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It’s difficult to escape the pervasive influence that brands have on our lives. In the broadest sense, brands constitute the organizing mechanism to help us navigate through each day. What we drink, eat, or drive, what products we use at home and at work, where we play or vacation, where we live, what we watch, what we read, and even who we interact with, and how, are arguably “brand” choices. That is, they are a function of the set of associations and perceptions about companies, products, services, or even TV shows, people and places that have formed in our minds. Think about it. You have formed an impression, sometimes a strong one, sometimes not, about virtually all of the above. That perception is based on whatever mix of inputs have been available to you, whether intended or not: previous interaction, something you read, heard or observed, and yes, formal marketing communications such as advertising. We develop our perceptions of a brand based on this full range of direct and indirect stimuli or interactions. Yet many businesses—even large, global, sophisticated marketers often seem satisfied to “control” only a narrow portion of these stimuli—typically the traditional marketing tools like advertising, promotion, packaging, etc. It is not surprising to hear boardroom conversation and cocktail chatter about the latest retail promotion or the CEO’s favorite TV spot. But it is far less common to hear discussion of how a consumer’s interaction with the customer service center, or with a company salesperson who happens to be in the store when the consumer is there, has been engineered to ensure that that interaction reinforces the meaning of the brand for that consumer. Despite the ubiquity of branding in business, and the overwhelming number of companies and executives who engage in brand marketing, relatively few fully utilize their brand as an asset to be leveraged. For a select few, brands have become a foundational element of their overall business strategy, creating financial value at every turn and directly influencing revenue and profits. At Market2Customer®, we believe that the true value of a brand lies below the surface. It’s not just about clever ads or billboards, although advertising is certainly a component of the brand. It’s not just about packaging or a website, although both are certainly important in their own right. Instead, a great brand is a set of consistent, positive associations and perceptions that have been created through the sum total of their interactions with that company, product, or service. Simply put, customer experience is at the core of every brand. Research shows time and again that people will reward companies whose products and services meet or exceed their expectations. The reward comes back in the form of brand preference and customer loyalty that translates into revenue. Yet many companies do not seem to recognize how fundamental it is for all company and customer interactions to be seamlessly and effortlessly aligned toward a mutually desired set of experiences. Perhaps the reason is that the more overt representations of a brand like advertising and promotions are more exciting. Maybe it’s because company leaders still believe that marketing is an “intangible” expense that cannot be directly linked to sales growth, or that the “brand” falls within the limited purview of the marketing folks, rather than being the responsibility of the organization as a whole. Whatever the reason, the facts are clear. Companies that understand the true meaning of a brand will use their brand to influence and drive their entire organization toward highly satisfying and mutually rewarding company/customer interactions. It’s how Southwest Airlines came out of nowhere to become one of the most respected carriers, and how Coca-Cola has been able to deliver a consistently refreshing experience for millions of consumers throughout the world for more than 100 years. Behind every great brand is a history of effort and commitment. It’s not easy to deliver a consistent brand experience. It takes strong leadership and a clear brand vision combined with employees who share the vision and who work every day to make it a reality for every customer. It also takes constant monitoring to make sure that things stay on track. It’s hard work because it means we have to ingrain our brand aspirations into our business at every level, not just in our marketing communications. At M2C®, our goal is to create innovative, compelling, and actionable brand strategies that can be effectively delivered in the marketplace. We’re about developing the frameworks, processes, and tools that enable companies to identify and adopt behaviors that will lead to enhanced customer experiences and revenue growth. Our approach is guided by four overarching questions:
We have developed a robust and practical suite of tools to help formulate the most effective answers to each of these questions. Appropriately named Branding for Results, these approaches can be used by themselves or in combination to create a powerful, solutions-based growth program. The BrandMonitor diagnostic is a soup-to-nuts application that provides a 360° view of the brand as it currently exists in the minds of management, employees, channel partners, competitors, customers, prospects, and even thought leaders and industry analysts.The BrandMonitor diagnostic combines the statistical reliability of sophisticated quantitative research methods with the more exploratory benefits of cutting-edge qualitative inputs. It’s a holistic look into the brand that provides a clear sense of current location within the competitive landscape and insights into new ways to leverage existing brand strengths. The BrandMonitor diagnostic can be deployed as an online survey as well as an off-line tool. This creates the advantages of speed without sacrificing the need for accuracy. It also simplifies follow-up tracking. The Brand Intent framework is the most important step in building a differentiated and powerful brand. The Brand Intent framework defines a clear and forward-thinking vision for the brand that can be shared and understood throughout the organization. This process includes defining the unique personality and performance characteristics that the company intends for its customers to experience as they interact with the brand. These characteristics must reflect the values and capabilities of the organization as well as the needs and desires of customers. The Brand Intent framework begins with a robust discovery phase in which all relevant existing company brand data is reviewed by Monitor brand experts, and interviews are conducted with senior managers, employees, channel partners and thought leaders to understand their current brand perceptions and their desired aspirations for the brand. Coupled with a thorough competitive brand audit and extensive customer/ prospect qualitative research, all inputs are screened for key themes that are then used to build the desired performance and personality associations that will form the core of the brand going forward. To ensure accuracy and validity, the “draft” Brand Intent output is presented to key constituents for confirmation and clarification. During the validation process, we not only gain valuable insights into the suitability of the proposed performance and personality associations, but we also learn in detail what actions the company must take to create for the customer the experiences the company promises in its Brand Intent offering. Using the validation process as a guide, we make final adjustments to the Brand Intent output and begin the process of communicating its meaning throughout the organization and activating it in the marketplace. BrandActivation addresses the question of how to best embed the Brand Intent output throughout the company over time, so that the entire organization moves toward a set of behaviors that consistently provide customers with desired brand experiences. The ultimate state of brand activation occurs when all key interactions between the company and its customers are in total alignment with the Brand Intent output. Building a great brand that consistently delivers “on-Intent” experiences takes time and hard work. Using workshops with company leaders and key managers in human resources, sales, customer service, and product development, the BrandActivation process draws on the findings of the Brand Intent validation research to identify and prioritize those short and long term products/services/behaviors that must be changed in order to consistently deliver customer experiences that are fully aligned with the Brand Intent offering. While BrandActivation can be used across all functions of the organization, this process inevitably points to those areas in the company that are most “off-Intent” and should therefore be targeted as starting points for change. Depending on which area is selected, the corresponding BrandActivation approach is employed to guide the process. For example:
BrandTracking is a customized set of measures designed to help monitor the progress of all key brand-related initiatives so that the company can better understand what’s working and what’s not. This includes tools to track "on-intent" behavior both within the company, and externally, in terms of the customer experience and the increase in business that results. Our proprietary on-line tool, BrandMonitor diagnostic, can be incorporated into the customized program to provide affordable and timely benchmarks and follow-ups. |
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