Brands Are Not Irrelevant. They Matter
June 18, 2018
John Kerr
Today as we approach the 20th anniversary of the Internet age, it’s evident the demise of the brand has been often overstated. We have all watched, sometimes in horror, as consolidation swallows up brands under new banners. While accountants drive margins and cut costs, they find years later they have opened the door to competitors who are more and more active in brand building, awareness and getting and converting the engineering fraternity and winning the new spec.
Brands matter and marketing those brands matters. What is somewhat disturbing is the thinking that the meaning, role, value and stature of a brand seem to be quickly dismissed. But what is even more apparent is the lack of understanding of what it takes to build a brand. One only needs to look back at the pillar brands on the electrical industry, ones that die hard, ones that live on line cards, and ones that still have the specifications to see the methods of the brand’s building undertaken two decades ago still have traction. Investing in a brand is ongoing, it’s not just a 3-month journey.
The brand equity was bought and paid for in so many acquisitions. And, it was the brand that helped build the revenues, lower the cost of sales, and increase margin. But sadly today, and the examples are many, somehow the message gets lost that investing in brand building pays off.
Today we all want quick results. Said another way, we want the cash register to ring and ring fast. Disproportionate amounts of money are invested in getting a quick response, and less and less is invested in building for the future. Somehow, we are lost in metrics on line again, reacting to a quick fix and quick satisfaction.
Brands are important, awareness is important. The investments made in brand building and awareness are not about a quick fix or link to information, they are about driving your positioning and meaning. They are about making the connection with the end user and specifier that reinforces anything you do or sell, and branding has a benefit that speaks to the emotions of a buyer as much as anything, one that builds trust, rapport, and connection. If you do it right, it will always it give to you, the last look, or allow you to immediately jump to top of mind so that your prospect or customer avoids the information overload so many are trapped in today.
The Internet gives and takes in any buying cycle, and the trick is to make sure you are there when buying begins and not reacting when it could be too late and there is no margin.
Sales and marketing need to align more than ever today. There must be a balance of selling and making the cash register ring, but there must be a balance with brand marketing and being out front consistently and not forgetting that people buy and companies don’t. And the discussion must be how to integrate and optimize any opportunity to be in front of the core targets you have all the time.
If you want better results in the internet age, then making and taking a stand in brand building makes sense. We have studied many campaigns over the last 10 years and its so evident to us that the one-hit efforts launched in the absence of any previous efforts fail to get even half the response of a campaign that is planned and executed over the long term.
Whether you are a wholesaler or a product marketer, the needs are the same and not building your brand at the expense of quick fixes will ensure your long-term outlook will be tougher than you think. Building brands today is not rocket science either, the tools are there.
All you need to ask yourself is, “Have we done a good job in ensuring we have positioned our company and product, and we have positioned ourselves well at a time when the information sources at our customers’ hands increase?” John Kerr is Publisher of Canadian Electrical Wholesaler.
