Do you know the difference between branding and brand development? This is where many Challenger Brands make a potentially fatal mistake and fall into the branding trap.
Here’s the critical difference: Brand development is the discovery process that identifies your brand’s unique distinction in the marketplace. Branding is the tactical elements utilized to take that distinction to market.
A brand is not a slogan, a typeface, a logo or a color. These are Apple tactics. Simply put, a brand is a unique claim of distinction made consistently over time (Coke, Nike, Mercedes). This claim is what truly separates you from all of your competitors. Without this unique claim of distinction, your company becomes indistinguishable and your product or service offering may be on its way to becoming simply a commodity.
A strong brand carries such a unique claim of distinction that no competitor can ever touch it. Do you remember the Maytag Repairman? Maytag did such a powerful job of identifying and owning the dependability category that no competitor could ever enter that category successfully.
So why go through all of this trouble? Simple. Customers perceive a strong, properly targeted brand to be of higher quality, to offer greater reliability and to provide far better value.
For example, consider these statistics:
- The number one brand usually has a 10% price premium over the number two brand, and as high as a 40% price premium over a “non-branded” product.
- Brands generate customer loyalty. These repeat and referral sales can reduce your cost-of-sales by up to 90%.
- Strong brands build internal company loyalty and pride.
The power of identifying your brand’s unique distinction is critical for Challenger Brands. If you have gone through this discovery process already and have discovered your brand’s unique distinction, then you are on the right path for growth and success. If you have not already undergone this very informative process then we highly recommend doing so.
