Drew Schiller » Branding

Brand Ownership Yields Repeat Business, Referrals, and Tons of Goodwill

Drew Schiller — Wed, 03 Feb 2010 15:53:53 +0000

Almost a year ago I wrote an article detailing how my jeweler pays for his customer’s parking tickets and I compared his approach to the women’s clothing store across the street that rushed my wife out the door to feed the parking meter (effectively forcing her to drop the clothes she was going to try on and leave the store).

The next time I saw him, my jeweler told me, “My favorite part of the whole article is that you called me your jeweler.”

It’s true: he is my jeweler, and I don’t plan on going anywhere else for the shiny things I buy my wife.

I “own” other companies as well: my hair stylist, my coffee shop, my favorite restaurant, my print shop, my bookstore, my favorite marketing website, my favorite basketball team (go KU!), etc. My wife even has a favorite paper towel brand and I think we all have a favorite ketchup (I mean, could you imagine showing up to a barbecue with anything other than Heinz?).

Our favorite brands not only make buying decisions easier, they help make up our personal identities. Doesn’t it just feel wrong to buy groceries in a supermarket you’re not used to?

The ownership we feel for our favorite brands leads to our repeated business and most often to us referring our friends. And this phenomenon doesn’t just happen with brick and mortar businesses.

Small business owners ask me all the time where they can go to learn more about headline and copywriting for their marketing materials, and I always recommend my favorite copywriting website (Copyblogger). So not only have I bought a thing or two from Brian Clark, et al. (and I’ll probably more), I recommend his website to countless other small business owners and marketers, who also might buy his stuff.

Our brand ownership causes us to defend these companies when they are attacked, and forgive them if and when they do something wrong, just like we would for a close friend. That ownership yields goodwill at a level that any business owner should desire and feel honored to have.

Best of the Blog (First Half of 2009)

Drew Schiller — Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:34:03 +0000

Your Top Five (as viewed by the readers, ordered by date):

How To Create A More Memorable Brand
Nine ways to create a more memorable brand. I wrote this while examining the question, “Is it getting more difficult for people to remember your brand’s message?”

What You Don’t Know About Branding
Five important branding concepts you may not be thinking enough about. I was inspired to write this when an MBA professor mentioned to me that he only had six seconds worth of material to teach about branding. (Boy was he wrong!)

10 free do-it-yourself branding tips for businesses
Some basic tips to think about and remember on a daily basis. They’re all free, and all things you can implement today!

Energy
My 78-year-old grandfather, now 79, is the busiest, most active person I know. Want to be inspired? Read this!

Your brand is greater than the sum of its parts
This takes a look at branding through Gestalt psychology. Surprisingly, I get search engine hits every day from people looking for Gestalt branding!

Five More Good Ones (chosen by me):

Is Brand Value a Big Fat Lie?
Looking at how Google is valued at over $100 billion and what brand value really means.

The Fake Sale
A huge furniture store tried to dupe me (and everyone else) with a “Million Dollar Sell-Off” sale that featured the exact same prices they always have. That’s a promotion, not a sale!

Google can’t build your brand
How business owners and Internet marketers should look at search engines and their brand.

“No” is not a service
Smart businesses find a way to be helpful, even when they can’t provide the service a consumer is looking for.

The Year of Execution
This is my manifesto for 2009. So far I’d give myself a B-minus. Lots more work to do in the second half of the year!

Good To Bad To Great

Drew Schiller — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 16:29:23 +0000

I held a small branding workshop last month at a local golf clubhouse that is managed by the Coralville Marriott. Working with the Marriott staff to coordinate everything was simple, and the space was perfect (nice facilities beautiful scenery). That was the good.

Then last week I received a charge for the space that was more than double what I was expecting. Needless to say, I was shocked. I didn’t receive an itemized invoice or anything, just the charge on my card. As it happens, the charge came at the end of the day on Friday, so when I noticed it on Saturday, everyone in the events office was gone for the weekend, so I got to stew for a couple of days until Monday morning. That was the Bad.

When I got in touch with the events manager at the Marriott, she apologized that I hadn’t received an invoice, and said she would have to track down my receipt from accounting (she told me there had been lots of turnover in accounting-like I care!). I asked her when I could expect to hear back from her, and she said later in the day or Tuesday morning. Needless to say, I was skeptical that I would hear back at all.

Tuesday morning I received an email with the itemized invoice. They had “correctly” billed me, but there were several charges for things I had ordered (like the projector and coffee) that we had not discussed price on. Specifically outrageous was the four gallons of coffee for an eight-person event, at $40 per gallon. This is my lesson: get costs up front!

After explaining how ridiculous the coffee charges were and stating that I had never been told there would be any fee for the projector (in reviewing the contract I thought it was included in the room charge), the events manager again apologized, said that she wants me to have a great impression of the Marriott, and asked if by removing the projector rental and three of the coffee charges I would be happy. “Yes, thank you!” I said. That was the great.

First I went from enjoying the space to feeling hoodwinked by $160 in coffee for eight people (that’s $20 per person for those of you keeping score at home). Then I went from feeling overcharged without an invoice to thinking that this is one of the better service experiences I’ve had this year.

It doesn’t take much to help your customers have great experiences. Did the Marriott still make money? Yep, they still got $40 in coffee from me (which is still high for eight people, but comparatively speaking, I’m thrilled), and they still got the room fees and service fees (all they had to do with the projector was pull it out of the closet).

So next time you receive a customer complaint, learn what it will take to make the person happy. I bet 9/10 times it will be something simple. And for crying out loud, when you rent a room, ask them up front how much they charge for coffee!

Laziness Leads To Losses

Drew Schiller — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 16:14:49 +0000

I had a nice brunch over the weekend at a little restaurant in a bedroom community outside of Iowa City. After our meal ended, the four of us sat at our table chatting.

At 1:30 p.m., we were one of two tables in the restaurant, and the staff was starting to relax from their day’s work. Then one of them got up from the table they were sitting at, walked over to the window, and flipped the sign from “open” to “closed.”

This struck me as odd because I had checked their hours earlier that day, and I could have sworn they were open until 2:00. I looked at the sign on their door, and sure enough, it said “Sunday, Brunch: 10:00 – 2:00, Dinner: 4:00 – 8:00.”

Not five minutes after they had prematurely closed, a car pulled up out front with a couple from out of town. The couple looked at the closed sign, then looked at each other for a minute or so, shaking their heads. They were probably deciding where else they could eat now that their chosen destination was closed, even though there were people inside and the time was within the restaurant’s stated operating hours.

How Laziness Leads to Losses

You may be thinking that this is no big deal, the restaurant probably only lost $25 in sales. True, but do you think that couple will jump at the chance to drive out of town to try this restaurant again? Probably not. What’s more, I imagine they will tell their friends the restaurant was closed, which will make their friends think twice about dining there.

But let’s look at the larger picture. By closing the restaurant early, the management sent a message to the staff that it is okay for them to not follow through on promises the restaurant makes. Lack of follow through is one of the main reasons why many small businesses struggle, especially in the service industry.

Now, I’m sure the restaurant manager or owner, whoever was in charge, thought they were doing a nice thing for their employees by closing early. While the workers might be happy in the short term because they were allowed to sit in the dining room and eat 30 minutes before they thought they would, no one in that restaurant will be happy for long, because over time they will cut more and more corners, and lose more and more business.

What the restaurant management failed to remember is that everything your company does should add value for your customers.

What value did closing early and having family meal in the main dining area add to the two tables in the restaurant, or to the couple who drove away disappointed? None. Instead of eating early, they could have taken the opportunity to clean or learn more about the food they serve.

The short of it is that if you break promises to customers once, those promises are broken for life. I guarantee you that next Sunday the restaurant will close early as well, and if they don’t, some of the staff will complain about why they can’t close early. In fact, I may have witnessed a pattern that is already ingrained in their culture. Regardless, this attitude will eventually infect all of the staff, and they will soon lose interested in working Sundays altogether.

This is an example of how letting your business and your staff be lazy can ruin a brand’s culture and will keep you from building a healthy one. And businesses with a lazy culture will never grow, and rarely succeed.

photo credit: Joe Shlabotnik

How To Create A More Memorable Brand

Drew Schiller — Fri, 29 May 2009 17:00:59 +0000

Last week, I was asked, “Is it getting more difficult for people to remember your brand’s message?”

The short answer is, “yes.” Let’s look at some of the factors that make it difficult to be remembered today than in the past.

What You’re Up Against

Competition is always increasing, and it’s not just from traditional sources (i.e., you are a real estate agent and another real estate agent opens up shop). Replacement services, services that consumers choose to satisfy the same need as your services meet, are also popping up everywhere. An example would be forgoing a real estate agent for FSBO website listings (or Cragslist for that matter).

There is also the ever-increasing noise from advertising and marketing campaigns. Consumers are bombarded with marketing messages in every medium: websites, email, television, sponsorships, billboards, vehicle wraps, direct mail, text messages—some companies have even tried selling ads on fresh fruit. Sometimes it’s easier for people to block this noise out entirely than it is to filter the good messages from the bad.

Finally, there is a greater strain on the consumer’s time than ever before. They are expected to be more productive at work, spend more time with their family, exercise, eat healthier, protect the environment, keep up with pop culture, and watch the latest episodes of Lost, all while quickly responding to emails, Facebook requests, Twitter messages, and answering their cell phones at a moment’s notice.

As I explained to the person who asked me if it is getting more difficult to have a memorable brand, here’s the simple truth: even when I really love a new idea, a new blog, a new website, a new product—whatever—I am likely to “make a mental note” to check it out later, and then I’ll forget and it will be forever gone from my memory.

So then, how can you create a more memorable brand? Here are nine ways to help:

How To Create A More Memorable Brand

Be Distinct – Brands that differentiate themselves in the consumer’s mind are much more likely to be remembered because they represent something new and different. Our brains like to dump things into pre-defined categories. If your brand defies categorization or expands a category in a new way, you have a much greater chance of being remembered.
Don’t Please Everyone – If you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one and your brand will be quickly forgotten. Who do you remember more from high school: the nice kid who wanted to be everyone’s friend, or the jerk who stole that kid’s lunch money every day? The fact is that trying to please no one is a better strategy for being remembered than pleasing everyone. Look at Twitter. They unapologetically said “No, you only get 140 characters,” and now they are the belle of the social media ball.
Never Lose Focus – One of the best ways to increase your brand’s chances of being remembered is to keep a laser focus on what makes you unique. Think about it like this: if you could be remembered for one thing and one thing only, what would that be?
Have A Repeatable Message – If you expect your customers to remember your brand, you need to give them a message that is repeatable in their mind. Think, “Just Do It” or “Have it your way,” these are distinct and memorable messages that lend themselves to repetition (and parody). If this seems difficult, fill in these blanks: Only [your company] delivers [what you offer] to [your target audience]. Now, repeat it!
Always Provide Value – Every action you take in your business, no matter what it is, should provide more value to your customers. This is the only way to ensure that your brand is delivering the most value possible.
Think About Your Brand’s Personality – People buy people, not things. Your brand is the personification of your business, so make sure it has the personality that will attract your target customers, and make sure each employee in your company shares these characteristics.
Have Consistent Marketing Materials – I feel like I shouldn’t have to say this in 2009, but I do: all of your marketing materials must be consistently designed! That means that your business card, website, brochures, and sales fliers should all have the same logo, color scheme, typeface, etc. One of the primary factors in having a repeatable brand is having a recognizable icon. At the 2006 Summer Olympics, the McDonald’s arches were the second most recognized symbol in the world behind the Olympic Rings—and ahead of the Christian crucifix.
Use Appropriate Marketing Channels - If you’re marketing to the 18-24 demographic, cancel your cable television ads—today! In fact, even if you’re marketing to women over 55, you should cancel your cable ads—they are the fastest growing demographic on Facebook. You need to be hitting your target market where they will be most likely to see your marketing, which will also help them see you as one of them.
Repeat, Repeat, Repeat – Marketing messages typically need to be heard 6-7 times before a prospect will be familiar enough with your product to consider purchasing it. Obviously this number will vary by industry, but I don’t think it would be a problem to have your message heard too often!

While your brand may have more competition than ever before, few of those brands will work to become distinct and memorable. Rise above the fray by holding a unique position in your target customer’s mind and by repeating that message frequently, and you have a much greater chance of creating a memorable brand!

photo credit: spakattacks

What You Don’t Know About Branding

Drew Schiller — Mon, 18 May 2009 14:42:25 +0000

“Honestly,” the college professor said to me about the branding course he was asked to teach, “I only have six seconds worth of material: follow through on your promises and provide great service. What else is there?”

The professor is basically correct: building a brand requires you to deliver on your promises with excellent service. It’s the old “under promise and over deliver” mantra.

But he’s missing a critical piece of the branding picture. Branding is the act of distinctly positioning your brand in the mind of your target consumer. It is no longer enough to just provide great service, and branding gives your customers and employees a framework to understand what makes your company unique and special.

Here are five branding concepts you may not be thinking enough about:

Great brands are distinctive. Think about a company like Google, the world’s most valuable brand. When you think about Google, you probably think “Internet search.” Now think about Yahoo! What do you think? Nothing really springs to my mind either. Even though Yahoo! had a 4 1/2 year head start on Google as a Web search engine, it was Google that threw its muscle into one area, indexing the Internet, and dominated. Great brands stand for one thing, and one thing only. They can have many sub-brands, but the primary brand must stand for one thing (i.e., Microsoft stands for Windows, Apple stands for computers that work, etc.).
Great brands know their target audience. If you close your eyes and picture the one person who is most likely to use your product, what does he or she look like? How old is she? What is her ethnicity? How much money does she make? Is she married with children or single for life? Does she have pets? You get the picture. Your product needs to initially be built for one specific type of person. As your brand gains acceptance and popularity over time, your audience will diversify, but being all things to all people is a sure way to keep your brand small and weak.
Great brands are your friends. There is an old adage that says, “people buy people, not products.” This is absolutely true, and it always will be. But what if your customers saw your brand as a person, or better yet, as a friend? Friendships are built on trust, so what if the trust your customers placed in your company was greater than the trust they put in most other people? Branding is the art of successfully personifying your company so that customers can identify with your brand as if it were something real and tangible. Again using Google as an example, when you want to find something online, what do you do? You Google it, because just like a close friend, Google is always available and very reliable.
Great brands have remarkability. Great brands have the ability to “wow” people over and over again. One of the reasons the Apple iPod has created such a strong brand and dominates portable music players is because they always come out with a new feature that makes people want to tell their friends (they have also created a very loyal and committed fan base who always wants the new Apple toy). Amazon is another example of a company with remarkability-they continually offer amazing recommendations (their use of the “you looked at this, so you might also like …” feature is truly amazing), and I get better customer service from calling Amazon than I do going to a Barnes & Noble retail store.
Great brands are a culture. Whether you think about it or not, the branding habits your company has directly impact your customers’ experience with your brand. Zappos.com is a company that has created a culture of service in all levels of their organization, and it has paid off big time (their sales were over $1B in 2008). If you aren’t focusing on your brand promise with every single employee and during every single customer interaction, you are not building a successful brand culture. Good branding habits are difficult to form, but equally difficult to break!

So next time someone says, “branding is simple,” tell them that sometimes it’s the simple things in life that are the most complex.

photo credit: Marco Bellucci

Is Brand Value a Big Fat Lie?

Drew Schiller — Wed, 13 May 2009 14:01:06 +0000

Last month, Google became the world’s first $100 billion brand. Does that mean that its assets are valued at $100 billion? No. So does that mean its annual revenues total $100 billion? No. In fact, Google’s 2008 revenue was around $22 billion, and its 2008 total assets were valued at around $32 billion. Those two numbers combined don’t even get close to its brand value.

What does it mean then that Google is a $100 billion brand? Theoretically it means that if all of the Google servers in the world exploded, all of the employees resigned, and all of the Google Ads vanished, the Google owners could borrow against the company name and identity up to the amount of $100 billion to rebuild.

So where did this enormous brand valuation come from? Is this huge number just a big lie perpetuated by advertising and marketing companies so they can tell CEOs that their work matters? As it turns out, sort of.

Millward Brown Optimor calculates its BrandZ Top 100 brands by combining corporate earnings, branded earnings, branded intangible earnings, brand contribution (taken from a study of over 1 million users of a particular brand across more than 30 countries), and projected future earnings of a brand (read more about the BrandZ process here). So the calculation isn’t a lie (except maybe the projected future earnings), but I doubt that just anyone could replicate those results, and you certainly couldn’t apply them to just any brand off the street.

While I don’t completely understand the BrandZ valuation, I do know that brand value is as real as the sun is hot, and here’s where you can truly see its power: Imagine that you and a few of your friends are sitting at your house and you decide to order pizza. You remember that there’s a great new place down the road, but you can’t remember what it’s called. What do you do to find the restaurant? You Google it. You don’t “Yahoo!” it, or “Microsoft Live Search” it. You Google it. I don’t know if that’s worth $100 billion to you, but to me that’s priceless.

Yahoo! and Microsoft Live Search would probably find that pizza place down the street from you just as well as and maybe better than Google. But would you dare test those two search engines first? No way, because you trust that Google will give you exactly what you are searching for.

Another example of brand value in practice is my grandmother who swears she is more loyal to price than she is to any particular brand. She almost always buys low-cost generic options, and she is particularly loyal to her grocery and drug store brand, Hy-Vee.

The brilliance of branding is that my grandmother doesn’t think she is loyal to the Hy-Vee brand, only to the low prices. So I asked her how often she purchased products from Country Fare, another generic brand in her grocery store that is slightly cheaper than the Hy-Vee products. “Rarely,” she admitted. “I almost always buy the Hy-Vee brand.”

So no, brand value isn’t a lie, in fact it’s very real. Brand value is a measure of the trust consumers have in a particular brand delivering on its promise (i.e., Google finds exactly what you need, Hy-Vee provides low-cost yet high-quality goods). How can we accurately measure this trust, especially for smaller brands?

Any good marketer will tell you that a brand is the personalization of a company; the brand represents how a company relates to people and how people relate to it. So if we think of a brand as a person, how do we decide when we trust someone? Is there an indicator in the handshake or clothing? More likely it’s something that we intrinsically understand about this person, we implicitly do or do not trust her.

The trust that we either have or do not have for other people is the same way we evaluate brands. And if you ask me, if a brand can build implicit trust with its consumers, that is the real value.

photo credit: miss.killer!

Build Your Brand Through Familiarity

Drew Schiller — Tue, 12 May 2009 12:49:21 +0000

My wife and I live equidistantly between two grocery stores that are owned by the same company, and we shop at one particular location 95% of the time. The other day we decided to spice it up a bit and go to the other store.

It was awful.

First, we couldn’t find anything because the aisles were in a completely different order from our normal store, and certain items were in completely different sections.

Second, we buy tons of fresh fruits and vegetables, and the produce at this grocery store is awful compared to our regular store.

Third, the layout seemed to create chaos in every direction; everywhere we turned we were running into people or waiting for aisle congestion to dissipate.

Okay, I realize it might seem stupid for me to be complaining about a grocery store, but two valuable lessons can be learned here:

People are loyal to brands because those brands are familiar. My wife and I are used to our normal grocery store, and I can guarantee that the next time we go grocery shopping, we will return to that location. We are familiar with that store, its products, its procedures, and we just feel more comfortable there.
If you are not paying attention to how each of your locations, employees or website are consistently delivering your brand, your brand will become out of sync. Remember, these two grocery stores are owned by the same company, but in my mind, one is great and one is mediocre. While this experience solidified my loyalty to one particular location, my loyalty to the overall brand has suffered because now I know that not every location will deliver what I have come to expect from the company.

If you want to know how you are doing at consistently delivering brand familiarity in your business, speak with your customers. If you have multiple locations, ask them what they like about each location and why. If you only have one location, ask them if they prefer visiting your business in the morning versus the evening, or if one receptionist is preferable over another.

Work hard to create a sense of consistent familiarity in all of your products and services and between your employees and locations, because brand familiarity breeds brand loyalty, and brand loyalty creates customers for life.

photo credit: woodleywonderworks

Add Value To Your Bottom Line With Your Brand

Drew Schiller — Mon, 11 May 2009 16:43:29 +0000

Businesses, especially small ones, are traditionally valued by what can be tallied by accountants and auditors. Sales, inventory, payroll, accounts receivable, debts, etc. This is a fine way to value a business to settle on a purchase price, but this doesn’t account for what I see as the most important factor in valuing a small business: its brand.

Small businesses rarely (if ever) seek to understand the value of their brand; what their brand’s market position, mindshare, and goodwill are worth. But the value of a brand can make or break a business over time.

How exactly can your brand’s value make or break your business?

Imagine that your company hasn’t been delivering on your brand’s promise but you don’t notice because you don’t regularly measure your brand. The customers you currently have, your loyal followers, will probably continue to use your company’s services for quite some time. Conversely, new customers, those who are newly exposed to your brand and don’t yet have a preference for any one company, are less likely to use your brand again if they have an underwhelming or negative experience.

You won’t see an immediate decline in business because you still have all of your original customers. But your business isn’t growing. You aren’t anywhere close to the 15-20% annual growth goal you set with your managers. Your new customer list hasn’t been growing, and your sales aren’t generating the amount of foot traffic they once did.

This is what happens to weak brands with declining value, and this demonstrates how not focusing on your brand can have a negative impact on your business’s measurable bottom line.

Now imagine that you regularly take stock of the value of your brand. You and your staff make a special effort to greet new customers with a “first time buyers program” that makes them feel special, like a member of your team. You are not only seeing business growth, but referrals of new customers from your existing ones are steadily increasing. Your sales are growing, your staff love their jobs, your customers love your company, and yet you are still looking for ways to improve the business.

This is what happens to brands that are increasing in value, and the impact on your bottom line will be positive.

Creating a valuable brand is not about having a lower cost of goods, lower labor costs, higher yields, etc. Creating a valuable brand is about making a promise that customers are excited about and delivering on that promise every single time. Both of these techniques put more dollars in your pocket, but one is tied to your long-term success (your brand) while the other is tied to short-term gains.

Focusing only on the earnings-based valuations of your company will result in a weak brand and short-lived success. But focusing on this as well as developing long-term brand value will have your business growing for years to come.

photo credit: MShades

Always Be Serving

Drew Schiller — Fri, 08 May 2009 14:28:11 +0000

“It has always been my belief that a man should do his best, regardless of how much he receives for his services, or the number of people he may be serving or the class of people served.” – Napoleon Hill

We have all walked into a business (or contacted a customer service department, etc.) and felt insignificant, ignored, or unimportant. This is unacceptable for many reasons, but fundamentally because no matter what industry we are in, our primary job is to provide a service in exchange for money.

Simply put, every customer counts.

Here are five helpful things to remember when you’re working with a customer and providing great service is the last thing on your mind:

They are trying to give you money. When a customer is asking a million annoying questions about a $2 widget and you just want to give them the damn thing so they get out of your face, remember that small sales often lead to large sales down the road.
Everyone has friends. And who knows, their friends may have more money!
Negativity spreads like wildfire. If you treat someone poorly, they are much more likely to tell their friends, their peers, Twitter, Facebook, etc. People love to gossip about other people’s negative experiences—if we didn’t, then publications like US Weekly wouldn’t exist.
Don’t judge a book by its cover. We have all been willing to make a large purchase in a store, and all the salesperson has to do is answer a few questions. Instead of answering those questions, you get ignored (because you look too young, too old, too poor, too whatever) so you simply walk out and take your business elsewhere. Don’t be that ignorant salesperson!
Think about how you would want to be treated. When all else fails, and you still can’t get into serving this customer, humanize the person. Imagine if you were in her shoes, and all you wanted was to purchase XYZ but you had a few questions. Or perhaps she just doesn’t understand your sales process. Take the time to explain it to her and you’ll both be happier.

photo credit: Robert S. Donovan