Marketing Business Coach Develop an effective branding strategy before you commit to real expense http://www.lead-edge.co.uk Leading Edge, UK

‘Re-branding’, with a new name or logo, does not come cheap and may prove to be a waste of money. It is not a Customer quick fix for deeper problems. The val- audit perception ue of a strong brand lies in the impres- External sion left with anyone who comes into Customer facing activities/transactions contact with the organization. In a busi- Internal ness to business context, this places Brand value set (adjectives) greater emphasis on people issues. Facilitation Compare this with consumer products Create where values may be conveyed by Company aspiration product and packaging. Brand value The most compelling reasons for ef- statement fective branding is to achieve loyalty Review Design and support a price. Purchas- ers rely on experience and their often long-held attitudes about a brand. Suc- Operating framework Staff audit of current for staff (behavioural cessful are often focused on perceptions of brand values one specific market segment. This is Plans/facilitation where the product becomes differenti- ated, easy to identify and is usually of Workshops high quality. This brings an emotional Reinforced through: internal communications/ affinity to the product by members of training/recruitment the target segment. Branding used to be the preserve of the form of a simple statement provides an operating frame- the consumer goods manufacturers, but today even the small- work for staff. Any decision, behaviour, or promotional collat- est business organization, or non-profit organizations, must eral can then be tested against the brand value statement. be aware of their brand image. This is how your customers This is the point when you decide whether re-branding could see you, and set the operating style for the organization. A work for you. badly handled enquiry, or a hard-to-use website, may kill a sale long before you get an opportunity to bid for the busi- Leading Edge has the research techniques to establish what ness. the customers’ brand values are - and the extent to which your company and your competitors are satisfying them. We have A big effort has to go into creating a brand, but once that is experience of running the facilitation and workshop process done then it can be destroyed very quickly. For that reason to give you the tools to manage your brand. every brand should have a brand strategy. This must be com- municated and followed throughout the organization. That A well-constructed brand statement makes it easy to design a means defining what your organization is doing to support very specific image that everyone in the organization under- your brand values, and what it is doing to destroy them. The stands and works towards. It may be ‘the company way’. This trick is to find out what features and benefits members of the doesn’t mean that it is inflexible and not customer-focused, target segment want. Then you can make sure that your brand but that everyone instinctively understands what is accept- values reflect these back to them. able and what is not. The diagram below shows how this can be achieved. The The issue is that people often only see the brand as the image crucial factors are to understand how customers currently that is used by the marketing communication department. This perceive your company and product, and how your staff per- is a big mistake - particularly if there is a mismatch with the ceive then as well. Then you need to define what aspirational culture. This could be one reason why staff from other depart- values would move your product to its desired market posi- ments feel that the marketing department is in a world of its tion. Being able to describe the aspirational brand values in own. 

68TECH MONITOR  May-Jun 2005 Business Coach Marketing Go-to-market strategies Eight steps to success http://www.itsma.com Rob Leavitt, Information Technology Services Marketing Association, USA

New offerings have always driven growth in the technology multi-regional teams to lead the process can help, as can business, but bringing them successfully to market today has carefully recruited champions across the organization. You become both more important and more difficult. Competition need to condition the organization to support the go-to-mar- is more intense, existing offers become commodities more ket process with a combination of carrots and sticks to sustain quickly, and buyers are more skeptical of the return on tech- support. nology investment. As a result, marketers are under tremen- 5. Develop highly focused and creative campaigns. Get- dous pressure to increase their hit rate when they launch new ting and keeping attention for new offers requires balancing services and solutions. between broadcast initiatives that build awareness and buzz The first response to the added pressure is often to review the and narrowcast efforts that zero in on the key concerns of process. Many large tech firms are now working hard to im- specific markets and prospects. Buyer reliance on peers, word prove the go-to-market process with a goal of creating a more of mouth, and third-party experts makes indirect communica- consistent, systematic, and efficient approach. Rather than tion as important as direct. The din of competition puts a pre- rely on ad hoc initiatives from anywhere in the organization, a mium on innovative approaches to getting the word out. good process can create discipline for the entire develop- 6. Build on initial success. Buyers often demand “Show me ment, launch, and management cycle. the value,” and the best way to prove value is through relevant But process in itself is not enough. It too often breaks down, success stories that speak directly to that customer’s issues. fails to provide the necessary support, or lets through too many Initial successes become the building blocks for an ongoing misguided new offers. campaign. Documenting value delivered, therefore, becomes one of the most important jobs for marketing, along with main- To improve the chances of go-to-market success, marketers taining a reference system to support easy access to those should centre a rigorous process around eight practical chal- success stories. lenges: 7. Provide the right sales support. The traditional tension 1. Clarify the opportunity. Identifying and validating the op- between sales and marketing is often exacerbated by new portunity typically constitute the first phase in any go-to-mar- offer launches. When offers fizzle, marketing is often blamed ket process, but marketers often skip through too quickly. Is for inadequate support. Minimize that excuse by excelling at the opportunity truly significant - and achievable? Dig deeper the most important types of sales support: business issue into potential market segments, initial top prospects for the information; targeted value propositions, business value jus- new offer, and competitive positioning. tification tools, proposal templates, and references and tes- 2. Define a point of view. Demonstrating expertise and a timonials. clear position on business and technology issues is essential 8. Constantly measure. Make the measurement commit- to gaining initial attention from market influencers. The most ment to ensure you know what is working and what needs sophisticated buyers are looking for innovative answers to improvement. Define the most important metrics before you business problems; they’ll seek you out if you take a compel- launch, and create accountability around data collection and ling stand on an issue of real importance. analysis. Consider short- and longer-term objectives, such as 3. Sharpen value propositions. The more defined the tar- brand development and improved sales productivity, as well get, the easier it is to craft a compelling value proposition. as revenue and profit. Communicate results internally and Take time to customize value propositions for every audience. adjust programmes accordingly. What’s in the new offer for the sales force? What about the The increased focus on improving the go-to-market process delivery organization? Channel partners? Finance? Have you is a welcome one. Too many firms still rely on a build-it-and- developed specific enough propositions for key market seg- they-will-come approach to new services and solutions. Ab- ments and individual accounts? sent a practical reality check, though, any new process runs 4. Engage the entire organization. Is everyone pulling in the risk of ignoring some of the most difficult obstacles to the same direction on the new offer? Cross-functional and success. 

Special theme of Asia Pacific Tech Monitor Jul-Aug 2005 issue National R&D networks for technology development: Opportunities for SME participation

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