Consider the various performers represented there.  Why do you like them?  Do you have more than one favorite song by them?  How does one particular artists compare to another?  And how about this: even though you may love heavy metal, you (probably) don’t own every song ever produced by all heavy metal bands.  Why?

Obviously, there are major differences among artists — even within the same musical genre. And (no mystery here) we’re drawn to one or another artist/band/ensemble/etc. because of a variety of things: the music, the lyrics, the performance, and many other things like peer recommendation, some kind of personal association or history, etc.  Whatever the reason for you, it’s a matter of personal taste: you like what you like and no one is going to tell you any different.

In their own way, perhaps there are no better brand-building role models for us business types than successful music performers. Because success in the highly cluttered (read: competitive) music business requires a brand identity that’s unique to that specific artist: a unique sound, a signature look, a distinctive performance experience — whatever.

And success in the music industry does not necessarily equate to appealing to the most listeners (think of Widespread Panic or the Grateful Dead).  Instead, it means building a loyal following, often a very niche following, who repeatedly buy, engage across multiple platforms, and enthusiastically proselytize.

Music professionals have long recognized and embraced this critical brand identity concept: we can’t possibly appeal to all potential buyers, so focus on those who we appeal to the most.  Own those who we best align with — those who are drawn to our distinctive sound … OWN them, and forget about the rest.

So, what’s your brand’s distinctive sound?  Who’s your narrowly focused market?  How is your brand performance unique?  It’s no simple task to consider, so sit back, enjoy some music, and unleash your inner Rick Springfield.

What’s it all about, anyway?

Let’s define “content” here as objective, non-selling information delivered (“sponsored”) by a marketer with the goal of being positively associated with that information.  The hoped-for result is positioning the deliverer as an expert, thought-leader or trusted go-to resource, with the ultimate goal being an actual selling opportunity.

You may be thinking, “isn’t this really ‘context’ for marketing messages, just like traditional radio programming, tv programming, magazines, and newspapers have always been?”

My answer: “yup.”

Except instead of relying on traditional media properties to provide the content (the context into which traditional ads are placed), new technologies today allow each of us to develop — and market — our own content. Thanks to blogs (like this one), email, websites, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Pinterest, SlideShare and many others, every marketer now has direct and easy access to platforms from which to deliver content. No matter if you’re a b2b or b2c marketer.

Similar to broadcast programmers or print publishers trying to assemble the right mix for advertisers, the onus is on marketers to identify and develop the right content that attracts, engages, and retains desirable target audiences, creating a firm alignment when those audiences are ready to buy.

If you think about “content marketing” as actually just providing the right context, from a pull-through marketing standpoint, everything falls into place: make it easy for prospects to align with your brand by providing the quality, engaging information they want and need.

Where and how you generate your content is dependent on your markets and your brand. It could include product testing info, manufacturing processes, thought-leader white papers, industry-related statistics, product usage ideas, contests and promotions, goodwill initiatives, roundtable discussions, market trends, executive interviews, sponsorships, etc.  There’s also a new breed of service companies, content generation firms, eager to help.  Each serves a role not unlike a Hollywood production studio or news wire service: generating engaging context (for marketing messages).

“Content” may seem like the new marketing buzz, but it’s been around since advertisers first bought time and space in broadcast and publishing mediums.  Except, now YOU are the editor-in-chief and director of programming. So, rock on content-maven. Rock on.

If anyone should know a thing or two about dealing with banks both large and small it would be my father-in-law, an eighty year veteran of this planet — nearly forty of which were spent running his own successful architecture practice and battling with said banks over one thing or another.  But his very recent encounter with Regions Bank speaks to many things that are wrong with big bank brands today.

A couple of weeks ago, “Pop” found himself in the situation of needing to replace his car, having won the battle but losing the war with a deer who picked the wrong time to dart across the highway.  The insurance company (Cincinnati Insurance) was quick to respond and exceptionally fair, and a few days after the “Bambi Incident,” as they referred to it, Pop had a check in his hand and set about the details of acquiring a new car.

On the way to the dealership, he made a quick stop at a nearby Regions Bank branch to deposit the insurance check and was told of the bank’s policy to put a hold on large checks such as the one he was presenting, and that only a portion of the deposit would be available the next day and the balance several days after that (he was told the exact number of days, but I don’t have that information).

Hmmm.  Here’s a check from a well-established insurance company — no question it’s good, and no doubt the check would actually clear through the electronic banking system within a day or two, tops.  Here, too, is a bank with which Pop had banked for at least the past 30 years (loyally following along through their various mergers) — the same bank that presently held not insignificant sums of his money in cds.  And, here’s a bank policy which impersonally states deposited funds would not be readily available to him.

At the car dealership Pop was told the personal check he was writing for the car could be held only until the middle of the following week (this was a Friday). Obviously, a visit to his “local” Regions Bank was necessary to ensure they would cover his personal check to the dealer should the funds from the insurance deposit not yet be made available.

His “local” Regions Bank told him no.  Instead, they indicated the matter should be directed to the branch where he originally opened his account — a branch located 60 miles away, and a branch he hadn’t visited in at least the past 10 years.  (Stupid me: I’ve been made to believe that my bank is my bank, no matter which branch I visit.)  Because Regions Bank is clearly all about the customer, the local representative spent another minute or two actually calling the 60-mile-away branch and, surprise, the situation remained unchanged.

Pop called the dealership, left messages explaining the need to hold the check for a bit longer.  For some reason, the message went unheeded and the dealership deposited the check.  Regions Bank, true to their word, bounced the check.  Pop has been charged with a $39 bounced check fee, has been requested to bring in a certified check to the dealership (which will cost him $8 to secure from Regions Bank), plus the dealership wants to charge him another $30 for the bounce (which Pop is rightfully telling them to fly a kite).

Frightening as having a deer crash into your car while driving down the interstate at 70 mph must have been, the experience with Regions Bank has been no joy ride, either.  Just another reason why big banks, in a word, suck when it comes to treating a loyal individual customer properly.  A learning moment for whatever your brand is?

What if there was a dramatic, game-changing advancement looming from within or around your industry?  A dramatic new innovation?  An entirely new market approach that made yours obsolete?  Is there? Could there possibly be?

What if your market position as the industry’s (insert your distinctive position here) weren’t completely bullet-proof?  Is your brand, your intellectual property, your product or service, your primary point of distinction susceptible to being (easily) copied?

What if demand for your specific product or service dropped off dramatically?  What would the conceivable reasons be?  How would you respond?

If someone put a gun to your head and demanded you increase sales and/or market share this year — irregardless of market realities — what would you do, specifically?

Over the past few decades, Kodak has been hit by competitive challenges from Japan and by the dramatic emergence of digital technology which they actually pioneered — but couldn’t keep pace with.  Serious game changers for a historically strong, globally dominant brand.

As you stare 2012 in the face, a complete 360 degree look might be in order.

Of course, there’s still that little thing of the Mayan calendar…

All well and good, but how exactly do you go about defining a true USP?

You’ve already done the heavy lifting if you strategically developed your brand identity – the plan for how your brand lives, breathes, and succeeds.  Two vital components of a brand identity are the value proposition and positioning statement.  These work hand in hand, the value proposition presenting the specific (and hopefully unique) benefit that will be derived by using your product or service, and the positioning statement laying out your decisive advantage over competitive solutions.  Together, they form the reason someone should use your brand based on appreciable points of difference.  If you haven’t formalized your brand identity, start there.  The process forces a thoughtful assessment of what you really are and where you really fit from a brand standpoint.  As you craft the brand identity, keep the concept of a truely differentiated brand experience at the top of the list of requirements. 

Being unique also means you need to stop trying to be all things to all people.  We’re all guilty of this, and you’ll probably believe you’re walking away from potentially valuable business.  While true for the short term, the more important long term benefit is that your brand will become acknowledged for one thing — one valued difference — and those appreciating that difference will flock to your brand alone, grateful for having been given a distinctive reason.      

Everything can be differentiated (even commodities), and opportunities for true, appreciable differentiation can be found in many areas: product or service attributes, new uses, packaging, support services, simplification, manufacturing process,  brand heritage, distribution channels, customer service/warranty policies, selection, and many others.      

For inspiration, several noted marketers have published books on brand differentiation and the Unique Selling Proposition.  Check out “Differentiate Or Die” by Jack Trout and Steve Rivkin, and Seth Godin’s “The Purple Cow” to start. 

A lot has been written, but few marketers heed the call for real differentiation and developing a true Unique Selling Proposition.  There’s business waiting to be gained for those that do.

Bombarded with so many choices, tossed at them in so many ways, potential customers are desperately seeking a reason to justify one competitive solution over another.  Yet most marketers fail to deliver a truely differentiated branding effort for their product or service.  Instead, they offer up a similar-but-slightly-different feature/benefit story, seemingly trying to be all things to as many people as possible while in actuality setting their brand to sail on an already cluttered sea of competitive sameness.  

Granted, true differentiation is hard work, but isn’t it worth the effort?

What’s the true difference in comparable healthcare services?  Banks?  Cement brands?  Bottled water?  Competitive software solutions?   Sports shoes?  Activated carbon?  Your brand versus your competitors’? 

(Hint: true differentiation does not lie simply in the cleverness of a great ad campaign, pricing, selection, quality, or customer service.)

Noted marketer and Harvard professor Ted Levitt wrote in his 1991 book, Thinking About Management, “Differentiation is one of the most important stratgic and tactical activities in which companies must constantly engage.”  Hmmm.  Me thinks this man speaketh the truth.  So, what about it?

Long Live The Unique Selling Proposition

Any advertising or marketing professional worth his or her salt remembers Rosser Reeves as the man who formalized the concept of  the “Unique Selling Proposition” in his 1960-published book, Reality in Advertising.  According to Reeves, in order for their USP to be effective, advertisers were required to focus on the single genuine differentiating reason to buy their product or service.  While it still resonates today, many marketers for some reason fail to apply this sage counsel to their branding efforts.

I’ve personally wrestled with identifying and clarifying the USP for many of the brands I’ve worked with in the past, so I know firsthand that it ain’t as easy as Reeves makes it sound.  But it’s ultimately a matter of the success or failure of your brand that you do it.  And do it well.  

In 2001 (and updated in 2008), marketer and author Jack Trout published Differentiate or Die, an excellent read on the need and ways for true differentiation.  He acknowledges that, in our modern era of reverse engineering, lasting product differentiation is tough.  And patent protection only goes so far.  Still, differentiation with the product or service itself is the first thing to consider.  As Trout puts it, “improve, update, or reinvent.”  Improve or add meaningful features – or completely reinvent – to provide a genuine, appreciable point of difference. 

Operating more efficiently and effectively than your competitors is not typically a viable long-term differentiating strategy either, though many brands focus on better customer service, improved communications, etc.  The problem is, though you may enjoy short term gains, competitors will eventually level the playing field.

The key is finding the point of difference that’s uniquely yours compared to whatever your competitors are doing (and you DO have at least one), and doggedly pursue it.  This difference must be genuine, and it must be something of true value to your prospects.  Strategically, this is brand positioning – part of the larger process of crafting a finely honed, sharply defined brand identity.  

In future posts we’ll will offer suggestions for discovering the true point of difference for your brand.  In the meantime, look inward to your brand and outward to the marketing environment and begin thinking about opportunities for true brand differentiation.  Your business depends on it.

For years I referred to what I did for a living as “Marketing Communications.”  That is, communications activities that specifically supported the marketing efforts of a client’s product or service, differing from “Corporate Communications,” which delved into internal communications, PR, financial reporting, etc. 

More properly, the term I should have been using is “Brand Communications,” embracing a more encompassing recognition of the role of “brand identity,” and the role communications plays in delivering and reinforcing that identity to marketing audiences.      

The brand identity is the strategic platform developed to define what the brand stands for, what its value is to customers and prospects, and the decisive differences and advantages over competitive offerings.  Think of it as a distinctive set of fingerprints – brandprints — that can only be associated with your particular brand.  (Do you have a formalized brand identity for each of your brands?  If not, check out more details here.)  At its core, this should remain constant for the individual products or services that will be marketed under the brand identity.  

Now comes the brand communications part, and there’s two primary areas to consider here: 

CONTENT is what you say. 

It’s the messaging that comes directly out of the brand identity platform.  It conveys why the product or service is better, different, of value, etc.  The content should be consistently delivered and reinforced in the next part of the equation, contact.  

CONTACT is what you do. 

It’s the delivery of the content through your brand touchpoints — those significant and seemingly insignificant ways folks engage with the brand.  It could be sales pitches, advertising, social media, trade shows, the receptionist, invoices, delivery personnel, community goodwill, sponsorships, public relations, packaging, etc.  Each and every point of contact should be carefully considered, ensuring the desired content is delivered as prescribed in the brand identity.

Collectively, it’s ”Brand-Centric Communications.”  But that’s too mind-numbing to say.  Let’s just leave it at “Brand Communications.”  Ultimately, the goal is to sell more of your “stuff,” but from a more strategically-considered brand platform.  Are you there?

Guess what?  Social media marketing isn’t going away.  And, as more folks like you and me use it for different marketing applications and push the definition of best practices, it will continue to evolve for a long time to come.

Time to get with the program.          

Perhaps you dipped your toe into this new world by setting up a personal Facebook page or Twitter or LinkedIn account.  After seeing what all the noise was about, maybe you decided it was a complete waste of time – and certainly not worthy of a serious business application.  If that’s the case, it’s time to think again. 

The simple truth is, with a strategic planning approach and some basic knowledge of the various platforms available, social media marketing can easily be an effective communications tool to help you sell more of your “stuff” — whatever the stuff your business sells is.  

To help you form a more complete understanding of what social media marketing can do for your business — whether it’s to build your brand through a whole new set of brand touchpoints, generate qualified sales leads, facilitate product research and development, or one or more of several other business roles for social media marketing — a couple of social media marketing know-how guys put their heads together and wrote a terrific book:  No Bullshit Social Media – The All Business, No Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing.  Good stuff in here to get you grounded on why and how you should consider diving into the social media marketing world right now.         

Many of your customers, prospects, influencers — and your competitors — are effectively using social media right now to engage with brands and swap information and experiences.  Isn’t it past time you embraced this business-critical tool as part of your own brand touchpoint management plan as well?

Each and every morning on the African plains, an antelope awakens knowing he must run faster than the lion in order to survive.  And each and every morning on the African plains, a lion awakens knowing he must run faster than the antelope in order to survive.

Not sure who said it, but no doubt it was someone who operated in a competitive business environment.

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Perhaps a better view of brand identity is this: a strategically-crafted blueprint for how you want your brand to be perceived among your customers, prospects, influencers, vendors, employees, and other stakeholders.  It includes not only the graphic identity but also many other components as noted below and on this previous Touchpointers blog post.

Components of brand identity

Brand communications is the presentation of this carefully crafted identity to your markeplaces, resulting in the formation of a brand image that drives sales.  Brand communications isn’t just advertising, social media marketing, website, public relations, trade shows, etc.  It’s also the more subtle ways your brand identity takes root like the professionalism of your delivery and set up personnel, the helpfulness of customer care reps, the ease of navigating your phone system, the clarity of user documentation, and many other types of brand interactions — touchpoints — that can positively or negatively reinforce the formation of your brand image.  There’s more to read about brand communications here.         

Brand identity is strategic; it takes time and careful consideration to develop a brand identity that differentiates and resonates.  Brand communications is tactical; it takes place over time (years), working  to create your brand image and drive sales.  Many businesses jump into brand communications without first crafting their brand identity, which harkens the old-but-true cliche, “without a map any road will get you there.”    

Sure, a great looking logo is cool.  But have you crafted a complete brand identity and brand communications program?  Today would be the best day to get started.