Love-Hate Relationship Between Big Chain Stores and Independent Brands
WHOSE BRAND ARE YOU BUILDING?
Our clients get really excited about receiving an offer to produce their product under a big chain store’s name. The scenario usually goes like this: The producer presents their branded product to the big chain, but instead of the chain agreeing to take their brand, they...
How to Measure Brand Equity
WHAT’S IT WORTH?
Most authorities agree that brand equity is the commercial value that “derives from consumer perception of the brand name of a particular product or service, rather than from the product or service itself.” But how do you measure brand equity? First, let’s get a hint from...
Without a Brand Promise, A Brand is Just a Label
WHAT DO YOU STAND FOR?
Brands go back to Roman times. They were used to identify the merchant who produced a product emblazoned with a particular mark. Today, brands represent not just the producer’s identity but also the brand’s promise. This brand promise covers not only product performance, but extends to...
Build a Brand, Not a Commodity for Someone Else
I DON’T CARE WHAT IT DOES, IT’S NOT AN iPHONE
Brand Vs Commodity The difference between a brand and a commodity is loyalty. There are folks who know that the Samsung may do more than the iPhone, but they are loyal to the iPhone. It’s their brand and no matter if it costs more or does...
Risking Brand Failure to Sell More Suds
I WANT MY BUD BACK
If you spent several decades building a brand name, would you change it for a 6-month perceived market advantage? And then go back to the name you tirelessly built over all those years? Well, that’s just what Anheuser-Busch is planning to do with their Budweiser brand....
Your Acquirer’s Due Diligence Checklist Should Guide Your File Organization
BE READY FROM DAY ONE!
There’s much talk these days about the business plan, yet the sale-of-the-business plan seems to get little attention. Right now is the time to discuss the eventual transition and the due diligence checklist. Planning ahead for your potential acquirer’s required list of documents is an effective...
5 Ways to Make Your Brand Fun – So You Can Attract and Build Customer Loyalty
“IF IT ISN’T FUN, I’M NOT DOING IT!” Randy Arnold, The Barefoot Guy
It’s amazing how many times we get asked by corporate types, “What is ‘fun’?” They want fun defined so they can bring it in to their own marketing the way we did with Barefoot Wines. Of course the thought that crosses our minds is that if...
Increase Sales with Positive Customer Experience
WORD OF MOUTH TRUMPS ADVERTISING
When a new company is just getting started or sales are down, the pressure is on for more advertising. But is that the best solution? Advertising is based on your long-term commitment to running expensive ads repeatedly before you can get any “traction.” But there is...
Vermont’s Darn Tough Socks Deliver on their Brand Promise
KNOCK YOUR SOCKS OFF!
Just when you thought everything was made in China, just when you thought there was no alternative to products that didn’t hold up, just when you thought that American manufacturing was dead, here comes Darn Tough! This plucky little Vermont sock company, founded in 2004, is...
Why Brands Are King – Brands Trump Commodities
KLEENEX - MORE THAN SOMETHING TO SNEEZE AT!
Like Kleenex, Xerox, and Coke, some consumer brands are so strong that their very names have replaced the commodities they represent in the lexicon. But they are commodities none the less. What has elevated these brand names to this level is their history, popularity, or virtual...
5 Ways to Identify a Cause that Helps You Promote Your Brand
ALL FOR THE CAUSE
Cause Marketing is a mainstream term used today to describe cause or cause-related cooperative marketing efforts between a for-profit and a non-profit organization for mutual benefits. Back in 1986 when we started the Barefoot Wine brand, we made up a name because there wasn’t a name...
The Best Brand Building Advice for the New Year
SAY HELLO TO THE REAL BRAND OWNERS!
“With your experience in the real world of brand building, can you just give me the one thing I need to know to build my brand in the New Year?” A member of the audience asked us this question after a recent keynote address. These days...
They’re Not Strangers, They’re Customers
DON’T TURN MONEY AWAY!
We live in a world where entire groups of people are suddenly classified, by some, as the enemy, or personas non grata, but if we can get over political classifications we realize that everyone is our customer at some level. The real question is, will they...
Granting Every Sales Request Can Hurt Your Brand
IF ONLY…
We’ve often said that Marketing and Production should pay attention to Sales and Customer Service because they are the only people in your company who talk to your customers every day. They know why customers buy – and why they don’t. They know what the competition...
Customer Experience Creates the Brand Promise
KNOWING AND EXCEEDING EXPECTATIONS
At the heart of brand building is exceeding your customers’ expectations. But who is your customer and what do they expect? It may not be as simple as it sounds. If you have a business to business (B to B) model, the way your B to...
Customer Retention Strategies
6 WAYS TO AVOID LOSING CUSTOMERS
Customer retention is all about how your company maintains its client base and how it creates a loyal following. Customer retention is a big function of customer satisfaction. Develop a few tactics aimed at creating loyal customers by discovering what they most want. Customer Retention Strategies...