I was reading through David Penny’s PowerPoint slides on manufacturing, from New Zealand Trade & Enterprise. Business failures are not down to a lack of innovation, according to one of his charts, but that growth and customer focus were low.
   It’s something I believe branding can fix. When I talk about branding, I usually talk about it in the realm I understand—as a means to achieve greater business performance, rather than a quick fix of slapping on a logo.
   The branding model I follow takes into account the market orientation model put forward by Narver and Slater, as I have mentioned before. They believe that management commitment, faciliative management and interdepartmental connectedness are factors, and these are important in vision-setting and research. Research helps an organization find its place and refine its brand attitude, something that summarizes what it stands for. It’s easier to remember that than a mission statement, which our research shows does not really help the bottom line.
   Vision and research account for most of the work in creating an effective brand. That research must, necessarily, take into account audiences and their tastes. That also includes being open enough to detect where the high-growth areas might be.
   By having a brand focus, a company does its foundation work more effectively.
   One problem is getting sufficient research. Small- and medium-sized enterprises might think that they do not have enough money to do that. But, with the internet, they can probably access the right research a lot more quickly.
   Posting on blogs, using networking groups (many of them free, such as LinkedIn) and plain old conversing on email helps access international knowledge. Industry groups, where possible, need to help rally these players and get them talking to one another. Through that, intelligence can be shared and unions formed, especially among smaller players.
   Restructuring businesses so that the owner can have access to the intelligence on an ongoing basis, such as getting him or her to view the feedback form, helps a company stay flexible and understand consumer demands.
   However, underpinning all this must be a sense of differentiation, as the organization’s competences can be duplicated.
   Anyone can make a fizzy brown soft drink but only Coca-Cola, Virgin and Pepsi have been able to make any inroads into the cola market.
   Each company already has some idea of its brand, or at least its values. Small businesses need to look at theirs, and use this additional research to refine their brands. At least then, the brand and the brand attitude can be right. The research stage will allow them to have a clear idea of consumer demands. Then, that innovative energy can be put into meeting a customer need, rather than being a heroic failure.

Del.icio.us tags: brand branding market research market customer consumer innovation small businesses Posted by Jack Yan, 03:41  permalink

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