Brand momentum is exciting and powerful when your brand is rising, but terrifying if it's declining. Energy accelerates the impact of your brand, but it's elusive. Here are 3 tips to increase your brand's momentum.
National Logistics services: The Cost Of Repositioning
Repositioning a business can be one of the most costly and painful transitions a company go through. National Logistics Services (NLS) went through 18 months of sales purgatory when it repositioned from a general logistics provider to experts in fashion and footwear. Today NLS has a sticky brand, but it was a challenging journey. Peter Reaume, CEO of NLS explains, "It was one of the scariest thing I've ever done. We knew we had to specialize, but the transition was hard."
Growing A Sticky Brand Is Hard. Really, Really Hard!
Growing a sticky brand is hard. Really, really hard. Every company featured in the Sticky Branding Stories column is doing something pretty amazing. And in every case they are leveraging their core capabilities and investments to grow a sticky brand. But what's not as obvious is each of these companies have faced adversity.
Talent is a foundational building block of a sticky brand. Capital Iron has grown a sticky brand with a very purposeful HR strategy. Close to 90% of their staff are full time employees compared to the retail industry standard of 15 to 20%. Their staffing strategy is designed to support a highly unique retail experience.
A clear call to action is one of the most important aspects of your website. But it's hard to it get right. Someone stumbles across your website, they find the information compelling, and then ... what's next? Answering "what's next?" can be the difference between a prospect contacting you or having them move on.
Bureaucracy comes with growth, but it's the antithesis of creating outstanding brand experiences. WildPlay is growing a sticky brand in a period of heady growth by baking their values into everything they do. They view their culture like a sourdough starter. With each new park they launch they break a piece of their culture off to seed the new facility.
How many demand generation programs should a company have? As many as they can manage. In the early days of Amazon, Jeff Bezos gave his staff a clear metric for demand generation. They could buy as many new customers as they wanted provided the acquisition cost was $33 each or less. The goal is to invest in as many programs as you can that profitably generate new business.
Curiosity is a lost art in our age of broadcast marketing. Karen Flavelle, CEO of Purdy's Chocolates, bucks the trend. She encourages her staff to be curious and ask questions. Being curious can shift the brand experience. Ask your customers a question or two, and encourage them to share their story.
"That's the way we do things around here." What an awful phrase. It stops innovation and bringing forward new ideas dead in their tracks. Resistance to change is a fear response. It may be couched in good intentions, but fear of change saps innovation and creativity from your culture.
A brand's heritage is a competitive advantage. There's something remarkable in saying your company has been around for 20, 30 or 50 years. And it’s even more remarkable if you can say your company is 92 years old.Vets Sheet Metal has a unique brand asset: its heritage. They are a 92 year old, fourth generation family business. Their heritage is a competitive advantage, and their stories, relationships and history are brand assets.
Companies have predictable revenue plateaus: $1 million, $5 million, $10 million, $25 million, $50 million, and so on. Each plateau can be a major hurdle to cross, and often companies get stuck at key points along the way. Crossing these plateaus is directly linked to the business owner's ability to grow and change.
A great brand name and packaging is only valuable if you get your product onto the store shelves. The foundation of a great brand is relationships—strong ones that you grow and nurture. There are always gatekeepers who will either support you or block you. Without their endorsement, your brand doesn't stand a chance.
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