Branding, when done right, ensures a thriving business with loyal customers and solid profits. The secret is to establish a powerful brand identity that sizzles distinction. The goal is to establish that identity before you launch any marketing activities.
In order to powerfully communicate your business with laser precision and deliver a clearly-defined and consistent experience that will keep your customers clamoring for more, there is a simple process that gets you thinking strategically and connecting with your customers like the big guys.
Clarifying and succinctly articulating who your audience is, your audience’s problem and your “big idea” solution is the first step. Then when you sharpen your differentiation and value proposition, and wrap them into your brand story—you’ll have gone far in having clarified your organization’s personality and core priorities internally for staff and stakeholders as well as for your target markets.
Your prospects are looking for ways to solve their problems. If you can deliver the clearly-defined and consistent experience and value they are searching for—with an engaging story and compelling proof points—they’ll keep coming back for more— especially if you continue to communicate and offer value.
Below are the 6 do-it-yourself steps to strategically establish your brand like the big guys.
I. The Problem: Simply express the problem your product or service solves.
II. Identify your target audience and target sectors. Determine their needs and by which media they prefer communication. Analyze your competition and the gaps in the marketplace.
III. Develop a brand identity for your startup that will drive all communications as well as inform staff business trade-offs and decisions.
IV. Define your value proposition that sizzles distinction. Nail it down with a unique selling proposition - anchored with a brand promise and reasons to believe this promise.
V. Write a brand story that explains why your startup exists and how it came to be
VI. Drive home your messaging, by working with a graphic designer to choose a color palette, select your typographic direction and create a visual brand identity. Now that you have a clear brand identity, deliver it to all your agencies, (PR, online, advertising) to maintain focus and consistency.
I. The Problem
a. Find the problem
b. Briefly state the problem
c. Briefly state the solution
d. Describe your mission
e. Describe the key benefits of your solution
f. State what differentiates your solution for each audience and state how you will sustain the advantage
- Find the problem:
1. Listen to people’s problems
2. There will always be demand that isn’t currently being met.
3. Is the demand significant for a particular problem?
4. The goal is to capture value in that place where customer needs are currently not being met.
- Briefly state the problem:
Briefly describe the problem you have selected to address:
- Briefly state the solution:
How will you solve that problem? (list in a few bullets):
We will solve the problem by doing:
d. Describe your mission:
What is your mission, your groundbreaking idea? What would the world lack if you didn’t fill it?
Mission statements
Mission statements have been the rage within corporations for years because they unify employees around a common set of goals and objectives. A mission statement is a corporation’s mantra, its raison d’etre. It describes the overall purpose of an organization.
Some mission statements are quite elaborate. Mission statements don’t usually address the issue of competitive differentiation which is the heart and soul of a positioning statement. A mission statement can also include a company’s value system. Mission statements often become visible externally.
Mission Statement example:
The American Red Cross is a humanitarian organization, led by volunteers, that provides relief to victims of disasters and helps people prevent, prepare for and respond to emergencies.
- Describe the key benefits of your solution:
Of all the ways that currently exist to solve the problem, why is your product or service the best? List bullets:
- State your differentiator for each segment you are targeting:
What is that single thing that gives you an unfair advantage (it may differ depending on your market segment—a production benefit to a VC may not be a benefit to your end-user audience) and how will you sustain it?
Warren Buffett, the second-richest person in the world right behind Bill Gates, has built his wealth through his holding company Berkshire Hathaway. Buffett both buys stock in companies such as Coca-Cola and American Express and purchases undervalued companies such as See’s Candies, GEICO, and Business Wire.
Buffett is often asked about his investment strategy. When asked what he most values when assessing companies, Buffett replies that it is:
“the competitive advantage of any given company and, above all, the durability of that advantage. The products or services that have wide, sustainable moats around them are the ones that deliver rewards.”
3 Ways to Create Competitive Differentiation
In their book The Discipline of Market Leaders, Michael Treacy and Fred Wiersema present three ways in which a company can build competitive differentiation:
· Operational Excellence (cost leadership)
Provide middle-of-the-market products at the bet price and the least hassle. Ex: Wal-Mart
· Product Leadership
Provide the best product, period. Continue to innovate, year after year. Ex: Intel, Nike
· Customer Intimacy
Provide unique solutions to customers by virtue of intimate knowledge of their needs. Ex: IBM
Treacy & Wiersema purport that every company that is a leader in its market chooses to differentiate itself on one and only one of these three “value disciplines”.
How will you sustain your differentiation next year?
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