The brand is one of a company’s most important assets, not least in B2B where buying processes are complex and investments normally substantial. In many ways, “brand” can be translated to “reputation” which I think everyone agree is extremely important to do long-term business.
A brand is not defined by you. It is a collection of perceptions in the buyer’s mind – not characteristics of the product. These perceptions are created, reinforced or changed at every encounter with the brand, and they do not necessarily align with management’s interpretation of reality.
The customer’s multifaceted associations with a brand are the result of how the brand is delivered to the customer. This brand delivery occurs through three dimensions:
a) The product,
b) The behavior, and
c) The communication.
A rule of thumb is: If the company’s own employees have direct contact with customers, behavior is always more important for how the brand is perceived than communication. And vice versa. Or put another way: Your company’s reputation depends more on how your sales and service staff behave (and how well your product meets customer expectations) than on what your ads, brochures and websites look like.
A functional and business-oriented brand platform touches on all aspects of brand delivery, with the overarching goal of creating customers who drive the business forward. It defines how your brand should deliver strategic customer value – how you should attract the right customers, but also how you should develop your existing customers so that they become even more profitable, while minimizing competitors’ ability to do exactly what you do.
Since the brand platform must apply to virtually all aspects of the business and the entire organization it becomes a base for success. The companies that have succeeded best are those that have managed to make their employees passionate about the brand.
In concrete terms, the brand platform must answer two main questions:
- How do we want to be perceived by our most important target groups?
- How must we behave and communicate to be perceived that way?
This ends up in a brand/customer promise, ie a concise and customer-attractive formulation that expresses what every customer should always have the right to expect from the brand — rationally and/or emotionally.
The brand promise is built on two pillars:
- Our positioning strategy: Within which category should the brand be associated, and what makes the brand better than competitors in that category? How large is the gap between customers’ current perception and the desired perception? How do we bridge that gap in the most cost-effective way?
- Our personality: The personal traits and attitude that the company wants to be associated with. It’s largely about defining an appropriate tone of voice for the company’s marketing communications.
With a strong brand platform in place, you are well equipped to expand your market position. How to turn this into action is defined in the Communication platform, presented in a coming post.
Do you want to know more about how to build a strong brand, just reach out to ulf@sfinxconsulting.se
