Top 5 Misconceptions of Branding vs. Marketing
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Every once in a while I meet with the CEO of a company in the mortgage industry who really understands the importance of building and nurturing a strong brand, but wonders if his internal marketing department knows how to lead a branding effort. Or, they’re not sure that the marketing or public relations agency they work with has the expertise and credentials to assist them in developing their brands.
Developing a brand is a science and requires a very different skill set than that needed for developing a marketing or PR strategy. An agency that has the credentials and specializes in this area will talk with you about your brand up front and learn where it stands before launching into developing a communications strategy as the chasm between marketing and branding is deep and wide.
Here are the top five misconceptions marketing and public relations firms may have about developing a brand…
1)
Assuming brand development can be accomplished vis a vis a good
marketing and/or public relations strategy.
Brand development is a process by which a company
defines who they are, how they’re different and why they exist. This is the
basis upon which future marketing and public relations campaigns are launched.
Establishing your brand must precede marketing and public relations
campaigns, it is not developed simultaneously to developing campaigns.
A successful brand defines who you are as a
company…what drives you and why people should care about you and pay attention
to you, not just because of a new campaign or enhanced product mix, but because
of the emotional value you bring to them. Brand-driven marketing is the only
kind of marketing that drives long-term sustainability and exponentially better
ROI.
2)
Referring to a logo as a brand.
A logo is nothing more than an icon; a visual
representation of a brand.
When you see the logos of Rolex, John Deere, Ritz
Carlton, Crest or any other brand for that matter, each makes you think of
something based on experiences and perceptions. Likewise, if you are
looking for places to stay on your family vacation and see five different hotel
brands to choose from on TripAdvisor (Marriot, Four Seasons, Bernie’s Beds,
Hilton Hotels and Motel 6, etc.) you most likely are able to rank them in
quality from excellent to rat trap. If you dig a bit deeper and ask yourself
how you were able to rank those hotels, it’s because of experiences
(brand touch points), reviews, word-of-mouth, etc. That’s brand driven
marketing!
3)
Confusing or conflating a brand position and market
positioning.
A brand position takes into account the emotional
benefits a product/service provides to its target audience. Therefore, brand
positioning, done well, is sustainable over the long haul.
Market positioning, on the other hand, is always
in a state of flux due to the influence of outside factors whether they be
political, economic, technological advances, competitive issues and so on.
To understand brand positioning, think about
this…before the Mac, there were just computers.
4)
Believing that refreshing your logo refreshes your
brand.
A logo refresh is nothing more than a visual
facelift. Refreshing a logo without a matching refresh in the culture of your
company and the offering of something new that is deemed to be desirable to your
target audience does nothing more than confuse them. It makes them wonder what’s
going on with your company that you now have a new logo. “What else is new?”
they ask. If you don’t have a meaningful answer to this question, then
refreshing your logo will be an exercise in futility.
Take Pepsi for example. They’ve been competing
with Coca-Cola for market share as far back as we can remember. Coca-Cola’s logo
has changed ever so slightly over the years since its inception 1886. Pepsi, on
the other hand, has changed their logo nearly a dozen times. Except for small
blips in increased market share due to short-lived Coca-Cola brand blunders,
they’ve never managed to overtake Coca-Cola. This is perfect evidence of the
fact that a logo refresh of and by itself doesn’t do much of anything to refresh
or change the perception of your brand, except possibly add in a bit of
confusion.
Before a logo refresh, think through the brand
promise, then bring it to life through visual assets, experience and
communications. Well-planned brand identities create vastly improved bottom line
returns.
And then there are those cases where changing a
logo can actually upset customers. This is precisely what happened when the Gap
made a logo change – customers relentlessly voiced their strong disapproval of
the new logo and the Gap had no choice but to apologize and go back to their
original design. (I think the Gap was pleasantly surprised that so many people
were so passionate about the Gap brand.)
5)
Believing your brand is determined by gathering intelligence from
your target audience.
Nothing could be further from the truth. This is a
terribly confusing and ineffective way to create a brand. It relies on the
voices of those who have no knowledge of your companies’ intellectual or
creative assets – the only assets that a brand can be built upon.
Companies that adopt this approach are essentially
telling customers, “We give up. We have no idea what to do anymore because
you’re not buying our stuff. Please tell us what you think we should do and
we’ll try our best to do it.”
Compare this to confident brands that truly define
innovation and have changed the game in their industries: Keurig, Dyson, Apple,
Wisp, Nest Labs, Anytime
Fitness, Tesla Motors, and Amazon.
When you decide it’s the right time to take another look at your brand, take
the time to talk to different firms and consultants – preferably those who
understand your industry and have a solid track record of creating strong brands
that stand for something people can believe in. Also, don’t forget to check
their credentials. Brand development is a science unto itself that is separate
from marketing and public relations.
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