The ground rules for branding are rapidly evolving. Social media, content marketing, the younger
generation, second screening, thought-leadership and the demographic shift are
just some of the many things that are challenging brands to think
differently. Creating and sustaining
customer trust and loyalty is more difficult than ever before. Building relationships with consumers has
never been more challenging, with so much competition for their attention. Look
at the constant barrage of pop-up and video ads that flash before our eyes
every time we use our phones, turn on our computers or tablets.
Being an on-trend, relevant, inspiring, purposeful, innovative
and community-centric brand – these are the things that will make people pause,
listen and pay attention. Customers want
to identify with a brand they can grow with, that earns their trust and makes
them feel valued. People want to evolve
with a brand whose products and services help give their business or life
meaning and significance. End to end, a
brand must become a consumer’s best friend.
Whether you are a Fortune 500 company, business owner or
entrepreneur, here are six brand strategies that all chief marketing officers
(CMOs) must not ignore:
1. See Consumer
Engagement That Others Don’t
Stop doing what everyone else is doing and be creative about
how your brand engages with consumers.
For example, Beyoncé launched her most recent album in a unique way that
would fully leverage her relationship with her fans and advance the image she
sought to create for her brand. Instead
of releasing a new single (as advance promotion of the album), she released the
entire album on iTunes with a full library of supporting music videos.
The drip-system is a good tactic, but everything is relative
to the maturity of your brand and the engagement experience you want to
ultimately create with your target audience. People like surprises and want
variety. Don’t be too predictable. Mix it up.
Don’t grow complacent. Stretch
your thinking. Every brand is
vulnerable. Don’t take your audience for
granted.
This is why it’s so important to give your brand a refresh
every year (not every 3-5 years).
Remember that consumers are reevaluating their needs more often than you
might think. Instead of being reactive
to your audience needs, be on the front end and help guide them as they
reinvent themselves. Manage your
consumer engagement strategy or someone else will do it better.
2. Establish An
Identity That is Easily Relatable
Too often brands complicate their unique value proposition
(UVP) to get attention. In their
efforts to reinvent and renew, they complicate things that frustrate their
consumers and shareholders. JCPenney
is a perfect example. Consumers used
to know what to expect from JCPenney, but in an effort to reposition the brand,
they lost their strategic focus and their identity along the way.
A brand identity is most powerful when it evolves and its
value proposition strengthens in alignment with the changing lifestyle demands
of its audience. Make things
simple. People don’t have the time to
figure out what your brand is trying to solve.
Consumers want brands to be
deliberate with their identity – straightforward while at the same time
forward-thinking.
When I launched by first entrepreneurial venture, I sought
to reinvent the old-school processed gourmet vegetables category. My brand – Luna Rossa – was an attempt to
introduce a fresh produce identity to a traditionally processed category. Our brand identity was easy and
relatable: Hand-cut and packaged within
eight hours of harvest. Within a year
of launch, we found ourselves in grocery and club stores throughout the
country. As our brand matured and we
began to understand our consumer better, we slightly modified the logo and
added our new tagline that read: Romance
You Can Taste. It was our way of saying
that our products would deliver a better experience when used as a
complementary ingredient and/or side dish with your favorite entrees.
3. A Lifestyle
Platform that Inspires People and Communicates Hope
Brands influence lifestyle and one’s state of mind. If your brand is not a lifestyle platform
that inspires people and communicates hope, the impact and influence of your
brand message will quickly begin to wane.
Brand platforms like Target (A Bullseye
View) and Coca-Cola (Coca-Cola Journey)
recognize that stimulating a new or existing consumer relationship requires the
ability to educate, communicate and inspire your audience about the totality of
your brand – what it represents and what it stands for.
Today’s consumer expects more from your brand – not only the
message it communicates – but how it is delivered. That is why content marketing is so
important and must be flawlessly executed to be effective (here are 8 powerful
tips).
Consumers want your brand’s value proposition to come to
life and impact their lifestyle with messaging that is educational and
applicable. A holistic approach to
branding that gives people hope will accelerate your ability to earn consumer
trust and loyalty — and create more transparent dialogue and feedback to keep
your brand in continuous innovation mode.
4. Continuous
Innovation with Flawless Timing and Execution
Innovation may seem to be an obvious strategy, yet many
companies still fall short (or are too late) in their efforts. Just ask Blackberry, Blockbuster, JCPenney,
Volvo, etc. It’s no longer just about
introducing new products, line extensions and/or technological advances to
strengthen your UVP. Today’s
marketplace demands perfect timing and flawless execution with each new
strategy you implement.
Consumers want to know that you are ready when they
are. That means your timing must be in
perfect sync with your audience demands.
Don’t launch a new product, service or packaging/logo strategy if your
brand’s audience isn’t ready and/or you are not prepared to execute the
requirements for sustainable success – all the way through to the end. Short-cuts are slow death in a marketplace
where consumers expect brands to over-deliver before they actually commit to
purchase. Once you have established your reputation for excellence, your
innovation efforts become a public relations strategy that pre-sells your
consumers well before any new product event.
Just ask Apple.
5. Promote the
Genuine Spirit of Giving
Brands that “share the harvest” of their success – with
their audience – are the ones that sustain the best momentum. The spirit of giving must be a central part
of every brand’s DNA. Unfortunately,
many brands forget to “give-back” to those who supported their growth. Being a great brand is not just about market
share gains and profitability; it’s about genuinely sharing the success of your
brand with others (whether they have purchased your product/service or not).
Whether you have a few thousands, millions, or billions of
dollars in sales, make it a point to show your respect and gratitude to the
people and communities your brand is serving.
Take the time to interact in ways that go well beyond the obvious. Provide sponsorships (only if you are
genuinely interested in supporting the cause), be consistent with your
community outreach efforts, and actively participate in and support charitable
events and organizations. Fully deploy
your corporate social responsibility (CSR) strategy (if you have one). A great example is what PepsiCo is doing
with its environmental sustainability project.
If you have limited resources and/or just want to keep it
simple, be sure to at least say thank you and show your gratitude. Brands today have a much deeper
responsibility to society and the more your brand touches the needs of the
world and helps to make it a better place, the more abundant you will find the
opportunities before you.
6. Serve Others to
Leave a Legacy
Much like leaders must lead with a legacy-driven mindset, so
should their brands. As you develop your brand, what is the legacy that you are
mindfully attempting to leave behind?
What is your brand known for?
According to Wikipedia, brand legacy begins from a point of origin (core
idea) and considers historic message layering to derive a current perception as
it pertains to the target audience. A
core idea is a word or thought that encompasses all facets of the brand. For example, IBM’s core idea is computers,
while Cadbury is chocolate.
What is the experience and/or product association you are
attempting to leave behind for your brand and what will your audience remember
most about how it impacted their business or lifestyle?
The most successful brands never fall victim to an identity
crisis. They know who they are and the
responsibility they have to those whom they are serving. Their innovations are consistently delivered,
genuine and true. They are focused on
what matters most to their consumer and on continuously making the experience
better. Sometimes they may fall flat on
the excitement scale, but their customers remain extremely satisfied. You know that you are building a solid brand
legacy when your customer loyalty is so strong that they are not fazed by your
competition.
When your core idea becomes synonymous with your brand,
expectations rise and so do your strategic responsibilities. This is when you must begin to allow your
customers to play a more hands-on role in your brand’s evolution. This is when you begin to witness the
convergence of your brand’s growing community (intimate followers) with the
advancement of commerce (growth in the business). Allow your customers to play a more
significant role. Align your brand’s
identity closer to their own.
Each one of these brand strategies is equally important and
they build upon one another to create and sustain the ultimate customer
experience. You must be ready to take on
such an ambitious commitment, and then stick to it until you know your audience
inside and out. Always be accountable to
their needs and take responsibility to keep the momentum of the relationship
moving forward. Implement these six brand
strategies, and you will build a power brand for the 21st century consumer.
No comments:
Post a Comment