Branding Your Product

In the early 20th century, companies like Ford and General Motors relied on sales people to create demand for their products and services. But in the 1950s and 1960s, companies like Procter and Gamble invented marketing, which used mass communications to differentiate products and services. A key component of any marketing program was the brand. A brand was loosely defined as the “position” a product or service held in the consumer’s mind. But over the past several years, that definition has died. It has been replaced by the concept that a brand is not what people think about your product or service, but how people experience your product or service. For example, Starbucks doesn’t sell coffee. They sell the entire coffee experience, starting with the first subconscious inkling that it might be time for a cup of coffee and continuing through the entire purchase and post-purchase process. It doesn’t matter what you have to say, to sell or to give away, it’s about what customers want and how they Feel about you. You can’t compete anymore on product innovation, geographical advantage, protective regulation, patenting, etc. Many of these previous bases for competition—such as geographical advantage or protective regulation—have been eroded by globalization; proprietary technologies are rapidly copied, and breakthrough innovations in products or services are increasingly difficult to achieve. Many companies today offer similar products and use similar technology. Only your emotional connection to people, will differentiate your company and its product, lubricate your marketing channel, ignite the conversation engine in social media, and call to your door ready-to-try-or-buy prospects. Customer experience is about orchestrating memorable experiences for the customer; and it’s the memory of these unique experiences that becomes the product or service you are selling. In the experience economy, Customer is the product. Of critical importance is the takeaway feeling your customer has about you or your product. The memory of this feeling creates you and your business at the same time it creates the Customer. Remember, in the experience economy, people are not buying a product…they are buying an experience, an experience they won’t forget. Once you get in the mind of your customer, your loyalty program goes on autopilot.