Branding Strategy Insider

10 Keys to Aligning Organizations and Brand Promises

I have helped many organizations build their brands from the inside out for over ten years. In the process, I have learned what is critical to the success of those endeavors.

1) RIGHT RESEARCH-INFORMED PROMISE: Your brand’s promise must be based upon customer, competitor and internal insight. This can be achieved through qualitative and quantitative research and an honest assessment of internal strengths, weaknesses, core competencies and strategic intent. The promise must be unique, compelling and believable.

2) CONSENSUS BUILDING PROCESS: Your brand’s promise must be developed through a consensus-building process that includes (at a minimum) your organization’s chief executive officer (CEO) and his or her staff and its top marketing executives. Don’t leave this step to an internal marketing department or an external marketing agency (unless they accomplish this through a consensus building process). Brand strategy and positioning is closely tied to organizational strategy, especially for organization level brands.

3) BRAND PROMISE TRANSLATED TO BRAND IDENTITY: The brand promise should be translated into a supporting brand identity, including logo, tagline and elevator speech among other key components. This should be integrated into a system that includes brand architecture and naming conventions. These should then take the form of guidelines that are available to all employees and business partners through an online platform. Digital asset management systems provide for even greater consistency control.

4) CUSTOMER TOUCHPOINT DESIGN: Involve your employees in brainstorming how you can bring your brand’s promise to life at each point of customer contact and how you can create new points of customer contact prior to the purchase, at the point of purchase, immediately after the purchase and on an ongoing basis during product/service usage and beyond. The brand’s promise must come to life in more than just its identity and in its marketing communications.

Creating a Winning Brand Promise

The goal of any brand positioning exercise is to develop a brand promise that is unique, compelling and believable. Any successful brand positioning project must evaluate all potential brand promises against these three criteria – unique, compelling and believable. The winning promise must deliver against all three criteria or it won’t work. The only way to assess this is to measure each of these for each brand promise option with each key target audience.

As an example, we explored the following potential brand promises for Rochester, New York. This is how one target audience, current residents, evaluated them:

Branding: Help for the Auto Industry

Who cries for struggling auto dealers and manufacturers? It's important for many that they succeed, so I know there are deep pockets of sympathy. I wrote this back in the fall to try and help soften the barbed emotional barriers that surround the buying experience.

Today Brad and I are adding to the effort. I'm hoping my old boss and Guest BSI Author, Kevin Roberts will add his thoughts as Saatchi & Saatchi has been very successful in building the Toyota brand.

Ideally, a brand promises relevant differentiated benefits to its target audiences. Those benefits should be understandable, believable and compelling. Some brands have chosen such a compelling combination of unique benefits that they are perceived to be without peers. Those brands stand alone in their customers' consideration sets.

Here are some things that can be done to reinforce brands at auto dealerships:

•Know what your brand stands for and what makes it different
•Identify "proof points" for and "reasons to believe" your brand's promise
•Refine (and even script) your brand promise "talking points"
•Hold an employee contest to identify new ways to reinforce the brand's promise
•At staff meetings, brainstorm additional ways to reinforce the brand's promise
•Identify new ways to reinforce the brand promise with customers and potential customers at all stages of the purchase decision process, including immediately after the purchase and on an ongoing basis during usage
•Make and distribute copies of third party endorsements of your brand, especially if they extol your brand for delivering on its unique promise
•Publicly recognize employees who have done an exceptional job of reinforcing the brand's promise
•Have each employee think about and explain how he or she will reinforce the brand promise in his or her interactions with customers and potential customers
•Post the brand's promise in a place where customers will see it
•Post brand promise reinforcement tips of the week (for dealership employees)
•Assign a chief brand advocate who is responsible for developing a comprehensive brand advocacy plan at your dealership

As a specific example, for higher-end automotive brands, any or all of the following can be implemented to reinforce the brand's promise:

•Provide customers and potential customers with information/articles/newsletters on the latest advances in automotive technological innovation so they can stay "in the know"
•Create owner-oriented "white papers" on specific technology topics
•Provide owners with talking points on leading-edge automotive technology
•Compile and keep handy a comprehensive list of brand "firsts" in the industry
•Make current owners aware of the latest available technology upgrades/enhancements
for their cars
•Help current owners anticipate "next generation" enhancements
•Provide "sneak previews" of upcoming technology enhancements
•If you provide customers with product incentives or upgrades, chose ones that use leading edge technology (such as GPS, iPod, Bluetooth, digital satellite, etc.)

The bottom line: your brand will be much more successful if everyone in your dealership(s) can enthusiastically articulate your brand's unique promise. Even better: everyone in your dealership discovers and implements new ways to reinforce your brand's promise at every point of customer contact.

Branding: Just Ask...

This branding question came to us from Rich in Seattle:

"Please describe the difference between brand essence and brand promise"

Rich, thanks for asking. We believe there are four critical elements to a well-positioned brand:

(1) target consumer, (2) brand essence, (3) brand promise and (4) brand personality. 

Here are the differences between the two you asked about...

The Brand Essence is a two to three word phrase (typically in the format “adjective adjective noun”) capturing the “heart and soul” of the brand.  The Brand Essence is simple, concise, aspirationally attainable, timeless, enduring and extendable.  Examples include “fun family entertainment” (Disney), “genuine athletic performance” (Nike), “saving great places” (The Nature Conservancy) and “caring shared” (Hallmark).  It is not a tagline or slogan, but rather the first thing an employee might say to quickly describe the brand to another in an elevator conversation (“This brand is all about…”).  While a brand’s positioning might differ slightly from country to country and while its advertising campaigns might change over time, like a person’s character, the brand’s essence will largely remain unchanged.

The Brand Promise is a sentence that communicates the one thing that the brand intends to own in the target consumer’s mind.  I prefer to express it in the following form: “Only (brand) delivers (unique benefit) to (target consumer).”  A brand promise must be understandable, believable, unique/differentiating, compelling, admirable and endearing.  The ideal benefit to claim in a brand promise has the following three qualities: (1) it is extremely important to the target consumer, (2) the brand’s organization is uniquely suited to delivering it and (3) competitors are not addressing it.  As an example, Harley-Davidson’s brand promise might read as follows: “Only Harley-Davidson delivers the fantasy of complete freedom on the road and the comradeship of kindred spirits to avid cyclists.”  The brand’s promise should drive everything an organization does and be manifest at each point of contact the brand makes with the consumer.

Have a branding related question? Just Ask...

Branding: The Simple Truth

Earlier this year I touched on the definitions of a brand. After some recent emails and prospective client meetings around the nature of branding I'm inspired to revisit the topic.

The simple truth about branding - A brand is a source of a promise to the consumer. It promises relevant differentiated benefits. Everything an organization does should be focused on enhancing delivery against its brand's promise. Combining a few different definitions, a brand is the name and symbols that identify:

The source of a relationship with the consumer
The source of a promise to the consumer
The unique source of products and services
The single concept that you own inside the mind of the prospect
The sum total of each customer's experience with your organization

Leading organizations have discovered that brands are their most valuable asset (along with their people) for a number of reasons.

Strong brands deliver substantial benefits:

Increased revenues and market share
Decreased price sensitivity
Increased customer loyalty
Additional leverage with vendors and retailers (for manufacturers)
Increased profitability
Increased stock price, shareholder value and sale value
Increased clarity of vision
Increased ability to mobilize an organization's people and focus its activities
Increased ability to expand into new product and service categories
Increased ability to attract and retain high quality employees

Simply put: Build your brand. Win the day.

Achieving Brand Differentiation

If properly designed, brands should promise relevant differentiated benefits to their target customers. Carefully choosing the most powerful benefits will not only result in brand preference, but brand insistence.  That is, the brand will be perceived to be the only viable solution for the customer’s need.  Put another way, the customer will not pursue substitutes if the brand is not available.  The brand establishes a consideration set of one.

The optimal benefits for a brand to claim are those that are:

(1) very important to the target customer
(2) supported by organizational strengths
(3) not being addressed by the competition 

Ideally, the brand tries to ‘own’ only one or two key benefits, as that is all a customer will remember. The benefits should be understandable, believable, unique and compelling.

A brand’s promise can be stated as follows:

•Only [brand] delivers [unique differentiating benefit] to [target customer].

Following are the most common sources of brand differentiation [unique differentiating benefits]:

•The brand stands for something important to the customer
oIts values align with the customer’s values
oIt reinforces the customer’s self image or how the customer aspires to be perceived
oIt can serve as a ‘badge’ or other form of self-expression
•It possesses admirable qualities
•It provides unique or superior customer service
•It delivers a unique product purchase or usage experience
•It is entertaining
•It delivers superior performance
•It is venerated, has heritage (continuity, trustworthy leader, since …)
•It is the technology leader
•It has noble aims/values
•It tells an engaging story about itself
•Its founder has unique, admirable qualities
•It was first -- a pioneer -- in its market

Brand Promise: Keep it Real

Keeping it 'Real'. In branding that can be defined as the art of making promises you can really keep. Saying what you mean and doing what you say. It's no secret that the strongest brands are designed to be the best at keeping their promises. What kind of promises do these brands make?

A promise to meet expectations (though they strive to exceed them)
A promise of differentiated benefits that are unique, compelling and relevant - they mean something to the customer
A promise that is kept at every point of customer contact
A promise that is impossible or very difficult for a competitor to keep
A promise that is iron-clad over time
A promise that delivers an aspect of social responsibility - 'Our' relationship helps others
A promise that is forged specifically with the customer - asking them exactly what they want and giving them exactly what they want
A promise to meet the changing needs of the customer (evolving along the way by identifying unmet needs and adjusting the offer)

When brands keep promises. Customers make promises with brands. We call it brand loyalty.
Are you keeping your promises? It's much easier if you 'Keep it real'.

 

Positioning Your Brand

Perhaps the most important brand management activity is positioning the brand properly.  A well-positioned brand addresses important consumer benefits in unique and compelling ways.  It also creates an emotional connection to the consumer.  Finally, it provides flexibility for future growth (beyond current product and service categories).

The first step in positioning a brand is in-depth research.  The research should provide you with the following:

• Profound consumer insight
• A thorough knowledge of the competitive set
• An understanding of consumer benefits (by segment)

You should identify functional, emotional, experiential and self-expressive consumer benefits.  Of those benefits, you should understand which are “cost of entry benefits” and which are “differentiating benefits.”

In-depth qualitative research, including laddering, projective and ethnographic techniques may be required to achieve the desired insight.

Brand Differentiation Sources

If properly designed, brands should promise relevant differentiated benefits to their target customers. Carefully choosing the most powerful benefits will not only result in brand preference, but brand insistence.  That is, the brand will be perceived to be the only viable solution for the customer’s need.  Put another way, the customer will not pursue substitutes if the brand is not available.  The brand establishes a consideration set of one.

The optimal benefits for a brand to claim are those that are (1) very important to the target customer, (2) supported by organizational strengths and (3) not being addressed by the competition.  Ideally, the brand tries to ‘own’ only one or two key benefits, as that is all a customer will remember.  The benefits should be understandable, believable, unique and compelling.

A brand’s promise can be stated as follows:

• Only [brand] delivers [unique differentiating benefit] to [target customer].

Following are the most common sources of brand differentiation [unique differentiating benefits]:

• The brand stands for something important to the customer
  • Its values align with the customer’s values
  • It reinforces the customer’s self image or how the customer aspires to be perceived
  • It can serve as a ‘badge’ or other form of self-expression

• It possesses admirable qualities
• It provides unique or superior customer service
• It delivers a unique product purchase or usage experience
• It is entertaining
• It delivers superior performance
• It is venerated, has heritage (continuity, trustworthy leader, since …)
• It is the technology leader
• It has noble aims/values
• It tells an engaging story about itself
• Its founder has unique, admirable qualities
• It was first -- a pioneer -- in its market
• It is the most popular brand with the most customers or the largest market share
• It is the category innovator
• It is perceived to possess positive momentum
• It is the ‘next’ big thing, using ‘next generation’ technology
• It is the most convenient or easy to find and use
• It focuses on a particular customer segment and has become an expert in meeting that segment’s needs
• It comes from a country or region that is known for its excellence in the brand’s product category
• It is the leading expert/specialist in a particular area
• It is the choice of experts
• It delivers the best overall value for the price
• Its products are crafted with great care by hand
• Its products are completely natural/organic with no artificial additives
• Its products have a unique, unrivalled styling/packaging
• It is quintessential – it defines its category

The brand promise should be reinforced with proof points to substantiate its claim, that is, to make it believable.  The following are the most common types of proof points or ‘reasons to believe’:

• Expert endorsements
• Top ratings by independent authorities
• Industry analyst reports
• Third party certifications
• ‘Blue chip’ customer list
• What 9 out of 10 experts prefer/use
• Customer testimonials
• Leadership in any of the following:
  • Number of customers
  • Number of locations
  • Number of transactions
  • Overall sales
  • Market share
• Side by side tests with competitive brands
• Looks/feels/performs different(ly)
• Before and after comparisons
• Year of founding (since…)
• Patented technology
• Secret/magic ingredients
• Superior ingredients
• Ingredient brands
• Unique process
• Extensive publicity
• Unconditional, money-back guarantee

I often hear people say ‘our product is a commodity’ or ‘price is all that matters in our category’ or ‘all of the viable positions in our market have been taken.’  Don’t let anyone convince you that your brand can not be differentiated.  After all, chicken, bananas, vodka and even water have been differentiated.