Determine the needs and style of your potential customers and through which media they prefer communication. Only then are you able to develop strong organizational brand that will resonate with them.

Define Your Audience:

Create a deep connection with your target audience—your potential raving fans. The better handle you can get on their individual wants, needs and desires, the better you can serve them.solicit participant perspectives on priorities with which you might not yet be familiar. The better you define this group and their needs, the more effective your marketing can be. Now list your target market segments:

Who wants and needs what you have to offer? The only wrong answer is “everyone.” If you’re a children’s shoe site, you may be designing for infants and children. Are they your target audience? No! They are your end-users, but it’s their parents you need to market to.  And, it’s not just any parents—it’s a particular group of parents.

In marketing, you get a lot more “bang for your buck” if you focus your spending on a well-defined group of people that you enjoy working with. Customer interviews are critical at this point to help you define user personas and give you a jumpstart on understanding what type of personality your organization will need develop in order to appeal to your future customers. You also will be validating your usability assumptions and will

Primary Individuals:

·         Age group or lifestyle

·         Career choices

·         Values

·         Sex

·         Demographics

Secondary Individuals

·         Age group or lifestyle

·         Career choices

·         Values

·         Sex

·         Demographics

Define your target markets/Industry sectors:

• What is the industry you are targeting?
• Which niches are you targeting?
• Is it viable to define a new space where you can be king?
• How are the other market players solving the problem you’ve identified?
• Are there related problems that are being addressed?
• Where are the holes in those offerings?
• What are their metatags? (keywords)
• Which online and offline sites and communities do prospects rely on and use?

Define Your Competition:

The goal of looking at your competition is two-fold. First, it is critical to identity exactly how your competitors are attempting to address the customer problems your solution tackles—to find holes in their appoach. Is your competition addressing your target markets’ problems narrowly or broadly in terms of a “whole problem” solution? Second, looking at the competitive landscape gives you the perspective and ability to differentiate your offering—which is the goal. You will also need to answer:

• What is the single largest competitive threat to your business that you can identify today?
• Who are your main current and potential competitors as well as potential new entrants?

On his blog, uxmatters,  Michael Hawley beautifully illustrates a visual differentiation technique that shouts out the market gaps and opportunities we’re all trying to capture at this stage. I use similar whiteboard freeform graphics, but since Hawley presented his examples so clearly, I’m including them here. His graphic examples of competitive offerings are based on customer priorities measuring competitive dimensions of web sites. In my experience, unless I’m working with an ecommerce company, where the product or service and the branded website are the same, I generally focus first on the product/service solution and look at the visual site or visual identity elements of competition after the key product benefits have been explored.

 According to Hawley, when trying to understand the dimensions that could distinguish a competitive space, consider a wide range of attributes and then plot the defining dimensions in a diagram.

“After identifying the dimensions that can distinguish competitors in a given domain, I plot these dimensions in a diagram and, on each axis, label the opposite ends of each spectrum, or scale. As I noted earlier, there does not have to be a good end and a bad end of each spectrum. The important thing is that each dimension be relevant. If possible, I position related dimensions near each other in the diagram.

The example shown in Figure 1 illustrates a competitive differentiator base diagram for a domain-specific content site. Notice that each axis in the diagram correlates to a relevant dimension and each axis is labeled with the scale for that dimension. For example, I measured the Customer Community dimension of the site on a scale from Active to Passive to Non-existent.

Figure 1—A base diagram showing competitive differentiators

1. Score the selected competitor sites along the various dimensions and plot them visually.

Once I’ve identified the attributes I will examine and plotted them on a base diagram, I review each competitor and estimate where they fall on each axis. The estimations or ratings are subjective, so if possible, I try to get others to contribute ratings. I repeat this exercise for all of the competitors and for any existing version of the design I’m working on, so I can see how it compares to the others.

As I score each competitor, I plot my estimations on the base diagram, then complete my diagram by giving a visual dimension to the diagram, which resembles a spider web, as shown in Figure 2. This visual aspect of the diagram is important, because it lets me make quick comparisons between competitors during the final step of my analysis.

Figure 2—Diagram showing the scores for a single design

1. Compare the diagrams for different competitor solutions and identify the gaps.

Once my subjective analysis of all relevant competitors is complete, I compare all of my diagrams, looking for trends and opportunities to design something different. In some cases, there will be a particular aspect of the competitive space in which there are no competitors. These gaps provide obvious opportunities that I can evaluate for my design. In other cases, the comparison may be more complex. Together, the competitors may have addressed most of the dimensions. However, there may be certain combinations or patterns that are lacking in the competitive space. The visual nature of the diagrams helps me understand the competitive threats and opportunities and develop a strategy that identifies the opportunities on which I want to focus in my design.

Figure 3 shows my subjective ratings of four different competitors across a number of dimensions. A quick visual scan of their different scores reveals one dimension—the vertical axis—in which all of the competitors are on the same end of the spectrum. Envisioning a solution that corresponds to the other end of that spectrum may present an opportunity to differentiate my solution.”

Figure 3—Comparing multiple competitors

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

1. 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.

1. Briefly state the problem:

Briefly describe the problem you have selected to address:

1.  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.

1. 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:

1. 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?

“There is no better time for new ideas.”

Yes, the great thing about this poor economy is that there’s so little distance to fall. What was once a risky move may now be a potentially game-saving effort.

Many argue that innovation often emerges when folks are faced with difficult or bleak circumstances - constraints - and according to Ethan Zuckerman, it’s often wiser to look for innovation in places where people are trying to solve difficult, concrete problems rather than where smart people are sketching ideas on blank canvases.

Ethan offered seven rules that appear to help explain how (some) developing world innovation proceeds:

- innovation (often) comes from constraint (If you’ve got very few resources, you’re forced to be very creative in using and reusing them.)

- don’t fight culture (If people cook by stirring their stews, they’re not going to use a solar oven, no matter what you do to market it. Make them a better stove instead.)

- embrace market mechanisms (Giving stuff away rarely works as well as selling it.)

- innovate on existing platforms (We’ve got bicycles and mobile phones in Africa, plus lots of metal to weld. Innovate using that stuff, rather than bringing in completely new tech.)

- problems are not always obvious from afar (You really have to live for a while in a society where no one has currency larger than a $1 bill to understand the importance of money via mobile phones.)

- what you have matters more than what you lack (If you’ve got a bicycle, consider what you can build based on that, rather than worrying about not having a car, a truck, a metal shop.)

- infrastructure can beget infrastructure (By building mobile phone infrastructure, we may be building power infrastructure for Africa - see his writings on incremental infrastructure.)

It’s tough keep up with all the different types of marketing and brand statements needed by all the PR, marcom, and advertising folks. Here’s a brief summary of the brand identity construct with the value proposition, positioning statement, mission statement, elevator statement (or pitch), and vision statement. I have tried to describe whether internally or externally focused—and how to simply write them.

The way I remember this stuff is that Brand Identity/Business Strategy is the core of your business and is not one statement—but a number of constructs—that taken together give a rich representation of your brand (below is one for Virgin) .

Within the brand identity, we find the brand essence or the soul of an organization; the core identity, those 2-4 critical associations that define the core values, promise, and key differentiation of a company; the extended identity, where we bring in personality, leadership associations and symbols to provide richness and texture to an often terse core identity. We also have the important value proposition, with its functional, emotional, and self-expressive elements and we have the customer-brand relationship construct.

So what is your Brand Identity/Business Strategy, in its simplist form? It’s is a bullet list of associations and dimensions, that when viewed together, builds a differentiated picture reflecting top management’s promise to customers. Dimensions include the long-term, strategic elements that must be generated by the CEO and/or CMO that will build brand equity in contrast to the short-term tactical model of managing brand images—usually left to outside agencies.

Examples of elements included in Brand Identity/Business strategy are strategic vision, corporate culture and differentiation. Companies collect stories, write books and create videos and internal learning training programs (such as Nordstrom) to make their bullet list of brand identity/business strategy associations come alive to teach new hires.

Virgin Brand Identity

Brand Essence

• Iconoclasm

Core Identity

• Service Quality

            Consistent best-of-category quality delivered with fun and flair

• Innovation

            First with truly innovative value-added features and services

• Fun and Entertainment

A fun and entertaining company

• Value for money

Provide value in all its offerings, never just the high-priced option

Extended identity        

• Underdog

Fighting the established bureaucratic firm with new creative offerings

• Personality
  • flaunts the rules
  • Sense of humor, even outrageous
  • Underdog, willing to attack the establishment
  • Competent, always does a good job, high standards
• Virgin Symbols
  • Branson and his perceived lifestyle
  • Virgin blimp
  • Virgin script logo

Value Proposition

• Functional Benefits
  • A value offering with quality, plus innovative extras delivered with flair and humor
• Emotional benefits
  • Pride in linking with the underdog with an attitude
  • Fun, good times
• Self-Expressive benefits
  • Willingness to go against the establishment

Relationship                                     

• Customers are fun companions

Brand Leadership by David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimshtaler

The point is that if your employees get a clear message of organizational priorities, they can make day-to-day decisions reflecting them and present a clear, consistent experience to customers. I recommend that you read Brand Leadership by David A. Aaker and Erich Joachimshtaler to get lots of ideas on how to elaborate on and present your brand identity/business strategy. As I mentioned though, I believe company stories are the single most powerful way to clarify your brand and make it stick in the minds of all your stakeholders.

Positioning statements

A positioning statement is a brief, but very accurate, message that explains what a company is, what it does and most important, how it’s different from competitors. A positioning statement is externally focused.

A positioning statement is a challenging exercise for many reasons, including: (1) the statement must place a company within context of the external “system” it already occupies; (2) the competition must be the reference point, (3) the statement has to be brief (because people have very short attention spans) and (4) every part must be defensible.

The fact that a company has a positioning statement means it’s been able to reach consensus about how it views and talks about itself. If you can’t agree on a simple, defensible way to talk about your company, then how do you ensure a common frame of reference, a common purpose, a common view?

The positioning statement template of choice was authored by Geoffrey Moore. The framework goes like this:
For (target customers)
Who (have the following problem)
Our product is a (describe the product or solution)
That provides (cite the breakthrough capability)
Unlike (reference competition),
Our product/solution (describe the key point of competitive differentiation)

Here’s a filled-in template Moore developed for SGI years ago when they were at their peak:
For movie producers and others
Who depend heavily on post-production special effects,
Silicon Graphics provides computer workstations
That integrate digital fantasies with actual film footage.
Unlike any other vendor of computer workstations,
SGI has made a no-compromise commitment to meeting film-makers’ post-production needs.

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.

Elevator statements

An elevator statement is the shortest possible explanation of “what a company does.” The term refers to a person’s ability to tell a stranger—in an elevator between floors —what their company does with brevity and accuracy. A classic elevator statement would take one minute to say. Positioning statements can be used to develop brief elevator statements.
Here’s a great example from Volvo abbreviating the Moore positioning template:

“For safety conscious car buyers, Volvo is the automobile provider that keeps you and your family safe.”

Vision statements

A vision statement is aspirational. Unlike a positioning statement, it does not focus on defining who your company is or how it’s different. It is not internally focused like a mission statement. Rather, it focuses on a definition of what the company is trying to be and achieve.

Talk about a vision statement with vision! The following was written in 1888 by Northwestern Mutual Life (The Quiet Company). Note how the statement is aspirational:
“The ambition of Northwestern has been less to be large than to be safe; its aim is to rank first in benefits to policy owners rather than first in size.”

Here’s a vision statement by Levi Strauss:
“We all want a company that our people are proud of and committed to, where all employees have an opportunity to contribute, learn, grow and advance based on merit, not politics or background. We want our people to feel respected, treated fairly, listened to and involved. Above all, we want satisfaction from accomplishments and friendships, balanced personal and professional lives, and to have fun in our endeavors.”

Intangible assets are becoming a source of enormous potential economic value and growth in the coming years. In our world, the only distinction between a billion dollar company and its garage-based competition can often be a strong brand identity.  A brand identity now must not only achieve customer resonance and be memorable to its individual customers—but it must also symbolize the knowledge, culture, and personality of the community and moreover “spark meaning” from its inception–for the entire community (currently) supporting a brand.

Intangible assets include elements such as knowledge and expertise, personal values and personality traits, but also include the values and meanings ascribed to it by the online and physical “tribes” into which people with shared cultural and social values gather. It is within this context of tribes—social and cultural groups, often online, in which the meaning of the intangibles will be ascribed, reviewed, digested, and shared—that will account for more than half the true value of many companies and will become the generative force creating new products and services.

The traditional economic value chain ascribes labor and distribution channels, as well as strong brands as value-creation mechanisms.  However, because of the formation of “tribes” —as marketing guru Seth Godin has popularized, that fire the “intangible revolution” —as Ian Kirk and others have described, Kirk believes “the essential human capacity to create and attribute meaning to create the contemporary value chain can no longer be ignored.

Now the whole product development and brand identity processes must be rethought. Community meaning and values need to be factored in way earlier than marcom and distribution plans. From recognition as a demand-side after market consideration, now community values and meaning must be prioritized in both the product ideation and marketing requirements processes. You know you’ve missed the boat if you’ve already defined your brand identity and you’re asking which tribes and communities would be prospective customers.

The brand essence, the corporate personality, is still the soul of an organization.  And, the brand identity is its manifestation. But the importance of the role of the brand identity associations has grown. In the past, brand identities were used to bind individuals to the organization or product through resonant and memorable associations with the relevant knowledge, culture, and personality qualities. And, the hooks that bound them were either emotional or aspirational.

Now, where do the community values and shared meanings enter the picture in David Aaker’s Brand Indentity Planning Model? Is Community Analysis a bullet under Customer Analysis or does it deserve its own, fourth analysis in addition to Self and Competitor Analyses?

In addition, within the Brand Identity construct, certainly both the organizational and personality associations should correlate with the values of relevant communities. But, when would community values trump the values of individuals, if they’re different? Are there rules for prioritization?

In addition, communities are raising the bar for higher quality group giving— demanding substantial emotional IQ and psychological awareness. Thus, larger communities are self-selecting to a degree into smaller subgroups or tribes.

It’s relatively clear to see how community values and group characteristics are helping define new products and services. However, what’s still a bit murky is how to adjust brand identity associations simultaneously to groups and individuals, and to differing levels of emotional IQ.

Now, there are two sets of challenges in order to leverage the emotional and aspirational assets of the community.

Somewhat in contrast to Kirk’s “meaning chain”, I propose a product or service value chain where community meaning is imbued/inserted upon ideation/inception and simply calibrated for emotional uptake based on the communication vehicle, media or niche message. Below I use Kirk’s “meaning chain” as an anchor:

1. When I consume or produce, I create meaning… (This still works fine)

The moment of interaction between a person and a brand is one of meaning creation. In the intangible revolution, trust and loyalty are built through the reaffirmation that comes from repetition of consistent meaning creation.

2. … I encapsulate my identity and aspirations…(Here’s where I deviate a bit)

Meaning is created because interacting with a brand in some way affirms and encapsulates either the consumer’s identity or, more usually, gives them the sense that they are closer to being the person they want to be. Brand Identities must themselves symbolically encapsulate a correlative set of traits and aspirations. To this I would add that as a community leader, I would shift from aspirational to a specific inspirational community vision as a driving element in the list of brand identity associations.

3. … I reinforce my beliefs and value system…(blah, blah, blah)

One’s identity and aspirations are based largely on one’s beliefs and value system. Consumer attitudes towards consuming brands derive from what they think is important in life. This stage in the Kirk Meaning Chain™ begins to give the rationale for why a consumer aspires to a particular identity. The most ostentatious example of brands that operate at this level are ecology and ’simple living’ brands, although it’s easy to see how personal value systems that stress the importance of looking good, being healthy, or being ambitious direct brand choices. It is the role, therefore, of brand strategists to attempt to communicate Brand Values that are aligned with the value systems of consumers.

4. … I relate this meaning to other sources of meaning in my life…(brandscapes are good at this)

Meaning creation does not just happen in isolation. In the intangible revolution, when we choose to consume a brand, it exists for us in relation to all the other brand choices that we have made. It is essential for brand managers to realize just how ’savvy’ consumers are about brands and how easy it is for them to see how different brands relate to each other. Brand Strategy, if it is to be effective, must be developed in relation to the terrain that is marked out by other brands. Understanding consumers’ brand associations with a particular brand is a quick way to understand how a brand is perceived. It helps to identify co-branding opportunities as well as to clarify competitive strategies.

5. … I establish my tribal identity…(Kirk believes apparel still does this, I don’t)

Shared knowledge, a common culture, and brand affiliations are what will create the new tribes in the intangible revolution. The total set of brands that we deploy for ourselves as consumers demonstrates our affiliations as well as our aspirations. It establishes our sense of belonging as part of a social group or tribe. The power of apparel brands for personal and community branding is waning as they can’t easily move with us into the virtual world.

6. … I operate within an emotional context…(Let’s not forget social responsibility here and lifting our friends out of Maslow’s hell.)

Deeper down, one’s identity, aspirations, and the tribe to which one chooses to belong comes from personal emotional needs. Often, brand strategists use models such as Maslow’s hierarchy of needs to understand the emotional resonance of a brand. Typical high-order emotional needs that are uncovered here would include self-esteem through achievement, altruism, or the admiration of others.

7. … I connect to a deeply held cultural ideology or myth. (Here’s where I’d add the 3 types of inspirational stories named by the brothers Heath in Made to Stick)

World-class brands connect the meaning that they create to a deeply help cultural myth or ideology. For example, the brand ethos of Marlboro connects to the very American myth of rugged individualism, Nike connects to the myth of personal achievement through focused effort, and Coke connects to the myth or ideology of the underlying similarity of friendship across the world. Kodak, probably boldest of all, connects to the universal belief that certain life experiences are important from either a formative or ritual perspective, and brands the positive ones as Kodak moments.

What do you think?

^{Roy: Just to recap, we are speaking with Lee Ann Morse, brand advisor at Marketing Accelerated from NYC and Jerusalem, Israel. Lee Ann is coaching us on how we can strengthen our brands on a shoestring budget. The first part of the interview discussed the importance of ensuring that a company’s business strategy and brand identity are one and the same. We used the example of Virgin and saw that remembering the brand/strategy elements in a way that would make them inspirational and actionable was easier with an acronym.}

^{In the second post, Lee Ann told the Richard Branson David and Goliath challenge story to illustrate how the story contained the Virgin company business strategy/brand elements. Moreover, the brand elements were elaborated to a degree that Virgin employees could not only draw inspiration from the story, but draw actionable information to make everyday trade-offs and practical decisions. “What would Richard say?”, became concretely expressed. And finally, Lee Ann described how to create a company culture favorable to story spotting and scooping. In this way, you can collect your own powerful brand stories to inspire your employees and propel your brand organically.}

^{You’ve mentioned that business strategy should = brand identity. For those of us new to the formal branding process, how do we arrive at a solid list of business strategy/core brand identity elements?}

^{Lee Ann: There are nine questions I have my clients ask themselves to qualify their brand elements (not all brand elements are used in any one particular context):}

1.    ^{Is it believable?}

2.    ^{Can we prove it?}

3.    ^{Does it energize employees?}

4.    ^{Has it been accepted by employees as critical?}

5.     ^{Is it “sticky” and does it resonate with customers?}

6.    ^{Does it serve to differentiate our brand from the competition?}

7.     ^{Does it strengthen our perception of the company’s brand identity?}

8.    ^{Does it capture an element important to the brand and its ability to provide customer value or support customer relationships?}

 ^{Roy: I’ve read a lot about differentiation. How do you successfully differentiate your product or service and (1) not be imitated by your competitors, and (2) have success with customers?}

^{Lee Ann: The simple secret of successful differentiation is: Don’t look for it around the core benefits of your product or service category; rather, think “off-core differentiation.”}

^{“Core benefits” are the benefits that the consumer already expects to receive from your product or service. This is the list of what’s important to your customer. “Core benefits” are more than the essential product benefits. The core benefits of today’s hand-held devices include much more than video and the potential of conducting a mobile conversation. Consumer expections and feature creep have already been built into to the core benefits. These are the benefits that all of your competitors offer, and will continue to refine like a steamroller ready to run you down because they define the essence of the product. It is simply impossible to compete in the market without them.}

^{According to Dan Herman, PhD, “That is precisely why—if you really invest your efforts, and are truly innovative and make a major breakthrough in improving core benefits—do you know what will happen? They’ll imitate you at warp speed. You must understand that in that case, your competitors can’t allow themselves not to imitate you. You’d do exactly the same thing.”}

^{Roy: Can you give some examples of misguided focus on core benefits?}

• ^{Nokia invested a fortune transforming its handsets into beautiful design pieces. Then Motorola and every other extant competitor washed away its design strategy in one quarter.}
• ^{Starbucks thought that its coffee shops would be cozier and look more like a neighborhood hangout if all their chairs weren’t all identical and if they had easy chairs and sofas. What a great idea! Today, you’ll find it in almost every coffee shop in the world.}
• ^{Colgate Palmolive combined all of the known beneficial characteristics of toothpaste and created Total. The innovation caught on completely. I would dare to say that there isn’t even one manufacturer in the world that hasn’t imitated the idea, first and foremost Crest from P&G.}

^{Nokia Brand and Design Priorities - A Very Human Story}

^{Roy: How do you create a differentiation that won’t be imitated?}

^{Lee Ann: You have to think beyond the core benefits that are (already or even just in potential) considered important in your market. The companies that have succeeded in maintaining their differentiation over the years and weren’t imitated even though they were making tremendous profits are those that innovated in qualities beyond the core benefits of their market”}

^{Apple is a great example of this. At the beginning, its differentiation was an operating system with a user-friendly interface. As computer users increasingly became mainstream folks and not designers or computer pros, that user friendliness became an important core benefit. Could Microsoft afford not to imitate it?}

^{Over the past few years, Apple has changed its differentiation strategy. Now, its differentiation is based on sophisticated design, an approach that views the computer as a part of the well-designed office, with the Powerbook, iPod, and iPhone as showpieces. Has anyone invested in imitating its computer design?}

^{Let’s return to our Virgin example. As an airline, Virgin Atlantic is not any better than any of the other companies. It doesn’t have better planes or more comfortable seats. It’s not on time more often, doesn’t fly faster, doesn’t serve better food or offer a better timetable of flights than British Airways. But, years ago, it negotiated Boeing to be the first to include video seat screens. It’s about service and innovation and it tries really hard to do things differently.  But please note—none of these belong to the core benefits of the “airline company” category.}

^{And the result: British Airways isn’t imitating it. Why? In the eyes of British Airways managers, Virgin Atlantic probably seems immature and ridiculous.} 

^{Roy: Can you give some examples of a successful focus on off-core benefits?}

·        ^{Jet Blue Airlines offers a zen-focused, jet-setting approach to flying, with no-frills friendliness and DIRECTV and XM Satellite Radio at every seat. Jet Blue even offers a “Shut Eye Kit” created by Bliss Spa, to embrace its trendy, young flying hipsters.} 

·        ^{Swatch decided to treat the watch face and band as a design area. What does this have to do with the core benefit of a watch? Exactly! So no one has imitated them.}

·        ^{The Body Shop There’s no place for another drugstore chain that actively fights against animal experiments, for the environment, and for the needy wherever they are. No one even thinks about imitating them.}

^{According to Herman, you may say that only a few companies have become leaders by means of an off-core differentiation. True. In fact, most companies never become leaders, nor do they need to. However, if you are in a competitive market and are trying to make a living, then an off-core strategy is the best chance you have to give a group of consumers a good reason to give you their loyalty.}

^{Roy: Any last suggestions?}

^{Lee Ann: Stay off-core not on-track–sometimes an off-core differentiation can eventually become a core benefit, such as with Nokia. This happens when the differentiation is not really off-core but is actually based on deep insight into the direction that the market is going.}

^{-Defining Your Company’s Type of Leadership}

^{-Defining Your Company’s Personality}

^{-Defining Proof Points to Your Brand Identity elements}

^{Roy: So stories it is—but stories seem so subjective and imprecise.}

^{Lee Ann: True, but people remember them. And, a set of stories can have the breadth necessary to paint a vivid and accurate picture for employees to use to clearly drive daily decision making. Let’s look at Branson.}

^{He tells a story of the little guy taking on the bully, the classic David & Goliath challenger scenario. With his high school magazine failing him, Branson sets up a record mail order business in 1970. A tenacious 20 year old, Branson then places record ads in the magazine and soon realizes the high demand for records. He drops out of high school and focuses on his new business, now making a profit. This modest success allows him to rent an empty shop on Oxford Street in London in order to set up a music store. His magazine staff transfers to the discount record store and the operation takes off. At a loss for a name, one of his staff suggests ‘Virgin’ since they were “complete virgins at business”.  With that, the Virgin Empire was born.}

^{When we tell our own business story, we have the opportunity to draw our customer audience to our side. According to Chip and Dan Heath in Made to Stick, there are three basic plots that characterize inspirational stories: the Challenge Plot, the Connection plot, and the Creativity plot. In the Challenge plot, if we want our customers to care more about us than our competitors, it is vital that we create a common enemy. Here’s where Branson inserts his brand strategy and allies his audience against the dark side. A good strategy drives actions that differentiate the company and produces financial success. The key here is that a good strategy drives actions.}

^{Let’s see how Branson drives action. His story line frequently flows like this: “Although the combined Virgin Group is the largest group of private companies in Europe, each company is relatively small in its sector (we’re the underdog, David character). So we have the advantage,” Branson explains, “of being the nimble ‘underdog’ player in most markets.”}

^{But company ideas won’t go far in the Virgin universe unless those behind it share Virgin’s strong service ethos. “I feel very strongly,” Branson asserts, “that young, independently-minded businesses can provide customers with great service; it’s the monoliths and the business establishment (goliath characters) that make customers’ lives a misery. Virgin companies are focused on the customer.” This was clearly the approach Branson used to start a mail order service in 1970, a recording company and a record business that was “outrageous, irreverent, and long-haired”. Branson’s personal brio fits well into the Virgin brand stories as he is also known for his adrenaline-filled pursuits to break numerous world records as well as his personal fortune.}

^{Here’s the acid-test: When Virgin employees ask themselves whether they should go that extra mile, they ask themselves, “What would Richard do?” And, invariably, they get focused on a fun and entertaining customer experience in ways that the monoliths and the business establishment never would. That’s a huge brand success that is clearly actionable.}

^{Roy: What can the rest of us do who don’t have a built-in story like Branson? Next time, Lee Ann will discuss how the rest of us non-Branson CEO’s can spot and select the “right” company stories to inspire our employees and propel our brand.}

^{Below is a description of three other worthwhile brand elaboration exercises:}

• ^{Defining Your Company’s Interpretation of its Type of Leadership}

^{-A supportive leader who encourages with positive reinforcement (Nordstrom)}

^{-An innovative, cutting-edge leader who pushes technology boundaries (3M)}

^{-A “break-the-rules” leader who introduces unusual and sometimes outrageous programs and actions (Virgin)}

• ^{Defining Your Company’s Personality}

^{-LL Bean is Friendly: LL Bean is easy to approach because it cares about its customers. It is comfortable and familiar without pretension}

^.

• ^{Defining Proof Points to Your Brand Identity elements}

For Nordstrom, proof points of its core identity dimension of customer concern would be any “assets, skills, programs and initiatives” that support the customer concern focus including:

-A current reputation for customer service

-A current return policy that is well-known and has credibility

-A compensation program geared to rewarding customer service

-The quality of the current staff and hiring program

-An empowerment policy permitting innovative responses to customer concerns

For LL Bean, that has an identity dimension of being geared toward outdoor enthusiasts, proof points include:

           -A flagship store that stays open 24 hours a day for the convenece of outdoor-oriented customers

           -The expertise and professionalism of the customer contact staff, which allows them to offer value-added advice on outdoor activities.

^{It truly is an organization’s secret weapon because of its simplicity.  I suggest to all my clients to jumble their company strategy/brand associations into an acronym, so employees can easily stay on-strategy. For example, for Virgin it could be VISE; value for money, innovation, service quality and entertainment. For Cranium, the game company, it’s CHIFF; clever, high-quality, innovative, friendly, and fun. In this way, your company can drive your employees to action—to make the hundreds of tactical, daily decisions to strategically differentiate your company. Although VISE and CHIFF are memorable, they’re just shorthand. It’s the stories themselves that transmit the common language and values.}

^{Ensure your brand identity promise is executed by your company by tying together your core identity associations and business strategy goals. By making them one and the same, in an easy to remember acronym, execution is and strategy happen.}

^{It truly is an organization’s secret weapon because of its simplicity.  I suggest to all my clients to jumble their company strategy/brand associations into an acronym, so employees can easily stay on-strategy. For example, for Virgin it could be VISE; value for money, innovation, service quality and entertainment. For Cranium, the game company, it’s CHIFF; clever, high-quality, innovative, friendly, and fun. In this way, your company can drive your employees to action—to make the hundreds of tactical, daily decisions to strategically differentiate your company. Although VISE and CHIFF are memorable, they’re just shorthand. It’s the stories themselves that transmit the common language and values.}

^{Even with acronyms that are widely used within an organization, the brand identity used as a strategy document is often ambiguous, especially when it’s reduced to a few words or phrases, according to David Aaker and Erich Joachimshtaler in Brand Leadership.  “It therefore cannot effectively play its role of communicating what the brand stands for, inspiring employees and partners, and guiding decision making. Elaborating the brand identity can be helpful and even necessary.} 

^{In our next posting, we’ll discover how company stories can clearly and concretely elaborate your organization’s brand identity and strategy—while inspiring and guiding employees to make on-strategy decisions everyday.}

^{Lee Ann: I’m obsessed with finding ways to make brands stickier. I help company management look at each strategic and brand identity element as a fun puzzle to explore and solve through stories that inspire their employees and customers.}

^{I’m a big fan of social media. Social Media communities are fabulous networking and customer relationship tools for small companies. However, companies must be prepared to clearly and succinctly communicate their brand values—“Where do you stand?” is the echo. Moreover, prematurely jumping into social media without a solid brand strategy first—can spell corporate embarrassment and confusion. Understanding how to discover and build a brand identity strategy is what we’ll start reviewing today.}

^{I was CMO for Consist International for almost 10 years where I helped grow the organization to a $100M business and later co-founded LockStar, an information security start-up that was a Red Herring Top 50 company. After LockStar, I worked with the analysts at the Baroudi Group doing brand strategy for their clients. Since 2002, I’ve been doing marketing strategy and brand advisory. I work in Both NYC and Jerusalem, Israel with my company, Marketing Accelerated, for companies like Motorola, SIT and a host of start-ups including DoubleFusion, GreenRoad, Funtastix, and ZettaPoint.}

^{Roy: What can small, strapped companies do to strengthen their brands on a shoestring budget?}

^{Lee Ann: The first thing I would advise CEO’s to do would be to ensure that their brand identity and their company strategy are one and the same thing see examples below). The second thing would be to engage their employees to spot and harness great brand stories.}

^{Roy: Guys like Richard Branson (founder of the Virgin empire) have used the power of stories to harness customer engagement with their brands.}

^{Lee Ann: That’s true, but most CEO’s don’t have a personal brand like Branson that embodies both the company strategy and brand elements with a compelling, sticky storyline. Most companies need to look to employee or customer brand interaction to find great stories that embody the company strategy and that stick strongly enough to guide employee behavior.}

^{Roy: Then how do you create a brand identity that drives company strategy and guides behavior?}  

^{Lee Ann: As I mentioned, a good way to ensure that your brand drives company strategy is when your brand elements and your company strategy are the same thing. Let’s assume that Virgin’s business strategy equals its brand strategy, (core brand and extended identity elements) as in the following:}

^{Core Brand Identity}

• ^{Service Quality - Consistent best-of-category quality delivered with fun and flair}

• ^{Innovation - First with truly innovative value-added features and services}

• ^{Fun and Entertainment- A fun and entertaining company}

• ^{Value for money- Provide value in all its offerings, never just the high-priced option}

^{Extended Brand Identity}        

• ^{Underdog- Fighting the established bureaucratic firm with new creative offerings}

• ^Personality
  • ^{flaunts the rules}
  • ^{Sense of humor, even outrageous}
  • ^{Underdog, willing to attack the establishment}
  • ^{Competent, always does a good job, high standards (Aaker & Joachimshtaler, Brand Leadership)}

^{If Richard Branson trained all his employees to memorize the above brand/strategy information along with the Virgin value proposition, ‘a value offering with quality, plus innovative extras delivered with flair and humor’ and ‘pride in linking with the underdog with an attitude’, would that help employees make good business decisions on a daily basis?  Stories save you from “death by data” and glue it all together in an inspiring way that a list could never do! In the next Start-up Advisor post, I’ll reveal the secret weapon to keep employees at all levela  making business decisions that are consistently “on strategy”.}