Making the Difference..

In the corporate community, there is always a struggle between two schools of thought. One school is focused on selling the product. The other school is focused on brand building.

It is without arguing, selling and profitability growth is the ultimate aim for any company and without selling companies will not sustain.

When the focus is on selling, corporates decision makers usually think that after production has been completed the task of the sales force starts. It is also the task of the sales department to sell whatever the production department has manufactured. Aggressive sales methods are justified to meet this goal and customer’s actual needs and satisfaction are taken for granted.

While marketing as a concept and approach is much wider than selling and is also dynamic as the focus is on the consumer rather than the product. While selling revolves around the needs and interest of the manufacturer, marketing revolves around that of consumer. It is the whole process of meeting and satisfying the needs of the consumer

There is also another struggle usually happens in large corporates; where the product oriented folks believe the ultimate winner in every marketing battle is having the “better product”. If this is so, goes the thinking, the role of a company's marketing program is to communicate the features and benefits that make a company's product clearly superior to its competitors.

It's simple, logical and most important of all, the product school fits the facts everybody knows. Just ask yourself a couple of questions.

• What's the best coffee? Starbucks will come first, of course.
• What's the best smartphone? You would probably answer, iPhone or Samsung
• What's the best energy drink? Red Bull for sure.

So if you want to become leaders like Red Bull, Starbucks, iPhone, Samsung and many others, you would need to develop the better product or service. Then get the best advertising agency you can find to communicate your superiority message.

Can you believe other otherwise?!

With all the evidence on the side of the selling or product schools, how can anyone believe the brand is more important than the product? The key insight is perception.

Everything in life is "perceptions." There are no superior products. There are only superior perceptions in consumers' minds. And so it is with many other "facts" we assume to be true.

The role of perception

There's no question Red Bull has the perception of being the best energy drink. The same is true of Starbucks and coffee.

What else do we know about perceptions? They are very difficult to change. Once a person holds a strong perception about a specific brand, it's extremely difficult to change that perception. Perception also leads to building long term equity commitment i.e. establish long term relationship with the brand, hence build brand loyalty and sustain market share growth.

Developing a better coffee than Starbucks is a simple task, however selling it might not be that easy. It was engraved in our minds that Starbucks is the best coffee ever. Claiming a new coffee brand has a superior perception than Starbucks in consumers' minds in fact, is almost impossible -- unless Starbucks does something stupid.

Perceptions are difficult – but not impossible - to change. When was the last time you changed your mind? How many Apple fans became Samsung fans last week? And vice versa?

Try to create meaningful difference experience!

Starbucks may not be necessarily better than other coffee brands, but it certainly was different. They decided to provide a completely different experience. This attention to detail extends to the pictures, the length of the counter, and the height of the window seats. Secondly, consider the cups: short, tall, grande, venti and trenta. Starbucks doesn’t do regular, it doesn’t do medium. Supposedly three out of the five cup sizes are in a foreign language to cater to the ‘collegiate’ needs of Starbucks’ clientele. Starbucks wanted to foster a feeling of belonging, of exclusivity, it wanted Starbucks to be an experience in itself. Lastly, the use of first names when you’re ordering your coffee; creates a very ‘Personalized’ memorable experience one can’t forget.

Today, Starbucks is outstandingly the leader in coffee brands worldwide.