To Market is Human; To Brand is Divine
Gail Guge, Managing Partner, Brand Strategist
In a nutshell, successful marketing is selling your product or service to more people, more often, for more money, more efficiently. And, simply put, branding your product or service will allow you to charge more.
For example, the #1 brand typically has a 10% price premium over the #2 brand, and the #1 brand typically has a 40% price premium over a generic product or service. So if you could charge at least 10% more for your product or service, wouldn’t that be a good incentive to increase your bottom line.
Branding started as a method to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range, even when all the other cattle look pretty much alike. A brand is the delivery of a singular claim of distinction. It makes you stand out as different and separates you from your competitors. Your brand must be able to deliver on that distinction. It is the “one thing” that says it all about you. To effectively brand you must be able to complete this equation:
Your Company =___________.
Through years of successfully creating brands that work, Wilkin Guge Marketing has developed a unique propriety 10-step process called Brandus Operandi™ for creating and operating a brand:
Step 1: Analyze Industry Trends
Use secondary or available research to look at opportunities in your marketplace. Are there gaps in the marketplace that your product or service can fill to help you gain market share?
Step 2: Conduct a Competitive Analysis
Compare the brand messages and vehicles of your competitors. Who are the leaders and how are they positioning themselves to your target? What are their advertising spending levels and vehicles? How are you different?
Step 3: Customer Research
Remember, the most important information for successful marketing comes from the people who actually buy your products and services. By conducting primary research, we discover the three most important benefits to motivate and persuade your target audience.
Step 4: SWOT Analysis
Completing a SWOT analysis helps you identify and minimize weaknesses, maximize strengths, focus on opportunities, and manage threats. We view this process through a marketing filter to determine how your brand is currently positioned, and whether it needs a complete overhaul or just some fine tuning.
Step 5: Brand Discovery
Our brand discovery session is informal, interactive and uncovers the heart and soul of your company. Together we delve into the history, philosophy, culture, and mindset of your organization. Our goal is simple – to define your brand’s unique positioning.
Step 6: Establish Measurable Goals
Set very specific goals to clearly define the objectives and measurements for success: increase lead generation by 25%, capture 35% market share, or increase sales by 20%.
Step 7: Develop a Strategic Marketing Plan
Marketing your brand requires a comprehensive approach and a focused strategy. Otherwise you create confusing messages, poorly positioned products, and ineffective, costly programs that hinder business and jeopardize marketing credibility. Consider your annual budget, your objectives, and what will give you the best return-on-investment.
Step 8: Brand Development Campaign
All elements of a company’s marketing campaign must mesh seamlessly for a new or re-invigorated brand to break through the clutter. Creating the desired emotional or inspirational response in the mind of the customer is the goal.
Step 9: Execute and Track Results
Results must be tracked to support future decision making, improved strategies and more precise planning. Marketing expenditures are investments that will lead to future sales. Measuring return-on-investment is critical to knowing whether your marketing efforts are successful.
Step 10: The Big Idea
Create a unique concept for the company or a brand that will reinforce the positioning and strategy. It may be an association with a corporate cause, a unique approach in operations, or a style in reaching the target audience. In today’s increasingly competitive environment, reaching the top and staying there takes a BIG IDEA.
So remember, building a solid brand and recognition level for your company takes more than a logo or a series of ads. It requires a comprehensive approach and a focused strategy.
Strategic marketing is a process to determine the best mix of marketing vehicles and a clearly defined method for measuring success. And your focus on delivering specific brand value will improve your return on the marketing investment and grow your bottom line. The trick is knowing how to analyze your business and develop coordinated solutions that will move the needle.
To begin the process, start thinking about your customer – do they know your company’s one thing?
