Brand Common Sense in 5 Easy Steps

It’s a little late to think about buying a parachute when you’re going down in flames. Businesses that chose to ignore their brands and marketing to save a few dollars are now scrambling to try and and fend off their inevitable demise. Have you ever noticed that many in the retail world, both large and small do their best job at marketing when they are going out of business. The liquidation sales are adequately promoted with proper funding. When they had the opportunity to take marketing seriously they chose to pinch pennies and failed to invest in themselves, believing people would just beat a path to their door.

Their brands are now so weak they it will take very deep pockets just to stay above water let alone grow. Take this 5 step action plan that is more common sense than anything miraculous:

1) Respect your brand and don’t fall prey to the temptation of being all things to all people. Now is the time, more than ever before to define your brand and compel your customer. If you fall back on a price advantage, the competition will gladly buy the business back. Deeper pockets will work every time.

2) Get in the door with a competitive positioning strategy and sell up from there.

3) Build a relationship that builds loyalty and service the hell out of them.

4) Don’t rely entirely on technology for communication but put your bum in front of them when ever you can.

5) And for God’s sake, don’t stop trying to satisfy and keep your name in front of them – what ever it takes.

Valerie Eggar

This is a really useful insight -thanks for sharing it with us.

Valerie

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Ed Roach

Hey Andee - It's natural to stray a little. Post a little inspiration on your office wall that
reminds you of what your brand stands for. It'll help put your head in the right place.

Thanks for dropping in again-

Andee Sellman, One Sherpa

Hi Ed,
The hardest thing I find it to stick to our knitting and keep the brand really focused. If you have a wide range of services then I find it easy to get off track a little and then before you now it, you're in another street.

Thanks for the story Judy. The hard times should have been an incentive to try harder not remind their audience of what's happening outside. A high end food experience could have been viewed as an escape, but by skimping it became a reminder.

Too bad, opportunity lost. The show's brand is tarnished, and it will suffer next year, when the audience "remembers".

Judy Asman

Ed, great advice! This reminds me of a couple of food-industry-related stories I've heard about or experienced myself recently.

The first deals with a high-profile food show that happens several time a year and usually features celebrity chefs. One colleague was so impressed with last year's event, how well organized it was and the small but important details such a providing water to the vendors. This year, however, it was grossly obvious they felt the fears of the economy. It was not as well-organized as last year, the complimentary water was cut and there weren't enough food samples or even a sponsored cafe to people to eat. And it was food show!

I too attended a food and wine tasting this year where the vendors brought out what seemed like their lowest grade/quality dishes to an event that was about $125 for a general ticket.

With the above brands appearing to compromise their quality (and sophisticated food lovers can tell when an eatery is cutting corners), how long will it take for these companies to regain their consumer confidence? A big risk to take.

BTW love your last point about the cool logo. Couldn't agree more. In fact, how embarrassing for a company to be known for the cool logo but lack of vision or quality service or product.

To a lot of small business people, branding is just their logo and image. That's just the face of their brand. Their actions are what resonate with their customers and their impression of their brand. You don't love a company just because it has a cool logo.

Katie Langston

Hi Ed, I'm a new reader here. Intrigued by what you say about using branding as a major point of differentiation, but then emphasizing that you've got to back it up with service and relationship.

I think sometimes we forget that branding is not all image and no substance, but really the other way around.

Good reminder, thank you.

Thanks Rick. Sticking to it is the hardest thing for a lot of small businesses. Thank you for joining in.

Rick Rochon

I really like these simple steps for identifying your brand and sticking to it. In a world where there is a lot of competition for dollars it is essential to identify what your brand is and to have all your marketing and services convey that to your customer or prospect. It can be difficult to do on your own, so ask friends and strangers to assess your brand for you. How does your store or office look? Do you have crappy homemade biz cards or are they refined and polished? Don't confuse your customers by saying one thing and doing another. Thanks for the reminder.