Best Ways to Destroy Your Brand - Pt 4
Posted by Jaci Russo
Brand Identity
This week we are looking at the five best ways to destroy your brand.
On Monday, we focused on Discount Sales. When a business discounts prices they position themselves as cheap instead of valuable and it will diminish the brand. The consumer is prevented from making an emotional connection and is forced to think of the relationship from a transactional point of view.
On Tuesday, we examined another great way to destroy the brand, cutting the budget. Often companies look to the marketing budget a place to make a first cut to improve the bottom line. However, this is only a short term fix and unfortunately a very short sighted one. Although, it is a great way to destroy the brand.
On Wednesday, we reviewed the need for authenticity. If a company is acting like they are something that they are in fact not, the consumer will know and will never trust the company. When companies make promises, it has to be based on an authentic point of differentiation.
Today, we are talking about thinking beyond advertising. The best way to destroy your brand is to think of it as only your logo or your product. Instead, you have to recognize your brand as your consumer’s emotional response to those things. Your brand isn’t a tangible item that is sold in a store. Your brand is a feeling that your consumers hold in their hearts.
Branding covers all of the touch points between your business and your consumer, from your direct mail to your website to your environment…even your invoices and warranty. Every touch point is part of your brand - consider how changes in your company’s activities and structure may affect your consumers.
Companies who think about branding too narrowly, and ignore the other touch points, are missing the big picture. Once you recognize that the consumer owns the brand then you can connect with them in a place of their choosing. That is when social media becomes so impactful.
The quickest way to destroy your brand is to misunderstand what it is, how it works or how you can grow it.
