successful brand management

Suzanne Kushner

Director of Marketing CommunicationsMainsoft Corp.

Suzannekushner@hotmail.com

Successful Brand Management:

Moving from a Product-Centric to a Customer-Centric

Business Model

Top 3 Things to Remember When “Branding”

1. Think of Branding as a way of doing business, not just a Marketing function

2. Look for ways to improve your Total Customer Experience more often

3. Service – good or bad – may have the greatest impact on your product or company’s brand image

Why is branding so important to high-tech companies?

Product commoditization Consumers have more choices than ever

Harder to offer strong value propositions, differentiation in technology products

Strong brands can command premium prices (Historically) Strong brands have driven

strong stock prices

The face of a commodity!

What’s a brand worth?

10 engineers asked to read a brochure and

select a productNO BRAND LISTED IN BROCHURE

• Brand A 18.6%• Brand B 29.8%• Brand C 26.2%• Brand D 16.7%• Brand E 1.5%• Brand F 2.9%

Source: “Driving Brand Value: Using Integrated Marketing to Manage Profitable Shareholder Relationships” by Tom Duncan

What’s a brand worth?10 engineers asked to read a brochure and

select a product

BRANDS IDENTIFIED IN THE BROCHURE

• HP 18.6% 63.2%• Brand B 29.8% 12.5%• Brand C 26.2% 7%• Brand D 16.7% 5.6%• Brand E 1.5% 4.3%• Brand F 2.9% 2.9%

Source: “Driving Brand Value: Using Integrated Marketing to Manage Profitable Shareholder Relationships” by Tom Duncan

Do most High-Tech companies have a branding

strategy that really works?

Most aren’t sure!

• Most high-tech companies are run by people who don’t know what good brand management involves

• Most branding is left to Marketing to create logos and run ad campaigns

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To “brand” their products, here’s what they’re doing:

• Trying to gain mindshare via advertising and mass media

• Creating pretty logos!• Creating interesting taglines

Branding Idea Du Juor!

Name a Ballpark!• PacBell Park - San Francisco• CMGI Park - Boston - $76 million/10 years• Qualcomm Park - San Diego• 3Com Park - San Francisco• Network Associates Park -Oakland, Calif• Campbell Field -Camden, N.J.• Cinergy Field - Cincinnati• Enron Corp. - Houston Astros - $100 million/30 years• Comerica Park - Detroit - $86 million/30 years• FedEx Park- Washington- $205million/27 years

High-tech branding is different

• Product lifecycles are short• Innovation and change-driven industry so

“secondary” brands don’t have a real impact: Sears:Kenmore/Craftsman GM: Chevrolet, Pontiac

• Often concentrate on brand of company, not product

• Most high-tech brands must grapple with global complexity; trademarking internationally is expensive

Biggest challenge for most high tech companies:

• Not one-voice, one-look, or lack of pretty logos - these are tactical, logistical

• Creating and nourishing long-term customer relationships

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What is a brand?

A brand represents a relationship customers have come to know and value

- Regis McKenna

What’s the company/product promising and what’s the

company/product delivering?

What is a relationship?

So…sounds simple, but

Making and keeping a promise - consistently -

can be a powerful source of competitive advantage

Technology buyers are skeptical

• Conditioned to expect unreliable products• Burned by old and new companies

promising too much• Don’t think a company has their best

interest in mind• Low expectations for good service

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In high tech, the interpretation of “branding” is:

Sell the promise but it’s OK to deliver only 40% of the time!

For many companies, the brand IS the company

• Nordstrom• Volvo• SW Airlines• Tiffany• Kellogg• HP• Intel• Microsoft• Google

How do you create a brand?

OLD WAY• Create a new category• Displace a competitor

NEW WAY• An active experience where the customer is

actively involved and feels empowered

Today, branding is about…

• Moving from product-centric focus to customer-centric focus

• Realizing the ENTIRE customer experience can be the most significant driver to brand value

• Any contact with your organization defines your brand

How do you build or enhance your company’s brand?

OLD WAYOne-way communication: mass media

via TV, print, word-of-mouth, broadcast NEW WAY

Two-way communication: All of above PLUS we must create 1-to-1 relationships by communicating WITH customers; create purposeful dialog

5 R’s of “Purposeful” Dialog

1. Recourse – Customers want to avoid risk when buying a product…

- Make it easy for the customer to contact the company if there is a problem

2. Recognition – Customers like to be personally recognized

Address customers by name on solicitations3. Responsiveness – Do more than provide an 800-number!

4. Respect – Dialog w. the customer when it makes sense for them

5. Reinforcement – Reinforce your message w. mass media that has a call to action!

Types of Brand Messages

1. Product Messages: Performance, price, distribution points: Ex. Price sends a message! What would you think of a

Rolex watch for $15? Or a diamond ring in Kmart packaging?

2. Service Messages: interactions your customers have w/your company

Ex. Customer service reps, receptionist, delivery drivers - these can have a SIGNIFICANT impact

3. Unplanned Messages: messages you can influence but can’t control

Ex. news stories, word-of-mouth, special interest groups, chat rooms employees

4. Planned Messages: (marcom) Ex. Advertisements, Brochures, data sheets, datasheets

Which “source” is often the most influential?

UNPLANNED MESSAGES!!!

• Typically have more of an impact than marketing programs

• Sometimes you can influence them, but you can’t always control them

• Are these confirming your “planned” messages?

Do you need advertising/mass media to build a brand?

Logos? Taglines?

Tip!

Marketing budgets are determined by results!

What can advertising(mass media) actually do?

• Create positive images; create awareness

• Position brand• Reach multiple stakeholders

• AGGREGATE AND QUALIFY PROSPECTS – then move to 1-to-1

Print Ad 2

CAUTION!

• NON-ADVERTISING MESSAGES can negate the most brilliant creative work

• Building strong brand relationships means LISTENING to and RESPONDING to customers

This is all interesting, but where does Product

Management/Marketing

fit in?

Sources of Brand Information

PMM

Field Sales Feedback

Design and ProductionSchedules

Competitive InformationInventory Data

Transaction DataFrom Finance

All Customer Touch Points

How Product Management should view branding…

Clearly understand the net worth of your current customers

Know your customer touch points; determine which you can (positively) influence TODAY

Postpone Marketing activities if more serious problems exist

Hire a branding agency – not an ad agency

How companies should think about branding

• Make your brand strategy a way of doing business – not just a marketing function

• Shift emphasis from ACQUIRING customers to RETAINING and GROWING customers

• Communicate WITH rather than TO customers

• Better manage customer expectations

Measure Your Brand Through a Brand Audit

Components of Brand Audit• TRUST – Does product do what it says it will do?• CONSISTENCY – Is product performance and service

predictable? Are company policies and procedures consistent?• ACCESSIBILTY – Is it easy to reach your company?• RESPONSIVENESS – Are questions, inquiries and complaints

quickly and thoroughly handled• COMMITMENT – To what extent is the company really interested

in customers?• AFFINITY – Do customers identify with this brand? Do they relate

to other people who use it?• LIKING – Do all stakeholders like to be associated with the

brand?

Top 3 Things to Remember When “Branding”

1. Think of Branding as a way of doing business, not just a Marketing function

2. Look for ways to improve your Total Customer Experience more often

3. Service – good or bad – may have the greatest impact on your product or company’s brand image