Brand Control over Customer Tom?

I listened intently as a well-respected marketing professional, presenting high-technology marketing programs, explained that marketers "no longer have control" over their brands.  This, he went on, was because of the fragmentation of traditional media and the advent of the new social media.

That spoken misconception regarding control sent my thoughts off to further consideration of the statement, which I had heard before.

Brands have never been under anyone's "control."  Brands are the perceptions of the name, logo, products, people, and actions of a company, that are held in the mind of the customer, prospect or other stakeholder.  Any two people that experience identical messages and company experiences will still likely have differing perceptions of that brand.  The real world divergence of experiences that customers actually have, then, makes the idea of  having "control" over brand perceptions nearly unimaginable.

To be clear, brand perceptions can be influenced utilizing a good corporate platform and all of the tools within the marketing function. But, control...?  So, I went on to consider the relevent point the speaker was making.

We are indeed on a new frontier of marketing and building brand equity.  Old methods of marketing to customers held reach and frequency levels as keys, where the goal was to maximize messages aimed at target demographics to build awareness and ultimately, preference.  Today's approach targets customer "communities" and strives for customer engagement.  Today's approach includes two-way conversations as brands are more susceptible to broadcast customer feedback - both positive and negative.  Emerging social media methods make it easy for customers to advocate, or challenge, the actions of a company... while others listen.

The new level of transparency required in today's world is beginning to take hold.  Opaque companies who still try to use spin to craft their image are beginning to be punished in the world of social media.  Those companies who are transparent and honest with their communications are beginning to be rewarded, even when they make mistakes!  Finally!

Some marketers wish to ignore the new realities and hang on to the idea that they can "control" their brand's equity, yet true brand champions have embraced the changes and are looking for leverage.

When I was a brand marketing manager at the Toro Company, the industry standard warranty on lawn mowers was a 2-year limited warranty.  Our dialog with customers revealed that they wanted more life, so we engineered products that performed well past that minimum hurdle.  It cost more, so our price points were slightly higher than the competition and our sales were suffering.  It was challenging to communicate the detailed benefits of a more durable product through a 5-year full warranty.  We finally did it, and our sales rose nicely, but what I would have given to have the social media/customer engagement vehicles of today!  The same customers that we listened to when we designed the products could have helped us get the word out!

No, marketers have never been in control over their customers' brand perceptions.  But in this new era of media and communications there is an opportunity for marketers to exert an increased level of influence over their brands development - by getting constant real time feedback from the ultimate boss, the customer… and listening.

Brand, Brand, Brand... Whose Is It Anyway?

The term "brand" is bandied about the hallways and conference rooms of our offices all day long, and rolls off the tongue of the intern like he was born to say it.   But, never has a word that is so important to a company's success been so poorly understood.

The American Marketing Association defines a brand as "a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller's good or service as distinct from those of other sellers."  Sounds a little like the definition for cattle brands to me.    Wikipedia defines brand as "the identity of a specific product, service, or business."  Hmmmm, too simplified, but begins to touch on the true concept of brand.

Other sources define brands as names, logos, icons, colors, taglines, jingles and a whole host of things that I call identifiers.  These things help us identify a company, product, or service, but they aren't "the brand."

We cannot effectively define brand without including the customer (which for these purposes includes actual customers, target customers, future customers, and other stakeholders), for they are critical to its existence.

A brand is not a name or a logo or jingle, etc. - it is the impression of the name, logo, jingle - that is held in the mind of the customer.  Brands then, are complex compilations of inputs that are stored in each of our customer's  brains where they are summarized and stored for future use.  Each new input received regarding a product/service/company, if deemed meaningful, can change the customers impression of that brand and therefore their likelihood of buying it.

In today's message-cluttered world, it is more difficult to send meaningful inputs that will be received, considered, cataloged and stored into a customers brand perception.  What's more is that social media has created a platform that allows for meaningful inputs to be received from viral public response to products, services, company activity, and events. 

That, in essence, has put the customer in partial control of both sides of the brand equation - in forming their own perceptions regarding a brand, and now in broadly messaging and influencing others regarding their perceptions of a brand. 

But there are still plenty of opportunities for brand champions to guide their brands, a challenge that is easier achieved with a deep understanding of the concept.