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Brand, Marketing Strategy, Professional Service Provider Brands, brand development
Is what you can’t see hurting your company brand?
When most of us hear the word “brand”, companies like “Proctor and Gamble” and “Apple’ often come to mind. With large advertising budgets, these companies sell tangible product to us as consumers. And whether it is on the web or in a store, their brands are visible to us it seems every where we turn.
On the other hand, companies that sell professional services, whether B2B or B2C, often stop thinking about their brand beyond business cards, a website and maybe a brochure. Why? Because their branding efforts are largely invisible.
For the professional service provider, It is not the logo, website, or business card that creates the brand. Rather it is the touch points that can’t be seen like keeping promises, exceeding service level requirements, and responsiveness to customer inquiries that build trust and create brands. These invisible touch points are functions of company vision, employee training, pricing strategy and customer relationships.
If you were to put a magnifying glass on your invisible brand, what do you find? Touch points that build trust and increase referrals or maybe not so favorable word of mouth.
Who needs whom more? Costco vs. Coke
You might have seen the following if you were shopping for Coke during your Costco run over the last week or so ” At present we are not carrying Coke products because we cannot provide the value our customers deserve.”
A devoted Diet Coke fan and Gold card carrying member of Costco, it is probably no surprise to you then that I buy my diet coke at Costco. So imagine my surprise last Wednesday, the day before Thanksgiving, when I couldn’t buy my Diet Coke during my Costco run.
I guess Coke won’t provide Costco the preferred pricing they had in the past citing conflicts with their local bottlers. As a result, Costco pulled all Coke products from their shelves.
So a stand-off ensued.
I understand Costco’s perspective. Their value to their members is wholesale or seemingly wholesale prices. It is the primary reason why people join wholesale clubs.
I understand Coke’s perspective, pricing when you have a complex distribution strategy is always tricky.
The stand-off will come down to who needs who more. Does Costco cave and not deliver on their brand promise offering Coke products at a price that I can get them at the grocery store? Or does Coke upset the apple cart with their local bottlers or perhaps make pricing adjustments in other channels in order to eliminate or minimize this channel conflict just so they can keep Costco as a distribution point? From Coke’s perspective, they have almost 100% household penetration in the U.S. across their product lines. Will losing Costco impact their market share? As much as I enjoy my Costco membership, I have to think that it won’t. But with their desire to be ubiquitous, this can’t be an easy decision for them either.
But for Costco to accept pricing no more advantageous than other Coke distribution points (and there are many), means they have to forgo their promise to their members. Is having Coke products in the stores just as a convenience worth the price of their brand promise? Making concessions with Coke could put Costco on a slippery slope with other suppliers and cast doubt in the minds of their member about their resolve to deliver on wholesale type pricing.
Despite being a Diet Coke fan who is sensitive to the recent increases in Coke products, I hope that Costco holds it ground because I expect them to provide me products and services at a discount or additional value over other places I shop.
In the meantime, I’ll get better at watching for Diet Coke specials because I don’t think I should pay $4.99 for a twelve pack. With the new year upon us, perhaps switching to water could be a good New Year’s resolution to add to my list.
What do you think?
How do you make people feel?
Maya Angelou says “people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
The meaning of her quote goes far beyond the relationships we enjoy with family and close friends. The emotions we engender in others is as important in business because of a simple truth: People buy from who they know, like and trust.
We go to networking events so that targeted prospects can get to know us. We have websites that help potential clients learn about our businesses. But it is ultimately perceptions (what people believe) and emotions (how they feel) that takes people through the spectrum of knowing us to also liking and trusting us. And if they don’t like or trust us or the product or service we sell, they won’t buy from us. Period.
I believe that moving potential customers through the spectrum of know, like and trust is the role of the company brand. While some think a brand is the logo on a business card, website or brochure, a brand is actually the perceptions and emotions your customers have about their relationship of doing business with you or using your products and services. Your customers own their perceptions and emotions; your company doesn’t.
Related to the brand, the role of the company is to create, communicate and deliver a relevant, differentiated value in the minds of customers. Apple and Southwest Airlines are big brand examples that do a great job of this. It is easier said then done for sure. But when done successfully, this positively influences the perceptions and emotions that engender “like” and “trust” and it makes it much easier for your prospects to become customers and your customers to become advocates. And who wouldn’t want the kind of customer advocates that both Apple and Southwest Airlines enjoy?
Ask yourself this. What perceptions do your customers and prospects have about your company and its products and services? And, how do your prospects go from knowing about you to “liking” and “trusting” you? Or, do they? Some companies have great awareness (lots of people know about them) but have a difficult time getting their prospects to “like” and “trust” them. How does your company create trust?
