Do online retailers need a brand like Apple, Coke, 3M, Nike and thousands of other well-known, well-branded companies and organizations?
Apple Passes Coke as World’s Top Brand
This was the one of the top stories and headlines today on CNN. The summary, taken from the annual report from branding consultancy Interbrands, tries to quantify the economic value of a company’s brand. In Apple’s case, it’s one of the reasons why so many people have been so willing through the years to pay a premium for its products. Call it a great brand surcharge.
Branding becomes even more important when your product line is not unique. If you’re selling what others are selling, how do you get them to buy from you?
What are you Selling that is More than the Product?
How about offering free shipping?
What about offering free returns?
What about offering a price guarantee?
How about a delivery guarantee?
What if you donate a certain percentage of sales or profits to a non-profit?
What if you ensure your products aren’t tested on animals?
You could do all of these. And so can your competitors.
What happens when a competitor matches everything you offer your customers? What’s left over?
What do you Represent?
All material things being equal, what’s going to make the difference? Your reputation and what people think about you. The ideas and beliefs people associate with your company will win and lose you business. And you probably won’t know one way or the other, unless people will tell you (which they are highly unlikely to do if they don’t buy from you) and most likely won’t (even if they do buy from you).
Said, or unsaid, the conscious or unconscious perception of your company will often tip the balance. It’s something companies like Apple and Coke spends billions of dollars every year trying to understand and form in the minds of consumers.
You Don’t Have Billions to Spend on your Brand
But you do have control of how customers interact with you. They visit your website. They look at what you’re selling, and how you’re selling. They can pick up the call, and be greeted by an “ACME Toys, Hello” or a “Welcome to ACME’s Wonderland of Toys, how can I make you smile today?” message. What do you do when they ask for customer service, or assistance? What do you hang your hat on to differentiate yourself from 50 sellers of the same “hot” Christmas toy, when half of them are selling it cheaper than you are?
Be Different
Apple used the Think Different ad slogan from 1997-2002. It helped define its products, what you could do with Apple products, and celebrated people throughout recent history who were prominent for having stood out in a crowd.
Standing out from among the millions of online stores is easier if you have a brand. It will give customers a reason for selecting you for something other than a price. It should also definitely help you establish long-term customer relationships, reducing your customer acquisition costs over time.
At your next family gathering, if your grandmother asks, “Do online retailers need a brand?” you’ll answer automatically, “yes.” Over time, brand impressions solidify into a rigid trust between you and your customer. They’ll come back, and you’ll continue to satisfy them until you provide them a considerable reason to no longer buy from you.
So, get busy. Start building your brand, and remain true in all customer engagements to it.
As FastPivot founder and CEO Matt Ledford is fond of saying, “to thine own brand be true.”
