The marketing textbooks will tell you what constitutes a powerful brand. But they’re out of date.
There’s simply more to it now. You will find definitions such as ‘A brand is the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service’. That will be probably be followed by an explanation that describes a brand as ‘the proprietary visual, emotional and rational image that is associated with an organisation.’
Diversity means there’s more to effective branding now.
By Bryan Adams, Managing Director of design and communications consultancy PH Creative.
The marketing textbooks will tell you what constitutes a powerful brand. But they’re out of date.
There’s simply more to it now. You will find definitions such as ‘A brand is the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service’. That will be probably be followed by an explanation that describes a brand as ‘the proprietary visual, emotional and rational image that is associated with an organisation.’
Of course, there are the golden rules to creating and maintaining a strong brand that continue to stand. An organisation will still be judged by its best and worse products. It will still be assessed by the ‘brand experience’ and brand values. Maintaining the brand promise is still vital and making an emotional connection with the audience is still paramount to building loyalty and trust.
But if the age-old branding challenges remain. It is the solutions that have become more complex.
Today’s brand audiences are elusive and fickle. As a society, we earn more, borrow more and spend more than ever before. We have higher expectations and demand more choice. We know a lot about the different brands on offer, which makes us the most informed consumers there have ever been. We want products and services that suit our individual needs. We will not ‘make do’. We are less loyal and we know when we are being targeted. There is more competition, therefore, for brands to win our attention, our trust and our money.
The world has become a much more complex place. Gone are the days when simple demographics defined our buying habits. People can no longer be divided into buying groups based on the colour of their collars or the wages they earn. Britain is much more multicultural than it used to be. We’re more diverse than ever before. And of course there is infinitely more choice. Consumers exposed to global media are exceptionally aware of the totality of what is on offer.
We are going to see a lot more of the word ‘diversity’ in years to come. Diversity has become an industry in its own right because people are starting to realise the importance of the finely tuned cultural, social and religious sensitivities of other
people. Now, for a brand to be truly successful, it has to reach more people by recognising, and appealing to, various sub-sets of their specific differences. It has to communicate in suitable “brand languages” rather than a single “brand language”. In order to be more effective it has to be more inclusive.
The word “diversity” in corporate Britain has acquired at least a couple of meanings which go beyond mere recognition of the differences in population based on race, religion, age, gender, sexual orientation and disability.
Truly enlightened businesses understand that by managing the diversity of their workforces they can use the differences between staff to drive excellence and creativity, boosting corporate performance, building bottom line results from top line principles.
They see diversity as something to be celebrated, and profited from, just as we celebrate and profit from diversity in food, art, music, literature and landscape.
Such organisations are inspirational leaders in the field, recognising that the cultural diversity within this country has been a largely untapped resource with valuable commercial potential.
But things are changing fast. For example, business has now cottoned on to the power of translating internal diversity awareness into effective external brand communications.
Lorian Coutts, director of communications for B&Q, writing in Diversity Xchange magazine, explained that the company’s policy of employing older staff was originally driven by the idea that they are more likely to be home owners with considerable DIY experience which can then be passed onto customers.
So what did this do for B&Q the brand? “The fact that B&Q is well known for employing such people has had a significant positive impact on the company’s corporate reputation and is probably the single fact that people know about B&Q after being a DIY retailer”, said Lorian.
BT also recognise the commercial value of diversity. Group Strategy Director, Clive Ansell explains: “From a commercial point of view, customers tend to do business more easily with people from their own community. So it stands to reason that by reflecting the diversity of the customer base within their organisation, companies are in a stronger position to understand their customers and serve them better.”
So you see, a strong brand and strong brand communications can no longer rely solely on a catchy advertising campaign. In the competitive race to win the trust and loyalty of the informed consumer, we have to tell the whole truth, not just about the brand values of the product or service, but also about the values of the organisation which sells it.
For an organisation to sustain a positive brand image, the consumer is now demanding transparency. Talking the talk is no longer good enough. We’re going to buy from those who walk the walk through the diversity of the society in which they operate. The chairman of Race for Opportunity Allan Leighton, who is also chairman of Royal
Mail, has said that developing business practice that addresses race is a “no
brainer”.
“The ethnic minority population in the UK has an annual income spending power of £32 billion. Cater effectively for this sector and you will see rewards on the bottom line.” he said.
Catering effectively for diverse sectors involves communicating effectively with them. They form a kaleidoscopic and multi-dimensional reality which requires a fine understanding if the communication picture is to be fine- tuned.
The golden rule of human relationships used to be “treat others as you would wish to be treated”.
In marketing and other forms of corporate communication, this has been superseded by a new platinum rule.
“Treat others as they would wish to be treated.”
Niche marketing to individual groups of consumers, of course, requires a much less broad approach and enables marketing people to focus on a relatively narrower range of consumer needs and perceptions. But for a brand wishing to address a general audience it is now more crucial than ever that marketing people really do understand the true nature of the many diverse groups within their target market place. If they achieve this, their overall marketing programme will be greater than the sum of its parts.
My top three points fon developing a winning brand for a general audience in today’s diverse world are:
Truly understand the audiences that make up your audience
If you don’t really know exactly who they are, how they think and what they want, you can not serve them effectively.
If you have a single brand message, make sure that it is universally appropriate for the sub groups within your general audience
You need to find a common denominator
Enhance your own diversity awareness and then promote it as part of your brand.
By demonstrating that you understand and appreciate diversity you will be considerably adding to the diverse appeal of your brand.
But the most important advice of all is this. If you feel you do not have the expertise to communicate effectively against the backdrop of an increasingly fragmented set of consumer demands, make sure you seek help and advice from communications professionals who do.
Article Source: http://www.theukarticledirectory.co.uk/.
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