company. Once again, the best way to find out what’s inside the head of your customer is to ask.
3. Is your brand credible? Does the customer experience match up with the brand promise? Your brand promise must be constantly reinforced through everything you do to maintain its integrity and authenticity. One of the biggest reasons for people buying a brand repeatedly is the credibility the brand has.
Building a credible brand is extremely challenging, because it requires the coordinated efforts of the entire company to make it happen. All departments across the organization have to work together to build the infrastructure needed to ensure the brand promise is delivered with every customer interaction. It takes time and a lot of energy, but it is worth the effort.
4. Is your brand difficult to imitate? Have you identified an approach you can truly own? If your competitors started using your strategy today, how long would it take them to catch up? Ideally, you have identified a brand position that is differentiated, relevant, credible and so right for your company that others can’t or won’t bother to try to duplicate it.
5. Is your brand message simple? Consumers are bombarded with thousands of brand messages a day. How are you going to get your brand message noticed? Once you know who you are and why it matters, find a simple and consistent way to articulate your message. Until consumers are engaged with your brand, they are not likely to expend much energy or time figuring out what you’re trying to tell them. Therefore, it has to be simple and easy to remember.
Take good care of your brand, and it will take good care of you. A strong brand gives your company a competitive advantage. Many of your competitors are answering the questions above with a “no.” The sooner you start working toward answering these questions with a “yes,” the sooner you can start reaping the rewards associated with a powerful brand.
- Lynn Manternach, Ph.D. This article originally appeared in the Tree Full of Owls column in the Corridor Business Journal.