Developing and managing your Brand Advantage

It is estimated that if you were to try and buy the Coca Cola Brand today the asking price would be in the region of $US70 billion dollars - more than 60% of the total worth of the company. Now while most of us won’t be making an offer in the near future, the fact that the brand as a single element is worth more than all of the other assets put together provides us with food for thought. Indeed it is indication of why your brand, whether you are a giant soft drink producer or a small professional practice is so incredibly important.

A strong brand is both a long term asset and an everyday business advantage.

What is a Brand?

The term ‘Brand’ can be applied to a person, organisation, product or service. The Brand will appear on business cards, labels, brochures, websites, advertising or the front door of a one person professional services organisation. At its most simple level it is a device along with a logo that will differentiate your product or service from a competitor. The way in which a brand name is displayed such as the logo and type face can carry a message of modernity or conservatism, amongst other important elements of a brand’s character.

However Branding has moved far beyond simply differentiating one competitive product from another. As competition has become more and more intense over the years ‘Branding’ has been the subject of vast levels of research and development.

The most important difference between Branding before the 1970’s and after was the realisation that branding had gone beyond a simple ‘positioning statement’ or the often discussed Unique Selling Proposition (USP). The USP suggested that there really is a difference between one product or service that could be readily identified and protected. Technology and its partner ‘speed’ made real USPs increasingly rare.

Developing a Brand

Most modern marketers look at a brand as if it were a person (e.g. think of Virgin – think of Richard Branson). Indeed the aim of modern branding is to make the product or service something that your target audience wants to be associated with and sees as their friend.

Branding is not just about putting your name on the door or at the bottom of posters in your local area – it is about creating an attractive and strong character for your brand that will be attractive to potential customers.

Understanding your target market and what they want

Having moved from rational product differentiation (positioning) to emotional differentiation (personality) we need as marketers of our brand to understand our clients and potential clients.

Once we start to think of clients as emotional and rational beings rather than just rational – we can see that a brand of jeans might help tell the world that you are single and adventurous, or a brand of aftershave might say that you were sophisticated. Marketers understand the emotional because the character of the brand has been developed to deliver these messages.

Truly successful Branding seeks to marry the emotional and rational sides of a Brand. It is called Brand Character. To justify the purchase of a Mercedes or BMW we might talk rationally about the superior engineering or high resale value in the case of Mercedes or the precise handling of the BMW. And while these rational things are true, Mercedes recognise that they are appealing to a desire to demonstrate status or power within the community or the company in the case of Mercedes, whereas BMW are appealing to those who want to be seen as successful but still ambitious business people.

Starting to develop your Brand Character.

Here are some questions you might like to ask yourself.

• How long is it since I updated my logo and the look of my overall presentation?

• Do I want to be seen as modern and vital or perhaps long established, conservative and considered?

• More importantly, what image would my current or potential clients wish to be associated with?

• Depending on the answer – Do my premises, furniture, business card, dress code and attitude support that image?

• If I have a current logo – have I taken the trouble to make sure that this is constantly seen or are there items that have not been branded – old order forms or work sheets for example?

• Do I have a consistent look for communication? If you were doing a Powerpoint presentation would it have a standard template?

Working with the answers to questions such as these you can begin to develop and communicate a character for your brand that will help you gain business and build your business. The Character you create will demonstrate more than simply professional excellence (which naturally is of primary importance) but will also demonstrate an understanding and connection with your target audience that will give you a Brand Advantage over your competitors.

Coca Cola again

At a supermarketing conference a number of years ago the Chairman of Coca Cola – the company with a $70 Billion brand – was asked a question about the distribution of the product in Asia. His answer was that he had no idea and that if the questions were about the marketing of the product then they had the wrong man. He went on to say that his role was to manage the image of Coca Cola at government and legislative levels particularly in the US and other leading market economies. In essence he was involved with maintaining the Brand Character of Coke with key influencers as far as its future was concerned. This of course is an area which could have enormous influence on the Brand’s Character at consumer level.

Take a look at your Brand Character today. Look to strengthening your connection with your target audience and creating an image and promise that meets their needs – both rational and emotional. Use you Brand Advantage to build you business.