The Road To Distinction

Branding is psychological and sociological in that it combines both tangible and intangible attributes of a company and its products. A brand embodies the perception of the brand in context.

The perceived value of the brand is as individual as the audience it is targeted at. It can be positive if someone or an acquaintance has had a good experience with the brand. It can be neutral if they are aware of the company or product, but have not tried it or heard anything about the brand. Of course it can also be negative if someone or someone they know has ad a bad experience with the brand.

In most cases the direct brand experience or word-of-mouth is the key. When someone has a bad experience with a brand it can taint their perception for years. But on the other hand when someone has a positive brand experience, they will forgive any brand weaknesses for a long period as well.

As the principal of an agency it is somewhat painful to recognize that brand awareness campaigns pale in comparative strength with actual brand experience, word-of-mouth, and even product packaging. Today, branding is not so much about reaching the mass markets with awareness campaigns as it is in finding ways to enable organizations to make a direct connection with relative consumers.

The reality is that brand strategy is not a function to be fulfilled with by the marketing department, in fact it should define the entire business strategy for the organization as a whole. The brand promise should flow throughout the organization from the executive suite to the maintenance staff.

It’s not just the marketing and sales staff that needs to be singing from the same hymnal it is the entire brand organization. It is somewhat shocking to think that 72% of companies in the United States do not have someone in charge of managing and maintaining the customer experience. Every point of contact with the market should be cherished, and carefully maintained to ensure customer satisfaction. When there is a problem, the customer service personnel must be trained to work with the customer to fulfill their brand expectations, since making up for a problem is one of the best opportunities to win over a customer, and all their friends as well since these are the stories that genuinely deliver customer loyalty.

I know that as an agency we have changed almost everything we do to maintain a focus on not only the marketing and awareness of a brand, but to also focus on delivering solutions to saturate the brand’s values throughout our client organizations to maximize their brand value and business performance.

Mike Cunningham
Chairman

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