TwoKad's Take on Branding

While reading comments on a PR post about branding I had an epiphany. A comment left by Walter Adamson made me think about the gap between what advertisers promise and what they deliver.

I know that many times I've purchased a product to have it not meet the expectations built up by the advertising, including the packaging the product came in. I know physical products have built in obsolescence to improve profits, we all know it. We know it so much that the new electrical device we purchased last week does not surprise us when it breaks down. It was cheap so we just go buy another one right?

Walter's point made me think about how the changing economic environment will change our acceptance of built in obsolescence and the gap between advertising promises and what companies deliver. Because I think this is about to change big time.

As the economic climate worsens consumers will tighten their pocketbooks. It's going to be harder to make them part with their money. If your brand has a reputation for over promising and under delivering you could be in trouble. In a buoyant economy driven by consumerism this gap can often be overlooked in the rush to buy more stuff. When people have less money and they're buying less stuff they're going to be more aware of value for money, and my guess is they're going to be more pissed off if your brand does not deliver on its promises.

The rise of online social media gives more power to consumers and they're in front of the advertisers at the moment. They're in front because they have the ability to communicate with a vast audience instantaneously via social media sites like twitter or facebook. If they have a bad experience with your brand it's not only their immediate friends and family who will hear about it, it's possibly hundreds of thousands of other people too. Consumers have the same possibilities of reach as advertisers have been used to having with television up to now. And consumers have this instant reach today. Businesses that do not comprehend how this can affect them and change accordingly are missing a fantastic opportunity.

For all products, physical and digital, this may mean you will need to work smarter to build trust as it may be harder to get your customers to part ways with their cash. How can you overcome this?

Here's my recommendation on positioning your brand for the coming economic storm: keep it real.

Don't promise what you can't deliver. Ask customers for feedback and post it on your site. Listen to your customers. If they did not like your product or service, how should you fix the problem? If they did like it, exactly why? Intensify the good and fix the bad. It seems like common sense advice, but strangely it's often not followed.

Those businesses that continue to operate under the old ways of heady consumerism will not survive. Those that use the potential of new online social media to establish a dialogue with their customers and find out how better to sell to them will improve their chances of survival.