successful brand management

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Suzanne Kushner Director of Marketing Communications Mainsoft Corp. [email protected] Successful Brand Management: Moving from a Product- Centric to a Customer- Centric Business Model

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Successful Brand Management: Moving from a Product-Centric Focus to a Customer-Centric Business Model by Susanne Kushner at SVPMA Monthly Event May 2002

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Page 1: Successful Brand Management

Suzanne Kushner

Director of Marketing CommunicationsMainsoft Corp.

[email protected]

Successful Brand Management:

Moving from a Product-Centric to a Customer-Centric

Business Model

Page 2: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 3: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 4: Successful Brand Management

The face of a commodity!

Page 5: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 6: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 7: Successful Brand Management

Do most High-Tech companies have a branding

strategy that really works?

Page 8: Successful Brand Management

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

XXX

Page 9: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 10: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 11: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 12: Successful Brand Management

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

XXX

Page 13: Successful Brand Management

What is a brand?

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

- Regis McKenna

Page 14: Successful Brand Management

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

company/product delivering?

What is a relationship?

Page 15: Successful Brand Management

So…sounds simple, but

Making and keeping a promise - consistently -

can be a powerful source of competitive advantage

Page 16: Successful Brand Management

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

msf

Page 17: Successful Brand Management
Page 18: Successful Brand Management

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

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

Page 19: Successful Brand Management

For many companies, the brand IS the company

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

Page 20: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 21: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 22: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 23: Successful Brand Management

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!

Page 24: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 25: Successful Brand Management

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?

Page 26: Successful Brand Management

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

Logos? Taglines?

Page 27: Successful Brand Management

Tip!

Marketing budgets are determined by results!

Page 28: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 29: Successful Brand Management
Page 30: Successful Brand Management

Print Ad 2

Page 31: Successful Brand Management
Page 32: Successful Brand Management

CAUTION!

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

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

Page 33: Successful Brand Management

This is all interesting, but where does Product

Management/Marketing

fit in?

Page 34: Successful Brand Management

Sources of Brand Information

PMM

Field Sales Feedback

Design and ProductionSchedules

Competitive InformationInventory Data

Transaction DataFrom Finance

All Customer Touch Points

Page 35: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 36: Successful Brand Management

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

Page 37: Successful Brand Management

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?

Page 38: Successful Brand Management

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