brand image

September 30, 2009 by Chip Whalen

According to companies like Salesforce, your customer service team is essential in relaying to customers what you want your brand image to be, they are your best strategy for buying experience.

Here’s a good example of a customer service issue we discussed with a brand. This brand received feedback from two customer service specialists during a survey. The feedback from both experts agreed on one thing: the first company’s customer service was horrible. In fact, the first company was more of a business problem than a customer service problem. (This story was told to us by a brand partner who chose not to be identified by name.)

We also spoke with three additional experts who would also disagree with that assessment. One of them pointed to the first company’s business troubles as being the bigger problem. She said that the product itself was good, but the brand marketing was the real problem, because it misled customers into thinking the company was a better company. But that’s a very subtle distinction. This brand found out from the third expert that the product was much better than expected, so the brand was already winning. It’s really not that much more complicated than that. The brand needs to have a very good explanation for why it is a better product than others, and then consumers need to decide on that. But that’s a little bit of a technical argument. The problem is the brand just got lucky. So the actual fact that they got lucky is very trivial to the marketer. What really counts is the brand messaging. People are much more likely to buy a brand they think is a good brand when they think it is good marketing. It’s a different way of thinking, a different way of behaving and thinking about marketing.

So marketing is an inherently brand-driven field?

Absolutely. And you’re seeing a real shift in the market as a result of that. It’s not just a cultural shift, it’s a real marketing movement.

So for instance, you have a new product out there that has changed the way people make breakfast in a significant way.

Absolutely. I think it’s an indication that we’re finally starting to see the marketplace have a real discussion about the state of the modern morning meal. We’re seeing brands making significant investments in breakfast and helping to introduce people to the idea that it is something new and it’s something unique and it is something worth having in your morning routine. Now, I think it is a marketing paradigm. I think it is an evolution. It’s not something that just happened. It has been building for years and it is going to continue to be a driver for many years to come.

On whether it’s possible to get the taste of bacon without the salt

I think, with the ingredients today and the different types of bacon that are out there, the difference in flavor is so great that it’s easier than ever to find a bacon product that does not have salt in it.

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