Posts Tagged brand identity
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.
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?
What Exactly is Brand Identity and Brand Communications?
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Image, Brand Touchpoints on October 19, 2011
A lot of ad agencies and design firms refer to “brand identity” as the tangible visual elements of a brand — logo, typography, color palette, design style – the tactile look and feel of the brand. While this isn’t entirely incorrect, it is entirely incomplete.
Perhaps a better view of brand identity is this: a strategically-crafted blueprint for how you want your brand to be perceived among your customers, prospects, influencers, vendors, employees, and other stakeholders. It includes not only the graphic identity but also many other components as noted below and on this previous Touchpointers blog post.
Components of brand identity
Brand communications is the presentation of this carefully crafted identity to your markeplaces, resulting in the formation of a brand image that drives sales. Brand communications isn’t just advertising, social media marketing, website, public relations, trade shows, etc. It’s also the more subtle ways your brand identity takes root like the professionalism of your delivery and set up personnel, the helpfulness of customer care reps, the ease of navigating your phone system, the clarity of user documentation, and many other types of brand interactions — touchpoints — that can positively or negatively reinforce the formation of your brand image. There’s more to read about brand communications here.
Brand identity is strategic; it takes time and careful consideration to develop a brand identity that differentiates and resonates. Brand communications is tactical; it takes place over time (years), working to create your brand image and drive sales. Many businesses jump into brand communications without first crafting their brand identity, which harkens the old-but-true cliche, “without a map any road will get you there.”
Sure, a great looking logo is cool. But have you crafted a complete brand identity and brand communications program? Today would be the best day to get started.
A Healthcare Brand Touchpoint That Missed The Mark
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Touchpoints on October 17, 2011
Sometimes it’s the brand touchpoint you least suspect that can cause the biggest problem for your brand image.
Late this summer I was the central character in an unexpected medical situation which ultimately involved my primary care physician, a hospital, surgeon, anesthesiologist, and specialist – each coming from a different practice under the mega-healthcare brand which dominates my local healthcare community. I’m fine now, and am told I will continue to be so.
The pre-testing, required surgical procedure, resulting hospital stay and related nursing care, and follow-up visits with the various doctors involved all went well. From a branding standpoint from this highly invested observer, all services and brand touchpoints were exceptionally well delivered. As a result, I would not think twice about using this same “team” again if my own personal situation depended on it, or in recommending each and every one to a needy friend or family member.
A few weeks after I arrived home, the billing statements began showing up. This is where things went awry for one of the service providers, and it’s this comparatively benign area — not their core service of providing a high level of medical care (which they did very well) – that has now caused me to re-think the favorable brand image I’d already formed as a result of my previous interactions with the practice.
The fundamental issues dealt with billing payment terms and the aggressiveness with which the practice’s accounts receivable folks followed up – including a letter threatening to turn the account over to collections because full payment had not been made (less than 40 days after I received their first billing statement).
My call to the “financial counselor” identified in the offending letter yielded this gem: ”You’re actually 61 days past due because we start counting from the date we first receive payment from the insurance company, which in your case, was nearly one month before we sent you the initial statement.”
Huh? So, by the time I received the first statment indicating the amount I would owe, I was already 30 days “past due” according to their calculations? “Yes,” she said. And is there an alternative to you turning this over to a collection agency if I cannot pay the full amount right now? “No,” I was definitively told.
Hmm… I would certainly recommend this practice purely on the shoulders of their medical ability. But now the brand image I’d formed of them has changed as a direct result of their obnoxiously aggressive collections practices. And it’s that necessary business function that I’ll bet garnered the least brand planning consideration when the founding physicians were forming their venture.
What’s a potentially critical yet unconsidered touchpoint for your brand? I’ll bet there’s at least one, and it might be time to do some digging to find out what it is before it costs you business.