How is it that good salesmanship can defeat a brand? It happens because good salesmanship, at its roots, is somewhat contradictory to good branding. Problems occur when master salesmen set brand strategy. The master salesman isn’t wrong…but his job is to sell a product, not build a brand. Selling a product and building a brand are two distinctly different tasks. Selling is short-term. Branding is long-term. Branding should outline what the salesman sells and how it’s sold. Selling (as a strategy) leads to short-term rewards, but long-term identity crisis and price wars. Branding (as a strategy) means slower growth, but creates longevity and higher price points.
This series deals with 5 areas in which good selling contradicts good branding. The topic of this post is AGING.
Aging deals with the choice to either grow old with your current customer base, or continually renew your customer base at the same age. A business doesn’t face this issue until around the 5 year mark or so…10 years in some cases. Here’s how the issue arises: out of the gate, you experience great success with your market. They love you…they are loyal to you. Well done. But, that base doesn’t remain frozen in time. They age. With age, comes different tastes, different demands, different priorities. At that point, you have a choice to make. Do you listen to their demands and evolve your business? Or, do you stick with what made you successful to start with?
A perfect case study in again is Cadillac. Cadillac hit pay dirt with the Greatest Generation years ago. They grew old with their market. Younger Boomers and certainly GenX’ers view Cadillac as “an old person’s car.” Thus, Cadillac has been working vigorously to correct this perception and break back into a younger market dominated by other brands such as VW, Volvo, BMW, and Infiniti. To put things in perspective, “younger” for Cadillac means 40 or 50-something and hiring an ad cougar (is Kate Walsh really considered a cougar? wow…).
What’s wrong with growing old with your market, you ask? Well, eventually they will retire and your brand will be irrelevant.
So here is where good salesmanship and good branding clash: successful, established salespersons always place first emphasis on pleasing the existing customer. A good brand manager should always place first emphasis on the emerging customer. This means that each and every year products and services will change to meet, greet, and welcome the youngest members of your market. It also means that certain demands, wishes, wants, and preferences of the older members of your market should NOT be catered to.
Now, to be clear, I’m not advocating intentionally irritating, ignoring, or otherwise leaving your customers dissatisfied. I AM advocating that you must allow your existing customer to grow out of your brand in order to remain relevant to tomorrow’s consumer. Staying relevant to the up-and-comers is tough work…but is very rewarding in the end.
After keeping a presence at MySpace for the past three and half years, Mojoloco is moving out! We packed up our things, swept the floors, and moved on. We’ll miss our friends there. BUT, times change, and we felt it was time to keep pace. We don’t like maintaining 20 profiles at once…we try to keep things manageable.
We wish MySpace the best in their attempt to remain relevant and stay ahead of the trends. If the tides change, we may be back…we’re not turning in our key just yet. And, we did leave a note in case anyone drops by while we’re gone…
How is it that good salesmanship can defeat a brand? It happens because good salesmanship, at its roots, is somewhat contradictory to good branding. Problems occur when master salesmen set brand strategy. The master salesman isn’t wrong…but his job is to sell a product, not build a brand. Selling a product and building a brand are two distinctly different tasks. Selling is short-term. Branding is long-term. Branding should outline what the salesman sells and how it’s sold. Selling (as a strategy) leads to short-term rewards, but long-term identity crisis and price wars. Branding (as a strategy) means slower growth, but creates longevity and higher price points.
This series deals with 5 areas in which good selling contradicts good branding. The topic of this post is ARROGANCE.
One person’s money is as good as another’s, right? Well, obviously speaking…yes. From a not-so-obvious viewpoint…maybe not. Now, let me say up front that this topic is all about brass tacks and tough cookies. The object of branding is not to offend the consumer, but to engage the RIGHT consumer. That implies that you won’t want to engage EVERY consumer. Some will be left out. Some SHOULD be left out. My focus here is the danger of NOT leaving out the ones that SHOULD be left out. With me?
Remember Stewart on Beavis and Butthead? You know, the neighborhood dork who wore the Winger t-shirt? Now, in reality, the record company exec (whose job is to sell records) would most likely clap Stewart on the back and encourage him to pllop down those $20 bucks for the WInger CD…and an extra $20 for the t-shirt. Kip Winger, on the other hand, probably cringed at the thought.
The record exec did indeed do his job…he sold records…quite a few, in fact. But where is Kip Winger these days? I’m pretty sure he’s still singing, but he’s not cracking the top 40, for certain. Who was right, Kip or the record exec? Remember, successful brands are not measured in years, but in decades.
I guess the answer is that they were both right. They were both doing their jobs…it’s just that their jobs were on a collision course. One’s job was to promote his music and build a following. The other’s job was to sell records. Good salesmanship defeated the brand.
So, in branding, tough choices often have to be made. You want to sell to those who reflect your core values. This requires a certain degree of arrogance. Yes, your brand is too good for some, and not good enough for others. Find that sweet spot, own it, and attack it without compromise. Yes, you will likely offend some. But in the offense lies the perception of exclusivity: we, as humans, want- even idolize- what we cannot have. After all, if everybody has it, it really isn’t special, is it?
When it comes to picking and choosing targets for various tactics, embrace some healthy arrogance. Here are some examples:
a fashion boutique for 20-something girls ONLY accepts 20-something girls as friends on MySpace. Everyone else is denied.
a novelty t-shirt designer known for women’s t-shirts might refuse to design a t-shirt for men, regardless of the demand.
a merchandiser might limit inventory to certain categories, even at the expense of limiting the target market.
Again, I’m not advocating being ugly to consumers. I AM advocating a certain degree of arrogance in order to maintain targeting focus and build a loyal following of passionate consumer evangelists. At the end of the day, branding is not about selling whenever and wherever the opportunity presents itself. It is about being relevant to a small subculture.
How is it that good salesmanship can defeat a brand? It happens because good salesmanship, at its roots, is somewhat contradictory to good branding. Problems occur when master salesmen set brand strategy. The master salesman isn’t wrong…but his job is to sell a product, not build a brand. Selling a product and building a brand are two distinctly different tasks. Selling is short-term. Branding is long-term. Branding should outline what the salesman sells and how it’s sold. Selling (as a strategy) leads to short-term rewards, but long-term identity crisis and price wars. Branding (as a strategy) means slower growth, but creates longevity and higher price points.
This series deals with 5 areas in which good selling contradicts good branding. The topic of this post is ENGAGE.
Social media is an excellent conversation piece for this topic. Social media is today’s gold rush…everyone wants to jump on board, everyone wants to benefit. The proof of this is the fact that, by 2010, more ad dollars will be spent on social media promotions than on television, print, radio, or outdoor mediums. Wow.
The problems, however, begin to arise when the traditional 30-second spot types want to jump into the social space and treat it as they did other mediums. Traditional advertising mediums are designed to interrupt, and good salesmen are masters of interruption. A good salesman can walk into a store cold off the street and close the deal, regardless of how distracted and busy the shop owner is. That’s the golden standard for good salespeople.
Social media doesn’t work this way…it isn’t commercial, by design…IT IS SOCIAL. The object in this space is to engage, not interrupt. It’s about having a conversation with your consumer, not about inundating them with your message. Brand managers and marketing gurus that don’t get this will eventually all become irrelevant in the new marketing world.
Social media is not the only medium in which consumers insist on being engaged and not interrupted. More and more, as consumers become more educated and more inundated with pointless hype, it is becoming vital to engage the consumer in a fruitful conversation rather than take the hard sale approach.
Beginning with your social media strategy, evaluate how good a job your brand is doing at the whole “engaging versus interrupting” thing. Visit your public profiles on Twitter and Facebook….are you having a conversation with yourself? Is anyone talking back, asking questions, seeking information, or inquiring about your products? Or are your company profiles a history of a very one-sided conversation? The answer to this pop quiz can be a key starting point in realizing where some of your brand’s weaknesses can be found.
Doing something about it is the next step. Remember, social media is not a mass cold call…and successful branding never interrupts…it always engages. And, while selling requires some degree of saturation when it comes to your message, good branding requires- not just awareness- but AGREEMENT.
Mojoloco has been retained by Beagle Bagel Cafe to help “upgrade” the brand. The Beagle Bagel Cafe, set to open their first franchise this summer, will be launching a new web site. In addition, we will be building a Twitter contest that will turn their story (a key organization driver for the business) into a catchy limerick and engaging the consumer to help. We’re excited about this campaign and are proud to be working with Beagle Bagel Cafe. Stay tuned for contest details…
Juniker Jewelry, a mainstay at Highland Village in Jackson, has hired Mojoloco to build a new web presence. The new web site will feature a fully-functional catalog with gift registry and a secure gallery for private collection viewings. We’ll also be implementing some social media initiatives, as well as tracking mechanisms for traditional ads. Look for the launch of the new Juniker site in late July!
Mojoloco has been retained by BellaChes, a new specialty boutique coming soon to Renaissance at Colony Park. The store will feature rare and extra-ordinary items for special people and special occasions. Mojoloco is assisting with brand development, identity, and positioning. BellaChes will launch a teaser campaign in August in anticipation of a late summer opening. The campaign will feature the new slogan “Give, exquisite” and will be designed to build buzz and curiosity in the lead-up to the grand opening. We’re excited about our relationship with BellaChes!
The board of the College Savings Program of Mississippi awarded AKF Consulting, Broderick Advertising, and Mojoloco a 3-year marketing contract for MACS and MPACT, the state’s 529 and supplemental college savings programs. AKF Consulting of New York was selected as the primary contact, Broderick Advertising was selected to handle traditional media, and Mojoloco was designated as the new marketing & social media specialist. We are very excited to be working with AKF Consulting and Broderick Advertising on this account! It’s a great opportunity to interface with other talented marketers, which we enjoy. Further, we tip our hats to Tate Reeves and the board of CSPM for recognizing the need for social media and new marketing as a key part of their marketing strategy. This is uncharted waters for the State of Mississippi, and for 529 programs in general. So, we look forward to the opportunity to implement something new, exciting, and successful!
How is it that good salesmanship can defeat a brand? It happens because good salesmanship, at its roots, is somewhat contradictory to good branding. Problems occur when master salesmen set brand strategy. The master salesman isn’t wrong…but his job is to sell a product, not build a brand. Selling a product and building a brand are two distinctly different tasks. Selling is short-term. Branding is long-term. Branding should outline what the salesman sells and how it’s sold. Selling (as a strategy) leads to short-term rewards, but long-term identity crisis and price wars. Branding (as a strategy) means slower growth, but creates longevity and higher price points.
This series deals with 5 areas in which good selling contradicts good branding. The topic of this post is FOCUS.
I’ve been following closely the story concerning Chrysler and General Motors, who this week announced they will terminate close to a third of their franchise contracts. In a prepared statement today, GM vice president of sales service and marketing, Mark LaNeve, said, “GM’s viability plan calls for fewer, stronger brands as well as fewer, stronger dealers. We have taken a very difficult step by identifying those dealerships we’d like to keep in the GM dealer network and those with whom we will have to wind down our business relationships.”
Fewer, stronger brands. Fewer, stronger dealers.
This seems to support the notion (which we in the brand-building business have known for a long time) that good things happen when you narrow the focus. This is contrary to the train of thought- often promoted passionately in the sales room- that in order to build a book of business, one should dum down products to appeal to as many people as possible. Salesmen might insist that it’s good strategy to extend the success of one brand by investing in another…”let’s use our brand equity, and expand our product line and appeal to more people” they might say.
History, as an impartial judge, tells a different story about what happens when this manner of good salesmanship is used to define brand strategy. Diet Coke takes market share from Classic Coke. Diet Pepsi takes market share from Pepsi. Bud Light takes market share from Budweiser. Miller Lite from Miller. Pontiac from Buick. Saturn from Ford. And so on. In these cases, good salesmanship made for bad brand strategy.
While the problems plaguing General Motors are far more complex than what I’m insinuating here, it is interesting that part of the chosen solution to these problems is to strengthen the core brands by eliminating distracting siblings.
In the long run, it will indeed strengthen the GM brand.
Good things always happen when you narrow the focus.
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