Brand Attributes is a pretty straightforward term. However, how many of us have formally identified the characteristics or attributes of our brand/business? Let’s take some time to first befriend this concept.
For instance, let’s take the category butter. Some customers prefer flavored butter, some prefer low-fat butter and some prefer low-sodium or white. Depending on these criteria, they always shop and stick to a brand that satisfies both, taste and health preference. Also, if your product is cost-effective and healthy, they might be ready to throw in some extra money on the bargain. In order to sell your product, you need to satisfy these needs of the customers. Because they will pick a brand based on the attributes they find important.
In this example, when you say “we make butter”, it’s no worth or effective. But when you put it this way – “we make low cost, low-sodium, flavored butter”, it puts you in the right segmented competitive market. So there you go, attributes is the crucial element that customers associate with your brand. These attributes are the reason why consumers will buy or not buy your brand. You can use your strongest attribute to drive sales and profits in your line of business.
What do customers need?
One of the easiest ways to identify your brand attribute is to simply ask your customers. Guide them to aided or unaided survey questions. Let us revisit our example of butter, some positive words to describe the ideal kind of butter. Customers may respond with answers like “creamy”, “low-sodium”, “herbed”, etc. They may also add some positives and negatives about certain brands. With all this information you can easily conclude how your brand stacks up and whether it matches expectations of the customers.
What is my Brand Personality?
In doing so, always start with negatives first. There is a fine line between nice and noble. Everybody is nice, but they don’t get you profits or expected sales. You may have had a bad experience with a real estate agent. He may be nice but might have gotten you a sloppy deal or misguided a sale. In this case, your column for “negative brand situation” will be filled with attributes like “dishonest, unreliable, bad service”. When you do this exercise, these negative brand indicators will help you decide what path your brand should take.
Make inventory of your skills
Identify and explore what you are good at. What are the positives that you want customers to say about your brand? Distinguish the unique skill-set that will lead your way in the competition.
This will form the basis of your brand definition.
Focus on what you offer that other brands don’t
Why is important to have the X factor? Because your goal is to be better than your competitors. “What differentiates my brand from other? What different am I offering that they don’t?” these are some questions you need to ask yourself while deciding marketing strategy for your business.
Brand Promise
Every brand has a mission statement. They write long sentences about what they do and what they wish to do. But is your brand really offering what your mission statement says? Credibility is the word we are looking for. A brand should do what it promises. Prospective customers need to feel that your organization is going to provide them better service or product than any other competitor.
Looking at another aspect of credibility is the way your employees feel about your organization. Emotions play a huge role in making right strategic decisions. Prospective employees need to feel that your organization is going to provide them better job satisfaction and opportunities than any other competitor.
Branding is quite an involved process, not simply deciding the color and scheme of your website or logo. Not all insights need to be customer focused. The trick is to balance focus, uniqueness, and differentiation with the ability to expand exponentially.