Sometimes when I talk to clients about branding, they listen patiently and then ask about sales. I know they want sales, but they need branding to help them get there.
There are lots of reasons that branding helps with your marketing. And good marketing makes the sales effort so much easier and smoother.
Building awareness is probably the first point.
Pricing strategy may be an even more important case for branding. Especially when you have a high quality product. What’s the difference between a $1 coffee and a $4 coffee?
Think about cars, about chocolate. About the commodity item that your company sells. Desks, chairs, lamps, paint or ceiling tiles.
If you don’t differientiate your products and services, your sales department may be struggling with price. Branding is a way to help create the good, better, best in your own product line. It’s also a way to separate you from the competition.
What’s the best example of branding for price differentiation that you’ve seen lately?
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Chris,
I agree. It’s too bad that so many small business owners don’t realize the purpose of branding.
Now I’m not one to suggest that they should spend loads of money on mass or brand marketing, but branding can come from good marketing planning and less expensive, direct marketing.
In fact, I recently did an article and series of blogs on just this topic. Your readers can access the article from my link.
I noticed that Ford was selling the “Five Hundred” but as sales flopped they began selling what appears to be the exact same car with the “Taurus” name on it. The Taurus has been by far Ford’s most trusted sedan over the years. So they used the Taurus’ name to increase sales on what was already a quality vehicle.