What is branding?

A question posed to me by a friend and veteran photographer on Linkedin yesterday went something like this:
Q:What is branding? I’ve noticed every designer under 35 rest their laurels on branding skills. Is this similar to the logo craze of the 1980s?

My response went something like this:

Good question. The challenge with the term “branding” is that most marketers and designers don’t understand what the term branding means, and often lump their ability in creating logos into the branding bucket. Branding has been going on for decades, even centuries, but was really labeled in the mid to late nineties to include everything around a product or service that creates an expectation and promise of an experience of what that product or service can deliver to an audience. That could include:
1. The logo
2. A tagline
3. Written messages
4. A website
5. Print ads
6. Social media approach
7. Colors
8. Typefaces
9. Sounds, music, smells
10. Dress codes
11. Phone messages
12. Groups of customers who use the product or service
13. Interior design and architecture
18. Vehicles (cars, trucks, planes, etc.)

You get the picture. A whole lot more than logos.

Mike

Olympic Pictograms

Now that you’re all going through Curling withdrawal you can get your Olmpics fix this way…by watching this great summation of Olympic pictograms through the years. Kudos to the team over at the New York Times.

Growth Constraints on Business

I read with great interest Bill Eastman’s inaugural blog for Inc Magazine. Bill offers some excellent insight into the pain felt by “fast growth companies” who may no longer be in that fast growth track. In our practice at Kolbrener, we are often engaged by companies who have lost that growth edge. After achieving some measure of success via riding the wave of a technological innovation, limited or no competition, a stretch of national economic expansion, one great client or just good old luck, there comes a time when that party has run its course.

Bill offers up the following: “There exists only two primary constraints on growth; all others issues are parts of these two. Constraint One – the company is experiencing a CAPACITY problem and simply cannot do more under present conditions, making increased sales suicide. Constraint Two – the company is experiencing a SALES problem that is idling production, affecting revenue, and collapsing margins.”

Eastman does a nice job a examining the root of Constraint One, so let’s take a closer look at Constraint 2: The company is experiencing a SALES problem. As mentioned earlier, there are several reasons that may have contributed to earlier sales success that may no longer be in play. Overall lead and opportunity volume are diminishing and management sees a shrinking sales pipeline. Sales is at a loss to explain how to fix the problem. After all, they are selling the same thing that has been flying off the shelves for years. A typical “fix” may be for the VP of sales to ask for additional bodies on the sales team.

1. Sales process – Often times a salesforce is comprised of one or two MVP sales people, a few average sales people and a few underperformers. How do you bring the mid and lower levels up to the MVP level?

2. Brand Articulation – Is it clear to your prospects what you are actually selling? Is your message too technical? Are you conveying the real benefits that your product or service can deliver? Are those benefits believable?

3. Customer/Client identification – Are you clear on exactly who your ideal prospect is? let’s face it. It may have been pretty easy to find the early adopters who initially embraced your offering. That is no longer the case, and your going to have to work harder to find buyers.

4. Are your sales and marketing initiatives working in unison – Often, and particularly in earlier stage fast growing companies, much attention is paid to sales, while marketing is either ignored or delegated to an administrative assistant. Imagine if Proctor and Gamble took the same route? It’s critical for companies to look at their marketing staff and marketing budgets as critically as they do their sales staff and budgets. Once the right players are in place, sales and marketing can dance in lock step, taking your company to new sales heights.

5. Are you still relevant – Things change. Technology evolves rapidly. Global economies change. Weather patterns shift. Are you still selling something that people need or want.

Independent Hotel Branding (Is the best surprise no surprise?)

Back in the 1970s, Holiday Inn revolutionized the hotel industry with their concept of homogenizing the hospitality experience for America. Increasingly, travelers wanted to know exactly where they were going to stay when they got weary. Thus was born the branded hotel as we know it today, the same here as it is there as it is everywhere. Holiday Inn created an expected level of value and experience that was solidified in their new 1975 tagline, “The Best Surprise is No Surprise”. Theirs was a promise of low prices, consistent quality, and convenient locations to a generation of Americans heading out for the highway for business and pleasure.

Jumping ahead 35 years we can see the relative benefits and challenges that a branded world of hospitality has brought to the world. Hyatt, Hilton, Westin, Doubletree, W and Holiday Inn have all cemented their own brands and extensions of those brands so that everyone knows exactly what they will get when they walk into the lobby anywhere in the world. There is truly no more surprise for millions of travelers who have come to expect, and demand, the attributes that these brands deliver on a consistent basis.

One might conclude that this branded hotel evolution would have resulted in the absolute destruction the independent hotel market. Not so. In fact over the last 15 years, the growth in supply for independent segment has trailed the branded segment by only 4 to 5%. Also, what independent hotels might lose to branded hotels in total occupancy, they typically make up for in average daily rate (ADR).

So what is the real challenge for the independent hotel in a world dominated by brands? It is imperative that the independent hotel owner takes branding as seriously as their branded competitors. That means developing a brand strategy plan way in advance of hiring the architect, the interior designers, the food and beverage experts, the ad agency and the hotel staff. The independent hotel must nail down exactly whom they are going to serve. They must define that audience (persona) from both a demographic and psychographic perspective. It’s critical, because that’s exactly what the branded hotels do.

When you check into a Westin, you know exactly what type of guest is going to be there. What you want as an independent may a very different guest, one who is looking for a unique hospitality experience, one that they can not get at a branded hotel. This is the great opportunity, to provide this new expectation of value and experience that is unique to your offering. Going this any other way will create a hospitality property that is undefined and adrift.  Marketing becomes an enormously expensive and ineffective when you don’t really know exactly who you are marketing to.  Once both transient and group targets are defined, you can build a brand strategy around them.

One independent boutique hotel that has done a tremendous job of creating a unique experience unmatched by any branded hotel is The Ellis Hotel in downtown Atlanta. Well-defined guest personas are articulated in all branding, marketing, food and beverage as well as in room amenities. Hard to get it right, and they’ve done it right.

Once you’ve built a brand strategy, you can call back the architects, designers and f&b folks. Now you have a brand, now you can build, now you can fill the rooms with the confidence that you’ve done your homework and can provide something that the branded hotels can not, because sometimes the best surprise is a well thought out and unique surprise.

Does Branding add Merger and Acquisition Value?

Identifying brand assets and building their value is crucial before, during and after mergers and acquisitions.

In almost any industry, we have seen firsthand that branding and marketing of a target company directly impacts the success of M&A deals. And that timing is essential.

Enhance Brand Value Before M&A

If you plan to sell your business, don’t underestimate the impact of brand value on the final selling price—because acquirers don’t.
Your brand is among your most important assets. An Interbrand/JP Morgan study found that brands account for over one third of company book value.* Another expert asserts that, on average, a corporate brand accounts for 8.5% of a company’s market cap.2**
After selecting an M&A advisor to sell your business, you typically have 60 to 90 days to get your house in order before evaluation by private equity firms and acquirers. During this period, an expert branding partner should quickly identify your key attributes, and, working seamlessly with your investment banker or M&A advisor, implement the branding and marketing improvements that will most effectively increase your company’s selling value.

Integrate Brands After M&A

Mergers and acquisitions create unique opportunities: expanded offerings, new markets, economies of scale, better competitive outlook, and more. But studies suggest that up to 70 percent of acquisitions fail to deliver long-term value for the acquirer. If not addressed promptly, post-M&A brand issues—market resistance to a brand shift, brand confusion, incompatible marketing and sales process, negative perceptions of a deal among customers or employees—can form a “black hole” for a deal’s value.
You’ll need to quickly assess affected brands or brand extensions and target markets, then devise and begin implementing a value-building brand integration strategy in the critical first 60 to 90 days after a deal. Taking these steps will help you maximize long-term brand value while avoiding the marketing missteps that cause so many deals to fall short of expectations.

* Brand Valuation: The financial value of brands (April 27, 04), Interbrand

** Speaking in Numbers, the Language of Bottom Line Business, David Stewart, University of Southern California (February 7, 2006), A panel discussion presented to the IIR 9th Annual Conference on Returning Marketing Investment

Branding from the Inside Out

Back in October of 2007, John Quelch of WPP and professor since 1979 at the Harvard Business School, shared his insight with Laura Mazur and Louella Miles regarding the power of ”branding an ingredient” as a key to better marketing a larger or more complex product or service. “When is the provider of the final product or service willing to compromise its own brand-building to add the ingredient brand on the package as well as in advertising? There are four conditions:

1. The ingredient is highly differentiated, usually supported by patent protection, and so adds an aura of quality to the overall product. Think Gore-Tex for water resistant rainwear.
2. The ingredient is central to the functional performance of the final product. Think Shimano gear systems on performance bicycles or Monsanto’s Nutrasweet, added to Equal sweetener.
3. The final products are not well-branded themselves, either because the category is relatively new, because customers buy infrequently or because there is low perceived differentiation among the options. Think about all of Dupont’s ingredient brands for clothing, from Rayon through Lycra.
4. The final products are complex, assembled from components supplied by multiple firms who may sell the “ingredients” separately in an aftermarket. Think cars with Michelin tires, Dolby stereo systems and Champion spark plugs. ”

A Quickie Guide to Web 2.0 SEO Strategy

Lately, a lot of people have been asking us about Web 2.0 strategies and more particularly about Web 2.0 SEO and social media strategies. Below, are 6 things that you can do yourself to take advantage of SEO as an integral part of your company’s lead generation strategy. A Web 2.0 SEO “social media” strategy will build awareness of your products and services and help engage your prospects in a larger conversation about the topics in which you are an expert.

1.    Build multiple blogs on multiple ideas around your expertise, all linking to eachother and back to the main site. You’ll need 5 to 6 (minimum) people who are willing to write for these blogs on a weekly basis. There are many good blogging tools and many of them are free. Take a look at www.wordpress.com.

2.    Create video content (interviews, discussions, activities, etc) to post to http://www.youtube.com that also links back to your main web site. Inexpensive digital video cameras can be purchased for as little as $225 and are an invaluable tool. With drag and drop interfaces for YouTube, the process is easy.

3.    Post photos on http://www.flickr.com that link back to the main site.

4.    Develop pod casts and post on your main web site (you can take audio contentfrom the videos or an interview with some of your key clients on the benefits they receive from your company).  Here’s a great link explaining DIY podcasting. Also check out mypodcast.com as a good place to start and create and host your podcasts.

5.    Open LinkedIn, FaceBook, MySpace or Twitter accounts for your company and or yourself. The one’s you choose largely depend on who your target audience is, but don’t underestimate the power of these locations.

6.    Find 5 or more advocates of your product or service and ask them to blog about your company. Make sure that their blogs link back to the main page.

Marketing and Sales: “Two great tastes that taste great together”.

You got chocolate in my peanut butter! You got peanut butter on my chocolate! That very successful 1970s launch for what is now a ubiquitous treat is the perfect metaphor for the way marketing and sales disciplines often view each other. To make matters worse, most marketing professional have convinced their clients that “successful” marketing will get them noticed! What about marketing and branding that actually fills the new business pipeline? Novel idea, but it shouldn’t be.

How do you really generate sales? Some companies are lucky enough to ride the wave of an emerging technology, others are just lucky, the rest have to actually work at it. We’ll assume that you have something that others really want, have identified who those people are and then differentiated your offering from competitors. We’ll also assume that you have someone to sell your offering (even if it’s just you). Next, you might consider allocating a marketing budget of 2-4% of your gross revenue. Now comes the part that will define your sales success or failure. In order to get that 2-4% of gross revenue to actually work, you’ll need to align that marketing spend with your sales process. That means documenting how your sales team sells and weave in marketing tactics that are in lock step with that process.

Don’t have a sales process? There are many good ASP (on demand) and server-based options out there, but you’ll need to choose one (Landslide.com or Salesforce.com). Next, find out how often your sales people contact a prospect? How do they do so? Letters, phone calls, direct mail, email, newsletters, etc. How are those timed with relation to a projected close date? Herein lies the secret. It’s the synchronization of sales and marketing that makes it all work. When they are synchronized, they work harder than each on their own. At the end of the day, marketing and sales need to dance together. Just like peanut butter and chocolate. After all, marketing and sales are “Two great tastes that taste great together.”

New products and service launch?

For any new venture, an undifferentiated brand and undefined integrated marketing and lead generation strategy are potential barriers to realizing growth. As part of a three-fold effort to (1) Clearly articulate the value of your offerings to prospects, (2) Build the marketing material to communicate this value and (3) Develop a lead generation program to increase inbound opportunities, the following is typically recommended:

• Develop Brand Positioning and Marketing Communications Strategy
  
• Marketing Communications Implementation
• Develop and Implement an Integrated Drip Marketing and Lead Generation Program

To achieve your goals, you must carve out the unique and compelling reasons for potential customers to select your over competing products and services…and consistently communicate both your distinct personality and benefits in ways that connect with your target audiences.

A good process must walk a fine line between too much and too little, and allows for collaboration and ensures that the outcome makes the highest possible impact.

Recommended Steps
1. Product /Service Brand Evaluation Research
2. Competitive Analysis
3. Product or service Brand Platform Development
4. Brand Attributes/Definitions
5. Brand Essence
6. Positioning Statement
7. Target “Persona” Development

This comprehensive approach ensures that your brand becomes the thread that runs through all of your discreet marketing efforts…and that each and every effort reflects positive equity back to the overall brand.