Building Sales is Not the Same as Brand Building

Any increase in sales is good, and when that is accomplished a brand is built. Right?

Posted on July 31, 2009 | Permalink

By Lane Casteix

Sales building is just that – increasing sales. Brand building, on the other hand, is the creation of a brand, including creating its identity, establishing its position in the marketplace, and most importantly, connecting emotionally with its consumer.

Increased sales is really a by-product of that process.

A real “brand” is known and trusted by its loyal customers (has an identity and a position in the marketplace). That loyalty is built on satisfying some emotional need(s) in its customers. At a very minimum that emotional need is a sense of familiarity and comfort with what a customer perceives as a brand with credibility. Faced with a shelf full of brands the consumer is most likely to choose the brand he is connected to emotionally. “That is MY brand.” If there is no emotional connection with any of the brands, the consumer is next most likely to choose a brand he has seen or heard of promoted or advertised somewhere. “That brand is familiar to me and therefore has credibility.” If nothing else, advertising should be able to do that much for a brand. But I believe it takes more than just familiarity to build a brand.

Advertising and promotions build familiarity, and while that may build sales, unless the consumer makes that emotional connection (“That is MY brand.”), then he can easily be lost to any brand that does make an emotional connection. One must never assume that sales building will automatically result in a loyal consumer franchise. If loyalty is built simply on price or special promotions with no underpinning of meeting and satisfying an emotional need, the position is highly vulnerable to anyone who comes into the market with a lower price or with a flashier promotion. If, however, the position is built on satisfying an emotional need, the position is far more secure. Competition must then convince YOUR customer that his product can fill that need better than your product can, and that is a lot harder to do than just selling it for less.

Just about everything we buy says something about us and what we believe. Our cars (or trucks) are an extension of our identity. They say something about who we are and what we believe. And though we are often speaking to others with our purchase, (“I am driving this so he/she will think I am cool, smart, tough, successful, etc.”), we are really mainly concerned with speaking to the one who counts – us (“I am driving this because I think I am cool, smart, tough, successful, etc.”). Car and truck manufacturers are generally quite good at tapping into this primordial need with their marketing and advertising.

Do you use a certain bath soap because it cleans, makes you smell good, and is inexpensive? Lots of soaps clean, make you smell good and are inexpensive, but you chose that one for some reason, and that reason may not even be clearly understood by you. You bought it because of some emotional attachment – “It was the one Mom used when I was a kid”, or “I like the fragrance” (fragrance can be pretty emotional) or it may be the most popular soap sold and “I want to fit in”, or it may not be the most popular and “I want to be different”.

Tide claims it gets clothes whiter because it contains bleach. Cheer claims it keeps colors from fading. If we bought soap powders because of their unique selling point (USP), then we would all have two kinds of soap powders in our laundry rooms; Tide for whites and Cheer for colors. But it isn’t that simple is it?

A friend of mine teaching marketing at a local university once did a blind taste test of beers in class. One of the students favored an expensive import. “I can spot my brand by taste anywhere and anytime!” he boasted. In the blind taste test he picked another brand over his imported favorite every time, a discount brand no less. When confronted with the results, he admitted he liked it better than “his” brand. When the bell rang the remaining beers were offered to the class to take home. The student in question grabbed the expensive imported brand instead of the one he had just admitted, in front of the class, tasted better. When asked why by the professor, his reply was simply, “This is MY brand.”

Think about what brands you buy and why you buy them. And be honest with yourself and look beyond the obvious, like the USP. I bet you will find some emotional attachment to your favorite brands; some need that you believe that product fills in your life.

Sales can often be built fairly rapidly by a number of different means. Brand building is making an emotional connection with your customer and is often a much slower process, but the results last longer and are more secure.

Find an emotional need and fill it.