If it happened to Kodak, could it happen to your brand?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in General on January 20, 2012
No matter how strong your brand, game-changing situations can develop. Just ask the good folks at Kodak, as that historic and much beloved brand continues to deal with unthinkably life-threatening challenges. Could it happen to your business or mine? Standing in the front door of a fresh 2012, it’s a good time to consider things like:
What if there was a dramatic, game-changing advancement looming from within or around your industry? A dramatic new innovation? An entirely new market approach that made yours obsolete? Is there? Could there possibly be?
What if your market position as the industry’s (insert your distinctive position here) weren’t completely bullet-proof? Is your brand, your intellectual property, your product or service, your primary point of distinction susceptible to being (easily) copied?
What if demand for your specific product or service dropped off dramatically? What would the conceivable reasons be? How would you respond?
If someone put a gun to your head and demanded you increase sales and/or market share this year — irregardless of market realities — what would you do, specifically?
Over the past few decades, Kodak has been hit by competitive challenges from Japan and by the dramatic emergence of digital technology which they actually pioneered — but couldn’t keep pace with. Serious game changers for a historically strong, globally dominant brand.
As you stare 2012 in the face, a complete 360 degree look might be in order.
Of course, there’s still that little thing of the Mayan calendar…
Put “Unique” Back Into Your Selling Proposition
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity on November 18, 2011
We’ve talked in the past about true brand differentiation and suggested many marketers seem to have strayed from clearly defining a Unique Selling Proposition: the statement of a valued singular point of differentiation for their brand, product, or service. Fact is, there are more product and service options now available to us as b-to-c or b-to-b consumers than at any point in history. And each of us as potential buyers wants a reason to select one alternative over another. The need to develop and communicate a true and substantive point of difference has never been more important, yet many marketers don’t do it – which suggests a tremendous upside for those that do.
All well and good, but how exactly do you go about defining a true USP?
You’ve already done the heavy lifting if you strategically developed your brand identity – the plan for how your brand lives, breathes, and succeeds. Two vital components of a brand identity are the value proposition and positioning statement. These work hand in hand, the value proposition presenting the specific (and hopefully unique) benefit that will be derived by using your product or service, and the positioning statement laying out your decisive advantage over competitive solutions. Together, they form the reason someone should use your brand based on appreciable points of difference. If you haven’t formalized your brand identity, start there. The process forces a thoughtful assessment of what you really are and where you really fit from a brand standpoint. As you craft the brand identity, keep the concept of a truely differentiated brand experience at the top of the list of requirements.
Being unique also means you need to stop trying to be all things to all people. We’re all guilty of this, and you’ll probably believe you’re walking away from potentially valuable business. While true for the short term, the more important long term benefit is that your brand will become acknowledged for one thing — one valued difference — and those appreciating that difference will flock to your brand alone, grateful for having been given a distinctive reason.
Everything can be differentiated (even commodities), and opportunities for true, appreciable differentiation can be found in many areas: product or service attributes, new uses, packaging, support services, simplification, manufacturing process, brand heritage, distribution channels, customer service/warranty policies, selection, and many others.
For inspiration, several noted marketers have published books on brand differentiation and the Unique Selling Proposition. Check out “Differentiate Or Die” by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin, and Seth Godin’s “The Purple Cow” to start.
A lot has been written, but few marketers heed the call for real differentiation and developing a true Unique Selling Proposition. There’s business waiting to be gained for those that do.
Differentiate Your Brand. Or Watch it Die.
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Positioning on November 11, 2011
With so many b-to-b and b-to-c brands vying for attention and business, there’s never been a greater need for true, relevant differentiation among competitive products and services.
Bombarded with so many choices, tossed at them in so many ways, potential customers are desperately seeking a reason to justify one competitive solution over another. Yet most marketers fail to deliver a truely differentiated branding effort for their product or service. Instead, they offer up a similar-but-slightly-different feature/benefit story, seemingly trying to be all things to as many people as possible while in actuality setting their brand to sail on an already cluttered sea of competitive sameness.
Granted, true differentiation is hard work, but isn’t it worth the effort?
What’s the true difference in comparable healthcare services? Banks? Cement brands? Bottled water? Competitive software solutions? Sports shoes? Activated carbon? Your brand versus your competitors’?
(Hint: true differentiation does not lie simply in the cleverness of a great ad campaign, pricing, selection, quality, or customer service.)
Noted marketer and Harvard professor Ted Levitt wrote in his 1991 book, Thinking About Management, “Differentiation is one of the most important stratgic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.” Hmmm. Me thinks this man speaketh the truth. So, what about it?
Long Live The Unique Selling Proposition
Any advertising or marketing professional worth his or her salt remembers Rosser Reeves as the man who formalized the concept of the “Unique Selling Proposition” in his 1960-published book, Reality in Advertising. According to Reeves, in order for their USP to be effective, advertisers were required to focus on the single genuine differentiating reason to buy their product or service. While it still resonates today, many marketers for some reason fail to apply this sage counsel to their branding efforts.
I’ve personally wrestled with identifying and clarifying the USP for many of the brands I’ve worked with in the past, so I know firsthand that it ain’t as easy as Reeves makes it sound. But it’s ultimately a matter of the success or failure of your brand that you do it. And do it well.
In 2001 (and updated in 2008), marketer and author Jack Trout published Differentiate or Die, an excellent read on the need and ways for true differentiation. He acknowledges that, in our modern era of reverse engineering, lasting product differentiation is tough. And patent protection only goes so far. Still, differentiation with the product or service itself is the first thing to consider. As Trout puts it, “improve, update, or reinvent.” Improve or add meaningful features – or completely reinvent – to provide a genuine, appreciable point of difference.
Operating more efficiently and effectively than your competitors is not typically a viable long-term differentiating strategy either, though many brands focus on better customer service, improved communications, etc. The problem is, though you may enjoy short term gains, competitors will eventually level the playing field.
The key is finding the point of difference that’s uniquely yours compared to whatever your competitors are doing (and you DO have at least one), and doggedly pursue it. This difference must be genuine, and it must be something of true value to your prospects. Strategically, this is brand positioning – part of the larger process of crafting a finely honed, sharply defined brand identity.
In future posts we’ll will offer suggestions for discovering the true point of difference for your brand. In the meantime, look inward to your brand and outward to the marketing environment and begin thinking about opportunities for true brand differentiation. Your business depends on it.
Focusing on “Brand” in Marketing Communications
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity on November 4, 2011
Following is something I wrote a while back, but thought it worth revisiting as the concept of “brand communications” gains traction in popular marketing jargon:
For years I referred to what I did for a living as “Marketing Communications.” That is, communications activities that specifically supported the marketing efforts of a client’s product or service, differing from “Corporate Communications,” which delved into internal communications, PR, financial reporting, etc.
More properly, the term I should have been using is “Brand Communications,” embracing a more encompassing recognition of the role of “brand identity,” and the role communications plays in delivering and reinforcing that identity to marketing audiences.
The brand identity is the strategic platform developed to define what the brand stands for, what its value is to customers and prospects, and the decisive differences and advantages over competitive offerings. Think of it as a distinctive set of fingerprints – brandprints — that can only be associated with your particular brand. (Do you have a formalized brand identity for each of your brands? If not, check out more details here.) At its core, this should remain constant for the individual products or services that will be marketed under the brand identity.
Now comes the brand communications part, and there’s two primary areas to consider here:
CONTENT is what you say.
It’s the messaging that comes directly out of the brand identity platform. It conveys why the product or service is better, different, of value, etc. The content should be consistently delivered and reinforced in the next part of the equation, contact.
CONTACT is what you do.
It’s the delivery of the content through your brand touchpoints — those significant and seemingly insignificant ways folks engage with the brand. It could be sales pitches, advertising, social media, trade shows, the receptionist, invoices, delivery personnel, community goodwill, sponsorships, public relations, packaging, etc. Each and every point of contact should be carefully considered, ensuring the desired content is delivered as prescribed in the brand identity.
Collectively, it’s ”Brand-Centric Communications.” But that’s too mind-numbing to say. Let’s just leave it at “Brand Communications.” Ultimately, the goal is to sell more of your “stuff,” but from a more strategically-considered brand platform. Are you there?
Time to Embrace Social Media Marketing As Part of Your Brand Touchpoint Plan
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Touchpoints on October 27, 2011
Unless you’ve been hibernating in a cave for the past few years, you’re well aware of the prevelance of social media and the growth of social media marketing for business. But maybe you’re sitting on the sidelines, waiting for this fad to pass or at least to finish evolving into whatever its final manifestation is going to be. Maybe, too, you’ve been overwhelmed by the technologies and speed of change that’s happening.
Guess what? Social media marketing isn’t going away. And, as more folks like you and me use it for different marketing applications and push the definition of best practices, it will continue to evolve for a long time to come.
Time to get with the program.
Perhaps you dipped your toe into this new world by setting up a personal Facebook page or Twitter or LinkedIn account. After seeing what all the noise was about, maybe you decided it was a complete waste of time – and certainly not worthy of a serious business application. If that’s the case, it’s time to think again.
The simple truth is, with a strategic planning approach and some basic knowledge of the various platforms available, social media marketing can easily be an effective communications tool to help you sell more of your “stuff” — whatever the stuff your business sells is.
To help you form a more complete understanding of what social media marketing can do for your business — whether it’s to build your brand through a whole new set of brand touchpoints, generate qualified sales leads, facilitate product research and development, or one or more of several other business roles for social media marketing — a couple of social media marketing know-how guys put their heads together and wrote a terrific book: No Bullshit Social Media – The All Business, No Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing. Good stuff in here to get you grounded on why and how you should consider diving into the social media marketing world right now.
Many of your customers, prospects, influencers — and your competitors — are effectively using social media right now to engage with brands and swap information and experiences. Isn’t it past time you embraced this business-critical tool as part of your own brand touchpoint management plan as well?