You may recall that back in March, we posted about a recent study done by Brand Keys regarding customer satisfaction and loyalty. The elements of the study that we saw provided some great insight, including this nugget:
The brands that won are the beneficiaries of consumers’ new expectations regarding brand value. The most significant shift is a neutralizing of the impact of price. And, believe it or not, this can actually turn out to be good news for brands. While economic news hasn’t been good, these shifts provide opportunities for brands that pay attention to what the consumer really expects and offer meaningful differentiation, will tip the value scales in their direction, because value matters more than ever. More than just price.
In catching up with my reading after a couple of days, I found this post - the Decline of Differentiation by the folks over at Branding Strategy Insider that provides some more insight into the study. What I found interesting, particularly from a brand perspective is that in a study of 1,847 different products/services analyzed, only 21% had any points of differentiation that were noticeable to consumers. Amazing when you think about all the time, money and effort spent building brands. Branding Strategy Insider chalked this up to the following:
The brands that won are the beneficiaries of consumers’ new expectations regarding brand value. The most significant shift is a neutralizing of the impact of price. And, believe it or not, this can actually turn out to be good news for brands. While economic news hasn’t been good, these shifts provide opportunities for brands that pay attention to what the consumer really expects and offer meaningful differentiation, will tip the value scales in their direction, because value matters more than ever. More than just price.
In catching up with my reading after a couple of days, I found this post - the Decline of Differentiation by the folks over at Branding Strategy Insider that provides some more insight into the study. What I found interesting, particularly from a brand perspective is that in a study of 1,847 different products/services analyzed, only 21% had any points of differentiation that were noticeable to consumers. Amazing when you think about all the time, money and effort spent building brands. Branding Strategy Insider chalked this up to the following:
- Relying too heavily on price oriented programs rather than brand building. Unless your goal is to be the low cost provider, discounting is bad!
- Allowing the creatives to be too creative; the result is ads and campaigns that are clever and win awards, but don't promote the differentiation of the product/service.
- Management consultants don't focus on the customer in a meaningful way as they don't understand the mind of the customer, "which is where the marketing battles take place"
Number 3 speaks to us quite clearly, as we fully recognize that business strategy needs to start with the customer. If you don't understand what the customer values and you don't speak to it, you can't expect to stand out in the customers mind.
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