OK, so Obama is in office, discretionary income is low, and therefore store front and/or website traffic is down... A lot of consumers have slowed or completely stopped buying non-essential products like home improvement, hot tubs, new cars, etc. and many of the other products you sell... they aren't eating out or going out for entertainment near as often. Well, unless you are ready to throw in the towel, and close up shop, it’s time to start finding new ways to drive prospects to your store/website.
According to some estimates, the average consumer is exposed to about 3000 advertisements per day. So in order to capture your prospects attention, you must offer something unique.
Here are a couple of unique ideas to think about...just a few... I'll give you three:
1 – Co-branding/Joint Ventures
Contact complimentary businesses that sell to your target market. If you are targeting consumers that suffer from back pain, why not get in touch with a local chiropractor, massage therapist and an acupuncturist and have an open house hosted in your store.
Create an ad inviting back pain sufferers to a “Lunch and Learn” Back Pain Clinic on a Saturday afternoon. Each of the sponsors sends out invitations to their current list of customers and prospects and at the end of the event, you all get to share the leads that attended.
That combines two strategic elements: co-branding and event marketing
2 – Offer Unique Promotions
If you think that you can rely on the standard “We match our competitor pricing” or “money-back guarantee” to drive hungry consumers to your business, you are sadly mistaken. Those are too simple for hard times...too generic. Customers are already expecting this and quite frankly, in many industries, this the “the price of entry” – in other words, this does not make you any different than your competition.... b.k.a. "everyone does it."
This is going to get into web design a bit now but stay with me. It applies to brick and mortars also. Every website visitor that you have comes with a problem that they want solved or information they want to find. But prospective customers or clients may be at different stages of the decision-making/buying process. Some may indeed to ready to 'buy now' others maybe, and most are, still in the process of gathering information: finding out why, where, what makes you better, do I need it, etc.
Regardless of what stage in the buying process the're at, you will need to provide them with the useful information that they are looking for as a potential customer so that they can use it make an informed decision about their purchase. If you don't, they will leave you site "wanting" and that's not good for your brand or your hopes of having them purchase from you when the time comes.
Selling most products & services these days will requires that your potential customers be educated about what you do, who you are, why you are different and how your products/services can fill their need. This has been deemed “Education based Marketing” but it's a fundamental and critical part of the buying process that you must fulfill... because the educational process IS the heart of the selling process. And that's what you want to do. Your clients are wanting & needing information and they want credible advice. What they DO NOT want ever is a sales pitch....no body likes to think they are being sold. It has a negative connotation to it. Of course, educating them on why you are better, different, etc. IS sales... so there you go.
Everything you do on you site should have one overriding objective – turning visitors into sales! No surprise here. But you have to do it in a way that is comfortable and effective FOR THEM. This is the purpose of customer targeting and the focus of the LISTEN stage of Straight Line Marketing.
Another element that would help in the sales/buying process would be to provide numerous touch points with the prospect while they are considering, researching, and thinking about this purchase. One way set it up where you can verifiably do that is by capturing their contact information, minimally their first name and e-mail address, so that you can reach out to them again.
What you want to do is get first time visitors to opt-in to something you offer. This could be an email list for future promotions, the opportunity to find you on Facebook, how to follow you on Twitter, or an informational newsletter or blog. In order to do convince them to provide you with their information, you have to offer something they perceive as valuable, something that they want in exchange for providing you their contact information.
There are several different things you could offer: email lists, blogs, white papers, special reports, etc. Their purposes are all to provide needed information that your prospect couldn’t get anywhere else, thus building value in the mind of your prospective client (many times before you even meet in person). This are just some of the things we brainstorm during the THINK stage of the Straight Line Marketing process at Reformation Productions.
3– Tie in With Charitable Organizations
Why not find a way do some good for your business and your community at the same time. Create promotional tie-ins with local charities. Doing so can exponentially drive traffic to your business. How?
Here’s an example. Hold a local high school football team car wash or blood drive in front of your store or do a charity drive at your office. In both instances, both you and the charity being sponsored can get free Public Relations in addition to any advertising you both do. Effective PR can definitely send traffic to your store especially if a school or charity is endorsing it.
After the event, invite the charity and the local newspaper or TV station back to your store and have pictures taken of you and the charity along with the oversized check.
Another example, our company offers event photography and blog write-up to all local charities. We've been known to contribute other things that fall under our expertise, but event photography and public relations is what we put out there. You see our company is passionate about helping local businesses and being charitable. What better way to communicate that aspect of our brand than partnering with local charity events?
In summary, as a business owner, you know that you have to marketing your business if you want to stay in business. That isn't the question. The question is how to market the most effectively and efficiently that you can in these hard times. When the going gets tough, the tough get strategic and creative. We can help you through all this. Our passion is for local businesses and helping them get ahead in the marketing game...even in this down economy.
Contact Rachel Bennett at www.ReformationProductions.com or call 404.862.8814.
Reformation Productions is located in the north Atlanta metro area of Gwinnett County near the following surrounding areas: Dacula, Buford, Hamilton Mill, Braselton, Winder, Duluth, Lawrenceville, Norcross, Hoschton, and Suwanee.
Showing posts with label local business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label local business. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Monday, June 20, 2011
The 4Ps
The 4Ps.... taught over and over in marketing school as a way to differentiate your brand. There are always considerations other than price and product functionality in the buying decision. The challenge is to define them. When you do that you are defining your brand. Your brand is not your logo. It is not your slogan. It is something more intangible. Your brand is every part of the buying decisions that is not Price or Product/Service.
What a customer buys when they are buying a product or service is the total package of benefits associated with the selling organization, the people who work there, its image and reputation, and the way it does business. These are much more than the features, benefits, price and tangible aspects of a specific product or service, something that adds value to the transaction. I've worked with many banks and credit unions over the years: Bank Of America, Y-12 Federal Credit Union, Regions Bank, SunTrust, Fleet Bank, MBNA, etc.... so let's use banking as an example - when a customer chooses a bank for a cash management system, he or she buys that bank's experience and track record, the quality of the people who developed and maintain the system, the "image" of how that system is perceived and how easy the bank will be to work with. There are always considerations other than price and product functionality. The most important point is that that what a customer buys transcends the product itself. The challenge for those responsible for sales and marketing, therefore, is to capture the power of this notion and define that "something more: so customers can easily see it and the value it brings to them. It is the "something" that ultimately determines from whom the customer buys and how much is paid. The "something" is at the core of the organization's brand.
These ideas are at the core of the 4Ps model, an important conceptual tool. The 4Ps - Product, People, Past and Process--represent those resources of a company that can be differentiated from one institution to another. Often these differences have evolved over time with little intention or planning. For instance, one bank has a reputation among its customers for being helpful to new businesses. Where did this notion come from? A policy? A particular group of employees? A specific, well-known and publicized incident? With some thought, some veteran employees of this bank might be able to trace how this perception came to be, but most likely they will report it "just happened." On the other hand, if management is aware of the importance of differentiating the bank from its competitors, it can specifically create, develop, communicate and manage notable differences that the customer will perceive as valuable around the bank's products, people, past and processes. (See definition of the 4Ps at the end of this article.)
Plainness and a Promise
The origin of the 4Ps stems from two compelling problem areas in marketing: selling a commodity and selling a service. A commodity is a product that is fundamentally the same from one vendor to another. Steel, potash, sulphur, nails and screws are commodities. A service, on the other hand, doesn't exist at all until it is delivered; it is intangible and cannot be experienced by the buyer in making a buying decision. The commodity exudes undifferentiated plainness; the intangible service presents a promise, an uncertainty. A bank has the unique distinction of offering a number of commodity-type services.
Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School has written a number of articles on product differentiation. (Harvard Business Review, January-February,1980 and Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1981) which have contributed to the 4Ps concept.
What A Product Is: Beyond the Obvious
Levitt has developed a product diffentiation model that opens a new perspective as to what a product is. This model defines a product on four different levels: the generic product, the expected product, the augmented product and the potential product.
The generic product, as Levitt presents it, is the product itself--the cash management system, the letter of credit, the term loan--whatever it is the customer can use to help improve the business. Even though these generic products are found in most banks, they are not necessarily the same. Slight differences in product design may make one bank's lock boxes more attractive than another's. This is the most obvious area for product differentiation as anyone who has ever seen a development team laboring long and hard to generate creative nuances for a new product will report. But there is more to a product than its parts.
The expected product includes those aspects that relate to delivery, terms, support, new ideas for product applications, all of which are one step removed from the product itself, but without which the product simply could not be successfully sold. The augmented product refers to Levitt's notion of adding something to improve or modify the product for a particular customer. Developing a report on how much money is saved using a cash transfer system, for example, is a vehicle for demonstrating
what the vendor will do for the buyer. Augmenting the product goes beyond the product by exceeding the buyer's expectations. Finally, the potential product is "everything that might be done" to attract and hold the customer. This includes making suggestions for technical changes, reporting the results of surveys regarding product usage and attitudes of customers, installing new technologies to better use the product, and advising customers on business conditions, feasibility of business plans and employment of experts in specific technical areas.
Levitt's model is a useful framework for defining the various levels of product a customer can buy. Most important, as a development source for the 4Ps, it introduced the idea of moving away from product as a cluster of defined features, benefits and prices, into a more expanded view of what can be sold. In a bank, the idea of building more value into a loan or a trust account or any product or service is compelling. Every bank has the same products; an expanded view would include the unique value of people who service the product, the manner in which it is installed and how customers interact with the bank as well as the success the bank has had in the past. All these elements can be made to be different from the competition.
Reducing Uncertainty
Most bank products are services provided for customers. This brings into focus the other marketing challenge faced by banks, that is, selling services, and the associated problems of convincing customers that an intangible that customers can’t see, touch or feel will improve their business operations.
Another business writer provided some insight into how intangibles, such as services, can be made tangible. Warren J. Wittreich, in a classic article on selling professional services (Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1966), succinctly outlined the issues. To be successful, Wittreich writes that uncertainties surrounding who the customer is dealing with, how the service will be implemented and whether or not the money is being spent wisely must be dealt with. The degree to which a professional who sells can persuade the customer that he or she (and the bank) understands the problem, has solved similar problems in the past and has a way to do it or process which is logical and easily followed is the degree to which the customer's uncertainty can be reduced. The seller can sell him or herself by demonstrating command of the methods to be used, familiar relationships key people who are resources in solving the problem, and knowledge of and preferably involvement with related success stories. When people who sell do this, Wittreich writes, the "high bidder often wins" because there is much more value in dealing with certainty than uncertainty.
Wittreich's article was a forerunner of the many articles and books written about the service culture, excellence and customer orientation. Today, corporations are attempting to develop new ways to add value to the customer relationship while still maintaining low costs. Consumers are aware of the competition and are attracted to banks that provide what they need with the most added value. Among many examples, combined statements with summary information, account information accessible online and even advice about markets, investments and other specialized knowledge-based services are the kinds of developments banks have to make to give the customer more for his money. In fact, as the age of disintermediation accelerates, the types of services offered and the resources surrounding those services should be more important to banks interested in keeping market share. The concepts provided by Wittreich are an additional essential ingredient of the 4Ps, offering a wider view of
what has to be sold when selling these types of services.
More To It Than Talking Product
As a final resource for the 4Ps, a recent Sales Competency Study (Miller and Maginn, 1987) isolated the activities of high performing sales people in banks. In general, people who excel in selling in banks mention a variety of activities that revolve around themes of specificity, initiative, involvement, planning, focusing and analysis. Of critical importance to these individuals is the concept of selling yourself, of bringing more to the table than the competition, of creating an image of personal value to the customer. From a series of focus groups with these individuals, it became clear that high performers considered themselves a virtual product of the bank, an extension of the institution and behaved in a way that lead customers to recognized them as such.
These individuals were good at selling the resources of the bank, but they were also excellent at selling themselves. In Wittreich's words, they were good at reducing the customer's uncertainty in the way they responded to problems, in the genuine interest they displayed in the customer's business, in their understanding of the customer's needs, in their knowledge of how the bank does business and how resources within the bank work, in demonstrating their experience with solving similar middle market business problems. In the 4Ps model, the Relationship Manager is one of the resources the bank has to offer. Those sales people who recognize this can develop ways to differentiate themselves from their counterparts at competing institutions. A firm knowledge of the bank's resources--the 4Ps--and how to talk about them in sales situations represents a personal strength and an expanded view of what can be sold to the customer.
The 4Ps—A Practical Model
The 4Ps represent a synthesis of concepts from different areas of marketing and sales literature. From selling commodities comes the concept of looking beyond the generic product and into the arena of what additional value is delivered or can be delivered to the customer along with the product. From selling services comes the idea of reducing a customer's uncertainty by making the intangible more tangible--talking
about personal knowledge and experience, the process of working together, and related success stories. Finally, from the Sales Competency Study comes the high performers' conviction that they, as individuals, add value to the relationship by demonstrating what they know, who they know and how to get things done.
The 4Ps model is not a difficult concept to grasp. Yet, when faced with the task of defining what products are really different, what individuals are valuable, expert resources, how doing business is more user friendly than the competition and what success stories are worthy of corporate legend status, many bank Sales Leaders and Relationship Managers struggle. While many of the 4Ps can be tactically defined at the work unit level using local heroes and successes, the real work of defining the 4Ps is for the corporation's directors. It is up to them to clearly specify what the bank should be known for and to clarify how their products, people, process and past are better than the bank down the street. This is one of the primary objectives of what we call the Identification Session. For us, this 4-6 hours session is so vital that we offer it as a first step to companies at an extreme discount. It's our "free oil change" to bring customers in the door. After this session, the value of Straight Line Marketing is without question. Often times the second step within the Identify stage includes a Branding Workshop... to carry what's been identified, defined, uncovered and developed to the employees and preparing them to share it with the customers.
The 4Ps
The 4Ps represent resources of an organization which, when created and managed, become differentiators defining the brand. That is, they describe what the total offering of an organization is.
Product
The features and benefits of the product. This is the baseline of differentiation. To be competitive, the features and benefits of a product have to convey valuable differences to buyers. When there are no or minimal differences, the other Ps in the 4Ps model must be used to differentiate the product or service.
Past
One resource is the combined experience of the organization with the type of issues the buyer is facing. For example, if a customer is having trouble defining the kind of leasing arrangements to use, having a reputation as “the bank that helps small business get started in leasing” is a definite way to reduce uncertainty.
People
The individual or team working with the client represents another facet of the total offering. As a product, the individual or team literally has features and benefits. The level of expertise, ability to get things done, experience with similar clients, and even industry status represent examples of potential features of individuals that can help reduce uncertainty.
Process
How the organization does business is a strong potential area for differentiation. If the actual buying, delivery and implementation process is efficient and user friendly, it can be a major differentiator. Careful definition of this process, especially for intangible services, can bring a sense of security to an uncertain buyer.
References for this blog post:
Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing success through differentiation--of anything." Harvard Business Review, January 1980.
Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing intangible products and product intangibles." Harvard Business Review, May 1981.
Miller, N., and Maginn, M., "Business Development Competencies for Bank Relationship and Sales Managers." Lending, Winter, 1987.
Wittreich, Warren J., "How to buy/sell professional services." Harvard Business Review, March 1966.
The 4Ps are infamous is college courses on marketing. The bring a lot of insight into what branding is and how it can be developed, nurtured, defined, and encouraged. Now the positive attitude in this blog post is optimistic. But there is another side to branding. The scary, dangerous side is knowing that all companies have a brand.... whether they choose to develop, control, and management it or not. I've often defined your brand as "what people say about you when you aren't in the room"... it's the character of your company if we excluded your actual products or services. And left to it's own devices, your brand could be working against you. Everyone has an opinion... what are your customers opinions about you? And how are you responding to is?
Reformation Productions
Contact Rachel Bennett or Jeff Robertson to discuss your company and how Reformation Productions can serve you and your brand.
What a customer buys when they are buying a product or service is the total package of benefits associated with the selling organization, the people who work there, its image and reputation, and the way it does business. These are much more than the features, benefits, price and tangible aspects of a specific product or service, something that adds value to the transaction. I've worked with many banks and credit unions over the years: Bank Of America, Y-12 Federal Credit Union, Regions Bank, SunTrust, Fleet Bank, MBNA, etc.... so let's use banking as an example - when a customer chooses a bank for a cash management system, he or she buys that bank's experience and track record, the quality of the people who developed and maintain the system, the "image" of how that system is perceived and how easy the bank will be to work with. There are always considerations other than price and product functionality. The most important point is that that what a customer buys transcends the product itself. The challenge for those responsible for sales and marketing, therefore, is to capture the power of this notion and define that "something more: so customers can easily see it and the value it brings to them. It is the "something" that ultimately determines from whom the customer buys and how much is paid. The "something" is at the core of the organization's brand.
These ideas are at the core of the 4Ps model, an important conceptual tool. The 4Ps - Product, People, Past and Process--represent those resources of a company that can be differentiated from one institution to another. Often these differences have evolved over time with little intention or planning. For instance, one bank has a reputation among its customers for being helpful to new businesses. Where did this notion come from? A policy? A particular group of employees? A specific, well-known and publicized incident? With some thought, some veteran employees of this bank might be able to trace how this perception came to be, but most likely they will report it "just happened." On the other hand, if management is aware of the importance of differentiating the bank from its competitors, it can specifically create, develop, communicate and manage notable differences that the customer will perceive as valuable around the bank's products, people, past and processes. (See definition of the 4Ps at the end of this article.)
Plainness and a Promise
The origin of the 4Ps stems from two compelling problem areas in marketing: selling a commodity and selling a service. A commodity is a product that is fundamentally the same from one vendor to another. Steel, potash, sulphur, nails and screws are commodities. A service, on the other hand, doesn't exist at all until it is delivered; it is intangible and cannot be experienced by the buyer in making a buying decision. The commodity exudes undifferentiated plainness; the intangible service presents a promise, an uncertainty. A bank has the unique distinction of offering a number of commodity-type services.
Theodore Levitt of the Harvard Business School has written a number of articles on product differentiation. (Harvard Business Review, January-February,1980 and Harvard Business Review, May-June, 1981) which have contributed to the 4Ps concept.
What A Product Is: Beyond the Obvious
Levitt has developed a product diffentiation model that opens a new perspective as to what a product is. This model defines a product on four different levels: the generic product, the expected product, the augmented product and the potential product.
The generic product, as Levitt presents it, is the product itself--the cash management system, the letter of credit, the term loan--whatever it is the customer can use to help improve the business. Even though these generic products are found in most banks, they are not necessarily the same. Slight differences in product design may make one bank's lock boxes more attractive than another's. This is the most obvious area for product differentiation as anyone who has ever seen a development team laboring long and hard to generate creative nuances for a new product will report. But there is more to a product than its parts.
The expected product includes those aspects that relate to delivery, terms, support, new ideas for product applications, all of which are one step removed from the product itself, but without which the product simply could not be successfully sold. The augmented product refers to Levitt's notion of adding something to improve or modify the product for a particular customer. Developing a report on how much money is saved using a cash transfer system, for example, is a vehicle for demonstrating
what the vendor will do for the buyer. Augmenting the product goes beyond the product by exceeding the buyer's expectations. Finally, the potential product is "everything that might be done" to attract and hold the customer. This includes making suggestions for technical changes, reporting the results of surveys regarding product usage and attitudes of customers, installing new technologies to better use the product, and advising customers on business conditions, feasibility of business plans and employment of experts in specific technical areas.
Levitt's model is a useful framework for defining the various levels of product a customer can buy. Most important, as a development source for the 4Ps, it introduced the idea of moving away from product as a cluster of defined features, benefits and prices, into a more expanded view of what can be sold. In a bank, the idea of building more value into a loan or a trust account or any product or service is compelling. Every bank has the same products; an expanded view would include the unique value of people who service the product, the manner in which it is installed and how customers interact with the bank as well as the success the bank has had in the past. All these elements can be made to be different from the competition.
Reducing Uncertainty
Most bank products are services provided for customers. This brings into focus the other marketing challenge faced by banks, that is, selling services, and the associated problems of convincing customers that an intangible that customers can’t see, touch or feel will improve their business operations.
Another business writer provided some insight into how intangibles, such as services, can be made tangible. Warren J. Wittreich, in a classic article on selling professional services (Harvard Business Review, March-April, 1966), succinctly outlined the issues. To be successful, Wittreich writes that uncertainties surrounding who the customer is dealing with, how the service will be implemented and whether or not the money is being spent wisely must be dealt with. The degree to which a professional who sells can persuade the customer that he or she (and the bank) understands the problem, has solved similar problems in the past and has a way to do it or process which is logical and easily followed is the degree to which the customer's uncertainty can be reduced. The seller can sell him or herself by demonstrating command of the methods to be used, familiar relationships key people who are resources in solving the problem, and knowledge of and preferably involvement with related success stories. When people who sell do this, Wittreich writes, the "high bidder often wins" because there is much more value in dealing with certainty than uncertainty.
Wittreich's article was a forerunner of the many articles and books written about the service culture, excellence and customer orientation. Today, corporations are attempting to develop new ways to add value to the customer relationship while still maintaining low costs. Consumers are aware of the competition and are attracted to banks that provide what they need with the most added value. Among many examples, combined statements with summary information, account information accessible online and even advice about markets, investments and other specialized knowledge-based services are the kinds of developments banks have to make to give the customer more for his money. In fact, as the age of disintermediation accelerates, the types of services offered and the resources surrounding those services should be more important to banks interested in keeping market share. The concepts provided by Wittreich are an additional essential ingredient of the 4Ps, offering a wider view of
what has to be sold when selling these types of services.
More To It Than Talking Product
As a final resource for the 4Ps, a recent Sales Competency Study (Miller and Maginn, 1987) isolated the activities of high performing sales people in banks. In general, people who excel in selling in banks mention a variety of activities that revolve around themes of specificity, initiative, involvement, planning, focusing and analysis. Of critical importance to these individuals is the concept of selling yourself, of bringing more to the table than the competition, of creating an image of personal value to the customer. From a series of focus groups with these individuals, it became clear that high performers considered themselves a virtual product of the bank, an extension of the institution and behaved in a way that lead customers to recognized them as such.
These individuals were good at selling the resources of the bank, but they were also excellent at selling themselves. In Wittreich's words, they were good at reducing the customer's uncertainty in the way they responded to problems, in the genuine interest they displayed in the customer's business, in their understanding of the customer's needs, in their knowledge of how the bank does business and how resources within the bank work, in demonstrating their experience with solving similar middle market business problems. In the 4Ps model, the Relationship Manager is one of the resources the bank has to offer. Those sales people who recognize this can develop ways to differentiate themselves from their counterparts at competing institutions. A firm knowledge of the bank's resources--the 4Ps--and how to talk about them in sales situations represents a personal strength and an expanded view of what can be sold to the customer.
The 4Ps—A Practical Model
The 4Ps represent a synthesis of concepts from different areas of marketing and sales literature. From selling commodities comes the concept of looking beyond the generic product and into the arena of what additional value is delivered or can be delivered to the customer along with the product. From selling services comes the idea of reducing a customer's uncertainty by making the intangible more tangible--talking
about personal knowledge and experience, the process of working together, and related success stories. Finally, from the Sales Competency Study comes the high performers' conviction that they, as individuals, add value to the relationship by demonstrating what they know, who they know and how to get things done.
The 4Ps model is not a difficult concept to grasp. Yet, when faced with the task of defining what products are really different, what individuals are valuable, expert resources, how doing business is more user friendly than the competition and what success stories are worthy of corporate legend status, many bank Sales Leaders and Relationship Managers struggle. While many of the 4Ps can be tactically defined at the work unit level using local heroes and successes, the real work of defining the 4Ps is for the corporation's directors. It is up to them to clearly specify what the bank should be known for and to clarify how their products, people, process and past are better than the bank down the street. This is one of the primary objectives of what we call the Identification Session. For us, this 4-6 hours session is so vital that we offer it as a first step to companies at an extreme discount. It's our "free oil change" to bring customers in the door. After this session, the value of Straight Line Marketing is without question. Often times the second step within the Identify stage includes a Branding Workshop... to carry what's been identified, defined, uncovered and developed to the employees and preparing them to share it with the customers.
The 4Ps
The 4Ps represent resources of an organization which, when created and managed, become differentiators defining the brand. That is, they describe what the total offering of an organization is.
Product
The features and benefits of the product. This is the baseline of differentiation. To be competitive, the features and benefits of a product have to convey valuable differences to buyers. When there are no or minimal differences, the other Ps in the 4Ps model must be used to differentiate the product or service.
Past
One resource is the combined experience of the organization with the type of issues the buyer is facing. For example, if a customer is having trouble defining the kind of leasing arrangements to use, having a reputation as “the bank that helps small business get started in leasing” is a definite way to reduce uncertainty.
People
The individual or team working with the client represents another facet of the total offering. As a product, the individual or team literally has features and benefits. The level of expertise, ability to get things done, experience with similar clients, and even industry status represent examples of potential features of individuals that can help reduce uncertainty.
Process
How the organization does business is a strong potential area for differentiation. If the actual buying, delivery and implementation process is efficient and user friendly, it can be a major differentiator. Careful definition of this process, especially for intangible services, can bring a sense of security to an uncertain buyer.
References for this blog post:
Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing success through differentiation--of anything." Harvard Business Review, January 1980.
Levitt, Theodore, "Marketing intangible products and product intangibles." Harvard Business Review, May 1981.
Miller, N., and Maginn, M., "Business Development Competencies for Bank Relationship and Sales Managers." Lending, Winter, 1987.
Wittreich, Warren J., "How to buy/sell professional services." Harvard Business Review, March 1966.
The 4Ps are infamous is college courses on marketing. The bring a lot of insight into what branding is and how it can be developed, nurtured, defined, and encouraged. Now the positive attitude in this blog post is optimistic. But there is another side to branding. The scary, dangerous side is knowing that all companies have a brand.... whether they choose to develop, control, and management it or not. I've often defined your brand as "what people say about you when you aren't in the room"... it's the character of your company if we excluded your actual products or services. And left to it's own devices, your brand could be working against you. Everyone has an opinion... what are your customers opinions about you? And how are you responding to is?
Contact Rachel Bennett or Jeff Robertson to discuss your company and how Reformation Productions can serve you and your brand.
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
What is the responsibility of Branding - - really?
Recently a colleague was approached by the professor of a top journalism and advertising program with a question about branding. He wanted his opinion on whether or not branding should be a major point of emphasis in the program. "Don’t get me wrong," he said "it’s been a staple in the curriculum for a while", but they were looking at the idea of making it a part of the degree emphasis for graduation.
Well, here‘s the short answer – heck yes.
Here’s a more thought out answer -
Now, we know that Advertising is without a doubt the one element in Marketing that receives the most attention and the most dollars. It has the responsibility of taking all the other elements in the marketing mix and crafting a persuasive message in a creative fashion that will sum it all up and communicate it to your consumer target. Branding is way more than a function of advertising. It should be a function of business. Because it permeates all elements of sales, operations, marketing, etc..
Let’s look at the traditional 4P’s of marketing and see how they can affect branding:
Product – We all know product is king. It dictates your brand offering. But the way you shape the touch, taste, sound, smell, name or experience of your product is all branding. Calling your Kentucky-based fried chicken company Kentucky Fried Chicken is branding. Changing it to KFC to lessen the negative affects of health conscious consumers is also branding. So is the really cool buckets they come in.
Price – More than just a unit of revenue, your price tells customers whether you are a premium brand, great reward or an inexpensive value brand. You can buy a .99 cup of coffee or a $4 cup. Again, that's part of branding. Depending on your consumer target, free may be a great word to use in promotions or it may be the kiss of death to your brand.
Place (distribution) – The way you deliver your sales experience is also about your brand. The fact that a fast-food restaurant can be found everywhere is branding. Your website’s appearance is branding (the role of websites today are no longer interactive brochures – they are a company’s 24 hour visitor center). If it were not, we’d all have plain type on white backgrounds for our websites. The decor of your store front and the atmosphere of your restaurant are all branding
Promotion – Okay, this is what people really think of when they think of marketing. It includes advertising, direct marketing, online media, events – heck anything that allows you to proactively tell other people about your product/service. The way you say it, the how you communicate, is again branding. A cardboard sign with a handwritten message that says “Fresh Corn” is branding. So is the same message typed out on a digital billboard or neon sign. Which one would you buy from?
Not only should the college advertising program be teaching branding as a major emphasis in marketing, but it should also make its way into other areas of study like public relations, fashion design, interior design, hospitality management and restaurant management. Yeah, it's that important.
Contact Reformation Productions to discuss your company's brand and how it permeates your business. Are all the parts working together for good or do some of the various elements in your business seem to fight against each other? Is your business a unified army of you? Does there seem to be one mission or several? Are you unsure about what you are saying as a company? Do you know how what you are saying is being perceived by others?
www.ReformationProductions.com
Well, here‘s the short answer – heck yes.
Here’s a more thought out answer -
Now, we know that Advertising is without a doubt the one element in Marketing that receives the most attention and the most dollars. It has the responsibility of taking all the other elements in the marketing mix and crafting a persuasive message in a creative fashion that will sum it all up and communicate it to your consumer target. Branding is way more than a function of advertising. It should be a function of business. Because it permeates all elements of sales, operations, marketing, etc..
Let’s look at the traditional 4P’s of marketing and see how they can affect branding:
Not only should the college advertising program be teaching branding as a major emphasis in marketing, but it should also make its way into other areas of study like public relations, fashion design, interior design, hospitality management and restaurant management. Yeah, it's that important.
Contact Reformation Productions to discuss your company's brand and how it permeates your business. Are all the parts working together for good or do some of the various elements in your business seem to fight against each other? Is your business a unified army of you? Does there seem to be one mission or several? Are you unsure about what you are saying as a company? Do you know how what you are saying is being perceived by others?
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