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Learn the four traps when branding is mistaken for marketing
Branding is NOT marketing. So when organizations thinking they are the same thing, the brand is in jeopardy! Learn what can transpire when this happens…
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Brand, the feeling and perception anyone has about a company, product, person or service is the result of all touch points and interactions. And so branding, the way to create that feeling and perception, is essentially everything.
But because the idea of brand and branding is born out of the field of marketing, it’s usually seen as the same as marketing. I want to tell you that it is NOT! And it can be detrimental if it is seen as such. Marketing is not everything. There is communications, there is customer service, there is HR, there are many functions that make up the entire experience! From before the purchase to during the purchase and after the purchase.
Four traps when branding is mistaken for marketing:
ONE: Time pressure
Marketing is driven by campaigns and campaigns are time bound. How did it perform? What were the metrics? While campaigns are short term, building a brand takes time. Every campaign that we introduce in the market adds to the brand, it continues to build that feeling and perception. Think about Coca Cola or even J&J, their brand is forever solidified in the minds of their audiences. Each campaign throughout time etches that perception and feeling about the brand ever so deeper into our minds. If we abandon the brand strategy because the campaign did not “perform”, we are missing the opportunity to create a snowball effect.
TWO: Stifled potential
When branding is solely seen as marketing, it’s just infinitely harder to align every touch point to create the perception you want. You are not enrolling every tool in the tool box, instead trying to imprint that perception only through one function. The potential of creating an aligned experience across every function in the organization that drives brand equity is lost. Think about the Zappos brand–an entire ecosystem that communicates and exemplifies their brand of WOW and QUIRKY DELIGHT. It’s their HR, their customer service, their culture, their emails, their shopping experience… it leverages everything the organization can muster.
THREE: ROI rabbit hole
Marketing and ROI has become inseparable. It’s fair, because marketing is business of capturing the increased perceived value through branding! It’s capturing that value by an increase in revenue, either through higher prices or a larger share of the market. A marketing budget needs to be substantiated by ROI. How much return or increased revenue are you going to deliver based on the spend? This kind of thinking would quash branding efforts… as they go beyond revenue generation (at least in the short term). It’s creating that perception, it’s shrinking the consideration set, it’s building fans. If it’s about ROI, Patagonia will not run an ad saying not to buy their jackets. If it’s about ROI, CVS would not have pulled tobacco from their shelves.
FOUR: The “not my problem” problem
Branding requires everyone. It’s not just a marketing “thing”, nor is it a “sales” thing. Successful and powerful brands permeate entire organizations internally and all those they serve externally. When branding is seen only as a marketing “thing”, disaster strikes. Other functions have no skin in the game and hence they don’t need to cooperate, they don’t need to chip-in and fund a branding initiative. When the brand is not owned by everyone, it becomes dismissed and departments/ functions can easily look the other way.
Conclusion
Insist that branding is NOT marketing. Even if marketing is accountable for initiating, organizing and orchestrating branding efforts, branding is EVERYTHING. Organizations can bring together people, processes and incentives to design branding into everything they do.
Ways I can help you
Download free guides (Healthy Brand Blueprint & Branding 101) to help you build healthy brands
Work with me as a fractional CMO/CBO or through Healthy Brand Consulting (Schedule a 15 min intro call)
How positioning works for multiple stakeholders
Positioning is a strategic concept that’s been around for decades, but most people get it wrong. How do you use positioning in the healthcare space? Or in any space where there is a complex web of stakeholders? In this blog post, I’ll break it down for you…
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Positioning is a strategic concept that’s been around for decades, but most people get it wrong. In the healthcare industry, it can be even more complicated with very different types of stakeholders: Payers, healthcare providers, patients, caregivers etc. How do you use positioning in the healthcare space? Or in any space where there is a complex web of stakeholders? (I use stakeholders, because not all of them “buy” from you, but all of them influence and have a say in deciding and paying for your product or service) Should you have one positioning or multiple positionings? In this blog post, I’ll break it down for you and at the end of it, you’ll be able to wield this tool to help you in your marketing and communications efforts as you build your brand.
Definition
You know this, but it’s worthwhile to get on the same page about its definition: Positioning is capturing a specific place in the mind of the consumer (in our case, the stakeholders). And since brand is the feeling and perception anyone has about your product, service and company, positioning is THE strategic tool to build that brand, to create that feeling.
Positioning principles
By adhering to these four principles, it gives you the greatest opportunity to capture that position in the minds of your stakeholders.
Specific
Your positioning needs to be concise and sharp. When you are trying to be known for everything, you will become known for nothing. So the key here is to cut things out, not pile things on.
Relevant
Whatever you stand for, it needs to be what your stakeholders care about. It needs to fit into their current context and what they are trying to accomplish. So instead of me, me, me, think them, them, them.
Differentiating
The key point of positioning is to stand apart from your competition. Lean into something your competition is not being perceived as and have the courage to zig when everyone else is zagging.
Sustainable
Long term defendability. Whatever your positioning is, it needs to be continuously defendable. So whether it’s adequately resourcing your positioning or a bullet proof portfolio of patients, base it on something that can withstand the test of time and competition.
Brand level positioning
At the highest level, you need to have a positioning that spans all your stakeholders. Yes, ONE positioning that go across all your stakeholders. By looking across your stakeholders and finding a common, homogenous need, you can position your brand accordingly. In healthcare, while payers, healthcare providers and patients have specific needs, you can start to create one segment by defining the collective issue they all grapple with that your brand uniquely solves. Iterate until you can find the most specific, relevant, differentiating and sustainable positioning.
Example:
1st iteration - an infectious disease test for those in need of a diagnosis
2nd iteration - a quick turnaround infectious disease test for those who are the most vulnerable
3rd iteration - the most direct route to an infectious disease diagnosis for the immunocompromised
Stakeholder level positioning
Once you have positioning at the highest level for the brand, you can then focus on each stakeholder group. In order to make your positioning uber-specific, you will want to target specific segments within each stakeholder group, addressing each specific issue:
What type of immunocompromised patients? How far along are they in their diagnostic journey?
What kind of lab directors? What kind of tests do they currently have? How do they make their decisions?
What kind of infectious disease physicians? What is their approach? What kind of decision making power do they have?
What type of payers? Are these integrated delivery networks? What about employers? Which types of employers?
By understanding these target segments, you can then operate within the brand level positioning to craft something very specific for each segment. This will then guide messaging and campaigns to communicate your offer distinctly, while still aligning to a higher level brand positioning.
Conclusion
Positioning as a tool and strategy allows us to capture that specific place in the minds of our stakeholders, and by going this process, you can be targeted to each stakeholder group and yet build brand equity at the highest level.
Ways I can help you
Download free guides (Healthy Brand Blueprint & Branding 101) to help you build healthy brands
Work with me as a fractional CMO/CBO or through Healthy Brand Consulting (Schedule a 15 min intro call)
What is your healthcare company DNA?
Every company has an intrinsic DNA. And it is imperative that its brand reflects its DNA in order for its expression to be authentic and real. What is your healthcare company’s DNA type?
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Every company has an intrinsic DNA. And it is imperative that its brand reflects its DNA in order for its expression to be authentic and real. You can try to force a personality on a company, but you will probably fail, such misalignment requires a cultural change, which can take many years to complete. Some DNA changes however, come naturally as the company grows.
During my many years of working with healthcare companies, I’ve come to find a handful of DNA types that show up again and again. By recognizing them, it guides the entire strategy of the brand, making it more likely to be adopted and aligning the outside with the inside.
The four DNA types:
The Scientist
Scientists pride themselves in technical and scientific discovery. These are companies that typically have a scientific platform that they’ve discovered and patented, using it to create multiple treatments and therapies. Scientist companies are usually led by founders who are researchers and have deep technical expertise. Scientist companies stand apart by educating and communicating to stakeholders the potential of their platform.
OPPORTUNITY:
Scientist companies have a defendable secret sauce to help them stand apart.
TRAP:
Messaging that is so esoteric that only the internal team understands and cares about, resulting in an irrelevant brand expression.
Examples:
The Mother
Mothers are all about the people. In the case of healthcare companies, it would be patients, members, or the general public. They pride themselves in the best service and experience over everything else. These are companies that tell patient stories and celebrate the impact on their lives. Mother companies are typically commercial stage companies and later in their lifecycle.
OPPORTUNITY:
In healthcare, there is plenty of room to innovate on customer service and experience because of the disjointed and complex nature of the industry.
TRAP:
In a B2B2C environment, it can be seen as an over-reach, because when companies rely on physicians and healthcare professionals to treat patients, the companies themselves don’t actually deliver the care.
Examples:
The Designer
Designer companies are obsessed about their products and the systems they put together. They appreciate both form and function, taking a user centric approach when developing their solutions. High quality and reliable are typical descriptors of Designers. There is usually a very strong engineering and UX culture in the company and execution is deemed as an essential principle of success.
OPPORTUNITY:
Safety is such an important facet of anything healthcare related and Designer companies can build a strong sense of trust in their brand.
TRAP:
Too much focus on products and systems can come off as self-centered and cold.
Examples:
The Visionary
Visionaries are on a mission to change the status quo of care. They are typically thought-leaders and have a very strong point of view about what is wrong and what needs to be done in the healthcare space. Their purpose is often very clear and they can attract the biggest names in the industry. True Visionaries in healthcare combine both a strong opinion with the goods to back it up.
OPPORTUNITY:
Visionaries are charismatic and is able to tell stories that galvanize an industry, bringing awareness easily.
TRAP:
Too much “talking”, not enough “walking”. Touting some kind of a silver bullet without proof can backfire in the complex world of healthcare (ie. Theranos).
Examples:
Conclusion
The four DNA types are not mutually exclusive, but understanding which is the lead is important for any brand building initiative. Once you’ve identified which is the core DNA for your company, alignment and adoption can be attained more efficiently.
Which DNA is your healthcare company?
Ways I can help you
Download free guides (Healthy Brand Blueprint & Branding 101) to help you build healthy brands
Work with me as a fractional CMO/CBO or through Healthy Brand Consulting (Schedule a 15 min intro call)
How to get your sick brand healthy again
A framework to figure out what problems you need to solve for your brand
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Your sales numbers are not on target.
Your audience is not engaging or taking action, let alone buying.
Your content have not been working.
Your target segment is bouncing from your website.
Your media pitches are not landing.
What is going on? It can be very frustrating when it seems everything you are doing makes sense, but the metrics tell you that it’s not working. Instead of trying to fix everything, it’s necessary to pinpoint the real issue. Here is a three step framework for you:
The Healthy Brand Diagnostic Framework
STEP 1: COLLECT
Taking the time to look at all the metrics so far sets the stage for us to understand how the brand is performing. Pull together information across all the dimensions of activity:
Pre-purchase
Advertising, landing pages, content marketing, PR, anything that comes before a purchase. Is your audience coming into the funnel? Is a healthy percent of them progressing towards purchase? You’ll want to scrutinize the metrics across all the pre-purchase activities.
Purchase
How is your product or service bought? What is the contracting process? What are all the touch points needed for a customer to buy? Mapping these out and understanding what’s working and whats not will help us make decisions on what to do about them next.
Post-purchase
Once the product or service is obtained, are they being utilized? Are you retaining your customers or are they buying more from you? Is the experience of the product and service matching the expectations before the sale? This is where the rubber meets the road.
STEP 2: CONSIDER
Once you have all the qualitative and quantitative data in place, it’s time to consider and figure out what is actually happening. Generating hypotheses is the key activity in this stage.
Is there an awareness problem? (meaning we are not getting many people into the funnel, but once they are there, they are progressing nicely)
Is there a targeting problem? (meaning the “wrong” segments is receiving your ads and message, so you don’t see any pull through)
Is there a messaging and consistency of content problem? (meaning the audience is not clicking through, or when they do, they don’t stick around)
Is there a technology problem? (meaning the tech stack you have in place is not working, where the complexity or disjointedness of the system is letting customers fall through the cracks or receiving non-relevant messages)
Is there a training problem? (meaning customers buy it but fail to utilize it consistently)
Is there a visibility problem? (meaning customers use it and love it, but that experience is invisible to non-customers)
Is there a positioning problem? (meaning the product or service is great, but doesn’t meet the expectation of the target segment or it fails to be distinguished from the competition)
Is there a brand personality problem? (meaning the tone and the creative expression of the product and service just doesn’t fit with the target audience’s own persona)
Is there a product/ service problem? (meaning the experience of the product or service is just poor)
STEP 3: CLASSIFY
This is where we focus on the key problems to solve. By mapping all the problems on a 2x2 matrix (Figure 1 below).
Figure 1: CLASSIFICATION MATRIX
On the Y-axis is IMPACT and the X-axis is RESOURCES. The four quadrants will help you to focus.
ACT NOW: these are the problems that have high impact and low resources, where it doesn’t take a relatively heavy lift and solving it would mean making other problems easier to solve or sometimes even a pre-requisite. (For example repositioning a product or service, since all the messaging and creative expression will depend on the new positioning).
PLAN: these are the problems that have high impact and may require high resources, where you need to solve them, but it will take relatively high financial and time commitments. (For example retooling a product or improving a service) One consideration is to brainstorm ways to solve the problem in a less resource intensive way, pushing it to the ACT NOW quadrant.
OPPORTUNISTIC: since these are problems that have low impact and require low resources, look for ways to solve them as part of the current work. How can we get them resolved through the work we are already doing? (An example is updating digital copy or design).
ABANDON: say no more, if it’s relatively resource intensive and doesn’t really do much, don’t worry about it!
By going through the three step framework, you will arrive at a set of key problems to solve and when to solve it. Good luck on building healthy brands!
Ways I can help you
Download free guides (Healthy Brand Blueprint & Branding 101) to help you build healthy brands
Work with me as a fractional CMO/CBO or through Healthy Brand Consulting (Schedule a 15 min intro call)
Why branding fails
You try and try and try to build a brand that’s loved, but sometimes branding does fail, and here are the top 10 reasons why.
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A brand is the feeling and perception somebody has about your product, your company, and your service. Branding is an intentional and consistent process of imprinting your brand story into the marketplace. And it's using every single touch point, but branding cannot solve everything. Sometimes branding does fail, and here are the top 10 reasons why.
Full transcript:
#10: NO BRANDING INSIGHTS
Your branding fails because there is no substantial insight to stand on. If you do not understand the audience you're trying to serve, and there's no core insight to make the decisions that you need to make, I can't help you.
#9: SALES, MARKETING AND COMMS ARE MISALIGNED
When these important channels of your company are frankly not connected and going in all different directions. It is very difficult to have the audience come back with one message. It is very tough for you to push a message through that helps everybody understand what you're trying to be known for. So fix the organization, make sure they're all aligned. Processes matter, people matter, organization matters.
#8: BRAND ONLY SEEN AS A LOGO, FONT, OR COLOR
Now, when brand is diminished to that level where it's only just about design, you really take away the potential and the ability of the company, product or service to be loved because brand strategy is the face of business strategy. So when it's pushed down to that level of just design, you're taking away its ability to be steering the company at that highest level.
#7: HR IS NOT SEEN AS A STRATEGIC PART OF THE ORGANIZATION
A large part of your brand strategy is getting your employees to be brand ambassador. They're the first group of people that really needs to love your brand. If they don't love your brand, how are your customers gonna love your brand? And so HR is such a strong component of the branding process and the branding activities, because they're the ones that help attract the best, retain the best, but also, enact your brand strategy internally, so you can turn everyone into a true brand ambassador.
#6: ORGANIZATIONAL CULTURE IS NOT ALIGNED WITH CUSTOMERS
This is a huge issue where you're trying to have a persona and personality towards your customers that is absolutely different from what your culture is in the company. That disconnect and that gap can cause your brand to fail. Think about this. If you are a very highly technical scientific company and that's the culture, but you're really trying to help moms or help caregivers care for their children, or you're entering a pediatric space. That disconnect is something that can be very hard to overcome.
#5: FOCUSED ON TACTICS, NOT STRATEGY
Now we all know that we have to execute the strategy, but if all of the focus is on creating tactics, that's really just throwing spaghetti on the wall. When you don't have an insight, when you don't have a strategy, and you're not spending time to decide what you're going to do and what you're not gonna do, it's wasting resources and it's creating spin. That can be a reason why branding can fail
#4: SHORT TERM OVER LONG TERM
Now, if everything that you're trying to do is short term, and you're looking at metrics at the short term, it can cause your branding efforts to fail. It can sabotage it because branding takes a long time. Creating that perception, owning that position in the consumer's mind or in the audience's mind takes time, give it time to win, give it time to be successful.
#3: ROI IS EVERYTHING
When every activity is measured based on the revenue it's supposed to bring in, you're really limiting the channels. You're really limiting that to a marketing function because everything else is trying to improve the reputation, trying to inject that feeling into the marketplace. And frankly it takes the air out of all your branding efforts–knowing that brand is a feeling, and branding is not a rational process.
#2: CEO DOESN’T UNDERSTAND OR CARE ABOUT BRAND
We can help make your brand matter, but if the top of the organization doesn't believe in building brands, it is an absolute uphill battle. Branding requires alignment. Branding requires leadership and branding requires bold moves. If leadership is not all in about zigging while everybody's zagging, taking this strategic directions that can take your brand to a different level to really make it loved. It's difficult.
#1: THE PRODUCT OR SERVICE SUCKS
It's hard to hear, but no matter how good your brand efforts are, no matter how good you're aligning all your channels, you're telling that one story, it, you can't deliver the value. If you can't have people fall in love with using the product, the service, all hope is lost. Your branding will fail.
Now that you understand what the top 10 reasons why branding can fail, you can put a plan together, address them, address them so you can really build the brand that is loved and truly capture the hearts and minds of your audiences.
Ways I can help you
Download free guides (Healthy Brand Blueprint & Branding 101) to help you build healthy brands
Work with me as a fractional CMO/CBO or through Healthy Brand Consulting (Schedule a 15 min intro call)