 Brand You
Successfully Building Brand Equity
By: Pam Crawford
If you’ve ever searched your closet for your favorite Gap jeans or driven the extra mile for a Starbucks, then you represent the result of a company’s tried and true marketing objectives: building a solid brand reputation - or a growing “fan club” - for your product or service through a sense of emotion and familiarity among your target audience. That base of loyal fans or product ambassadors is in fact your target audience. And the first step in building a solid brand reputation among your followers and potential followers is evoking an emotion that creates a desire for your product or service. Brand equity will then grow from your customer’s successive satisfactory experiences with your products and services, and is supported by the recommendations and experiences of others. You’ve successfully struck an emotional chord. In time, a true brand becomes the “only” source of a product in the mind of the customer. And, as brand equity is developed and managed properly, it becomes that much easier to successfully introduce new products to the market. There’s a lot at stake when building brand equity. But the most often overlooked detail is the number of times a customer makes contact with that brand. In fact, research shows most brands in today’s marketplace have more than 200 points of contact - numerous opportunities to deliver a consistent brand strategy. Every point of contact means your brand impacts not only the more complex and comprehensive considerations like your advertising, web site, brochures and public relations, but the often overlooked and equally important elements of your business as well, such as the “on hold” phone message, billing statements, employee training and recruiting practices and more. As such, it’s imperative - even healthy - to obsess over every point of contact between your brand and its constituents. And remember, your constituents are not just your direct customers, but also your employees, your vendors and your stakeholders. Once a company examines those points of contact, it’s important to survey your brand’s personality - especially in a day and age when competition is stiff. Start by asking the question: what does my product or service mean to my target audience - or how compelling is my product or service? To effectively assess this question, companies should dissect six crucial considerations that include the brand’s noble cause (the need you fulfill), brand promise (its rational benefit), brand charisma (its emotional promise to the customer), brand advocates (the ego that accompanies brand loyalty), brand target (its most relevant audience) and brand competition (its strongest rivals). The data you gather from these points defines your brand and will drive all your marketing efforts. In the simplest of terms, a brand is a promise made and kept - a promise that is conveyed by everything people can see, hear, touch, taste or smell about your business or organization. That promise consists of three components: rational, emotional and ego. By keeping its commitment, a brand builds a reputation. To a customer, your brand is just like a person. It possesses a certain character that predicts what you can expect. Consider, for example, the reputation that Disney has built. It’s not just a destination, it’s a place where families experience magic and memories. How about Starbucks? Is it the coffee that brings you in time after time or the comfortable surroundings and the neighborhood feel? Be careful, however, of inconsistency, or the commonality of weaker brands. Evidence proves that inconsistency is, in fact, the biggest reason businesses fail in building a strong brand. Why then is inconsistency such a prevalent problem? Because conviction is absent. There are many reasons for this. Sometimes, the decision-makers lack consensus. Other times, there is a naivetŽ about what it takes to build a strong brand. Or, there is a failure to understand that “branding strategies” should be applied to and reinforced by the entire company, not just the marketing division. Inconsistencies resulting from frequent changes in management or stop and go communications efforts will quickly weaken or destroy even the heartiest of brands. Putting yourself in a position that will enable you to build the conviction it takes to consistently deliver brand equity at every point of contact with your target audience requires an equally consistent approach. In the end, while this kind of thinking requires a true commitment from top level executives to your most junior employees, as well as in investment in time, it’s time well spent. Only by peeling away the strengths and weaknesses of your brand can you begin to adjust your marketing goals and strategies. How Compelling is My Product/Service?
Six Crucial Considerations for Your Brand:
Brand Noble Cause
What is the need you fulfill?
Brand Promise
What is the rational benefit?
Brand Charisma
What is the emotional promise to the customer?
Brand Advocates
What is the ego that accompanies brand loyalty?
Brand Target
What is the most relevant audience?
Brand Competition
Who are your strongest rivals?Pam Crawford is Vice President of Client Services at Corporate Communications Group. Contact her at 913.451.2990.
Article Source: http://www.flourishmagazine.com
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