What is the difference between a small shop and a large supermarket or store chain, except the obvious such as size and revenue? And why would this be connected to Brand Equity?

Commerce has evolved considerably; altering the relationship between seller and buyer. The main differentiating factor between the stores outlined above lies in their branding strategy. Whereas large supermarkets focus on their brand and invest in advertising to create large-scale awareness, small retailers emphasize the importance of proximity. For the latter, the brand does not equal the name of the shop, but represents the owners themselves and their direct contact with the customer. This has become extremely relevant in a sales environment which is growing virtually and becoming more impersonal.

On the one hand, large supermarkets have been investing for years in loyalty cards and customer analyses in order to provide the best possible service and offers. This has helped select the most adequate combination of items on the shelf and develop a sound and competitive pricing model. On the other hand, smaller vendors tend to use less marketing tricks and develop their own, based on emotions and personal knowledge. Many small shops are owned by entrepreneurs with passion for the products sold (i.e. music) or passion for the way they sell.

One could actually compare both to a Marketing and Sales department, where the first focuses on mass and abstract data while the second on personal relationships and networking.

The coming of e-commerce and online media has introduced a shift. First of all, manufacturers do not require retailers anymore to sell to the final consumer. Some companies have decided to use their own e-commerce platform to sell, disregarding or limiting possible distribution partnerships. Secondly, a wide range of tools has helped companies develop sales platforms that try to combine both worlds. Though the Internet is a virtual environment and therefore impersonal, social software has helped create a feeling of proximity. Nowadays, it is easy to get in touch with a vendor and ask questions, give feedback and buy without leaving the house. Some ventures have become successful very rapidly in a mere couple of years, and have seen their brand equity rocket sky high.

Nevertheless, even they feel that change is needed once more. Consumers require attention and have to be nurtured. Now that they have access to a lot of information generated by companies and users, they become more critical and less loyal to a particular brand; and the decrease in purchasing power is enforcing this change.

Again, some pioneers have taken the matter in hand and succeeded in combining new techniques. Gary Vaynerchuk is one of them. With his Wine Library TV, Gary shows that it is possible to have a “local” wine shop and at the same time become a global figure. Using a video blog and being continually in touch with his customers and fans, Gary created a network with few boundaries and has proven that today’s branding revolves more around a personality and relationships rather than expensive commercials.

At Web2.0 Expo, Gary presented his view on personal brand and equity and stressed the importance of passion and patience. Both are traits of the entrepreneur, not the large supermarket.

Some of the largest technology firms grasped the meaning behind this and are now trying to “humanise” their leaders and company. Microsoft’s latest commercial with Bill Gates and Jerry Seinfeld is one example of such an attempt.

The Internet is a playground that supported the creation of thousands of new companies and business models developed by pioneers, ambitious entrepreneurs or idealists. Some are more successful than others. The latest social software has helped the unnoticed become quickly known, and has shown that simplicity, low budget, innovation and personality are today’s keywords.

Does this mean that those same companies should review their communication model? Or should they start looking back at their roots? They were also once launched by entrepreneurs.

What about your company? What about you as CEO, Marketing Manager or Business Development Manager? Is your passion driving the company? Does the company reflect your passion? Do your distributors and resellers share the same passion? Are your customers passionate? And does your company reflect your customers’ passion?

Many questions around one common denominator: Passion!

Passion is viral! But can entrepreneurial-like passion boost your Digital Brand Signature?

A brand is a symbolic embodiment of a company, product or service representing a promise to the consumer. It carries with it certain associations, ideas and images that convey the essence of its proprietor. Its value is one of trust and predictability. The consumer knows what to expect and feels reassured about his new purchase.

We have now come to the perfect opportunity to present our logo, the visual representation of our vision, mission and values:

 

Since the dawn of mankind, people have been looking for ways to attract the attention of the audience. With time and thanks to technological support, strategies and techniques have been refined and improved. This has evolved into the often misrepresented disciplines we know today, under the name of Branding & Marketing.

With growing importance attributed to branding, Brand Managers  were later introduced in order to increase the perceived value of brands and products, by creating an image or identity in the mind of the target market. This is known as Positioning or the 'relative competitive comparison' of the product in a given market. Positioning has its own life cycle and evolution process, and exists whether a company proactively acts or not. Through research, analysis and strategic actions, a company can formulate a position that will influence the perceived image in peoples’ minds.

Companies aspired to carefully maintain the position of their brand. Any small change in their message or strategy could seriously harm their brand. Different control levels had therefore been introduced to protect their brand identity and its perceived value. Such controls are not an easy task and it have actually become much more difficult with the numerous new channels that social media has brought. Many brand managers and marketers still don't comprehend that the Web is a conversation. People can blog about you, rate your products and use many other forms of user-generated-content to remix or disrupt your brand. This has encouraged many to suggest that companies should give up controlling their brand and instead include a participation strategy and embrace this new acquired freedom.

More adaptive companies have started integrating Brand Engagement  in their marketing strategy. A brand’s value is solely based on the perception people have in their mind and therefore it makes sense to say that consumers have more claim to the brand than the actual owner. But this is not only true for the consumer; this is the case for every stakeholder of the brand, starting with the employees.

By combining brand engagement with openness for a multi-positioning strategy, companies can better harness the advantages offered by today’s social media. Martin Lindstromcalls it the “Me Selling Proposition”. In this model, consumers assume ownership of the brand and do most of the communication work for you as part of a brand community. This model infringes and encompasses other selling propositions or positioning by empowering the brand’s stakeholders.

While it is common knowledge that most global consumers brands are making their first steps into branding 2.0  by facilitating interactions and becoming more socially and environmentally aware, this can also apply to smaller firms or B2B companies wishing  to be part of this new revolution.

On the other hand, social media creates a lot of pollutant information. Such noise not only impacts the quality of the information received and used by the final consumer, but will also force consumers to lose touch with the guidance offered by one unique brand positioning. This means that a right equilibrium must be found, and interaction between brand and engaged stakeholders should become strategic and based on clarity and mutual understanding.

Click on picture to magnify.

The ZackBrandit team wishes to take a step further and introduce Brand Empowerment. Instead of broadcasting information or playing the role of a community facilitator, companies should be able to stretch their Brand Identity  and include their customers and potential markets in their overall strategy. By empowering advocates and any other stakeholders with a piece of the brand’s identity, you can yield the same effect as providing company shares to employees. This is not about control, nor even management.

This is what may help companies benchmark their Brand Equity 2.0, which will be covered in a future post.