HOW TO BUILD STRONG BRANDS WITHOUT THE MASS MEDIA (AND WITHOUT BREAKING THE BANK)

A few days ago, Nigeria celebrated its 64th anniversary as an independent nation. Congratulatory messages poured in from everywhere: the diplomatic communities, state governments, captains of industry, Amazons of the marketplace, local and international brands, etc.

It is important to note that big or small brands always seize the Independence Day celebration to leave a good impression on Nigerians. The dictionary defines impression as an idea, feeling, or opinion about someone especially one formed without conscious thought or based on little evidence.

?In marketing, impression is defined as the potential number of views an ad or content gets. It is the potential reach of an ad or content. Impression impacts the visibility, awareness and equity of brands. Therefore, a brand’s congratulatory message(s) would likely increase its visibility nationally especially if placed in a media channel with national coverage.

It is well known that most big brands like Dangote, Flour Mills, MTN, Airtel, GTCO, Dufil, Oando, Olam etc. are national brands. But how can a relatively small and unknown brand achieve national brand awareness and visibility without breaking the bank? This is the drift of this article.?

I’d start with Eric Person’s quote, “It’s no longer the big beating the small, but the fast beating the slow”. Traditionally, big brands have some advantages over small brands. These include brand awareness, brand familiarity, big marketing spend, experience curve, a network of partners, a strong leadership bench etc.

But these days when the internet and social media mediate the interactions between brands and consumers, small brands are rewiring the rules of competition. Small brands, like David, have the opportunity to browbeat their Goliaths. ??

Let’s face it, the fundamental rules of marketing that undergird marketing/branding strategies of some of the big brands have become obsolete. For instance, Segmentation, Targeting and Positioning are key activities of traditional marketing. As you are aware, segmentation involves classifying or grouping customers into subgroups based on shared needs, common interests, similar lifestyles, similar demographic inclinations etc. The idea is to select and target segments with the most profitable potential. ??

Market segmentation works on the assumption that different segments require different marketing approaches. Therefore, the company targets each segment with a unique combination of 4P’s – product, price, place and promotion. The products are positioned in such a way that they resonate with customers in different segments.

That’s the old world, in the new world, things are a lot different.

The Shift

There is a shift in business and marketing.

For instance, in the past, companies have always prided themselves on being innovative insisting that innovation must emanate from within their organizations. That mindset has changed. Companies now encourage innovation from outside. A recent survey powered by Deloitte and Fast Company confirmed this. The survey report suggests that 42% of companies are looking beyond pouring innovation dollars into R&D. Instead, they are collaborating with a community of partners – venture capitalists, consultants, cross-industry coalitions, industry associations etc. to drive their business transformations.

From Verticals to Horizontals

Markets are moving from verticals to horizontals. Smaller companies now have the opportunity to compete against the big companies. In other words, the competitiveness of a brand is not determined by its size, location, or name awareness. visibility etc. A small company can effectively compete if it knows how to create and connect consumers in communities no matter their size, location, experience curve etc.

From Individual to Social

Companies have little or no control over the behaviour of consumers in a connected world. In the past, brands created messages to target consumers one at a time. The individual after receiving a series of marketing messages might decide to choose the brand.

So, if you wanted to buy a TV set, for example, you would have received marketing messages from the likes of Philip, Samsung, LG, Sony etc. depending on where you are in the Customer Decision Journey. Without saying much, your choice would be based on the effectiveness of the value propositions and positioning of the brand. ?

But in a connected world things play out differently. According to HubSpot’s Social Media Trend, in 2023, building online communities was the number one social media trend. One in five social media users has joined one community in the last three months. The same report suggests that there is a lot of conversation around communities online, among social media users. More than one million social media users talked about communities and brands in the last three years from January 1, 2020 – December 31, 2022, before 2023.

Community Influences the Consumers

The implication of the above is that consumers now make purchasing decisions differently. They are influenced by a community of friends, family members and fans on social media. Meanwhile, conventional marketing avers that the customer goes through four stages before making a buying decision. These stages include Awareness, Interest, Decision and Action (AIDA).

For instance, a consumer sees a TVC for the first time (awareness). The ad resonates with her, so she wants to know about the product (interest). A few days later, she visits a grocery store in her neighbourhood to look for the product (decision). The product’s unique packaging fascinates her. She reads through the product information on the pack. Satisfied, she buys the product (Action).

Today, the consumer does not act alone. She has a community that she consults before making purchasing decisions. The community comprises friends, family and fans on social media.

In a connected world, the customer journey is broken down into five stages – Aware, Appeal, Ask, Act and Advocate. As you are aware, the customer journey is never straight. At the Aware stage, the customer gets to know about the brand perhaps via a TVC or an online video on social media. The brand’s features are compelling (Appeal stage) e.g. iPhone, a Tesla, etc. She rang up her cousin in New York who recently bought the product to get more information and visited the company’s website to know what others are saying about the product (Ask). She called a sales officer to get more information about the payment plan and negotiated for additional features to the product. Three days later, she paid for the product (Act). A month later, she goes on Yelp to share how satisfied she is with her car. (Advocate).

It bears repeating to note that the customer journey is not linear. A consumer can be aware of a product and get fascinated by it all at the same time and immediately jump to the Act stage. At other times, she may get to the Act stage where she’s ready to buy but decides to go back to the Ask stage for more clarification. The point to note is that consumers are more connected to one another than before and therefore their decisions are based on how they influence one another. That is. buying decision is not a solo effort any more. Brands that want to succeed must connect them in their communities.

The Internet and social media have become powerful forces for mediating relationships between consumers and companies. As of July 2024, there were 5.45 billion people connected to the internet, which is 67.1% of the world’s population. Out of this number, 5.17 billion people use social media. What’s more, the biggest social media trend is the formation of online communities.

Three points have been made. One, traditional media, though still relevant, may not be effective in a world that is mediated by the internet and social media. Two, brands are no longer in control, they can’t solely determine the impact of their marketing efforts. These two factors paved the path for the third - small companies have the opportunity and platform to compete with big companies no matter their locations, size, region etc.

ALTERNATE BRAND BUILDING STRATEGIES

Traditionally, advertising has been known to be a powerful tool for brand building. Because it feeds off the power of the mass media to influence consumer behaviour. But that’s no longer the case. The combined forces of market fragmentation, costs, and consumers’ tendency to shun mass media are working against traditional marketing to reduce its impact on building strong brands. Brands in Europe have learned this lesson and are reaping the benefits. They built great brands by taking different routes.

The Body Shop built loyalty with its support for environmental and social causes; H?agen-Dazs opened posh ice cream shops and got listed on the menu of fine restaurants; Nestle’s Buitoni gained traction by teaching English people how to cook Italian foods; Swatch and Hugo Boss amassed equity by sponsoring cultural events.

Necessity often breeds invention. The European mass media is hostile and perhaps reflects the stiffer post-mass-media realities of many brands.? Therefore, advertisers have fewer options and the cost of putting their ads on traditional mass media channels such as TV and radio is ridiculously expensive.

Europeans have access to few commercial TV stations; unfortunately, many of them bundle advertisements in order not to interrupt programs. Therefore, companies have found alternative routes other than the mass media to reach and engage with their target audiences. Looking at the success stories of some brands, there is a pattern of behaviour that is common to all of them. These may be used as a template for small brands that want to compete and win in their markets.

a.??? Drive your business strategy with your brand strategy

Senior executives lead the charge in driving the brand strategy. For example, Anita Roddick, the founder of Body Shop is the chief promoter and ensures that the company’s alternative brand-building programs are drilled down through its business activities. Jochen Holy and his brother were responsible for the brand-building effort at Hugo Boss between 1972 and 1993. They didn’t leave it to some junior executives or some branding agencies to take care of.

Two problems usually arise from letting agencies drive the brand strategy of companies. One, it alienates the top executives from the brand. Therefore, monitoring and constant engagement might become tacky. Secondly, most agency talent are familiar with the traditional use of advertising to build brands.

b.??? Be clear about your brand identity

A brand is a constellation of values and beliefs. In other words, to build strong brands, companies must ensure that they retain their core identity and not be swayed by fleeting market dynamics such as competitive forces, changing customer behaviours, or being distracted by transient tactical initiatives. The brand identity is essentially the brand concept from the brand owner’s perspective. The brand must retain its identity no matter what. Whether it is pursuing alternative brand-building strategies, accessing multiple media or both. It must show depth, and be coherent.

The onus is on the design and communications team not to distort the core of the brand and send the wrong signals to the audience. An effective brand identity must be linked to the vision of the business, the organizational value and the culture. ?

Take The Body Shop as an example, the company’s identity seems to be its profits-with-a-principle. The company brings its identity to life by opposing the testing of animals, helping third-world countries through its Trade-Not-Aid program, participating in the Save the Whales rally etc. These activities are the core of the brand. Visit Body Shop and you will be welcomed by a clerk who dons a Body Shop T-shirt and is invested in the values, causes, and products of the company.

c.???? Leverage brand identity-building programs to drive visibility

Brand recognition influences brand equity. People tend to form a positive opinion about a brand even when they have not used it. Brand visibility is associated with leadership, success, quality, energy etc. Building and reinforcing brand identity is one great way to build visibility.

Take Hugo Boss. The brand created an image of exclusivity and high quality partly due to its sponsorship of Porshe in Formula One. The clothing brand rode on the back of the exclusive image of Porsche and its international presence. Hugo Boss has sponsored similar high-profile sports competitions over the years – tennis, ski and golf. Interestingly, Hugo Boss has seen a tremendous impact on brand visibility and brand value.

Established in 1923, it has always been a high-quality clothier but lacked gravitas. In the 1970s, the annual revenue was only about 4 million Deutschmarks. Shortly after, its brand-building effort began to take root. In 1980, revenue topped 100 M Deutschmarks and during the 1980s, revenues increased tenfold. The brand is sold in 57 countries with half of sales coming from outside Germany and 20% outside Europe. The 1991 issue of the German magazine, Gehobener Lebensstil, Hugo Boss was ranked the highest brand for having an aura of exclusivity and customers who preferred to other luxury brands.?

d.??? Involve customers in your brand-building effort.

Customers want to be more than data on spreadsheets. They want to co-create products, services and experiences with brands. One study shows that 58% of product teams involve customers in the innovation process to create successful products. Another study reveals that 59% of product teams involve product teams in the testing phase to validate the product.

Building a successful brand is not different. The brand benefits a great deal when customers are involved in the process of increasing brand awareness, brand visibility et al. Take Cadbury as an example. its creation of Cadbury’s theme park in Bournville, England is a classic example. The theme park takes customers through a journey of the history of chocolate and that of Cadbury aided by a museum, a restaurant, a chocolate event store and a partial tour of the manufacturing plant. Customers who have visited learn about the history of cocoa and chocolate, how chocolate came to Europe and how the empire of John Cadbury (founder of Cadbury) grew and expanded.

John Cadbury started the company 200 years ago. His Quaker background influenced employee relations which soon became a model for treating employees. His factory attracted visitors who came not to see only how chocolate was made but to establish a progressive labour relation.

In the 1960s, due to costs and hygiene, the company ended the tour. But in the late 1980’s the company dreamed up a new type of tour that could strengthen the brand. Cadbury World was born on August 04, 1990.

The theme park provided customers the opportunity to sample Cadbury’s line of extensive chocolate products. Every year, hundreds of thousands of people visit the theme park resulting in operational profit for the brand. The Cadbury brand had enjoyed mileage through word of mouth and free press coverage. Outside interests such as hotel chains, British Railways etc. have promoted the brand for their benefit. In 1996, Cadbury was named the most admired brand in the United Kingdom. This is likely connected to the success of the Cadbury World. ?

The real value of Cadbury World is in linking the taste experience with the history of the company.

Building a strong brand should not be exclusive to big brands or deep pockets. Traditionally, brands depended on advertising to build strong brands due to its reach, and coverage. Factors such as the tendency of consumers to ignore mass-media-oriented marketing, fragmentation of markets, costs and whatnot are forcing brands to rethink their brand-building strategies.

European brands such as The Beauty Shop, H?agen-Dazs, Hogo Boss, Cadbury and Swatch are poster children of how brands – small or big – can seize alternative platforms other than mass media to create strong brands. The strategies include (1) driving business strategy with brand strategy (2) clarity of brand identity (3) leveraging brand identity to drive brand visibility (4) involving customers in the brand-building effort.

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