[Sales & Marketing] The ABCs of Brand Stewardship

Today, more than ever before, companies marketing products and services are investing significantly in building strong brands, recognizing the positive return on investment. Surely, anyone can easily name a handful of successful brands. Consider BMW, Nike, Coca-Cola and Harley-Davidson. Clearly, these companies recognize the value of brand management and consistent messaging.

Brand management has become a hot topic over the last decade for several reasons, according to Wanda Woodard, marketing and business development director, Ameri Care Services, Murfreesboro, Tenn. Increased competition and lightning-speed communication tools play an important part, but an even more important factor is today’s consumers.

“The customer has become much savvier. The consumer has the power and they know it. Consumers shop, and they are not afraid to tell you when you’ve done a poor job, and they will drop you in a New York minute,” says Woodard. “The consumer requires that we brand ourselves, that we tell them why we’re the right choice. And if we earn their business, we better do what we say and say what we do.”

Building a successful brand becomes an asset that companies need to manage properly to thrive. As such, brand asset management has become a recognized discipline that’s the latest evolution of best practices in sales and marketing.

“Brand asset management adds another level of professionalism and another ‘systems’ approach to the business management process,” says Carol Polacek, a senior brand strategist with Bader Rutter & Associates, Dow AgroSciences’ marketing communications agency.

Polacek works with agency account teams and clients to help ensure that a brand strategy aligns with the client’s business strategy and, in turn, that the marketing communications solutions are paying off on the brand strategy. 

“Working together through a disciplined brand asset management process provides a consistent approach to marketing communications, which ultimately saves time, money and effort,” Polacek says.

Awareness. A brand is more than a company name, logo, tagline or marketing campaign. Brand asset management is about creating a consistent, positive experience at all customer touch points. As a starting point, companies evaluating their brands may consider contacting past, current and potential customers to learn more about current perceptions about their brand.

“Your brand is your mark. When done right, branding lets your customers know instantly who you are and what you stand for, which in turn influences purchasing behavior. The value of consistent brand messaging is that your company and products are easily recognized and your reputation for service and quality are clear. Customers learn which brands to trust and which ones will deliver the performance they seek and they make their selections accordingly,” says Keith Holmes, business unit manager, BASF Pest Control Solutions.

The first, and most crucial, step for brand management is to develop the correct brand positioning. According to Dave Maurer, marketing specialist at Dow AgroSciences, developing the correct brand positioning is easier said than done.

“All too often, companies evaluate their service and create the brand image they think they have and that they think their customers want,” says Maurer. “A better approach is to collect feedback from customers, determine what they actually want and then present your service in a way that allows the customer to make a direct connection between the company’s service and customers’ needs.”

Buy-in. While collaboration with customers helps align brand benefits with their needs, involving others in the organization during the process helps them take ownership of the brand and the role they play in its stewardship. Maurer says one of the best, yet least expensive, resources available for a pest management firm is to conduct a branding exercise with its employees. 

“To help employees understand the value of branding, you could host a session where employees are asked to share examples of brands that worked and brands that didn’t work,” explains Maurer. “Then have a discussion about why the good branding efforts worked, what elements led to the branding failures and what could have been done differently for the branding that didn’t work.”

He says this type of exercise serves two purposes. First, it allows employees to internalize and understand the importance of correct branding. Second, it creates a great foundation for an employee discussion on the company’s branding, key positioning messages and what the company and employees can do to create and reinforce the desired brand image in the mind of its customers.

An essential element that should be included as part of this discussion is how the company plans to differentiate itself.

“Figure out what makes your company different, better, unique. Then figure out a simple way to say it, then say it a million times on your print, your radio, television, billboard, direct mail, online, etc. Chant it like a mantra and never waiver,” Woodard said. “Get every single employee to ‘buy’ into it. Let them say it a million times, too. And keep pounding it in to everything you do. Pretty soon it’ll be just like breathing.”

Consistency. Successful brands are consistent in their messaging, which builds an organization’s credibility.

“Imagine you ask someone for advice five days in a row and they give you a different answer each time. You would begin to wonder if they know what they are talking about,” Polacek says. “Consistent brand messaging breeds credibility.”

Hassman Termite and Pest Control, which serves the Central Kansas area, has kept its messaging consistent over time and that’s paid off, according to Mark Hassman, company vice president.

“The main points we communicate are that we are a family business with longevity in the community and service quality is our priority,” Hassman says. “And when that message stays the same, we are also conveying our stability and reliability.”

Customers are trying to establish whether or not they can trust you or not and if you’ll live up to your promises, according to Holmes.

“Branding helps them believe your answers are true and contributes to confidence that you’ll help solve their problems with a satisfying outcome,” Holmes says. “Pest management professionals who achieve that will be successful in growing their businesses.”

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The value of a unified message
One success story that clearly demonstrates the value of consistent brand messaging is the Professional Pest Management Alliance.

The organization’s messages always feed two broad themes: Hire a pest professional and pest professionals protect public health and property. All other messages always bridge to these key points. The messages are timeless and help build value in the professional pest control industry.

How does PPMA measure success? According to PPMA Executive Director Missy Henriksen, in addition to tracking the news media stories generated about the industry and the number of people reached, PPMA invests in consumer research to demonstrate the organization’s impact, each year asking consumers if they’ve used a professional pest management service in the past 12 months. In 2001, 18 percent of single-family households in the United States were using professional services, whereas in 2007 that number had grown to 26 percent.

“The strong and consistent messaging that has been enabled thus far by the support of PPMA Contributors and Guardians is indeed changing the public’s perception about the importance of pest management,” Henriksen says.
PPMA offers a library of materials available for pest management professionals.

“We recognize that not every company, particularly this year, has the resources available for a robust marketing campaign. We encourage all to take advantage of pre-existing industry resources,” says Henriksen. “PPMA’s Guardians and Contributors have access to a variety of marketing materials and message training tools. You can make a minimal investment and receive these same benefits.”

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Delivery. Messaging is only one aspect of the brand experience. While a company might think it is doing a good job conveying a consistent message, if the organization’s behavior is not consistent, it won’t be perceived as credible. Consider a company that positions itself as a high-quality service provider, but then the technician arrives 30 minutes late and leaves a mess after the treatment. That’s an easy way to jeopardize a brand’s credibility.

“Looking professional on the job, how you clean up after yourself and how quickly problems are resolved, for example, are all part of the brand experience. All of those elements either build the brand or destroy it,” says Polacek.

Maurer offers the example of a company positioning its program as a convenient service that provides customers with a home free of pests. The company tries to align its processes to make the experience convenient for the customer. However, for payment, customers are required to write a check or call the office with a credit card.

“One question you could ask yourself is how well does that payment plan align with your desire to position your service as convenient? Your customers may not agree that writing and mailing a check, or calling your office with a credit card number, is convenient,” Maurer says. “If you offer an automatic monthly credit card payment plan that (doesn’t) require your customer to take any extra effort to pay for your service, (you) would better align your customer’s experience with your desire to position your service as convenient.”

Companies can improve their chances of future success by crafting customer communications and creating customer experiences consistent with the brand image they want to create in the mind of their customer. “If you are not looking at how your services and your branding connect together for the customer, you may be missing out on key opportunities for growth or weaknesses in your current brand positioning,” Maurer adds.

Evaluation. Consistent positioning equals consistently effective results, according to Maurer. For example, the brand positioning for the Sentricon Termite Colony Elimination System was developed based on market research into customer needs prior to launching it in 1995. And while the system has been enhanced over the years, the brand positioning essentially stayed the same.

“One way Dow AgroSciences manages the effectiveness of its messaging is to put in as much effort as possible up front to develop messages that can be used consistently over time, without change,” says Maurer. “In addition, customer satisfaction and brand awareness market research help companies see if key positioning points align with customer needs and if the messages are moving through the channel all the way to the consumer.”

While not every company can conduct extensive market research, all pest management companies can still measure their brand management success. When contacting customers and prospects, listen to see if they play back company brand messaging.

“I’m out talking with customers and potential customers all the time and I hear them echoing what we say,” Hassman says. “They will say, ‘I know you’ve been in business a long time’ or they will mention something so you know that they have seen and made a connection with our messaging.”

Regardless of how companies validate their branding efforts’ effectiveness, the results need to be measured. Customer satisfaction surveys, personal follow-up after service, evaluation postage-paid bill stuffers or an online customer feedback option are all easily implemented methods to help ensure your branding endeavors align properly with customer perceptions, and more importantly, their needs.

The author is a frequent contributor to PCT magazine. She can be reached via e-mail at cbrazell@giemedia.com.