What Type of Brand Are You? Small Boat, Yacht, Or Cruise Ship?
What is the most effective growth strategy for your type of business? Brand-building or sales marketing?
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We often see brand designers offer one-size-fits-all solutions: A little bit of research, strategy, and a few design proposals. Throw in a sexy logo, plus some brand guidelines and a website with empathy sprinkled all over. Bingo.
While all this, research, strategy, design — and empathy — are relevant in the brand process, often it’s not what matters to a CEO trying to save or grow her business, or for the start-up owner to find investors. For me, learning about all this is based on several frustrating experiences we’ve had when presenting an over-or undersized brand strategy and failed to sign the client or project.
What we learned was, to be the right fit with the right offerings we have to understand the unique situation a company is in, and where the goal post is. We have to distinguish between a boat, a yacht, and a cruise ship — to use some metaphors– since they all have very different needs:
Start-up, SMB or Legacy Corporation
In my experience, there are three basic categories of enterprises. To simplify let me categorize them based on revenue structure:
Revenues $10–50m: Start-ups or Small Businesses
Revenues $50–100m: Established SMBs/SMEs
Revenues $100m+: Legacy Corporations
All three types of corporations have their unique challenges: maybe a start-up is looking for investors, the established small business wants to expand into a different market, and the legacy corporation might have a problem to connect with a younger audience:
Once a minimal viable product is on the table, start-ups need to build a brand as fast as possible to attract investors and early adaptors. A solid visual presentation, a well crafted minimalist logo, and packaging design convey trust and a promise of reliability. The brand story can build on innovation or a highly skilled team as important factors to connect with investors. Other positive attributes to present a startup brand can be customer service or fast turnaround time, just to name a few. Empathy, as much as it gets celebrated as the magic sauce in marketing might not play a significant role here. But more about this later.
Needs
What most start-ups need is a branding concept that targets investors and early adopters. Having a Powerpoint deck, a corresponding web-or e-commerce site and a small brand identity should be the basics. If needed, product labels or mockups are helpful. Beyond that, a Facebook-based ad campaign should be considered.
Budget:
$20–50k (depending on scope and qualification of the designer) This is a perfect fit for an independent brand designer or small design firm.
SMBs are the strong middle class in commerce. The aggressive BMW wanting to go faster. Well established, successful and hungry for growth. Recognizable brands that have been around for years. But often the brand message is unclear or has been diluted. BMW’s tagline “Designed For Driving Pleasure” feels very out of touch and almost cynical today while urban areas are suffocating from permanent traffic congestion and carbon dioxide pollution.
A branding company comes in as an advisor and helps to recalibrate, to create clarity, or consults when there is a need to introduce a new product or help with expansion into new markets. Research and data analysis both are essential to streamline not only the product but the product message also. Today’s consumers tend to be very sensitive and often respond intuitively. When it comes to global expansion, cultural sensibilities may also be a possible minefield that needs to be addressed.
Needs
What the typical SMBs need is a comprehensive branding concept starting with a discovery workshop and market research. Based on that data, developing a credible and authentic brand narrative customers can identify with is key here. Continuity is essential and should be protected. Design only comes in the game for subtle calibrations.
Budget:
$50–200k (depending on scope and qualification of the designer) This is a perfect fit for a smaller independent design firm.
They are the big players, the large ocean liners that move slowly but steadily. But they are also the ones that often need help when the markets change or a new generation of consumers shows up. Legacy corporations tend to have a hard time reacting to those dynamics. We see it over and over: Sears, GM, Volkswagen… just to name a few, they all have been struggling to keep up with today’s consumer behavior. The problem here is, companies operate in a comfort zone which over a long period of time is identical with their safety zone (unquestioned, unchallenged) and tend to ignore when the safety zone (video killed the radio star) moves on. We are in the early stages of the 4th Industrial Revolution, the era of Digital Transformation, and in the US only 18% of all businesses have adopted significant measures to participate*. Yes, 82% still use fax machines, so to speak. (*McKinsey Report, Digital Europe June 2016)
Needs
What typical legacy corporations need is a comprehensive branding concept starting with discovery workshops and market research. Based on that data, developing a fresh and authentic brand narrative customers can reconnect with is key here. With empathy as the driver behind brand equity creation, the utmost focus should be on transparency. If a corporation adopts environmental or social issues (which is highly recommended), an internal process must be established that “bakes” it into the company’s DNA, that makes everybody walk the walk, from the top down. But keep in mind, empathy is not a quick solution to turn the ship around. Empathy is a long term strategy that takes years to change a consumer’s perception of a brand. Design is essential here to communicate a message of change (see BP logo after the 2010 oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico)
Budget:
$200+ (depending on the scope and qualification of the designer). This is the league of international branding firms such as Landor or Pentagram, which we highly recommend)
Thanks for reading. Now let’s make some waves! Yours, Marc Posch
Opus Creative Group, Los Angeles— with partners in Munich and Paris —offers the combined expertise and firepower of a well-calibrated team of experts, and with it a broad spectrum of creative services, from Brand Consulting to Brand Development and Digital Branding. With 20+ years of experience in the tech and manufacturing sectors, we help our clients define their brand story, and we help them achieve success.
Feel free to contact me if you want to learn more about us or discuss a new project. A 30-minute consultation is always free, coffee included.
Contact +1.213.446.7986. Or visit OpusCreativeGroup.com Thank you.
Out in print now: “The Million Dollar Brand — Building A Million Dollar Brand For The Information Economy. A Step-by-Step Manual.” By Marc Posch, Creative Director, and Brand Consultant. To order click here
