On Marketing
❖ dave bodle
Is Branding Really Important to Your Business? ALONG WITH “SOCIAL MEDIA,” another buzzword for marketing gurus is “branding.” The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.” That’s a mouthful, but looking closely it appears the key word is “differentiate.” That takes me back about 100 years. In college I wrote a dissertation on “Differential Advantage.” At the risk of oversimplification, it means everything you do should support how the product or service your company offers is perceived. A high-end women’s clothing store should never have inexpensive linoleum
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flooring. A tour operator who specializes in moderately priced, value tours should never produce a catalog that would be more fitting for the Museum of Art. The product/service, price and promotion all need to work in harmony. Sounds pretty straightforward and it probably should be. Like life, though, branding is simple; we just tend to complicate it. Today, I ran a Google search “Branding Agencies” and received 11,900,000 results. Although I did not take time to review the results, I have seen some branding agencies in action. Six years ago, I watched with interest when a CVB hired an agency to assist in their branding. During the search for the proper brand, their marketing efforts almost came to a standstill. Only essential advertising was done. Trade show attendance was severely cut back. They didn’t want to get in the way of their new (to come) brand. Meanwhile, the branding agency was bringing all the stakeholders to the table for their opinions. They ran extensive online surveys (not scientific research) of what the locals wanted. They even went to visitors and asked what they thought. After a year of surveys and meetings, the agency presented a lengthy, professional presentation. The CVB loved their new logo and tagline. Unfortunately, the agency also presented the last of their quarterly invoices, too. The CVB was able to redo its stationery package and a new sign featuring the approved logo, but serious marketing dollars were not available until six months later. Needless to say, the previous example is possibly the poster child for “Brand-
ing Gone Bad.” Please do not get me wrong. Remember, I wrote a paper on this subject before it was popular. I believe in a cohesive marketing mix where each component—price, promotion, product and place—blend seamlessly together. My beef is with the experts who want to re-brand you. They tend to charge too much money for their “team” and generally have very little understanding of your business. Here’s my suggestion for what it’s worth: I believe that every business, needs to regularly take an introspective look. Few would disagree, but dedicating the time is always a challenge. We’re too busy doing what we do to take a serious, unbiased look at who we are. Unless you’re Coca-Cola or Ford Motor Co., you probably do not need a brand agency. The majority of us are not ready for that step. Get it started in-house by bringing in a facilitator (somebody from the industry) for a few days. Tell them you want to be certain that everything you’re doing is sending the same message to customers. Give them time and let them take a good look at your business. A meeting with the staff and another session with some customers is a good beginning. Allow them to make an assessment and see how close they come to what you perceive as your brand. If changes are needed, my bet is they’ll be minor. Re-branding at a steep cost just isn’t necessary for the majority of us in this business. Contact Dave at 843-712-1140 or email dbodle@sc.rr.com.
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