Taking Your Brand for Granted

The grass is greener on the other plot or garden - or in this case company and business. Rob Diana writes about MyBlogLog's demise. Remember that service? It was so promising that Yahoo! bought it for $10MM in early 2007. Then sat on it. Google FriendConnect and Facebook Connect have now come to take advantage of the same idea.

Over the years, many brands have made the same mistake. They had something special, something that might have been ahead of the times. The reason it was different and worth talking about, the very reason why it had a chance to work, was what killed it. Companies are often too uncomfortable with what has not been done before.

Endless internal discussions and the lack of a brand steward with some serious pull and strong belief in the power of focused, simple, and honest communication make sure there's no story development, no brand narrative. That is a shame at a time when brands have the ability to become an even stronger reference point for continuity and trust.

Brands' fundamental purpose is to generate loyalty and preference while they reduce risk. Think about it, when you select a specific brand over another, you use a shortcut. You tell yourself that you identify yourself with that story.

Here's what taking your brand for granted in a world of seeming endless choice and increasing uncertainty and noise looks like:

• we're too different, we should make our message more similar to that of others
• we don't list all the things we can do, we should say it all
• we can say what our competitors are saying, too
• we don't have the budget this year, we can skip customer communications
• we don't need to talk about what we're working on until it's perfect

What you're saying here is that communication is not your priority - along with building permission, trust, clarity, and consistency. Communication continues to be a very important aspect of doing business. In an environment where everyone increasingly wants to have a voice, why would you let your brand be silent?

Being unfocused, not having a purpose, or worse, taking your own story for granted will guarantee your feeble message gets drowned.

[image by Gregory Bastien]

© 2006-2009 Valeria Maltoni. All rights reserved.

Comments

[Craig Landes]

Always good stuff, Valeria!

I can't imagine a company actually coming out and saying, "we're too different" but I've definitely seen the behavior. That's the lesson -for instance- Target learned awhile back, and why K-mart is (as far as I can tell) on life support.

I like the phrase, "focused, simple, and honest communication." Companies who are not working at all of the above are going to lose.

[Dean Holmes]

Valeria,

Great article. I also saw this very thing, early on, with Hoover's purchase of "Visible Path" which promised to take your Outlook (not Mac) contacts, and create a "Visible Path" to the end person you wanted to connect with or talk to in Social.

This looked to be a very promising tool for many, who want to see how they could access the people they wanted to build a relationship with socially, determine who in their contacts could provide the easiest path for that connection.

This technology seemed way ahead of its time, but Hoovers sat on it. Think about how Xobni has taken this over now, as a free (so far) add-on to Outlook. Microsoft tried to purchase Xobni for millions (undisclosed but rumored) as Microsoft see's the future in Social Profiling of your address book to a pathway for connecting.

I wonder how many others are out there, just like this, that the audience of readers you have could share?

Thanks again for a great article.

Dean Holmes

[Stuart Foster]

I think that this isn't so much due to idiocy as it is to hubris.

Yahoo and Ask.com (and even Google)have a history of buying extremely valuable properties and sitting on them until they could develop something on their own.

Unfortunately? Most of the time these companies run out of money...when they should have just slapped their branding on the product they just bought.

[John Doyle]

Great stuff Valeria! I think the new year will bring major awareness that these new channels provide consumers a quick way to respond/communicate to/with brands. It's a consumer centric world, accept it or be left behind.

Thanks for all of your wonderful work.

[Christian Russell]

Couldn't agree more Valeria. Constant innovation and development are key. That means honing your brand, not diluting it :)

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Craig - thank you. Of course, you know companies don't actually express their discomfort with such clarity, but they do behave in ways that speak to those points. There are too many choices today, services and products that can do a job in stead of those who take customers for granted. For example, the travel problem now. There is opportunity for a company with a can do attitude that solves the issue of moving people and their stuff with respect and dignity. Theater is not going to improve security. Collaboration and clear communications will.

@Dean - good example! Think of all the brand stories that get tossed because the company thinks they need a new message. Often the reason is a new marketing chief anxious to put their own stamp on something (ego) vs. helping communicate what has been under communicated. There are many ways of making an impact on results. The ego path is the one that will deplete our reservoir of patience and the brand value fastest.

@Stuart - indeed. Hubris and ego are usually the ruin of honest and simple communications. I'm reminded of Level 5 leaders (or builders) who share the credit and are passionate about the company and its narrative vs. the self-serving behavior that continues to be the poison of long term vision and value.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@John - or ignore. Think about that. With near infinite choices and fewer true needs, we can manage to avoid those brands we detest - and we will. Choice is a good thing... so in the new year I foresee increasing opportunity to reinvent many businesses: telecommunications, transportation and travel, the retail experience. In some cases, nimble and smart players could offer a new sales channel for those companies that have become too lazy and arrogant to make it on their own.

@Christian - very perceptive, yes. Honing, working it, simplifying, making yourself more accessible via fewer, clearer rules or even better, guidelines. If only...

[Stefano Maggi]

I really like how social media helps companies not to take their brands for granted. Truth comes out easier on social media, so companies are less able to fake being unique and not having a differentiating point (or positioning) that could make the difference. Social media could probably be the solution, perceiving, favouring and embracing truth.

[Andrew @ WeBuildYourBlog.com]

Great article as always! Really sad when you take your brand for granted without even knowing it. Speak out and make yourself known. It is better.

[Valeria Maltoni]

@Stefano - truth is also in the eyes or opinions of the beholder. It's very important to develop a narrative that is anchored on solid values and reflects what the company is about. Social media helps employees get the story out.

@Andrew - thank you for stopping by.