The advertising world of Mad Men where crafty ideas, smooth-sounding phrases, and surreal imagery increased sales and built customer loyalty no longer works.
In the era of David Ogilvy and “positioning” (the 1960s through the early ’90s), audiences were glued to a television set, TV dinners, and portable FM radios, happily absorbing and believing the brand promises and hype. However, nothing could be further from the truth today.
Today’s virtual world of digital devices, social media, and online reviews has firmly placed us in an era dominated by a demand for transparency. Veiled secrecies of our habits and thinking patterns, because of posts on Facebook and other social channels, are mere nostalgic remnants of the Don Draper era.
This phenomenon has changed forever the rules of branding and marketing. In our world, reviews on Amazon and Yelp, the rise of YouTube celebrities, and a legion of vocal bloggers can and do affect our brand images and acceptability, at times beyond the best of our strategic business and brand strategy plans.
The Internet and mobile devices have shrunk the world, educated the marketplace, and expanded our choices. The consumer pool is bigger by population count, but also faster, wilder, more demanding, and impatient. The double-edged sword beckons us to walk the fine line of its sharpened edge, for the rewards are larger and they come faster.
Brand Identity vs Brand Image
The core elements of a “brand” are contained within its visible “brand identity.” The components of brand identity are created typically by the business itself. In other words, brand identity is formed by the way the business wants its potential consumers to perceive and remember its brand.
But brand identity is also how we as consumers first perceive a brand, as well as continue to recognize it in the future. This two-sided identity recognition forms an important base within the activity of brand management. The brand identity, in fact, forms the foundation of what I call the “branding triangle.” And how a brand is actually perceived by the consumer is different and referred to as “brand image.”
Branding Is Now Interactive
Social media pages, YouTube videos, blog sites, and online review sites (such as Yelp) have become vital components of consumer searches for a brand, and they determine not only its relevance, but also its value to people’s personal lives. In other words, unlike yesterday, most purchasing decisions concerning a brand are very much predetermined by individual consumers and their searches, not under the payroll or tight advertising control of the brand.
Pretty scary stuff for CMOs today, who are under constant pressure to attract more customers, generate higher sales, and grow the brand’s reach and potential influence, measured by the number of followers.
Brand executives in the marketplace must not only be fully cognizant of today’s shifting habits and the need to rapidly adjust and address them; they also must develop positive, proactive strategies for reaching out and interacting with customers, the media, and online influencers.
Strategic planners that incorporate how a brand interacts among these powerful players, as well as handles negativity or customer-service issues, will be creating the winning brands of our lifetimes. Intimate connections through branding, initial and repeated sales maintenance, and ongoing delivery and service operations are a must. Brands without such a detailed outlook for their logistics are at extreme risk of disappearance from the marketplace.
The days of a Don Draper-esque Madison Avenue executive shoving brand messages down the throats of consumers, are not only numbered, they are virtually extinct. They are now replaced by transparency and earned respect―by-products of human-to-human connection and fast-paced communications.
In short, cold, push media ad placements are DOA.
More Touch Points to Manage
Any successful brand’s value is regarded well to the degree that it renders superlative service to its consumers beyond normal expectations. Its marketing executives grow intentionally the brand’s relationship with every interaction and touch point, and these points are critical.“Brand identity” (how a brand desires to be perceived) and “brand image” (how consumers actually perceive it) combine to bridge the chasm between brand strategy; reality is the make-break point of today’s brand marketing.
How to deliver more than the most fundamental of customer expectancies, yet within a brand’s service and touch point capabilities, must be included in every one of its integral strategic planning sessions. While basic, creative imagination and marketing makes a brand identity, exceeding customer expectations is the surest route to powerful brand support from legions of loyal customers.
Customer Service: Crucial to Branding
Understanding the dynamics of our socially savvy and mobile-empowered world of commerce creates loyal customers. Social media usage as a tool to address customer complaints before they become bad online reviews and to prevent alienated clients from fleeing and spending their money with other brands, will be the strategic advantage for many brands.
I recently flew to Denmark on KLM Airlines for a business trip. KLM is a brand that has fully adopted a social-media strategy inclusive of listening and servicing its customers beyond their expectations. One of the largest airlines worldwide, KLM also is considered one of the best brands at converting “Likes” into paid customers. The airline takes bold, yet calculated risks, because it understands its customers’ buying pathway and, more importantly, what customers will encounter while traveling abroad.
Can Transparency Be a Brand’s Competitive Advantage?
By proactively preventing trust-eroding, bad experiences, or repairing the damage after an incident has occurred, caring brands lock in consumer loyalty with carefully cultivated transparency.
No longer a luxury limited to forward-thinking, market-leading organizations, a stellar reputation for its transparency is a hallmark demanded of all companies by the marketplace: by regulators, board members, shareholders, and business partners—in short, all stakeholders―just to maintain survival and credibility.
For the smart brands that get it, like KLM, the benefits of transparency rapidly increase a brand’s equity and value. Transparency is the new competitive advantage. Every company’s existence from this day forward, depends on this powerful differentiator.
Written by: Edward Dearborn Source: www.AllBusiness.com