Friday Quotes

Happy Easter everyone. Here are a few great quotes to send you on your weekend. The first has guided my approach both professionally and personally. One the eve of Easter, I thought the second was particularly appropriate.

Check back next week for more insights...

"Luck is the residue of desire and design" - Rene Descartes

"The most important human endeavor is the striving for morality in our actions. Our inner balance and even our very existence depend on it. Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity to life." - Albert Einstein

The Death of a Bear (and Brand)

The sale of Bear Stearns for $2 per share to JPMorgan Chase is another example of greed run amok. Bear’s exposure to subprime investments spelled its doom.

The interesting question is whether this most recent collapse irreparably damages the Wall St. brand. London, fueled by its every powerful British Pound, is increasingly being seen as the new global financial capital. And the Middle East is soaring from its oil profits.

While I believe that New York still has a big role to play in the global financial markets, its days as THE leader have passed. Too bad. Greedy, short-sighted executives have driven their companies off a cliff with poor (or non existent) risk management controls. And these decisions have not only killed their companies, but damaged the Wall St. – and US – brand.

New Friday Tradition - Brand and Personal Relationship Quotes

I am starting a Friday tradition today. By now you have read the commentary and advice in Monday – Thursday columns. I hope you have found them insightful. Of course, your comments are always welcome.

Friday will conclude with the weekly “Brand Quote” and “Personal Relationship Quote”. After all, business is about relationships – relationships with customers, colleagues, and constituents. No matter what type of product you sell, business is still about people. So I hope that you find inspiration – professionally and personally – as you check “BRANDom Thoughts” every Friday.

Brand Quote

The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are, not how cheap you are. The goal must be to sell the distinctive quality of the brand. - Kerry Light, Brand Strategist

Personal Relationship Quote

Trust is the glue of life. It's the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It's the foundational principle that holds all relationships. - Stephen R. Covey

Airlines Break Trust and Lose Altitude

First it was JetBlue. Now Southwest. Two of the most successful airlines in recent years are losing altitude. Why? They’ve broken one of the most fundamental rules of successful brands – trust.

JetBlue's ill planned expansion and rerouting plans stranded passengers over the summer during a series of weather “events”. Passengers were stranded in airports for days. They missed business meetings. They missed get-togethers with loved ones. This from an airline that built its brand around great customer experiences. It’s hard to fix a problem when it torpedoes your brand promise.

Southwest’s problems are more serious. Can “low-cost” airlines remain low-cost while still flying safe planes? With the leader in the space cutting corners, can it be long before we see other airlines doing the same? Flying airplanes with cracks in the fuselage is a dangerous risk.

This apparently conscious decision has hurt 30 years of focus, brand building, and success by breaking the trust it built with customers. It may also have broken the law.

The lesson for marketers? Brand building is a never-ending journey. It is built on trust and consistency. And when mistakes are made that undermine those efforts – even by the most successful brands - it is very difficult to rebuild what has been destroyed.

The Sustainability of Sustainability

Sustainability is pervasive in global business. And its implications are tremendous. Leading brand owners and their retail partners are making sustainability a key factor in their purchasing decisions. Of course, Wal-Mart has been the leader in the field.

What surprises me is that many companies don’t equate sustainability with innovation. Sure innovation is an overused buzz word. But it is a requirement to drive change of products, technologies and services that enhance environmental friendliness. Unfortunately, too many companies, particularly b-to-b suppliers, shape their communications as is they were writing for regulatory agencies.

Sustainability is not a fad…it’s a fact of business. And those companies that can position themselves as truly innovative business partners will create tighter business partnerships with key customers and prospects.

Avoid Commoditization by Leveraging Your “Universe of Value”

From advanced telecommunications gear to raw chemicals, the “commoditization” of products continues unabated. Two factors have contributed to this trend. Fierce competition has led many companies to compete only on price. Economic conditions are also enabling buyers to extract even greater concessions from sellers.

How can companies differentiate themselves? Unfortunately, many companies have cut back on one tool at their disposal – marketing. Commodity-based companies often view marketing as an unnecessary expense. This strategic miscalculation perpetuates, and even accelerates, shrinking margins and smaller profits.

Strategic marketing programs that focus on promoting your “Universe of Value” will create greater awareness of your company’s differentiators to help you gain a competitive edge and increase profitability.

Identify your “Universe of Value”

Your “Universe of Value” is more than quality products. Quality is a given in business today. Instead, it extends beyond product to encompass the total value that you provide to customers. “Universe of Value” includes benefits that improve customers’ buying experiences, eliminate administrative burdens and improve operational effi ciency. These benefits are delivered at every point-of-contact with customers.

Carefully identify your real-world strategic differentiators. Don’t rely exclusively on sales personnel for feedback from the field. Survey customers to determine the real benefits that you are delivering.

An open dialogue with customers provides two main benefits. Communication can enable customers to realize the benefi ts of “built-in” or bundled value that you provide. Honest feedback from customers can also help you to more accurately identify your most valuable services. Let your customers help you see the forest through the trees.

Ultimately however, it is your responsibility to relentlessly promote the benefits that you deliver to customers.

Do you have differentiators?

… of course you do.

Perhaps your company has an online ordering system. The value to your customer is that it “significantly reduces inefficient administrative tasks to lower order processing costs”.

Making customers aware of this intrinsic value can help to relieve pricing pressures.

Your technical services may provide another marketing opportunity. In many cases, these services are provided as added value to product sales. Failure to effectively market these services can diminish their inherent value.

Innovative packaging may also be a differentiator that adds value to products. Let’s use rock salt as a product example. Very little difference exists between different rock salts. But companies that incorporate “easy to carry handles” into bulk packaging can drive preference for their brands.

This simple, yet powerful packaging modification can create greater demand from merchants, distributors and ultimately consumers.

These are just three examples. Scrutinize your business offerings, quantify the value delivered to customers, and communicate them to market.

Brand Your Differentiators

Once key differentiators have been identified, brand them. Simply branding for the sake of brand awareness is worthless (think about pets.com). Brands must be inextricably linked with your “Universe of Value” to generate customer demand.

A strategic branding program can help you more effectively communicate value to customers. Don’t simply look for products to brand. An innocuous service that is providing substantial help for customers is a strong candidate.

The goal is not to simply develop new names and design creative logos. Brands represent your company. They convey value. And most importantly, they can help to promote the benefits that your products and services deliver to customers.

Driving Brand Sales

Focused marketing support programs can effectively position your company as a preferred solutions provider. Promote your differentiators through strategic publicity, advertising, direct mail and trade events. Use testimonials to demonstrate how customers achieved specific results because of the value provided by your brands. Other users will want to reap similar benefits gained by the customers featured in your case histories.

Commodity-based companies should heed one key principal – market brand value.

Market your “Universe of Value” to begin to differentiate your company from the competition. Customers will begin to see that the services you provide are more valuable than the penny discount they typically ask for.

Spitzer’s “Positioning” Problem

Beyond the immorality (and potentially illegal) issue of Eliot Spitzer’s involvement in a prostitution ring, there are lessons in the branding and positioning of “Eliot Spitzer”. He was the new sheriff of Wall Street. He was the antidote for the backdoor operations of New York government. There was no middle ground with Spitzer. He was the solution to all problems because he ran on a platform of unquestioned ethics.

And there in lies the problem. He left no middle ground for shortcomings. He positioned himself as moral beyond reproach, instead of just a visionary leader with great ideas. Now his moral shortcomings are coming home to roost.

Positioning of any candidate or business is often critical to success. Good “product” alone will often not win. So when considering proper positioning, ask yourself these simple questions:

• Does our positioning create differentiation?
• If we fall short of our brand promise, does it have the potential to leave our brand irreparably damaged?
• Are we making promises that are unrealistically sustainable?
• Can we live and breathe our brand promise?

Mistakes in politics and business are inevitable. Bill Clinton survived the Lewinsky scandal (albeit weaker than before). But he never positioned himself as the moral leader of the party – or country. Spitzer did and now leaves himself with little room to re-position his “brand”.

Most importantly, proper positioning will never eliminate the need to make proper, ethical decisions in business or politics.