Your brand is defined by the UI between your company and your consumers
You brand is defined by the consumer, not by you - I think everyone can agree with that. In the same breath, most marketing pundits will add the fact that you can no longer control your brand - an assertion I am not sure goes hand in hand with the first one.
You brand gets defined by the UI (User Interface) of your company, the interface through which your customers and prospects interact with your company. That interface gets determined by pre-sale activities - i.e., advertising, retail layout, retail personnel attitude, telemarketing, sales people’s knowledge of the industry, etc -, as well as immediate post-sale activities - i.e., packaging, ease of use to set up the products, available help options, etc. -, and the long term post sale activities - i.e., telephone support, return policies, warranty policies, on-site support, etc. That makes up a lot of links in the chain that determines your brand in the mind of the consumers which your company controls.
So in effect, you do control the brand in the mind of the consumer. If some link in the chain is broken, meaning not supporting the overall brand promise you are trying to establish for your company, that is when you lose control of your brand. That is when people will start talking with one another about the fact that what you promise and what you deliver is different. Once that starts, you should focus on fixing the overall UI of your company instead of getting into communication fire-fighting mode or crisis communication mode.
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March 25th, 2008 at 3:12 pm
Great explanation of the brand-consumer relationship! It is a common “New Marketing” myth that the customer owns the brand, and not the company. This is, of course, not true. As you have so eloquently described, the customer defines, not owns, the brand. That definition is based on how the company interacts with the consumer.
March 25th, 2008 at 3:57 pm
Jay - thank you for commenting on my blog. The key in defining that brand is not just the pre-sale activities, but also and perhaps more importantly the post-sale activities.
Unfortunately, and according to Forrester, only 12.5% of CMO’s are responsible for activities related to customer service - http://www.emergencemarketing.com/2007/12/17/the-devolved-cmo/.
March 25th, 2008 at 5:27 pm
There is no way that anyone can perfectly explain this issue - but you have done a good job trying, and making it pretty clear. That is to say, I agree with your perspective.
To me, no one really “controls” a brand as much as they affect or influence it. A company’s ads or literature put a spin on things. Then, a consumer’s interpretation adds to the situation. In the end, what the consumer thinks and feels is their reality (your brand to that individual), but the collective consumer point of view becomes the collective brand. As we all influence each other, we affect and influence each other, and ourselves, as well as being influenced/affected by others.
Control? Doesn’t sound like it.
Thank you for making your point. I like it.
April 3rd, 2008 at 2:00 am
[…] Your brand is defined by the UI between your company and your consumers “Your brand is defined by the consumer, not by you - I think everyone can agree with that. In the same breath, most marketing pundits will add the fact that you can no longer control your brand - an assertion I am not sure goes hand in hand with the first one.” […]