As Entrepreneurs, we all aspire to form a business that would one day reflect the star qualities and magnitude of Global heavyweights like Nike, Apple and Coca-Cola.
We must first start by recognizing that star brands don’t become stars overnight. At Brownie Communication Concepts we’re continuously inspired by these brands and the many smart and assertive choices they’ve made, backed up by a strong and successful business model. The people responsible for building Star Brands have mastered the balance of brand love and business fundamentals. Star Brands are not only loved, they’re profitable.
And while each one possesses a unique set of cultures and business practices, Star Brands usually possess certain core qualities.
1. Clarity
Star Brands know who they are. They know what drives their success, what limited them in the past, as well as how to grow and thrive in the future. This includes understanding their customers’ needs, the insights to connect with them and the right marketing mix for effective communication.
2. Consistency
Star Brands have consistent and recognizable branding and communication. Consistency pays out. Frequent exposure to the same brand identity and message helps increase brand recognition and awareness. If you have a well-defined and managed brand identity combined with messaging that’s compelling and executed consistently, your media investment will also have higher returns and go further in building the strength of your brand.
3. Higher order purpose
People like people who think like they do, and if given a choice, they’ll flock to a brand that supports their same ideology. Star Brands are intentional with their purpose and aspire to deliver on a higher meaning beyond the product or service they sell. Think Food industry.
4. Emotional connections
Brand relationships are like human relationships.
We become acquainted, we try their goods or services, we decide whether we like them or not and then we begin to have — or not have — a longer and deeper relationship. Star Brands develop long and meaningful relationships with their customers, and they do this in part by establishing strong emotional connections. They don’t treat their customers as simply sources of profit. They see them as co-creators in the brand conversation, striving to meet their needs and satisfy their desires.
5. Superior benefits
The benefits a brand offers are what set it apart from its competition. The more distinctive the benefit, the more distinctive the brand, which will in turn attract the greatest number of customers.
Benefits don’t have to be purely functional. They can also be aesthetic, emotional or stylistic. Star Brands focus on delivering, communicating and nurturing their most distinctive characteristics. This allows them to drive preference among the right set of consumers.
6. Commitment to learning
Star Brands learn from the past and quickly adapt to the future. They fuel a compelling vision for the future and invest in innovation which challenge category norms. Charles Darwin might well have been speaking about brand evolution when he said, “It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent that survives. It is the one that is the most adaptable to change”.
Photo: Nadir Balcikli
Entrepreneur.com