“When
it comes to the lifecycle of a brand, entrepreneurs should understand how to
best spend money for where they are at the moment,” stated Allan Hess, Director
of Digital Marketing Automation and Customer Relationship Practice for Ascension
Growth & Innovation Strategies, LLC .
Ascension offers growth strategies for businesses by improving client
engagements (http://www.ascensionstrategy.com/)
Allan’s
interview is intended to follow up on comments from the December
2, 2013 post on RFID/RTLS markets. The post talks about market segmentation and
how it can be used to help manage the lifecycle of tangible and intangible
assets. A brand shares similar characteristics. A brand can be purchased. A brand has to be maintained. A brand is utilized. A brand can be retired. A brand can be resold once the owner no
longer wants it.
Allan
started our conversation by saying, “A brand is a promise or an image, a
reputation, an intangible. It can be
physically represented by a logo, name, tagline or other types of designs.”
I
added, “All connected in the mind of the audience?”
“…connected
in someone’s head, recognizable to products and services.”
“Allan,
what is important at the beginning of establishing a brand?”
“When
it comes to the lifecycle of a brand, entrepreneurs should understand how to
best spend money for where they are at the moment. They need to understand who they want to be. Not everyone starts at the same level. If you
are working out of a garage and money is tight, it’s not like you can go spend
a million dollars on market research for logo and slogan design and testing. But, there are ways to get the information
you need to focus on your audience and the feel that you want your brand to
convey. “
I
thought about the words, where they are right now. A brand is abstract. A vehicle has physical mass. What Allan implied is very similar when
starting a courier company or logistics company - anything that requires a
vehicle. If an entrepreneur has the capital and the
business plan to match, buying 20 new vehicles may be a great way to start. If he/she is starting out of a garage, buying
one used vehicle may be the best way to start.
Allan
continued, “A logo pulled together by a high school student may be good for a
very short while. When the bottom line and
customers increase, that logo may be insufficient for what’s needed to increase
market presence or even sustain business.
“For
a logo, choose something clear, distinguishable, and recognizable. Be consistent in reproducing that image. The key is that a consumer recognizes the
image as associated with the company and what’s sold. For
example, people know what a white swoosh is despite the fact that no word may be
associated with it.
“Terminology
is important as well. There are nuances
but the fundamentals are the same. There is a need to understand, who is your
target audience? What resonates with that
market? What problem is your audience
trying to solve? There is a difference
in calling something sushi versus cold, dead, raw fish.
This has to do with developing the image you want to portray and understanding
what the market will buy.”
Allan
made a great point that resonated with my personal experience. I grew up in a place where deep-fried fresh
or salt water fish went from the wire basket to the plate. Eating sliced, raw-looking, or nearly raw
meat… that was not even close to acceptable.
That included raw oysters. The
word sushi helps a great deal with me when it comes to thinking of cold, dead,
raw fish… with cold rice and seaweed as a delicacy. Even the root of word sushi has more to do
with rice than fish. Yet, while I do
have my limits, I do eat sushi.
Part 2 will cover maintaining brand value, retiring a brand and some closing thoughts from Allan.
