As a marketing leader, I have spent most of my career trying to convince CEOs and Presidents that branding isn’t a waste of money. It’s relatively easy to justify the cost of a Google Adwords campaign or a direct mail campaign with a strong call to action. Branding doesn’t fall into the “easy to justify your marketing expenditures” category for CEOs, Presidents and Controllers. Marketing departments are always expected to justify their expenses. I worked for one company where every penny spent on trade shows needed to be accounted for and justified, yet the direct sales staff would be allowed to take potential customers out to expensive meals and golf outings and no one except the scrutinized marketing department would care. “It’s the cost of doing business” they would say. I’m been a direct sales executive. I know and understand how the game is played. The issue that often arises for marketing departments is convincing the higher-ups that “investing” in branding is critical to the company’s success. Notice I said the word “investing” and not “spending”. When you invest, you expect a return on your investment. When you spend money, you don’t always expect a higher yield than what you spent your money on. If brand advertising didn’t work, why would McDonalds, Coca-Cola, Pepsi, Budweiser, and Sears spend millions on brand advertising every year? Let’s take a little branding test. Can you name the brand based on the slogan?
- Pizza, Pizza
- Like a good neighbor….
- Eat fresh.
- Just Do It!
- Like a rock.
- It keeps going…and going…and going.
- Fair and balanced.
- It’s good to be bad.
- How do you spell relief?
- That was easy.
If you knew the answers to some, most or all of the slogans…congratulations. You have been successfully exposed to corporate or product branding. When I was hired as a Marketing leader for a company, I found out very fast that we had a branding problem. I went to a trade show and attendees of the show would walk by our booth, look at our logo on top of our backdrop and say “I thought you guys were out of business.” Those are words marketers never want to hear. We had to turn that ship around in a hurry or we would soon be out of business. We launched a branding campaign in 45 trade publications and websites to tell the industry that we were alive and well. Our market share increased as old customers returned to us and we gained new customers in the process. At the next trade show, prospects and customers came up to our booth and said “I see your advertising everywhere. Everywhere I look, you are there.” When your brand is everywhere and at the top of customer’s minds, your branding is working. People like to buy products from companies that they trust. They have to know you in order to trust you. The way they get to know who you are is to tell them over and over again. The former CEO of Harley-Davidson, Richard Teerlink summed up branding and loyalty marketing best when he said “There are very few products that are so exciting that people will tattoo your logo on their body.” When your brand becomes your customer’s brand, then you have succeeded in brand marketing. For those who are curious, the answers to the slogan questions are:
- Pizza, Pizza – Little Caesars
- Like a good neighbor…. – State Farm
- Eat fresh. – Subway
- Just Do It! – Nike
- Like a rock. – Chevrolet
- It keeps going…and going…and going. – Energizer
- Fair and balanced. – Fox News
- It’s good to be bad. – Jaguar
- How do you spell relief? – Rolaids (R-O-L-A-I-D-S)
- That was easy. – Staples
If you want to learn more about me, please visit my LinkedIn profile, my website and my blog. Photo provided by Philipp Stark.
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