The Personal Branding Blog by Rob Cuesta

You don't have to please all of the people all of the time...

There's a principle in pricing a product or service that if you're not turning off a third of your prospects by charging more than they want to pay, you're not charging enough. I happen to believe that the same principle applies right across the spectrum.

It's "just" a word, and "just" a brand

I was in a branch of Marks & Spencer the other day and saw their new in-store promotional materials. If you're not familiar with M&S, it's a British chain of department stores, not unlike Sears in the US, or The Bay in Canada, but notable primarily for the fact that they only sell private label goods: there are no big consumer brands.

What is marketing?

OK, it's been a while since I posted. I've been busy with a major branding project overseas and I have some professional exams coming up which need my attention too. I'm also in the middle of setting up a couple of new joint ventures. Add in the need for some R&R after a very busy last two years for the business and it was about time I took a break.

But now I'm back, and I was asking myself, just what IS marketing? What are we, as marketers (and everyone is a marketer, whether they call themselves that or not) trying to achieve exactly?

What were they thinking?

Several years ago, Gerald Ratner - a famous UK entrepreneur - virtually destroyed his successful high street jewellery chain by boasting on national television that his products were basically cheap and nasty but that if you market it the right way people will buy almost anything. Needless to say the customers proved him wrong.

A few years later, the CEO of Volkswagen came close to 'doing a Ratner' (the expression has ended up in the language as a euphemism for a very public marketing gaffe) when he boasted that Audi A6s, Passats and the latest Skodas all shared many common parts and technologies, and were even made on the same production line. It was something car buyers knew, deep down, but they didn't want it made quite so public.

Now Lurpak, the Danish butter manufacturer, is running a new advertising campaign and you have to wonder what their marketing director was thinking.

Branding quote of the week

'Customers must recognize that you stand for something.' - Howard Schultz, Starbucks

Branding quote of the week

"Any damn fool can put on a deal, but it takes genius, faith and perseverance to create a brand." - David Ogilvy

Branding quote of the week

"Your brand is created out of customer contact and the experience your customers have of you" - Stelios Haji-Ioannou, Chairman, EasyGroup

Branding quote of the week

"The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are, not how cheap you are.  The goal must be to sell the distinctive quality of the brand." - Kerry Light, Brand Strategist

Keep in touch: supporting your brand with touchpoints

A couple of years ago, Mercedes commissioned a market research firm to identify all the 'touchpoints' its customers had with the brand (in other words, all the different ways that customers interacted with the brand). How many do you think there were? 

Where's the Sausage?

It's been a while since I posted a book review, but don't let that fool you into thinking I've been avoiding Borders. My latest acquisition is a slim book, one of those 'business fables' that set out to teach some principle of business through a story. Some of these books can be very badly written - I'll gladly share some of the howlers I've read with you if you drop me a line. Others are actually a good book to read in their own right. Fortunately, 'Where's The Sausage?' by David Taylor (of BrandGym fame) is one of those books that falls right into the second category.