MARKETING STRATEGIES: The brand message

When it comes to problem solving, the customer is at the highest level of discomfort when the product or service they purchased previously is no longer available. Perhaps the product or service is no longer commercially viable, the vendor no longer exists or the circumstances have changed due to factors beyond your control.

You can see this situation all the time. Technology develops and now the old TV won’t work with the new DVD player, your iPod or the internet. The portable clock won’t take the normal AAA batteries or the new low energy light fittings require a different interface. Similarly, new building regulations now require new forms of material for fire resistance, energy use or natural disaster resistance.

For habitual, low value and low risk purchases, a popular brand is usually purchased given that the economic and performance risks are likely to be low. However, as the value of the purchase increases, the financial risk of making the wrong decision increases. When I purchase something new I also have the possible risk of the purchase not solving the problem, not performing as I had hoped and my social circle may not approve of my purchase.

Faced with a choice of products, all of which purport to satisfy the need, the customer may well use a set of decision heuristics to remove some of the choices. If my time to make a decision was short or my capability of understanding complex information related to specifications or functionality was limited, then I might resort to a simple decision rule to help reduce the number of alternatives on offer.

In situations where the customer needs to make a decision but is unable to comprehend all the information provided, the brand can play a decisive role. This is especially true where little independent reference information is available.

Vendors use brands to convey value information about the underlying branded products. Sometimes the band name will convey information itself, but mostly the vendor builds a reputation around the brand to provide a consistent message about some underlying characteristics of the product. The brand is often referred to as the ‘personality’ of the product. The brand message or brand ‘promise’ tries to convey quality and/or image information or to associate the brand with a specific class of users, type of problem, quality level or availability.

The brand message is really aimed at the target customer rather than the general public. The aim is to educate the target customer on the values and attributes which the customer can expect from the branded product. In the longer term, the reputation of the brand will be supported by the consistency with which the target audience embraces and then supports the brand image.

The brand image and message take time to establish. A new brand from a new vendor has little meaning in the eyes of the customer. Also, a brand applied to a product or service that has obvious functionality is of little value. It is where the outcomes are not obvious, risky or intrinsic that brand becomes an important information source. However, a brand with no history really has no image or message, except of course that the brand message cannot be validated. Over time, as evidence accumulates and satisfied users support the brand message, the credibility of the brand increases.

Branding becomes most critical when an established vendor introduces a new product or service. The new product or service cannot be validated by historical performance. Therefore, the customer needs additional information to evaluate it. When an established brand is applied to a new product or service, this increases the information available to the customer.

The choice of values or attributes for the brand will be critical for brand reputation. Unless the products or services under the brand are ‘true’ to the brand values, the brand will only lead to negative customer reactions rather than positive ones. Poor performance of a single product against the brand image can contaminate other products or services in the same brand family. Rebuilding the image can be a long and expensive process when damage has occurred.

Strong brands that are known to the customer and convey the attributes that the customer seeks can dramatically impact on choice. Depending on the level of financial, performance, physical, psychological and social risk perceived by the customer, a brand might play to one or all of these elements. To the extent that a brand satisfies all, the decision process may quickly exclude other products or services where these elements are uncertain or have poor anticipated satisfaction levels.

In a choice decision, known brands that best fit the desired outcome sought, will be preferred. This presents a hurdle to new brands that have yet to establish a reputation, even if they might present a superior solution. In the absence of creditable performance information, at least in the eyes of the customer, these new brand products will struggle against the incumbent.

New products attempt to avoid this trap by demonstrating new functions, features or price points, that is, competing on some new dimension. They might disrupt the buying process with a special offer, a trial or by introducing some new information that cannot be easily assigned to the established brands. Basically, if you change what the customer sees as the problem, you can impact the solution set being considered. Alternatively, new brands seek out those customers who are curious or willing to try something new, satisfying a different attribute of customer experience.

Brand can also be extended to place of purchase. I may be more willing to purchase an item from a store that has reputation in a specific field than from a store that does not. An expensive item with an unknown brand offered by a reputable boutique fashion store may be more acceptable than one offered by the local department store. An expensive range of stereo equipment sold by the local AV specialist may be more acceptable than one offered at the local electronics retailer. I may prefer to go to the local camera shop for a specialist camera than buy one from the duty free shop.

Tom McKaskill is a successful global serial entrepreneur, educator and author who is a world acknowledged authority on exit strategies and the former Richard Pratt Professor of Entrepreneurship, Australian Graduate School of Entrepreneurship, Swinburne University of Technology, Melbourne, Australia. A series of free eBooks for entrepreneurs and angel and VC investors can be found at his site here.