In this over advertised world of brands, where every brand is trying hard to be a TOMA brand, and brands like Microsoft are spending around $ 2 billion on advertisement just to win the mind space of the consumer. Today where celebrities like Dhoni are earning above $25 million just through endorsements and “Brand” has become the one of the most indiscriminately used and therefore, abused words in market , In India still more than 50% of business are SME’S and have no such deep pockets to spend money on advertisement.
In a world where large businesses attract attention thanks to their sheer size, small and medium size businesses are often seen struggling to make their presence felt. Branding and marketing has become relevant to the Indian small and medium enterprise (SME) sector today as it was never before. From a time when your work was strongly believed to be your best method to sell yourself, the industry has come a long way as the thinking has shifted to “one must not only do excellent work but also be known to be doing excellent work”. The process of being ‘known’, however, is limited by a variety of factors, principal among them being the size of the business
Some people say that SME’s will find it incredibly difficult to build international and global brands. Their reasoning is that most of the world markets and the product categories in those markets are already dominated by powerful global brands. Furthermore, they claim that companies have to overcome significant global consumer perceptions of sub-par quality and other concerns relating to the country of origin of the brand. Some say global brands have deep pockets to expend on branding, and built their brand through above the line advertising.
Well, true that SME would actually be avert to this idea in the beginning because, SME is always surrounded with things like branding is only for big brands, which can pour in enormous money to win the mind the space of the consumer, but rather branding is not just a information spreading exercise but it also involves stabilizing the product, establishing distribution/marketing channels, highlighting/identifying USPs and making it actually needed in the market.
There’s a common misunderstanding that branding is good advertising and design. These activities are important because they help brands communicate with customers. But without good systems, procedures, service, training and other things that form the customer’s total brand experience, these can be wasted.
Seven myths
The first myth is that quality is a brand differentiator. Most Asian countries have overcome the problems of poor product quality, and smart CEOs see that product quality is no longer a differentiator. It is the price you have to pay to get into the game. If you do not have top quality products and services, you will never have a strong brand. Service quality still remains a differentiator in Asia, however, and local companies often lose out to their foreign counterparts in this area. So, quality is not which sells the product, perceived quality is what sells the product.
Secondly, there’s a common misunderstanding that branding is good advertising and design. These activities are important because they help brands communicate with customers. But without good systems, procedures, service, training and other things that form the customer’s total brand experience, these can be wasted. Importantly, the promise they make, if not delivered, can cause irreparable damage to a brand. So, gap analysis at each and every point is important.
In a world where large businesses attract attention thanks to their sheer size, small and medium size businesses are often seen struggling to make their presence felt. Branding and marketing has become relevant to the Indian small and medium enterprise (SME) sector today as it was never before. From a time when your work was strongly believed to be your best method to sell yourself, the industry has come a long way as the thinking has shifted to “one must not only do excellent work but also be known to be doing excellent work”. The process of being ‘known’, however, is limited by a variety of factors, principal among them being the size of the business
Some people say that SME’s will find it incredibly difficult to build international and global brands. Their reasoning is that most of the world markets and the product categories in those markets are already dominated by powerful global brands. Furthermore, they claim that companies have to overcome significant global consumer perceptions of sub-par quality and other concerns relating to the country of origin of the brand. Some say global brands have deep pockets to expend on branding, and built their brand through above the line advertising.
Well, true that SME would actually be avert to this idea in the beginning because, SME is always surrounded with things like branding is only for big brands, which can pour in enormous money to win the mind the space of the consumer, but rather branding is not just a information spreading exercise but it also involves stabilizing the product, establishing distribution/marketing channels, highlighting/identifying USPs and making it actually needed in the market.
There’s a common misunderstanding that branding is good advertising and design. These activities are important because they help brands communicate with customers. But without good systems, procedures, service, training and other things that form the customer’s total brand experience, these can be wasted.
Seven myths
The first myth is that quality is a brand differentiator. Most Asian countries have overcome the problems of poor product quality, and smart CEOs see that product quality is no longer a differentiator. It is the price you have to pay to get into the game. If you do not have top quality products and services, you will never have a strong brand. Service quality still remains a differentiator in Asia, however, and local companies often lose out to their foreign counterparts in this area. So, quality is not which sells the product, perceived quality is what sells the product.
Secondly, there’s a common misunderstanding that branding is good advertising and design. These activities are important because they help brands communicate with customers. But without good systems, procedures, service, training and other things that form the customer’s total brand experience, these can be wasted. Importantly, the promise they make, if not delivered, can cause irreparable damage to a brand. So, gap analysis at each and every point is important.
Thirdly, some companies claim that as the market place is too crowded, branding is impossible. While competition brings with it a bigger range of products and more frequent product enhancements, the real issue is not product proliferation, but the existence of too many similar products. Rarity and authenticity are coveted by consumers but are difficult to find. Where are the innovations and ground-breaking products and services? Branding is possible in a crowded market but you cannot brand mediocrity. So, finding the gap and positioning you brand in that gap is what is needed by companies
Another mantra that is commonly heard is “We know what consumers want”. There are still companies that produce ideas that turn into products which they attempt to sell with a demonic fervor, instead of concentrating on what consumers really want. This leaves a large gap between product strategy and consumer satisfaction. Finding products for consumers, not consumers for products, develops successful brands. So, stay close to the Customers.
A fifth mistake is to believe that more customer means greater brand strength. Many companies try to increase their customer base in order to grow, but few focus on keeping existing customers happy as a cheaper and more effective growth strategy. Companies that neglect their existing customers are placed in jeopardy by deteriorating rates of customer retention and brand loyalty. Brand is, which only few customers value enough to buy, and making a new customer is difficult than retaining your old customer.
Under intense competitive pressure, many firms turn to lower prices as a means of adding more brand value. The issue here is that price discounting often means less brand value – to the customer and to the company. Lowering prices lowers image power, and although consumers may buy cheap things, they treat them as commodities instead of nice things to have. People will pay premium for perceived value, but value goes beyond mere price and quality.
The last myth is that the world is rational and so is branding. Nothing could be further from the truth. The world is driven by emotion. Rational thought can lead consumers to be interested but it is emotion that sells, and emotional thoughts that companies need to elicit from consumers. Asian companies have yet to learn the power of emotion in marketing, and it is all too often that we see advertisements crammed with information about product features and attributes, instead of emotional benefits. It means non functional benefit are given more importance rather than functional benefits by the consumers.
So, what should companies bear in mind when developing a winning brand strategy?
Seven musts
The first thing to focus on is differentiation. The best strategy in developing a powerful brand is to create the perception of difference. Being seen as both different and better than the competition is the biggest step in becoming a well-known brand and not just a well-known name.
Secondly, claim share of heart. Strong consumer relationships are found in strong brands, but companies still tend to focus on capturing “share of wallet” as opposed to “share of heart”. This philosophy might generate short-term sales but it will not build enduring relationships. Achieving “share of heart” by delighting customers will not only produce loyal customers, it will transform those happy customers into an effective sales force. In short, share of heart leads to share of wallet.
Thirdly, develop brand charisma. Emotion sells and companies must continually try to create an emotional association between their brand and consumers. The best way to ensure that emotion is built into the brand and its relationships with consumers is to build a strong brand personality – using values that consumers like and can relate to.
Fourthly, remember to build a brand culture. Staff training is critical to brand success. Everyone in the company must be trained to both appreciate the brand and what it stands for, and to contribute in their daily work to brand development. People deliver great brand experiences! They are your brand ambassadors. So, creating an employee loving culture is required to develop a customer loving culture.
Fifth, install a brand management system. Every touch point with the consumer has to be handled with the utmost care to ensure that the total brand experience a person has is consistent and appropriate. This involves physical evidence, people, processes, service scape etc to engineer a great customer experience. This would involve service blueprint or rather blueprint of the interaction between consumer and product/service.
Another crucial brand building element is to balance consistency with change. While consumers like familiarity and consistency, they also want new things. New products and services are essential to give consumers modernity and relevance, but keeping the brand name and values constant adds reassurance and trust. So, delight your customer with a variation in product/service by keeping consistent service.
Last but not least, companies must treat branding as an investment as not a cost. The appetite for brand investment in Asia is poor. Too much emphasis is placed on short-term thinking and performance, and branding fails to receive the funding it needs. All too often, the cash tap is turned on and off as the “feel-good” factor varies. It is time to realize that brands are strategic assets that can be worth multiples of the tangible net assets of a company if nurtured properly.
A fifth mistake is to believe that more customer means greater brand strength. Many companies try to increase their customer base in order to grow, but few focus on keeping existing customers happy as a cheaper and more effective growth strategy. Companies that neglect their existing customers are placed in jeopardy by deteriorating rates of customer retention and brand loyalty. Brand is, which only few customers value enough to buy, and making a new customer is difficult than retaining your old customer.
Under intense competitive pressure, many firms turn to lower prices as a means of adding more brand value. The issue here is that price discounting often means less brand value – to the customer and to the company. Lowering prices lowers image power, and although consumers may buy cheap things, they treat them as commodities instead of nice things to have. People will pay premium for perceived value, but value goes beyond mere price and quality.
The last myth is that the world is rational and so is branding. Nothing could be further from the truth. The world is driven by emotion. Rational thought can lead consumers to be interested but it is emotion that sells, and emotional thoughts that companies need to elicit from consumers. Asian companies have yet to learn the power of emotion in marketing, and it is all too often that we see advertisements crammed with information about product features and attributes, instead of emotional benefits. It means non functional benefit are given more importance rather than functional benefits by the consumers.
So, what should companies bear in mind when developing a winning brand strategy?
Seven musts
The first thing to focus on is differentiation. The best strategy in developing a powerful brand is to create the perception of difference. Being seen as both different and better than the competition is the biggest step in becoming a well-known brand and not just a well-known name.
Secondly, claim share of heart. Strong consumer relationships are found in strong brands, but companies still tend to focus on capturing “share of wallet” as opposed to “share of heart”. This philosophy might generate short-term sales but it will not build enduring relationships. Achieving “share of heart” by delighting customers will not only produce loyal customers, it will transform those happy customers into an effective sales force. In short, share of heart leads to share of wallet.
Thirdly, develop brand charisma. Emotion sells and companies must continually try to create an emotional association between their brand and consumers. The best way to ensure that emotion is built into the brand and its relationships with consumers is to build a strong brand personality – using values that consumers like and can relate to.
Fourthly, remember to build a brand culture. Staff training is critical to brand success. Everyone in the company must be trained to both appreciate the brand and what it stands for, and to contribute in their daily work to brand development. People deliver great brand experiences! They are your brand ambassadors. So, creating an employee loving culture is required to develop a customer loving culture.
Fifth, install a brand management system. Every touch point with the consumer has to be handled with the utmost care to ensure that the total brand experience a person has is consistent and appropriate. This involves physical evidence, people, processes, service scape etc to engineer a great customer experience. This would involve service blueprint or rather blueprint of the interaction between consumer and product/service.
Another crucial brand building element is to balance consistency with change. While consumers like familiarity and consistency, they also want new things. New products and services are essential to give consumers modernity and relevance, but keeping the brand name and values constant adds reassurance and trust. So, delight your customer with a variation in product/service by keeping consistent service.
Last but not least, companies must treat branding as an investment as not a cost. The appetite for brand investment in Asia is poor. Too much emphasis is placed on short-term thinking and performance, and branding fails to receive the funding it needs. All too often, the cash tap is turned on and off as the “feel-good” factor varies. It is time to realize that brands are strategic assets that can be worth multiples of the tangible net assets of a company if nurtured properly.
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