Archive for the ‘Corporate Positioning’ Category

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Never Underestimate Your Brand Colour

In a blog article last year, The Power Of Colours In Branding, Nick Hague talked about how colour – while not the single defining factor in the success of a brand – does have an important part to play.

New research by UK patent and trademark attorneys Withers & Rogers concurs with Nick’s opinion, naming colour as the strongest visual element of a brand.  In their survey, 64% of respondents ranked colour as more important than slogan, typeface or logo shape.

The AA’s famous yellow and black logo had the highest colour recall of any brand, recognised by almost all respondents (98%).  Easy Jet’s orange was recognised by 93%, with Cadbury’s purple and BP’s green each being recognised by 88% of those questioned.

Interesting, but perhaps unsurprisingly, companies that have trademarked their distinctive brand colours, such as Easy Jet, Cadbury and BP, tended to score highly in the survey.

Branding research can generate a wide range of colours that can be used differently to deliver consistency and powerful positioning in logos, corporate marketing, packaging and other aspects of your brand.  If you are interested in finding out more about branding, read our Brand Positioning Case Study or our white paper on Branding in B-to-B Markets.

Posted in Advertising Research, Branding, Corporate Positioning, Market Research |
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Customer Value Propositions Made Easy

One of the most important and yet one of the most badly carried out tasks by business to business marketers is the development of a good customer value proposition.

The term customer value proposition or CVP is one of those dreadful inventions of the last decade. In the past we had products and services with unique selling propositions or USPs but that didn’t seem to be simple enough for our developing profession.

The problem with customer value propositions is that most people can’t help themselves when they create them. They feel honour bound to list each and every feature and benefit of the offer and, as a result, they weaken the appeal to the person they are aimed at.  Instead of the proposition being clear, it becomes fuzzy and listless.  Too many features and benefits are too much for recipients to cope with.

What has happened to the big hairy idea — the single proposition that makes an offer different, desirable and defensible? In the following article by Mike Southon, and published in the Financial Times over the weekend, he describes how to create an elevator pitch (a CVP by any other name) and instead of using the three Ds (distinctive, desirable and defensible) , he suggests the 5 Ps (pain, premise, people, proof and purpose).  Arguably it is a more complicated version of the “3 D formula” but there are some good points for us to ponder on.

Floored by an elevator pitch
By Mike Southon
Financial Times: March 7 2009
One of the most enjoyable parts of my job is appearing at events involving an "elevator pitch" competition, where hopeful entrepreneurs extol the virtues of their business idea in the time it would take to travel a few floors in a lift with someone.

The first thing I explain is that the elevator does not get stuck for several hours – you have to keep your pitch short and simple.

The worst culprits for bad pitching are inventors, engineers and technologists who feel that they have to cram as many features as possible into their three minutes.

In sales, there is the concept of "golden nuggets", where as many as 50 amazing features of your product are crammed into literature by your marketing team. The problem is that most customers have very short attention spans and can only remember three things about your product. As soon as you mention the fourth golden nugget, the first, and probably most important one, drops out of their memory.

By the time you get to nugget number 50, all the most compelling ones have long since gone, and the prospective customer has also lost the will to live.

The objective in delivering an elevator pitch is not to secure an order there and then. The best you can hope for is to stimulate enough interest to receive another 15 minutes and a business card.

So the methodology for a good elevator pitch is simple, and centres around five ‘P’s: pain, premise, people, proof and purpose.

The most important question for a would-be entrepreneur is: Where is the pain? You should also ask: What is the pain or problem that you plan to solve?

The larger the pain, the more likely people are to give you money to take it away. Pain can come in many forms, but if your product or service saves time and money, that is a good start.

Next, you have to explain in simple terms the premise of your business. Exactly what is it you do? For this, you need to be literal and not descend into sloganeering. "We transform people’s lives" is laudable but vague. "We are an excellent training company, specialising in communication skills" is much more to the point.

If you feel this is too obvious, I suggest you visit a trade show and work out what each company does, just from the text on the display stands. The worst are deliberately vague in the hope your curiosity will be aroused, encouraging you to approach the stand to find out what they do. Unfortunately, most people will not bother.

The other Ps of pitching are very straightforward.

You need to talk about your people because entrepreneurship is a team game. Every investor says they look for a credible team rather than a good idea, and every customer says they buy from people not companies.

Proof is the hardest element to provide. Why should anyone buy from you and not your competitors? The best proof is examples of your happy customers, in the form of relevant case studies.

Finally, you must provide your purpose, and the most important purpose of any business is to make money.

Potential investors will be looking for a return on their investment, and prospective customers will only want to know that you run a sensible and profitable business, to ensure reliable and consistent delivery of your products and services.

This should provide the basics for delivering a good elevator pitch. For more details, Chris O’Leary has written an excellent book, Elevator Pitch Essentials.

Posted in B2B Marketing, Brand Strategy, Corporate Positioning, Customer Value Proposition, CVP, Marketing, USP, Value |
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Top US Brands

The most valuable retail brand in the United States has been revealed in a report just released by Interbrand.

Walmart took the top spot by a huge margin, followed by Best Buy, Home Depot, Target and CVS.  With a brand value of $129 billion, Walmart – which has made a concerted effort over recent years to understand its consumer base and has carved out a niche for value-driven shoppers – is, in fact, the most valuable retail brand in the world.

The study also reveals that brand now accounts for 25% of the decision to shop at a particular store, so those who are prospering are the ones who understand the importance of their brand.

In a recession, retailers who have a clear, well-positioned brand have a better chance of keeping their existing customers and enticing others away from their competitors.  The key to a successful brand is to be able to adapt to the changing economy, yet continue to engage and deliver a unique experience to the consumer.  A renewed focus on brand at this time will help companies to continue through the difficult days ahead.

Posted in Branding, Corporate Positioning, Customer Satisfaction, Market Intelligence, Market Research USA, USA |
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A Woolly Offering

In her first Thursday Night Insight, Research Consultant Emma Flood considers the importance of understanding and maintaining corporate position and brand image.

Almost 100 years ago, in 1909, the retailer Woolworths started life in Britain.  F. W. Woolworth, as it was known then, sold a variety of merchandise from stationery, to toys and children’s clothes, to confectionary – and had a focus on providing ‘value-for-money’.  As an American-owned company, its stores operated using an innovative US-style store layout, encouraging shoppers to browse, rather than to simply make a purchase and leave. 

By the 1920s the retail chain was riding high, with one store opening every 17 days.  More recently, when Woolworths Group plc floated on the London Stock Exchange in 2001 with an opening price of 32p, the retailer continued to perform well, with shares rising and peaking at 55p in April 2005. 

So what has happened to Woolworths?  Since January 2007 Woolworths shares have been in almost constant decline, and after almost 100 years of retailing on the British high street, Woolworths has closed its doors with an estimated £385m debt.  Throughout December and January all of its 807 stores will close, and 27,000 temporary and permanent staff will lose their jobs. 

In its interim report last year, Woolworths noted several factors which now seem prominent in contributing to its demise.  There has been a distinct change to the retail landscape, and retailers like Woolworths have seen increasing competition from food retailers (amongst others) who are expanding into general merchandising.  The growth of the digital entertainment market has effected a change in consumer preferences towards digital delivery of products (i.e. MP3 rather than CD) and thus further threatened Woolworths’ entertainment offering.  Perhaps the overarching factor to be taken into consideration is the current economic climate and the deterioration of the UK retail market, forcing redundancies and store closures amongst other retailers also.

The closure of the 807 Woolworths stores has lead to major clearance sales – you may well recall images of the bargain hunting shoppers queuing in their droves, fighting over slashed price goods as the store emptied itself of its final stock, even selling its fixtures and fittings at bargain prices.  Or perhaps you’re like me – despite the fact that I too love a bargain, I was not tempted to hunt around the store during its final days.

This started me thinking about Woolworths, and why I’ve never been particularly attracted to shop there.  Along with the rest of the UK, I am very well aware of the name Woolworths, but had to ask myself the question, what is Woolworths?  What does it mean to me?  What does it offer?  Various images flooded my mind – pick ‘n’ mix counters, shelves stacked with everything from crockery to children’s clothes, and the ever present CD/DVD/gaming section with its fairly limited offer.  I looked to the Group’s website for some clarity and found Woolworths positioning itself as ‘one of the UK’s leading retailers focused on the home, family and entertainment’.

I’m afraid this didn’t particularly clarify things for me, and I’m still confused by the sheer array of products Woolworths sells, and unsure exactly why I would be motivated to shop there.  For me, Woolworths does not hold a clear position in my mind, nor indeed the changing marketplace. 

In the face of increasing competition, contracting markets and a tough economic environment, it is vital to carve or maintain a distinctive and attractive brand image and position within the market.  A clear and differentiated position will make it easier for your customers to identify and engage with your brand and offer, and motivate them to purchase from you.  If you do not have a clear message, you are less easily understood by your customers, who in turn have less of a reason to use you. 

Corporate positioning and branding research enables you to understand what customers and potential customers consider your brand values to be, and what the preferred brand characteristics are.  In understanding preferred brand values, you can build a market position which emphasises these and your company’s key strengths; in turn helping to aid customer retention and acquisition.

To read one of B2B International’s case studies on Corporate Positioning and Branding, and see how it could be applied to your business, follow the link below:

• Corporate Positioning case study

Posted in Branding, Corporate Positioning, Emma Flood, High Street, Retail, Thursday Night Insight |
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Low Prices – Rule Or Ruin

In her latest Thursday Night Insight article, Business Development & Research Manager Julia Cupman discusses the troubling impact the economic downturn has had on corporate positioning as so many companies take reactive measures to lower prices.

Society has suddenly become budget driven.  We are currently trapped in a maelstrom of decreasing prices and ultimately lower value goods and services.  A new economic order has become the new world order.  The media, which have played a dominant yet destructive role in reporting on the financial ruins of late, are full of manipulative messages to the public: Watch the bucks!  You can’t afford it!  Buy cheap!  Make your money last longer!

These meager attempts to freeze spending and educate on the subject of financial management are grinding society, leaving open and sore wounds that will take some time to heal.  The masses are becoming so accustomed to low price and low value that one cannot help but wonder when people will ever start to recognize and pay for quality and high value again.

Take the food industry as an example.  According to the Wall Street Journal:

1. Campbell Soup Co. is about to launch a multi-media campaign to trumpet its condensed soups as a bargain buy.  One of the company’s many print ads reads, “To save you money, we left one ingredient out (we figured you have plenty of water at home)”
2. The website of Kraft Foods Inc. is soon to list recipes for cheap sandwiches, and shows visitors how one bag of groceries filled with Kraft products can be stretched to make five dinners
3. On November 2nd, newspapers nationwide will carry coupon inserts pitching Campbell soups and sandwiches made with Kraft Singles cheese as the “wallet-friendly meal your family will love”

And Kellogg is going a step further by investing in search-engine optimization that will bring the company to the center of attention online when consumers type “cereal” plus “deals” or “value” into an Internet search engine.

Luring buyers into a low value mindset is dangerous.  Only last year, Campbell’s ads were highlighting their soups’ quality, but this month Campbell is launching multi-platform ads to tout its condensed soups as cheap eats.  A company that at one time was positioning itself in its marketing communications as a provider of quality has now denigrated its brand by changing its focus.

Chaos resides as businesses debate their strategies and along with consumers fall prey to economic forces.  The credit crunch, falling demand, globalization, oil price volatility, etc. all squeeze the economy, but cutting prices is no panacea.  In doing so, you are making the assumption that your market segments are price buyers, which is a dangerous trap to fall into.  Indeed, customers do not buy exclusively on price, but on perceived value, i.e. the trade-off between the benefits a product or service offers and the price tag attached.

Furthermore, not every company can sell on low price as it is a risky strategy that is only likely to succeed if it is implemented through proactive rather than reactive measures.  Sam Walton of Wal-Mart was successful in his price strategy as he sought innovative ways of achieving price leadership through effective supply chain management and an efficient distribution network.  Having recognized an unmet demand for low prices, Walton began to lead the market by example, rather than follow his rivals. 

Thus in times when the economic climate is driving so many to sell on price, businesses should think and act proactively, rather than simply react to environmental pressures.  In the words of Bill Gates, "When there is confusion in the marketplace, there is opportunity."  Hence rather than compete on price, you could seek opportunities in other areas of the marketing mix, such as place (location or distribution), product (quality or differentiation), or promotion (advertising, marketing, sales or PR).

It has never been more important to listen to your customers’ needs, for meeting the market’s needs is the key to success.  For sure, buyers will be interested in more than just low prices.  And although money talks, satisfied customers and the rewards they bring talk louder.

Posted in Corporate Positioning, Credit Crunch, Economic Downturn, Julia Cupman, Marketing, Supply Chain, Thursday Night Insight |
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