Are you at a crossroads with your brand?  Can a model help you decide which road to take?

Before I look at that, what does developing a brand actually mean?

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as the "name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's goods or service as distinct from those of other sellers”.  In order to do effectively you’re going to have a clear idea of what needs to be done so perhaps there is a model that can help you.

 The above model is by De Pelsmacker et al (2004).  Essentially the model seeks to reflect the different elements you need to get right or address to build your brand in your market place. 

Most of us would agree that it’s a good reflection of the need to be different; innovate to stay ahead of the game; add value particularly where others don’t; be about quality offerings (look at John Lewis) and, once again, look to them for management and employee support and finally communication is vital if you are to get this across to your market.

However for the model to be really useful, it needs some evaluation in there, hence my addition of the traffic lights.  By evaluating each of the elements carefully and scoring your brand’s performance you could see where you need to stop and think (red), tread carefully and evaluate further (amber) and yes it’s ok for now (green).

Assessing your brand

Let’s take each factor in turn and you score them out of 10.

·         Innovation – perhaps you once lead the field and regularly innovated either the products, the processes, technology or all of those things.  Do you do that now?  How do you compare to the rest of the market?

·         Differentiation – this is difficult to do in a competitive market so how do you differ from the rest?  What do you do that’s new, different and better than the others?  Do you communicate it effectively?  Starbucks’ heritage is a key differentiator but how really different is the brand compared to Costa Coffee?

·         Communication – has your brand got a tightly blended communications strategy?  Does it have momentum and reaches key stakeholders in the community and not just your customers?  Is there consistency in your messages?

·         Quality – how high is the quality of the finished product?  If your brand is in for the long haul and strong growth is important, then it needs to be a high quality product.  Children’s toys manufacturers have to adhere to high quality standards to meet legislative requirements.  Hornby toys also has a strong heritage and enduring quality.  Will your brand be around in 50+ years?

·         Management and employee support – are you a John Lewis?  Probably not but what is the culture of your business?  How well your brand performs internally is as important.  How do you score?  Are there management silos or an open, creative environment?  Do you have brand ambassadors or are they saboteurs?

·         Added value – many brands score well on product extensions which makes them nice and stretchy.  However does it really offer customers something more?  Does it have a loyalty scheme?  Is the quality of the merchandising high?

Nearly finished the journey now and it’s time to score each out of 10. 

4 or less? It’s a red light – stop and think carefully about where to go next. 

5-7 points?  On your marks, it’s amber. 

8 or more? Green for go.

Not wanting to continue too far along the road analogy (but sorry I just did) but it doesn’t happen overnight and building the brand is a continuous process so like every model you use to do market analysis, you should refresh it regularly and watch for upcoming hazards on the way.

Ann Prayle

Should I do Pilates or Fitness Pilates?!

I’ve been considering signing up for ‘Fitness Pilates’ which I’m utterly convinced will bring me increased health benefits (without any effort) compared to normal bog standard Pilates, in fact I checked the blurb and it says it produces ‘more effective stretching, strengthening and balancing of the body’ and as a marketer anything that says it’s more effective gets my vote! Clearly, it’s all about the words we use which can help convince a customer of the potential benefits over alternative offerings.

Organisations create their value propositions which are a signal to the customer of what they can expect from purchasing the product or service. Every word counts in a value proposition and companies work hard to subtly describe their offering in a snappy strap line. However, it’s not just about the value proposition, the way we describe our products and services is equally important. A friend who is adding some marketing pizzazz to an upmarket golf club was horrified to see the uninspiring menu in the club house which would have been at home in a high street café doing a full English.
It might just be steak and chips but char grilled farm-reared sirloin steak with hand cut chips, dressed watercress and peppercorn sauce sounds a whole lot more descriptive, appetising and let’s face it…. expensive.
An upmarket members-only golf club needs to project its value and price positioning to its diners off the green as well as at the 18^th hole.

The high street café serving the full English need only explain what items are included for the price – no need for any gastro pub pretensions here but descriptions are a useful tool for marketers to help express the features and benefits, the price and value positioning, and how the product or service matches with what the competition is offering. Refresh your product descriptions today and see if it makes a difference!

You may also like this post on Wilko's value proposition.

Straplines - catchy or dodgy?

Wilkinson was always considered the best-placed variety store retailer to plug the gap left by Woolworths’ collapse in 2008. For a number of years after the demise of its former competitor it enjoyed climbs in both profits and sales. But more recently its crown has slipped because of fierce competition from its growing, and increasingly professionalised, rivals in the value sector and the supermarkets.

In a continued effort to grow the business in the face of fierce competition, it has undoubtedly undertaken a review and analysis of the benefits and value that it can deliver to its customers and, as a result of this, rebranded all its stores to its Wilko fascia and revealed its value proposition as “where there’s a Wilko, there’s a way”.

Shortening the brand name in a bid to make it more catchy is perhaps a good move and not a completely alien concept to the consumer, after all we’ve been saying “let’s pop to Wilkos” for ages. However I hear many a customer refer to it as “Wilkis” but let’s not complicate matters.

Where my chief concern lies is with their value proposition (aka the strapline) “where there’s a Wilko, there’s a way”. A way to do what? Or is it a way to go? In which case - where? Physically to the store one assumes but it is woolly and vague. It’s hardly catchy either (too long for that) and it’s not going to rock the world is it?

Does it matter though to average customers? 

Possibly not (and it could be me being an old cynic) but I need to put it firmly on my list as one of the dodgiest around. Here are some others:

· "Make 7-Up Yours" (7-Up) - Launched in the US, it was quite quickly replaced. Not at all surprising really – it’s generally not good to say to your customers “up yours”.

· "We can help" (Currys) well a key ingredient with straplines is relevance. Applied to a charity it would have more credibility. But an electrical retailer…..?

· "We can be bothered" (Simplyhealth) – it’s good news if you’re sick that a healthcare brand is showing concern and care but they’re just “bothered”. What like Catherine Tate?

With your straplines, try and be original – not just overlaying what others do and you need to differentiate. I like the Independent’s “It’s Independent – are you”. Include a key benefit and make it punchy.

Making Brand Decisions: I'm glamping, not camping!

Wherever I pitch my tent, that’s my home and also my office! My Easter break was spent shivering a little in the wilds of Norfolk at West Runton Camping & Caravanning Club Site. As I warmed my hands around the electric heater (no open fires allowed) I started to think about how I choose a campsite these days.

We’re experienced campers but with a touch of the ‘glamp’ about us – our tent has an electric hook up and carpet (don’t get me started on co-author Ann Prayle – she takes a freezer!). But when it comes to choosing a campsite in our holiday area of choice – there are hundreds to choose from that offer similar facilities; so, as we move through the decision-making model from need recognition to information search to hopefully making a purchase, it’s easy to get stuck at a big barrier of indecision where we are faced with too many choices.

Decison-making process for campsites

This is where heuristics come into play. Heuristics are in the words of Jim Blythe, "rules for buying". He describes them as 'if x is the case, then do y'. They can relate to how we search for information, how we judge products / services, or how we evaluate alternatives.

So heuristics or ‘buying decision shortcuts’ make it much easier for me to choose a campsite and cut through pages of listings in my area of choice. If I follow them every time I make a decision, I should end up having a good holiday! Well, that's the theory!

My heuristics for choosing a campsite are:

1. Search rules – always use the camping club listings or my favoured independent website to choose a reputable campsite. 
2. Evaluation rules – always rule out sites with a club house as they tend to be noisier and packed. 
3. Choice rules – when there are choices of campsite, always choose the branded Club Site or the one with the best reviews from Club members.

When it comes to choosing a campsite for your holiday, where there are a multitude of similar offerings of which you may have little knowledge or experience and only a few branded options, heuristics can be very useful in providing a standard set of rules to follow to aid that process. By learning more about customers’ decision-making, even the smallest campsite can use marketing to break down purchasing barriers and get new customers to pitch up.

Click here to buy Jim Blythe's great book discussing consumer decision-making and heuristics!

Mine's a skinny latte... it's how much?!

In my rural market town with a population of 6,000 and one small high street, we have 7 thriving coffee shops. All are independent as Costa Coffee and Starbucks haven't seen the need to move in but you can still get a good latte and free wi-fi (well if you keep your device tilted and your finger's crossed - the monk's didn't account for the internet when they founded the abbey). The point is that coffee shops are big business as 'Business Boomers: Coffee Shop Hot Shots' on BBC2 informed us this week with the average customer spending £450 annually (hmm, they haven't seen my bill).

The programme said the average price of a cappuccino (£2.30) breaks down as follows:
£0.15 ingredients
£0.15 cup and napkin
£1.20 fixed costs - staff, rent, utilities
£0.45 VAT
£0.00 corporation tax (joke...!)
£0.35 profit

We could say that the pricing framework being used is cost-based - the coffee shops may be establishing all the costs then adding a percentage, set amount or arbitrary figure to reach the price. Or it could be competitor-based: what are our competitors charging? They can use that as a benchmark or set the market price to lead the competition.

Where pricing gets interesting is when it comes to customer-based frameworks... Psychological pricing is when the purchase of the product creates an emotional response in terms of the value or status we get from it. I could buy a cup of normal white coffee in a polystyrene cup from the station cafe but I like the experience of seeing my frothy coffee made and having a moment to myself in nice surroundings. The product-line pricing approach is in play as drinks vary by size, complexity or ingredients. But the most important framework here is differential because the price can vary by customer. The Starbucks representative said that they can't possibly list all the options of drinks available on their menu. Once you start adding cream, marshmallows, extra shots and syrup, the price goes up exponentially and profits rocket! It's an affordable luxury we're prepared to indulge in and one that is keeping our high street alive.

Who are you targeting M&S?

M&S, the beloved middle England fashion retailer, is posting its 11th consecutive fall in clothing sales this week at the same time as its new campaign "Leading Ladies" is released. Now what follows is a small rant, because of those 8 leading ladies, I only recognised 4 from their photos and of the 4 that I recognised: Emma Thompson, Annie Lennox, singer Rita Ora and model Alek Wek - I would be staggeringly shocked if I spotted them in my local branch of M&S. Not only because Emma and Annie have got the money to buy their staple basics somewhere more expensive but because I can't imagine Rita and Alek stepping through the door at all!

I fear M&S have got it wrong again. The new 'models' they use are unattainable visions of success or the completely wrong age and body shape, whereas M&S shoppers want to see 'women like me'. Twiggy, who appeared in previous campaigns, at least gave the impression that she would wear the clothes and look good in them. My view is that M&S are using the wrong role models and creating the wrong clothes - with too short or too long hem lines and unflattering shapes.

If we apply this to marketing, M&S need to sort out their targeting and positioning. Who are you trying to sell to? And how are you different from your competitors? At the moment, M&S are trying to sell to everyone: young, old, traditional, trend-setter, country solicitor, budding pop-star... and as a consequence, they aren't getting any of it right. Targeting is about focusing in on your core customer base and then getting it right for them. Who are they? What do they want to wear? Do they want sleeves in their garments? Positioning is where you sit in the marketplace and what you are doing for your customers in comparison to other competitors. Are you selling good quality clothes or throwaway fashion? Are you expensive, mid-range or cheap? Are you a trend-setter, a trend-follower or long since giving up caring? The real M&S customer wants a nod to trends but they also want to cover up their knees!

So M&S, stop trying to be everything for everyone and get yourself back on track. Fill your aisles with black trousers, cashmere twin sets and white t-shirts and send Rita to Topshop!