The third most important thing to know about building winning brands is that profound knowledge of your customer is essential.
Bill Stacy, one of my bosses at Hallmark Cards, was fond of saying, “Remember to thank our customers for your pay check.” This statement was a constant reminder that all of an organization’s revenues and profits result from one thing – customers who are willing to pay money for products and services that meet their needs. Any brand management initiative, any marketing initiative, and indeed any business or organizational initiative must start with a solid understanding of the customer. Indeed, organizations exist for one purpose – to meet human needs. Thriving organizations do that exceedingly well. Venerated organizations have managed to meet evolving human needs over a long period of time.
The first step in crafting a brand’s promise is defining the target customer. Without a profound understanding of the target customer, a business will never thrive and may not even survive. A strong brand promises a relevant, differentiated, purchase-motivating benefit to the target customer. The benefit must focus on points of difference, not points of parity. The ideal benefit to claim has the following three qualities: (1) it is extremely important to the target customer, (2) your organization is uniquely suited to delivering it and (3) competitors are not currently addressing it (nor is it easy for them to address it in the future).
Customer research has become very sophisticated, going far beyond the standard survey or focus group. Brand positioning should be informed by both qualitative and quantitative research. Brand extension is informed by brand asset and brand association studies and concept testing. Marketing savvy companies now use projective and anthropological techniques. The are also specific techniques for logo recognition and recall and brand equity measurement.
Customer insights can also be gained through the Internet (blogs, chat rooms, message boards, online surveys, etc.) and customer service feedback. Harley-Davidson executives ride with their customers in HOG rallies as a routine source of customer insight. While customer insight is important, it does not replace ideation and market need anticipation.
The Blake Project Can Help: Accelerate Brand Growth Through Powerful Emotional Connections
Branding Strategy Insider is a service of The Blake Project: A strategic brand consultancy specializing in Brand Research, Brand Strategy, Brand Licensing and Brand Education
