Over at brandingmatters.net, Jason VanLue has written an article which is titled “3 Misconceptions About Branding for Small Business”. I don’t agree with his points and I’m going to give my perspective on his first one here.
“Remember, consumers don’t make decisions based on specific products or services like they did 50 – 60 years ago. Consumers make decisions primarily based on the emotional attachment and gut feeling they have about your brand.”
People are pretty simplistic creatures and while we’ve evolved in many ways we still make decisions based on the same factors that we have used since we swung down from the trees a zillion years ago. Before we buy anything we consciously recognize our want or need for something.
‘Branding’ did not exist a decade ago let alone 40 or 50 years ago so why does it receive so much focus now? Branding, like Love, means dramatically different things to different people and for many different reasons. Like Love, you can’t buy branding. You can buy exposure, influence and a number of other things but I doubt that Mr VanLue can produce any documents that show how branding directly increases sales or is a cause for business success unto itself. Why the focus?
In his article he wrote that his clients frequently say that ‘Branding is overrated’. In 15 years as a professional communications consultant I have yet to hear a single E-Cubed (www.e-cubed.com) client or prospect utter those words because at E-Cubed we talk about achieving business objectives with actual solutions and not ethereal concepts. I’d have to propose that his selling of “branding’ is overrated. That does not mean however that a company’s brand is something that can be ignored or left to complete chance.
Branding is not a tangible item. It is not a handful of magical beans that provide answers to business problems and I’m fairly certain that branding factors low on the scale of why people buy. At best branding represents a illusional glimpse of what a consumer can expect from the purchasing experience.
Unfortunately most people and many professional ‘branding’ agencies have lost sight of this and now believe that branding can work business miracles or make up for bad products and services.
Mr VanLue’s statement, “without a branding strategy you’ll never get off the ground.” is purely and simply pandering to those looking for some sort of business panacea.
Without good products and good services combined with plain old fashioned hard work your business may never get off the ground regardless of how good, great or amazing your branding may be.
Once you take flight you will get the opportunity to prove yourself. Your ‘Brand’ will emerge and spread its proverbial wings of its own accord. Whether it soars like an eagle or faces monumental challenges is up to you.
No branding strategy has ever gotten an ostrich off the ground.
That’s my $.02 – comment and tell me what you think!
Jason VanLue
3 years ago
Kyle,
First off, thanks for your commentary. I appreciate your feedback, even if you don’t agree.
I actually don’t think we’re all that different from each other. I to own a small “branding” or “experience” agency (http://www.57studios.com), and like you, we don’t just offer “ethereal concepts” to our clients.
But I would like to hear your commentary on why you feel “branding” and “experience” are different. My argument is that they are one and the same. Through branding, you are creating an experience, the goal in which is to drive customers to buy your products, use your services, etc.
My premise is that in order to provide effective solutions (which is what clients want), you must have a focused strategy. How will you determine what solutions are truly effective if you do not spend time defining what the “experience” needs to look like?
Again, thanks for your commentary. Any and all comments are welcome anytime!
Best,
Jason VanLue
http://www.brandingmatters.net
Kyle Bailey - Da Big Cheeze
3 years ago
Jason, I believe that your approach and contribution to your clients’ success regardless of how we decide to ‘brand’ our discussion is similar to ours at E-Cubed.
My thoughts on this topic stem from my belief that a company has very little impact or ability to control or manage its brand in this age of ‘community’. People are becoming less and less aware of brands and more and more aware of what people are talking about, recommending, sharing and doing.
The expectations built and delivered by agencies in the past that a corporation can bend the public to their will through effective ‘branding’ is dead.
Perhaps you think that we are simply splitting hairs about how we define ‘branding’ vs ‘experience’. My perspective is that experience comes from the consumer side and is action orientated while branding comes from the corporate world and is more thought focused.
The coin has two sides. The ‘brand’ side being what people ‘think’, the ‘experience’ side is what people do. At E-Cubed we’d rather focus on the ‘do’ part. We want them to buy, subscribe, interact and to engage. Conversion is King.
I am not saying that some of the traditional thoughts about ‘branding’ do not have their place or that they do not contribute to part of the ‘do’ process but when push comes to shove I’d rather deliver tangible, measurable business results for my client than a bunch of pretty pictures that I can put in my ‘branding’ portfolio.
Actions speak louder than words.
Dan BROOKS
3 years ago
I’m aware of many brands that I don’t support. Coke has a great bottle shape and it’s the most known brand in the world. I don’t drink Coke. Coke’s brand earns them $0 from me.
On the web I’m aware of many brands, but content rules. Google provides me context sensitive search results. Brand only comes into play when the content is similar value.
-=Dan=-
Danny Halarewich
2 years ago
A “brand” should be congruent with the specific value (content, services, products, unique differences, etc.) that a business provides.
On it’s own, branding is meaningless and definitely not a magic pill for success.
The point is, to FIRST build the good products and services. But how you present these products and services to the world DOES play a role (obviously) in a companies success.
When a person comes in contact with your business, they make a decision based on what they perceive you as, and file it away in their brain. People make a decision about your business far before they have a chance to try your products/services. It could actually be argued that your brand will determine if a customer takes a chance on your product/service or not.
It seems you are talking about branding a company and not paying attention to actually developing quality products/services. Well that’s not the point of branding. Branding is meant to position a company in the most effective way that ALREADY has a good offering.
If a company had good products/services but presented them in a very ineffective way, well I think you know that is a recipe for failure.
It doesn’t replace hard work and good products. But I don’t think anyone is saying that. And if they are, they are quite oblivious.
But to think a company is going to succeed ONLY because they have a good offering is silly.
Not saying anyone is saying these things. To be honest, I have a hard time deciphering what your exact standpoint is.
Steve Smith
2 years ago
This is very interesting. In Alaska we had a family business hauling freight, bulk fuel, homes, grubstakes etc that families living in remote parts of Alaska needed for their survival during the long winter months. My father and his brother and their father before them spent money on advertising their business Smith Lighterage Company. Through out the “Bay Area” though it was known as “Smith Barge”. They were the people that could make it up the river and get the job done. After 60 years of service people still got the name wrong and got their stuff delivered.
It does seam to me that in this age people go to the brand that they recognize much faster than they will picking it out of the hat. There is less of a reputation than is possible in a place where two families haul freight and one will get it there and one will not so search them out. Now, and in the more sophisticated markets people have for a while associated slick and sexy with get it done.
I hope that Da Big Cheese is right and we are moving back with the power of the internet to the place where you can get service from those who can ship the freight and not just the guys with the prettiest branding.
Kyle Bailey
2 years ago
Steve,
Thanks for the comment. “The proof is in the pudding” as my Grandmother was fond of saying still holds true.