Brand Development and Brand Positioning
Why everything you know may be no longer relevant!
There is one fatal flaw in all of the work done since the 1950's on the topics of Brand Development and Brand Positioning. At the core of the combined knowledge amassed over the last 50 years or so is a consensus on the steps necessary to develop and position a Brand:
- Question
- Define
- Clarify
- Refine
- Communicate
Whilst the names vary, as may the number of steps in the breakdown, Brand Development and Brand Positioning has been presented as a process with a Start and a Finish. A process carried out, preferably in the early days of a new business, or perhaps every generation or so in very long standing businesses, in a "set-and-forget" mode.
Even worse, once the Brand Position is established, along come the self appointed Brand Warriors and Logo Police to ensure nothing ever changes, nobody ever questions.
Perhaps that explains ongoing anomalies such as a prominent, long standing Adelaide company trying to establish themselves as a furniture retailer, with the name "Radio Rentals".
Call them sometime and enquire about the cost of renting a radio!
If you were asked to explain the Brand Position of Virgin 5 years ago, what would that have been? How about 2 years ago? How do those Brand Positions compare with your thoughts on today's Virgin?
So what has happened to make the Start/Finish, set-and-forget mode obsolete?
The same thing that is making most business truisms obsolete - the ever accelerating pace of change. The pace of change in the way we communicate with our target market, the pace at which new target markets emerge or disappear, the pace at which competitive advantage is wiped out.
There is almost a one word answer - Internet!
Where once, in the not too distant past, you could establish a business with a well thought out Brand Position, and resultant competitive advantage, and realistically expect a period of years before the "knock offs" could threaten your position, today the so called "web marketers" can do it, literally, in days.
How do you respond to these new challenges to your Brand Position, or more precisely to what you believe and do about Brand Positioning?
At SeniorCoach.biz we have developed the Brand Evolution Cycle. Whilst we accept most of the consensus knowledge on Brand Position, we have totally rewritten the "steps" from a Start to Finish, set-and-forget mode, to a continuous, never ending Cycle. In our Cycle, inherent in the "Communicate" step, are the "Questions" to your clients, target market, your marketing thinkers, which cause your Brand to evolve and remain relevant in the rapidly changing environment your business competes in.
Interested to find out more about our Brand Evolution Cycle, or any other Brand issue?
Email Graeme Smith today to set up an exploratory chat - at no cost or obligation.
