5 key brand aspects we always knew but didn’t measure...

I have been listening to speakers at various #marketing conclaves and seminars, hearing industry captains talk, observing market research panel discussions and I find many new buzz words, jargon and concepts defining the success of a brand. I found most to be correct and relevant (some could argue that they are old wine in new bottles), yet I find most #brands failing to measure and track these critical new brand aspects. Here are 5 much talked about brand aspects that many failed to study for their brands.

1. Brand Trust is the ultimate test:

Brand - trust seems to be the new mantra getting its attention. Brand - trust is an intangible and perhaps a complex attribute to measure. Most syndicated researchers track and report only the top few brands. The rest seem to infer their consumer’s Brand-trust by inferring from their sales data, satisfaction studies, the share of pie analysis etc.

There are very few who have commissioned dedicated tracking studies to measure brand - trust. Find that only a few actually go to their customers, asking upfront why they trusted their brand, how much they really trust their brand today, how much they trusted yesterday and study the changes if any. Traditionally most research studies capture Brand - trust from one or two prompted statements in their study amongst a battery of other statements. If Brand - trust is understood to be the most crucial aspect, then perhaps it deserves a dedicated study and tracking.

2. Storytelling for stronger engagement:

Story-telling as a concept, as a strategy, as a special function and as art have all got amplified as a marketing need in recent years. Yet, didn’t find brands measuring or tracking how good or relevant their brand stories are and how they are performing in the market. Gauging the success of a brand story-telling seems to be based on inferences and gut feel rather than a dedicated study to measure its relevance, execution and effectiveness.

Studying which part of the story is relevant and engaging, which part is losing its relevance, which part is not helping differentiate, which story is not leading up to the desired experience etc. becomes important for better ROS (Returns on Story-telling). Did the sum of all parts of the story-telling add up to the desired outcome? This needs constant tracking.

3. KYC – Know your Competition’s customers:

Know your customer is what they say but here is my take on KYC.

Knowing your competitor’s price, product features, promotional offerings, communication, market segmentation, sales, distribution etc. are hygiene requirements. Most brands have spent resources and time studying this year after year. The greater advantage will be if a brand could study its competitor’s consumers as a dedicated study.

Understanding competition’s consumers could dramatically change the way you look at your category or your markets. Understanding competitor’s consumer’s latent needs, fears, pain points, emotions, pride, aspirations, personal value systems, culture bias, usage experience etc. could throw up new insights for your own product mix and marketing mix strategy. Finding out what is going wrong with a competitor’s customers is just as important as knowing what they are doing right. Also, it helps in avoiding the same mistakes. In a cluttered market, discovering a chink in the competitor’s armour or packaging an approach with a fresh appeal can be extremely valuable. Dedicated research to study a brand’s competitor inside out qualitatively and quantitatively could enable breakthrough insights leading to disproportionate returns, innovation and possibly the need to redefine the brand’s purpose and positioning too.

4. Consistency is Key:

The theory of consistency continues to be spoken and lectured upon in the marketing fraternity. With today’s multi-layered mediums, highly fragmented media consumption, over-saturated digital content and cluttered OOH spaces, brands are struggling to keep up with the dynamic communication platforms with a consistent brand message and image.

New terminologies, new designations, new concepts and specialised functions have evolved to meet the new requirements. Content creators, Co-creators, crowdsourcing, brand story-tellers, Story –doers, Digital experience officer etc. to name a few. Now the brand owners based on their personal experience or wisdom are hoping or are assuming that all the various communication pieces are consistent and in line with the declared brand purpose, positioning and personality. Now the question is, did their consumers also see or experience the intended consistency? Is consistency an assumption or is it felt and experienced? If Consistency is the key, perhaps this also needs a dedicated consumer study to track if a consistent brand message or a brand story was experienced by their consumers.

5. ‘How they make you feel’:

In a dynamic digital marketing world, most of the measurements seem to be based on facts and numbers. The number of clicks, referrals, forwards or shares, feedback rating, reviews on product features, service promptness, post-purchase experience rating etc. The digital world seems to track and measure (most likely by a bot) anything that can be quantified at the end of the day.

The new brand emphasis seems to be beyond a mere consumption experience, the discussions and focuses are around how the brand made a difference to the feeling of a customer. This calls for a highly sensitive and emotion measurement skills and tools, unlikely for a bot to measure. How did the brand ‘make me feel’ is argued to be a very powerful brand aspect to know, strategize and manage. Capturing and reflecting upon a customer’s articulation of a ‘feeling’ becomes critical. The ‘feeling’ of associating with a brand could range from extreme emotions to the most predictable ones. The brand made me feel confident, made me feel wanted, made me feel small, made me feel guilty, made me feel proud, made me feel intelligent etc. are some of the possible types of articulation one could expect. Studying these ‘feelings’ and managing them seem to be more of a concept in 2019 and yet to be practised by most marketers.

They say what gets measured gets managed. It will be interesting to watch how the new buzz words, jargon and concepts are measured and put to practise in 2020.

-Pavan Padaki

The writer is a brand practitioner and the author ‘Brand Vinci-decoding facets of branding’

The article appeared in ET Brand Equity dated: 29th Feb 2020ET

BrandEquity: The high five in marketing lexicon https://brandequity.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/marketing/the-high-five-in-marketing-lexicon/74405441