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e3 insightsLeveraging Your Brand for Sales GrowthPerspectives, Procedures and Profundities

Global Insights Magazine

2 3 4 6Differentiation in a crowded marketplace

Revelations about “which comes first”

Proven techniques for a winning game plan

A little Facebook perspective

Hey! Look at me… over here!

A historic debate put to rest

A powerful brand needs a powerful strategy

I “like” your brand, but don’t want to commit

Issue 2 – Edited by Aloft Group July 2012

HEY!LOOK AT ME...OVER HERE!

2

It’s crowded out there. And in today’s cluttered marketplace, if you don’t stand out, you stand down. No matter what your industry, you’re just one of many brands chasing after a number of finite prospects andpotential dollars. Now more than ever, differentiating your organization

from the crowd requires that you successfully develop

and communicate your unique brand story. Once

accomplished, bringing it to life across the appropriate

channels not only extends your brand, it gives your sales

force the ammunition they need to more effectively engage

prospects, customers and strategic partners. Armed with

a brand story only you can tell, your sales team has a

competitive advantage no one else can overcome.

As someone once said, It’s not your customers' job to

remember you. It’s your obligation and responsibility to

make sure they don’t have the chance to forget you.

Delivering your unique brand story is the best way to

ensure your brand will stand out and be remembered in

the marketplace.

Not long ago, British scientists settled the age-old

question that has perplexed mankind for centuries:

Which came first, the chicken or the egg? While

conventional thought had usually landed on the side of

the egg, Dr. Colin Freeman from Sheffield University’s

Department of Engineering Materials recently delivered

undeniable scientific proof revealing that, indeed, the

chicken preceded the egg. Exactly why Dr. Sheffield

had this amount of time on his hands, or why anyone

would have funded such a study is still unclear.

What is clear is that, in addition to being wildly

interesting, this groundbreaking poultry revelation is

an eloquent (perhaps not all that eloquent) segue into

a much more important debate that has turned more

than one company meeting into a melee: What comes

first, your brand focus or your sales focus?

The common internal disagreement usually goes

something like this:

Troubled by this all-too-common and unpleasant

scenario, experts have undertaken considerable research

over the last few years and have presented the following

findings: like the chicken, it is your organization’s brand

story that should precede your sales objectives.

By answering questions like ... How and why are you

different from your competition? Why should any prospect

choose you? Is your sales team telling a consistent

story? … you’ll develop and leverage a strong brand

image that’s an incomparable asset to your sales team.

When your internal functions are aligned, when you’ve

differentiated your company from the competition, your 3

A Historic Debate Put to Rest

Sales Exec: “We don’t have time to engage in branding exercises… we have sales goals to meet!”

Marketing Exec: “We can’t meet your sales goals if we don’t first get the brand story right!”

Sales Exec: “That’s ridiculous…sales come first!!”

Marketing Exec: “You’re an idiot!

Sales Exec: “I’m an idiot? I’ll show you who’s an idiot….”

brand becomes more than a logo or a color

palette carried out over your communications

materials. It will actually become your sales force’s

ultimate weapon, delivering an advantage that no

competitor will be able to leverage.

And now that we can finally put to rest any

disagreement regarding the chicken coming

before the egg, scientists can now move on to

the truly pressing issue of figuring out exactly why

he crossed the road.

4

A POWERFUL BRAND NEEDS A POWERFUL BRAND STRATEGY///

1_research

2_brand story

Successful brand differentiation is no accident, and in-depth qualitative and quantitative research are key components of any good strategic planning process. You’ve got to know what your competitors are doing—and what kind of threat they pose to your brand, and you’ve got to know what potential customers are looking for.

Through focus groups, interviews, surveys and more, you’ll be able to get into the minds of your customers, unearthing insights that open the doors to opportunity.

Your brand is your essence, your culture, your identity. Effectively communicating what’s unique about it is vital, but not always easy to accomplish. A great first step is to develop a brand matrix, which presents your organization’s points of differentiation (PODs) and points of parity (POPs).

A POD conveys what’s truly unique about your brand. POPs aren’t unique to your brand, but showing four or five areas where you’re comparable to your competition is also important. Now clearly define how you deliver on each, illustrating what the benefits mean to your clients and prospects from their perspective.

DO YOUR RESEARCH

DEVELOP YOUR BRAND STORY/POSITIONING

5

A POWERFUL BRAND NEEDS A POWERFUL BRAND STRATEGY///

Well-positioned, brand-connected organizations will remain ahead of their competitors, in good times and in bad, by

providing a vision and product or service offering that is in lock step with customer values and needs. But developing a

successful brand is no accident. It requires a solid, business-focused approach that carefully aligns brand strategy with

internal operations.

There are several key steps to developing a winning strategy, one that differentiates your brand from your competition.

Here’s a quick look at some of them.

internal culture_3

visual identity_4

Though often overlooked, successful brands know they must connect with their internal customers as well as their external customers. Focusing on both will help build lifelong customer relationships that are enabled by employees who live the brand.

Make sure your newly developed brand strategy aligns with your organizational design. Create internal strategies for delivering on your new positioning, and a tactical plan for getting your team on the same page.

There’s a difference between talking at your customers and speaking with them. For competitive advantage, you’ve got to figure out how to do the latter effectively—and cost-effectively.

Developing consistent, quality visuals and messaging will help, supporting and enhancing your brand as you move forward. Create a brand bible that spells out how assets should be treated visually, and a strong messaging platform that delivers across every channel, from print to digital, PR to social media and beyond.

ALIGN YOUR INTERNAL ORGANIZATION & CULTURE

DEVELOP YOUR VISUAL IDENTITY & MESSAGING

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I “like” your brand, but don’t want to commitA little Facebook perspective

As we stated previously, there’s a difference between

“talking at” and “speaking with” your customers. And

while today’s new marketing landscape of blogs, social

networking, SEO, pay-per-click and a host of other digital

media may seem confusing, the opportunities for you to

truly connect with your customers and extend your brand

in the right way, at exactly the right moment,

are unprecedented.

It’s no secret that Facebook has become the social

networking site of choice for many of today’s leading

brands, and understandably so, for it can be an incredibly

effective tool. But using Facebook effectively requires a

clear strategy and comprehension of the medium.

Let’s be friends

Many organizations focus on the number of “friends” their

page may have, and having a lot of friends is, on the face of

it, a good thing, right? Well, the truth is that the number of

Facebook fans your page may have is pretty much useless

for anything other than bragging rights.

It’s not much of a challenge to get someone to “like” your

page. People will fan you because they like you, because

a friend likes you, or just to announce to the world, "Hey

I like [blank]." A person can be a fan of FB pages such as

Mushrooms, Laughing When Someone Falls, or Dr.

Who's Arch Nemesis, Daleks, but is that person worth

anything to those pages? Not necessarily. He or she

may have liked them at the spur of the moment or

because a friend liked them, but it’s meaningless if

there’s no continuous engagement.

On the other hand, let’s say a musician is a fan of several

music pages and engages regularly. As a full member

of that community who comments, shares and posts

often, inviting others to participate, etc., that person is of

considerable value. Some of these Facebook pages may

not have a massive amount of fans, but they do have a lot

of fan engagement. And isn't the purpose of social media

to open a two-way communication channel with

the audience?

What's under the hood?

Having a million fans without engaging them is like having a

Porsche with no engine sitting in your driveway; passersby

may be impressed, but a Porsche that won’t get you

anywhere is little more than a yard ornament. The same

is true with Facebook fans: If you aren't actively working

to engage them, opening two-way communication or

providing a meaningful experience for them, then how

much are they really worth?

The most colorful corporate presentations and the most

original product brochures are worth nothing if they are

not popularly used or understood by the sales force.

The success story of the fully active four-wheel drive

DYNAMAX™ by Magna Powertrain, shows how to do it

right. Unlike other all-wheel systems DYNAMAX has an

intelligent control strategy and can adjust early to chang-

ing conditions. The all-wheel drive system has been ini-

tially deployed in the new Kia Sportage, and E3 member

SPS MARKETING has been challenged with the task of

developing a communication strategy that presents

DYNAMAX as a sub-brand under the Kia Sportage,

and also significantly contributes to the promotion.

The Communication Strategy: The quality and perfor-

mance of the four-wheel drive system should on

one hand be conveyed together with the new Kia

Sportage through targeted ingredient branding with

a pull strategy, and on the other hand the corporate

brand of the MAGNA Powertrain strengthened through

global communication.

The creative main idea: DYNAMAX™ is the first all-wheel

drive that thinks ahead for the driver. Suitable to this end,

the product slogan “True AWD. Continuously thinking

forward” has been developed. In most communication

media the idea is also a visually lived experience: The

powertrain detaches itself from the vehicle shell, and is

as such one step ahead from the rest of the vehicle. In

addition to an appropriate product folder as well as a

mailing, an image film was also developed that communi-

cates the advantages of DYNAMAX in conjunction with the

new Kia Sportage. Text and graphics modules have also

been developed that Kia uses in its various communication

channels, as well as in public relations work.

The results: With a five-digit Euro marketing budget, a

media response with a value amounting to well over

€ 500,000 has been achieved that has entailed report

coverage in 17 international print media such as The Wall

Street Journal and AutoBild. MAGNA Powertrain has

simultaneously increased its global market share in the

AWD Segment from 8 to 14%. And due to the rapidly

increasing demand from well-known automobile manufac-

turers, this unique success story is far from over ...

Sales SupportThe success story of DYNAMAX™

From 8 to 14% market sharewith targeted ingredient branding

Target group • Kia dealers and Kia customers

• Opinion leaders in the technical sector• Technical journalists

Target group • Decision makers from OEMs worldwide• Opinion leaders in the technical sector

Kia + MAGNA Powertrain Marketing Cooperation

MAGNA Powertrain Sales

Pull strategyDYNAMAX by MAGNA Powertrain is

presented together with Kia.

Push strategyDYNAMAX by MAGNA Powertrain is

optionally presented together with Kia.

Push / pull strategy: the communication strategy

MAGNA Powertrain Kia Motors & MAGNA Powertrain

7

E3 N

ETW

ORK

E3 NetworkThe E3 Agency Network is a closely integrated

coalition of independent brand strategy and

marketing communications firms from around the

world. With access to this wide pool of talent,

E3 agencies give clients a real chance to make an

impact nationally and internationally.

Find out how the E3 perspective can help you.

www.e3network.com

Administration: veerle@e3network.com

Brand SuccessWithin the E3 network of agencies there exists

a broad range of global brand expertise. If

you’re looking for brand success in your local

market or on a worldwide scale, please contact

brandsuccess@e3network.com

Aloft GroupThis issue of E3 Global Insight

Magazine was edited by Aloft

Group. For more information, please

contact mbowen@aloftgroup.com or

dpons@aloftgroup.com

Aloft Group

26 Parker Street

Newburyport, MA 01950

Tel. +1.978.462.0002 x 117

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