Thought For The Week : Your Brand is a reflection of you! What is your brand saying? Consider this question. Why do people choose to buy one brand over another ? Understanding how our brains work is paramount to creating a more attractive brand proposition and building more sales for any business. Do you have a grasp of how the brain works when it comes to understanding why people choose buy one brand over another? This is not brain-surgery, and in fact the brain is hardwired in such a way which has not changed since GOK and DROK were trading Mammoth meat and furs from the front of their caves. Understanding how the mind works when it comes to marketing is a great advantage when your aim is to grab a greater market share. Do you think your branding and marketing strategy would be greatly differentiated and give you the edge over the competition if you understood psychological marketing and strategic branding? If you are a supplier of products to the supermarkets, how do we compete against the private label onslaught from the big boys like Cole's and Safeways?, what is it you can do to connect with the market on a more powerful authentic level and gain back your market share? What are the ingredients needed to turn your brand irrespective of whether it is a product, service or lets say even a town? What are the key parts to making your brand a destination and the preferred choice over your competition? Great Brands Speak Out You Need to be Heard in the Right Way ! Some of the questions we need to ask ourselves are : How are we differentiated from others, what makes us stand out from the competition, what is the experience we are providing, is it special, and if so, how? How is it effecting people? Perhaps it is your Brands voice, maybe it is the way you are dressed, maybe it is your tone of voice, perhaps it is the way your staff interact with the customer or your most important clients? Maybe it is all of these and more. Your brand and your actions are your voice and need to do all the talking in a positive meaningful way, it should be speaking for your business and representing you as a shining experience. Anything short of engaging, attractive and positively memorable is detrimental to one's brand success. Yet still today many companies and their staff are not sending the right messages. No one seems to be on the same page and communication of the brands essence is lacking. Considering this, how do you think this is going to effect sales? A Brand Of Service Does your brand have a personality which connects with others, if your brand was a person would you want it as a friend? Is it creating and experience for me in a way which has me wanting to come back to experience it again? People like brands and connect for reasons based on emotion and not just practicality. A good example comes from my friend Kate, she has a favorite hairdressing salon and even though it is a little more expensive than others, she continues to go back to them because of the following: Kate walks into the salon and the people welcome her by her name, they take her to her seat, ask her how her day was and what's been happening in her life, they ask her whether she would like a glass of wine and some cheese and crackers to go with it, or would she prefer coffee or tea? The ritual of emotional benefits goes on, they want to know how her partner David is, and how is your mother, is she doing well after her episode at the doctors. She is asked, are you happy with what we did for you the last time you had your haircut? Or would you like something different. After the chitchat she is taken to the tub to have her hair washed, a wonderful head and neck massage is followed and she makes her way to the chair very relaxed and confident of walking out very happy, and not just because she has had great hair styling, but more because they have taken an interest in her life and what her needs are. The benefits are many, from quality of the hair styling to the care and the glorious comfort she experiences . Kate returns to the salon because they care and she walks out feeling and looking great. I would like you to ask yourself, and be quite honest with your self assessment , Does my brand project authenticity, care and quality on all levels? If it doesn't then you have some work to do. The greater the experience satisfaction, the greater the chance of creating repeat business. Your customers and prospective market are going to be asking "Why should I be purchasing their product, service and brand, What's in it for me"? From Marble bags to a Levi Shirt It all began one hot Australian Summer's day when seven-year-old Paul made five marble bags from his mothers pillow cases which he borrowed! He took them to school with the aim of selling the marble bags to his mates. Disastrously, not one kid bought a bag.
Realising that something else was needed he wrote- My Marble Bag- on each one in a thick black marker pen. Amazingly he sold all five bags over the next week. This simple word changed everything, the power of a description. Paul was intrigued with the idea that the bags sold because of a title, he says -'I remember thinking and asking myself the question, Wow,! Was it the word -My- which changed their minds, was it -Marble Bag-, or was it the combination of all three words'. For Paul it was his first realization that people liked descriptions, they liked statements which have relevant meaning to them. He was fascinated by the idea. Again at the age of ten while living in the country, he sold the Levi shirt off his back in the main street for four times its retail value to a kid who loved the brand Levis so much. 'I didn't want to sell it as I had bought the last one of its kind in town', Harmer declared. So after suggesting to the kid an outrageous figure, he was flabbergasted when the kid agreed and handed over his cash. It really got Paul thinking. This was an (aha) moment for a ten year old. This was the beginning of a fascinating journey into understanding human psychology, the subconscious and creating sales through connecting with peoples emotional needs and building brands of appeal. In his late teens and early twenties he went on to work in front of the camera with some of the most well known brands on the planet in commercials and in print. Paul then moved to Asia working between Hong Kong, San Francisco and Over the last twenty five years of hands-on brand building, Harmer has formulated an innovative set of concepts and principles that revolutionize outdated marketing strategies all with the aim of creating positive business growth outcomes. Harmer discards the old strategies and rules of marketing preferring to connect on a deeper more powerful authentic level. -Don't talk to me about outdated advertising and marketing ideas, let's talk real innovative connection here he says-. Let's create sticky customers by using cutting edge concepts and a more meaningful connection between not only the practical, but also the emotional needs of the customer and your brands overall experience proposition. About the author Paul Harmer "What I like about branding is, its power to change the way people relate to you, your product or service . It is the foundation to your overall business success. Branding is without doubt the most powerful strategic tool in creating sales and building a successful sought after brand" ............... Paul Harmer (aka) The Brandsurgeon, is the author of "Brand Glue" How to Attract and Create Sticky Customers. His latest book is More Brand Glue. Strategies for creating a powerful brand experience. As one of the top thinkers and branding gurus, he advises executives as well as management, organizations and business entrepreneurs. He comes from the real world of business, having created his own brands from start up to execution and penetration into some of the most competitive markets in the USA, the UK, Asia, and Australia. Paul speaks to a global audience on Brand Leadership, Creating Passionate Brand followers and motivating employees.
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