The Brand: Your Ultimate Competitive Advantage

Les Stern

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Phase III - Develop the Strategy, Positioning, Messages and Media Plan

Marketing can be defined as making sure you have what your customers want, and then making sure your customers want what you have. The first two phases of the branding process constituted the "initial information gathering" component to ensure the organization knows what its customers want. With this information, the organization can now begin to develop its branding strategy, which will lead to the tactics to make sure the customers want what the organization has.

Strategy, Target Market and Positioning

This process begins by analyzing all the information to determine "who you want to be." It might include, at the very top end, developing a mission statement. One thought on the mission statement - it should not be about making money. It is a given that everybody wants to make money, even not for profits. Instead, the mission statement should focus on the value the organization will bring to its customers. If the market truly wants what the organization is selling, and if the organization can deliver as promised, the organization will fulfill its mission, and the profits will come.

As part of the analysis, organizations should match their self-perceived strengths and weaknesses to the strengths and weaknesses as perceived by customers (whose perceptions are, in fact, reality). This can be done by creating a simple matrix comparing the internal perception of strengths and weaknesses to customers' perceptions.

Combining this analysis with what it already knows about the profitability of customer segments, the organization can define its target market. This definition may include a combination of demographic, psychographic and geographic factors. Then, the organization can determine what attributes (price, quality, convenience, etc.) will attract those customers.

Following this, the organization can develop its positioning, based upon how the target market perceives the organization. It can then also develop product development initiatives (not discussed in this framework) to leverage these strengths and address any important weaknesses.

This part of the process concludes with development of the positioning statement. A positioning statement should be simple - no more than a sentence. It should focus on who the target market is, and what the customer benefits are.

Message and Media Plan

With the positioning statement completed, creative concepts can be developed for advertising, marketing collateral, the Website, etc. Attention must be paid to tone, product emphasis, graphics and copy. All must be consistent with the positioning, and designed to attract the target market.

The media plan, then, will maximize both reach and your cost per impression to the target market. The media plan should include a combination of the following:

• Mass media, such as newspapers, magazines, radio, television and the Internet
• Targeted (direct response) media such as newsletters, direct mail, outbound telemarketing and e-mail
• Other integrated marketing components, such as partnerships, sponsorships and credibility marketing activities (media relations, speaking engagements, etc.)

Phase IV - Conduct Research to Validate Strategy and Tactics

There is one more step before it is time to execute. Focus groups or other interviews should be conducted with customers and prospects, as well as with stakeholders. Note: because focus groups are qualitative, the results may be biased (especially if you have some very strong personalities participating).

This research should test everything done so far to validate the branding strategy in terms of relevance, uniqueness and trustworthiness. It should test the mission statement, overall positioning, copy/tone elements of the media, offers and graphics.

If the organization has done its homework right, this research should validate that it is on track, perhaps with some minor tweaks. If not, it is back to the drawing board.

Execution

Phase V - Execute All Aspects of the Program

This is the fun part, where the organizations see the fruits of its efforts. It's a great feeling to see the first commercial on TV, the first Website hit, the first lead and the first sale.

The first tactic to be executed, however, should be internal. An internal branding kickoff is critical to inform and excite the organization about the program. This should be a big deal, with refreshments, prizes, etc. All advertising and promotional materials should be displayed. And, critically, employees must be told why the branding initiative is occurring, and how important they are in delivering on the brand promise. Since delivering on the brand promise is an enterprise-wide responsibility, all areas of the company participated in, and deserve credit for, the launch.

There is a logical order in which the branding tactics should be executed. The first tactics are the awareness building tactics. These include activities such as media advertising (print, electronic and Web), development of a Website, participation in trade shows, distribution of press releases, etc. These activities get the organization's name and message out there, and are the critical first step.

Concurrently, or shortly thereafter, the organization can launch credibility-building tactics. These include speaking at conferences, White Papers, customer testimonials, etc. These "third-party endorsements" will create credibility, and will make it easier to generate leads and sales. At this point, the organization is ready to embark on direct response marketing activities to generate leads and/or sales.

These activities can include direct mail, telemarketing and, more and more, e-mail marketing. If the awareness and credibility tactics were successful, it should make the lead generation and sales activities that much more effective.

For example, when Discover Card was launched several years ago, it spent millions of dollars on advertising and public relations before it began its direct mail efforts. As a result, when people received their offers in the mail, they already were familiar with the brand. The result was one of the most successful product launches of the '80s.

Of course, you need to monitor activities closely as you execute, and you need to be prepared to change. But, generally, if you developed your strategy properly, you need to stay the course.

For example, a home equity lender once executed a rather controversial direct mail program in implementing a strategy to offer low rates via a personalized postcard. The lender received numerous irate phone calls. One angry respondent even returned a business reply card with a brick attached, making the lender pay the postage for the brick. But instead of giving in, the lender stayed the course, and the program ended up being one of the most successful it had ever done.

Measurement

Phase VI - Conduct Research to Measure Changes in Target Market Awareness/Image, and Monitor Changes in Indirect Measures

To see if the efforts made a difference, at some interval after execution began (and at regular intervals thereafter), the organization should repeat the quantitative benchmarking research done right before the campaign was launched. Changes should be noted for the following:

• Aided and unaided awareness of the organization and competitors
• Image of the organization and competitors
• Media usage of people being surveyed to determine most effective media in terms of communicating the brand
• Cost per increased percentage point of awareness/image both overall and by specific medium

This not only will measure changes, it will also indicate how to refine the strategy to make it more effective.

Additionally, at this point the organization also should measure changes in indirect activities such as call center contacts, Website hits and market share.

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