Define your B2B Brand Positioning
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This document provides guidance on developing an effective brand positioning statement. It discusses defining the target customer and their needs and wants. It also covers identifying the competitive landscape and where the brand can win based on what it does best relative to competitors. The document provides worksheets and frameworks to brainstorm functional and emotional benefits and cluster them around themes. It then advises filtering these benefits down to the most motivating and ownable ones to serve as the core message. Supporting claims and features are also discussed. The goal is to develop a concise brand positioning statement that clearly communicates who the brand serves, what key benefit it provides, and why customers should believe in it.
Define your B2B Brand Positioning
- 1. How to define your brand positioning to help your B2B brand win Brands have four choices: be better, different, cheaper, or else not around for long. If you do not define your brand, then you run the risk of the possibility that your competitors will define your brand. And you might not like it. I will show you the homework you must do to figure out a winning brand positioning statement. The tools are designed to help decide who your brand will serve and what you will stand for as a brand. In the last two chapters, you narrowed the target to those customers who are most capable of loving what your brand does best. In this chapter, I will show you how to find the ideal balance between the functional and emotional benefits, to find which ones are simple, interesting, motivating, and ownable for your brand.
- 2. Where to play and where to win As you create your brand positioning statement, look for the ideal space to play and space your brand can win. As I showed in the competitive brand strategy, I will use that same Venn diagram to map out everything your customers want or need, what your brand does best and what your competitor does best. The first step is always to find where to play, which matches up what your customers want with what your brand does best. This tool forces you to focus on meeting the customer’s needs. Next, you layer in what your competition does best, to narrow the space where your brand can win. Your brand might be fast, but if your competitor is even faster, then you will lose out if you try to play in that space. Brand positioning statement elements Four elements make up a brand positioning statement, including who you serve, where you play, where will you win and why customers should believe you. These are the customer target, marketplace definition, the customer benefit, and support points. 1. Who is your customer target? What slice of the marketplace is the most motivated by what your brand offers? Do not just think about who you want but rather who wants your brand. 2. Where will you play? What is the competitive set that defines the space in the market where your brand competes? Positioning is always relative to the other companies your brand competes against. We help brands find We make brand leadersbeloved brands What customers want What your competitor does best What your brand does best Winning Zone Brand Positioning Statement To (Target) • Who is in the customer target? What slice of the marketplace is the most motivated to buy what you do? Your brand is the (Category) • Where do you play? What is the frame of reference that helps to define the space in the marketplace that you compete in? That is the (Benefit) • Where do you win? What promise will you make to the customer target, thinking about main benefit (rational/emotional) That’s because (Support Points) • Why should they believe us? What support points help to close doubts and back up the main benefit? 1 2 4 3 We help brands find new grow We make brand leaders sma beloved brands
- 3. 3. Where will you win? What is the main customer benefit promise you will make to the customer target to make your brand stand out as interesting, simple, unique, motivating, and ownable? Do not talk about what you do (features); instead, talk about what the customer gets (functional benefits) and how the customer feels (emotional benefits). 4. Why should they believe us? Understand what support points and features you need to back up your main promise. These support points should close any possible doubts, questions, or concerns the customer has after hearing your main promise. Before you randomly write out a brand positioning statement based on your intuition, I will force you to think deeper to help focus your decisions on the best possible space for your brand to win and own. The customer benefits ladder The customer benefits ladder helps turn your brand’s features into customer benefits. Stop talking about what your brand does and start talking about what your customer gets. The four steps to building a customer benefits ladder: 1. Leverage all available research to define your ideal customer target profile with need states, customer insights, and the customer enemy. 2. Brainstorm all possible brand features. Focus on those features you believe give your brand a competitive advantage. 3. Move up to the functional benefits by putting yourself in the shoes of the customer. For each feature on your list, ask, “So, what do I get from that?” Challenge yourself to come up with better benefits by asking the question until you move into a richer zone. 4. Then move up to the emotional benefits. Look at each functional benefit and in the voice of the customer you should ask, “So, how does that make me feel?” As you did in step 3, keep asking the question until you see a more in- depth emotional space you can win with and own. 3 Customer Benefits Ladder Target and insights Product features Functional benefits Emotional benefits Customers Define target, need states, enemies and insights. Functional “So, what do I get?” Features Product-focused strengths, claims, differences Emotional “So how does that make me feel?” 1 2 3 4
- 4. Functional benefits To help brand leaders, I have taken nine functional need state zones and expanded the list to over 50 potential functional benefits your brand can build around. As you look through the list, gravitate to the functional benefits you think will fit the needs of your customers and where your brand can do it better than competitors. Start with the words on the cheat sheet below, then layer in your creative language based on specific category words or specific customer words and phrases they use. The functional benefits cheat sheet The playbook for how to create a brand your consumers will love Functional benefit cheat sheet Makes you smarter Works Better for you Drives business results Helps you execute Faster Powerful Safer Lasts Longer Keeps you organized Saves time Social On trend Latest technology Visual Identity Image Reputation Employee engagement Higher profit Culture Brand MessageHigher Sales New products New Customers Product Costs Reduce Time Process costs Service Costs Advice Solutions Teaching Helping hand Sensory Appeal Simplifies your life Stay Connected Hassle Free Easier to use Touch/Feel Add Value Specific Quality Innovation Awareness Consumers How it is made Saves you money Experience Variety Service In touch Strategy Responsiveness Influencers Occasion Rituals Updates Proactive Performance Integrated Efficient Subconscious Style 9 functional zones with 50 total functional benefits B2B Structure Sales Message
- 5. Emotional benefits Below you will find a list of 40 potential emotional benefits. From my experience, marketers are better at finding the ideal rational benefits compared with how they work at finding the ideal emotional benefits for their brands. As a brand, you want to own one emotional space in the customer’s heart as much as you own a rational space in the customer’s mind. When I push brand managers to get emotional, they struggle and opt for what they view as obvious emotions, even if they do not fit with their brand. I swear every brand manager thinks their brand should be the trusted, reliable, and likable. Use our cheat sheet to dig deeper on emotions. The emotional benefits cheat sheet I have used Hotspex research methodology to create an emotional cheat sheet with eight emotional customer benefits zones, which include optimism, freedom, get noticed, feel satisfied, comfort, fit with company, stay in control, and curious for knowledge. Use the words within each zone to provide added context. 5 The playbook for how to create a brand your consumers will love Emotional benefit cheat sheet 8 emotional zones with 40 total emotional benefits Curious for knowledge Sense of optimism Feel comfortable Fit with company Motivated Special Successful Inspired Interesting Alive Cool Playful Popular Trendy Like-able Friendly Intimate Happy Easy-going Nurtured Compassion Partner Relaxed Honest Beliefs Trust SafeRespect Reliable Informed Wisdom Smarter Competent Feel Satisfied Feel free Get noticed Excited Customer Emotions Values Exhilarating @Hotspex Stay in control B2B
- 6. Build around benefit clusters Start by looking at the two cheat sheets and narrow down to potential clusters of the functional and emotional benefits. Match what customers want and what your brand does best. I recommend that you take three of the zones from each of the two cheat sheets, and then add 2-3 support words per zone to create a cluster. For each cluster, use the words to inspire a brainstorm of specific benefit statements that fit your brand, using the specific brand, customer or category words. For Gray’s Lighting, a fictional stage lighting brand that provides such a high quality lighting that it brings out every detail on the face of actors. Concerning functional benefits, I have chosen to build around functional clusters, such as works better for you, sensory appeal, and experiences, and the emotional clusters, such as optimism, feeling free, and getting noticed. Once I made those choices, I began brainstorming 10-15 key benefit phrases that start with “I get…” for the functional benefits and “I feel” for the emotional benefits. The playbook for how to creat brand your consumers will lo Use the benefit clusters to guide benefit statements Works Better for youPowerful Image Reputation Sensory Appeal Touch/Feel Quality Experience Responsiveness Occasion Performance Sense of optimism Special Successful Inspired Alive Cool Trendy Feel free Get noticed Excited Exhilarating • I feel more optimistic that patrons will love our show. • I feel inspired to showcase the facial expressions of our actors. • I feel we are getting leading edge lighting before anyone else. • I feel inspired to see the show from the back row. • I feel free to direct, knowing I’m using the latest technology • I feel special knowing I’m one of the first to try the latest. • I feel the show will be more successful. • I feel excited knowing everyone will see what I see. • It will be cool to be on the leading edge of technology • I am excited to see the impact on our actors faces. • I get higher quality lighting to bring richness to the stage. • I get better performance in bringing emotions into the show. • I get lighting that brings facial expressions to life. • I get responsive lighting systems with flexibility. • I get lights that bring a better performance from my actors. • I get to bring the actors faces to life for theatre patrons • I get to see/feel every emotion on the actor’s faces. • I get lighting designed for actor expressions. • I get to experience what it’s like to sit in the front row. • I get onsite installation from Gray’s team. • I get energy efficient lighting • I get a trial test run of the lights before buying. • I get a guaranteed satisfaction or replacement lights. Functional Clusters Emotional Clusters Benefit statement brainstorm GRAY’Stage Lighting =ded touch to a magical show GRAY’Stage Lighting We bring your actors faces to life GRAY’SStage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’S Stage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’S Stage Lighting
- 7. Customer benefits ladder worksheet Use the brainstorm to populate the customer benefits ladder worksheet to focus your thoughts. Like any brainstorm, you will end up with more choices than you can use. Try to narrow down your brainstorm list, so that you have the top 3-4 emotional and functional benefits. 7 The playbook for how t brand your consumer Populate the Customer Benefits Ladder Target: “Discerning Broadway Theatre Companies” who are willing to do whatever to win the war on broadway. Enemy: Big theaters lose intimacy, competitor shows. Insights: 1) “If only everyone could see a broadway show from the front row, they’d see how amazing our actors are” 2) “Of course we are perfectionists, we have to be to keep up with the perfectionist down the street.” 3) “The best shows are a collection of fine details to make sure everything comes together. We rely heavily on experts to do their job.” Emotional Benefits: 1) My actors feel inspired by the reaction of the audience 2) I feel more confident in my show 3) I feel the energy from the reaction of the audience 4) I feel in control that the lighting will deliver—one last worry. Functional Benefits: 1) I get lighting that can show every detail from the back of the house 2) I get happy actors 3) I get lighting advice from industry experts Features: 1) Finest details. In a 4 week test, using Grays, showing that theatre patrons can notice every facial detail from the 40th row of the theatre. 2) #1 broadway brand. Testimonials from 20 leading broadway theatre directors GRAY’SStage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’SStage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’SStage Lighting
- 8. Find the winning statements After the brainstorm, you need a tool to help decide on which ones are the best for your brand positioning. Looking at the positioning Venn diagram we have been using, I have created a 2x2 grid to help sort through the potential benefits to find the winners, according to which are most motivating to customers and most ownable for your brand. You will see the same four zones from the Venn diagram are now on the customer benefits sort grid, including the winning, losing, risky, and dumb zone. With Gray’s Lighting, you can see that the “bringing the actors faces to life” customer benefit is most highly motivating and highly ownable benefit statement for the brand, helping it land in the winning zone. On the other hand, the customer benefit of “energy efficient” is highly motivating but already owned by other companies, so it falls into the losing zone. The “leading technology” benefit falls into the risky zone. The benefit of “better reviews” is likely unrealistic, making it neither motivating nor ownable, so it falls into the dumb zone. HighLow What customers want What your competitor does best What your brand does best Losing Zone Risky Zone Dumb Zone Winning Zone Motivated customers High Losing Zone Winning Zone Dumb Zone Risky Zone Ownable for your brand Bring Actors faces to life Show will get better reviews Fast Installation by Gray’s team Cost Effective innovation Inspired to see impact from the back rows Leading edge technology Guaranteed to work Energy efficient lighting
- 9. Support points I took one logic class at university, and the only thing I learned was “premise-premise conclusion.” It was an easy class, but a life-long lesson that has stuck with me. Here is a classic logical argument statement: • All fish live in water (premise) • Tuna are fish (premise) • Therefore, tuna live in the water (conclusion). This example fits with my brand positioning statement model, as the main customer benefit is the conclusion with a need for two support points as the premises. If pure logic teaches us that two premise points are good enough to draw out any conclusion, then you only need two “reasons to believe” (RTB). Brands that build concepts with a laundry list of RTBs are not doing their job in making focused decisions on what support points are required. Since customers seeing constant brand promises from sales reps, having a long list of support points risks making your brand communications a cluttered mess. Claims can be a useful tool in helping to support your RTB, yet an RTB should never be your main conclusion. There are four types of claims you can use on your brand: Process support • How your product works differently • What do you do differently within the production process • Showcase what you do differently within the production process • What added service you provide in the value chain Product claims • Usage of an ingredient that makes your brand better • Process or ingredient that makes your brand safer • Process that makes your brand cheaper Third-person endorsement • Experts in the field who can speak on your brand’s behalf • Past users/clients with proof support of stories or reviews • Recognized awards, such J.D. Power Behavioral results • Clinical tests • In market usage study • Before and after studies 9
- 10. Brainstorm of the best claims and features for Gray’s Lighting How to write the final brand positioning statement Taking all the homework, here are some thoughts on bringing the brand positioning statement together: 1. Who is your customer target? Keep your target definition focused. Bring the target to life with need states, customer insights, and a customer enemy. You can have groups of customers, or specific customers. 2. Where will you play? Define the space you play in, measuring it against those brands you compete with. 3. Where will you win? Narrow your benefit down to one thing. Never try to stand for too many things at once—whether too many functional benefits or too many emotional benefits. You cannot be all things to all people. Make sure you talk benefits, not features. The ideal space must be unique and motivating to the customers while being ownable for your brand. 4. Why should they believe us? The role of support points is to resolve any potential doubts the customers might have when they see your main benefit. Ensure these support points are not just random claims or features that you want to jam into your brand message. They should support and fit with the main benefit. The playbook for how to create a brand your consumers will love Build out your possible features and services Process • Detail how your product works differently • Showcase your point of difference in the production process. • What do you do differently within the production/service process • What our staff can do to help your business • What added service/details do you provide in the value chain Product • Usage of an ingredient that makes you better • Process or ingredient that makes you safer Third person • Experts in the field who can speak on the brand’s behalf. • Past users/clients with proof support of their stories. Behavioral • Clinical tests • In market usage study • Before and after studies Testimonials from 20 leading Broadway theatre directors. Connor Smith said, “With Gray’s Lighting, our actors say they now hear every giggle and gasp in the audience, inspiring their best performance every night.” In a 4-week test using Grays HEX technology, theatre patrons noticed richer shadows that helped bring every facial detail and emotion to life from the 40th row of the theatre. We’ll take care of the setup and work directly with your production team to assess and test, to ensure you get the ideal lighting experience. We take the time to listen to your needs and we’ll provide you with knowledgeable advice at every step of the process, so you can make an informed decision on getting the right lighting for your theater. We provide you with online easy-to-follow training videos on our latest products, so you can find the right product to fit your theater.
- 11. The final brand positioning statement for Gray’s Lighting The brand positioning statement works with Technology brands 11 The playbook for how to create a brand your consumers will love This works equally well for a B2B type brand To (Target) • Discerning stage directors of Broadway theatre companies Gray’s is (Category) • The theatre stage lighting brand That is the (Benefit) • Inspiring lighting that brings the actors faces to life for theatre patrons That’s because (Support Points) • A 4 week test, using Grays, has shown that theatre patrons can notice every facial detail from the 40th row of the theatre. • We have testimonials from 20 leading Broadway theatre directors. Steven Jones said, “With Gray’s Lighting, our actors say they now hear every giggle and gasp in the audience, inspiring their best performance every night.” 1 2 3 4 GRAY’SStage Lighting =An added touch to a magical show GRAY’SStage Lighting We bring your actors faces to life GRAY’SStage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’SStage Lighting An added touch to a magical show GRAY’SStage Lighting The playbook for how to create a Positioning statement works for technology brands To (Target) • Business leaders who want to leverage technology to improve their competitive advantage, but lack the expertise to make it a reality in their company. GrayTech is (Category) The technology solutions team That (Benefit) • Turns complicated business problems into technology solutions, to make your business more valuable. That’s because (Support Points) GrayTech’s people make the difference. • Our experts bring creative solutions that make technology simpler and an asset for your business to build upon. We design, build and manage everything linked to the technology foundation of your company. • Our people bring a level of care, commitment to quality and pride to our customers. We never give up and do whatever it takes. 1 2 3 4 GrayTech!
- 12. How our B2B Brands playbook can work for you It takes a fundamentally sound B2B marketer to figure out how to win with brand love to attract loyal customers. As marketing rapidly evolves, the fundamentals of brand management matter more now than ever. Today’s B2B marketers are so busy, running from meeting to meeting, and they feel overwhelmed and confused. They have no time to think. Marketing is now about ‘get stuff done’— and never about taking the time to stop and ask if it is the right stuff to do Meanwhile, to build a relationship, you must take the time to genuinely court your customers. To move your customer from stranger to friend and onto the forever stage, you need to think all the time. With the focus on access to big data, marketers are drowning in data, that they do not even have the time to sort through it all to produce the analytical stories to help to make decisions. Marketers are so overwhelmed by the breadth of media choices and the pressure to be everywhere. As a result, the quality of B2B marketing execution has suffered. If B2B marketers do not love the work they create, how can they ever expect the customer to love the brand? As the bestselling author of Beloved Brands, I recognized the need for a marketing book that focuses on B2B marketing. Many of the same tools work in both consumer and B2B marketing. My goal in writing this B2B Brands playbook is to make you a smarter brand leader so your brand can win in the market. I know your role and the challenges you face. I have been in your shoes. I will share everything I have learned in my 20 years in the trenches of brand management. I want to help you be successful. This book is intended as an actionable “make it happen” playbook, not a theory or opinion book. B ✓ How to think strategically ✓ Write a brand positioning stateme ✓ Come up with a brand idea ✓ Write a brand plan everyone can ✓ Write an inspiring creative brief ✓ Make decisions on marketing exe ✓ Conduct a deep-dive business rev ✓ Learn finance 101 for marketers Beloved Bran Beloved Brands is available on Amazon and Apple B The playbook for how to bui brand your consumers will lBELOVED BRANDS G R A H A M R O B E R T S O N THE PLAYBOOK FOR HOW TO BUILD A BRAND YOUR CONSUMERS WILL LOVE Beloved Brands is availabl B2B BRANDS THE PLAYBOOK FOR HOW TO BUILD A B2B BRAND YOUR CUSTOMERS WILL LOVE G R A H A M R O B E R T S O N
- 13. What is a B2B brand? In the diagram, you will see seven types of brand models. For business-to-business (B2B) brands, we will cover four primary types within this book: 1. B2C thru B: Sell your products through a third-party partner, whose reps then sell your brand to consumers. 2. B2B Products: Sell your products as an ingredient or component your customers will use to make their brand better. 3. B2B Services: Sell your services to companies or individuals at the company who want help to achieve success. 4. DTC: Sell your products directly to specific B2B customers who are using the product in their jobs or companies. Choose your business model based on how your customer wants to buy, not how you want to sell. A great case study is the Apple brand, which now uses all seven of these business models, as they sell to both consumers and businesses, sell both products and services, sell directly, through retailers, and through their own retail stores. Apple allows customers to engage the brand however the customers wish to purchase. 13 Your BrandB2C Your Brand B2B Products Your Brand B2C Thru B DTC Your Brand Their Brand Consumer Your Brand B2C Services Customers Retail Consumer Customer Their Reps Consumer Your people Set your business up based on how your customers want to buy your brand B2B Services Your Brand Their SuccessCustomer Your brand Retail Consumer Their Brand
- 14. B2B brands are moving closer to consumer marketing I have worked in both consumer and B2B marketing, and the similarities are more than you think. I hear, “but we are not a consumer brand” all the time. Yes, you won’t be doing a TV ad on the Super Bowl. However, the same principles that have been working in consumer marketing will have tremendous success with B2B brands. My first job was at GE, working in the commercial and industrial lighting business. As a consultant for the last decade, I have worked on brands in oil and gas, financial services, medical products, commercial real estate, technology, and telecommunications. All of the models and secrets I use with clients will be part of this book. B2B is about creating a bond with customers, to help win in the long-term It is easy to get wrapped up with launching the new product for next week or trying to figure out a price that will help close a deal by noon. You forget to build your brand for the longer term. For customers, B2B decisions are much more emotional than you think, yet too many B2B companies focus on product features as the main differentiator and price as their usual deal closer. The best B2B brands are building tight bonds with customers, so they feel more and think less. You want your best customers to become fans, who will be the first to try your new product and will want you to win the contract with their company. Go beyond the product to create an exceptional experience The best brands evolve into an experience-led brand, but it is not always a smooth transition. B2B brands face a much greater opportunity to win by adding vital services that elevate you beyond your products. The people behind your brand will make the most significant difference B2B brands have the opportunity to build a culture with values and expected behaviors that can inspire everyone who works behind the scenes to deliver their greatest work on behalf of the brand. Make your best people the face of your brand whose “wow” personal stories showcase why they do what they do and the ways your people go over the top to surprise and delight their customers. Your B2B marketing should connect with people, not companies As media options expand, B2B brands can connect with specific customers at companies by communicating their beliefs. They can also make customers feel smarter with content that matters, and they can create emotion with stories of the greatness of their people. With account-based marketing (ABM) techniques, you can reach and build a bond with individuals within a company, even if you are not an approved vendor. Balance your effort between building your brand and transactional sales support One-third of your marketing effort should be brand-building that creates a bond with customers; one-third is transactional sales support around new products and deal closing. If you keep saying “buy me now,” customers will eventually forget why they should ever buy your brand. The remaining one-third might surprise you. I want you to focus one-third on your employees who have to understand everything about your brand, including your brand idea, purpose, values, beliefs, and most motivating and ownable customer benefits. Your people are the face of your brand, and they are the ones who will deliver your brand reputation.
- 15. Learn to think, define, plan, inspire and analyze 1. How to think strategically Too many marketers are so busy they do not even have time to think. The best brand leaders do the necessary critical strategic thinking to find ways to win in the market. Strategic thinking is an essential foundation, forcing marketers to ask big questions to challenge and focus brand decisions. I will show you four ways to enhance your strategic thinking, using the brand’s core strength finder, customer strategy, competitive strategy, and situational strategy. You will learn how to set a vision for your brand, focus your limited resources on breakthrough points, take advantage of market opportunities, and find early wins to leverage to give your brand a positional power to drive growth and profits. 15 We help brands find growth. We make brand leaders smarter. belovedbrands How we will communicate to customers • As a director in rehearsals, you can see the emotion on the faces of the actors. However, we hear from directors all the time that as you fill the house for opening night, only those in the first few rows really see that magic. • Gray’s Lighting Inspiring lighting that brings the actors faces to life for theatre patrons • That’s because in 4 week test, using Grays, has shown that theatre patrons can notice every facial detail from the 40th row of the theatre. We have testimonials from 20 leading Broadway theatre directors. Steven Jones said, “With Gray’s Lighting, our actors say they now hear every giggle and gasp in the audience, inspiring their best performance every night.” GRAYSStage Lighting Gray’s Lighting gives your theatrical show an added touch of lighting magic Try Gray’s Lighting tobring magic to your show GRAYSStage Lighting Strategic Thinking Positioning Statement Analyze Performance 2 5 1 0" 2" 4" 6" 8" Gray's" Norm" Dad's" 2.2" 7.3" 6.8" Gray's' Norm' 5" 18" 45" 32" weekly" monthly" 4x"per"year" 1x"per"year" What customers want What your competitor does best Winning What your brand does best 3 Brand Plans We help brands find growth. We make brand leaders smarter. belovedbrands How we will communicate to customers • As a director in rehearsals, you can see the emotion on the faces of the actors. However, we hear from directors all the time that as you fill the house for opening night, only those in the first few rows really see that magic. • Gray’s Lighting Inspiring lighting that brings the actors faces to life for theatre patrons • That’s because in 4 week test, using Grays, has shown that theatre patrons can notice every facial detail from the 40th row of the theatre. We have testimonials from 20 leading Broadway theatre directors. Steven Jones said, “With Gray’s Lighting, our actors say they now hear every giggle and gasp in the audience, inspiring their best performance every night.” GRAYSStage Lighting Gray’s Lighting gives your theatrical show an added touch of lighting magic Try Gray’s Lighting tobring magic to your show GRAYSStage Lighting Strategic Thinking Positioning Statement Analyze Performance 2 5 1 0" 2" 4" 6" 8" Gray's" Norm" Dad's" 2.2" 7.3" 6.8" Gray's' Norm' 5" 18" 45" 32" weekly" monthly" 4x"per"year" 1x"per"year" What customers want What your competitor does best Winning What your brand does best 3 Marketing Plans Annual Marketing Plan Analysis Issues and Strategies Execution Plans P&L forecast • Sales $30,385 • Gross Margin $17,148 • GM % 56% • Marketing Budget $8,850 • Contribution Margin $6,949 • CM% 23% Drivers • Taste drives a high conversion of Trial to Purchase • Strong Listings in Food Channels • Exceptional brand health scores among Early Adopters. Highly Beloved Brand among niche. Inhibitors • Low familiar yet to turn our sales into loyalty • Awareness held back due to weak Advertising • Low distribution at specialty stores. Poor coverage. • Low Purchase Frequency among most loyal. Risks • Launch of Mainstream cookie brands (Pepperidge Farms and Nabisco). • De-listing 2 weakest skus weakened our in- store presence • Legal challenge to taste claims Opportunities • R&D has 5 new flavors in development. • Sales Broker gains at Specialty Stores • Use social media to convert loyal following. Key Issues 1.What’s the priority choice for growth: find new users or drive usage frequency among loyalists? 2.Where should the investment/resources focus and deployment be to drive our awareness and share needs for Gray’s? 3.How will we defend Gray’s against the proposed Q1 2014 ‘healthy cookie’ launches from Pepperidge Farms and Nabisco? Strategies 1.Continue to attract new users to Gray’s 2.Focus investment on driving awareness and trial with new consumers and building a presence at retail. 3.Build defence plan against new entrants to defends with consumers and at store level. Goals • Increase penetration from 10% to 12%, specifically up from 15% to 20% with the core target. Monitor usage frequency among the most loyal to ensure it stays steady. • Increase awareness from 33% to 42%, specifically up from 45% to 50% within the core target. Drive trial from 15% to 20%. Close distribution from 62% to 72%. • Hold dollar share during competitive launches. Grow 11% post launch gaining up to 1.2% share. Target zero losses at shelf. Advertising • Use awareness to drive trial of the new Grays. Target “Proactive Preventers”. Suburban working women, 35-40.Main Message of “great tasting cookie without the guilt, so you can stay in control of your health”. Media includes 15 second TV, specialty health magazines, event signage, digital and social media Sampling • Drive trial with In-store sampling at grocery, Costco, health food stores and event sampling at fitness, yoga, women’s networking, new moms. Distribution • Support Q4 retail blitz with message focused on holding shelf space during the competitive launches. Q2 specialty blitz to grow distribution at key specialty stores. Innovation • Launch two new flavours in Q4/15 & Q4/16. Explore diet claims, motivating and own- able. Competitive Defence Plan • Pre Launch sales blitz to shore up all distribution gaps. At launch, heavy merchandising, locking up key ad dates, BOGO. TV, print, coupons, in-store sampling. • Use sales story that any new “healthy” cookies should displace under-performing and declining unhealthy cookies. Brand Vision: Be first ‘healthy cookie’ to generate craving, popularity and sales of a mainstream cookie. $100 Million by 2024. 4 Marketing Execution 4 Marketing Execution Annual Brand Plan Analysis Issues and Strategies Executional Plans P&L forecast • Sales $30,385 • Gross Margin $17,148 • GM % 56% • Marketing Budget $8,850 • Contribution Margin $6,949 • CM% 23% Drivers• In theater tests and director’s brand satisfaction converts trial to purchase. • Strong support from the Broadway directors— creates key influencers to go to new markets.• Exceptional brand health scores among Early Adopters. Highly Beloved Brand among niche. Inhibitors • Awareness weak—especially with production houses—who are more focused on price. • Low distribution at product houses segment due to poor sales coverage. • Low repeat frequency, even among loyal. Directors need to re-sell each new order. Risks • Launch of Mainstream lighting brands (GE, Philips). • De-listing 2 weakest skus in contractor segment weakens overall presence • Legal Challenge to competitive claims Opportunities • R&D has 5 new designs in development. • Sales Broker create gains at contractors • Explore social media to convert loyal following. Key Issues 1. How do we shift Gray’s from a product-led launch into an idea-led brand to own “magic”? 2. How do we use loyal advocates to establish Gray’s in the production house buyer’s mind? 3. How do we defend against entry of mainstream lighting (GE, Philips) into the high-end stage lighting segment? Strategies 1. Content marketing to get Broadway directors to book a demo program and trade up 2. Use demo program to sign up highly motivated theater directors and drive share 3. Use high performance claims to defend against new entrants with most loyal high volume directors to hold onto key customers. Goals • Increase penetration from 10% to 12%, specifically up from 15% to 20% with the core target. Monitor usage frequency among the most loyal to ensure it stays steady. • Increase awareness from 33% to 42%, specifically up from 45% to 50% within the core target. Drive trial from 15% to 20%. • Hold dollar share during competitive launches and continue to grow 11% post launch gaining up to 1.2% share. Target zero losses at shelf. Content Marketing • White Papers on the impact of lighting. • Video story telling of our case studies, using our loyal directors to tell story. • Video interviews of patrons to highlight the impact of the lighting. Influencer Program • Use key influential directors • Tell story through social media • Film one of the demos Distribution • Support Q4 sales blitz with message focused on holding shelf space during the competitive launches. Q2 contractor blitz to grow distribution at key contractor stores. Social Media • Social Media program • Direct mailer nationally Competitive Attack Plan • Pre Launch sales blitz to shore up all distribution gaps. At launch, heavy merchandising, BOGO. In-theater demo. • Claims data vs competitors • Industry advisory panel Innovation • Building new product pipeline. • Explore lighting options for social media • New face recognition claims. Brand Vision: Be the lighting brand Broadway directors see as essential to their show. Make Gray’s a $100 Million brand by 2022.
- 16. In our section on strategic thinking, you will learn how to: ✓ Use five elements of smart strategic thinking ✓ Engage our ThinkBox 360-degree strategic thinking model to trigger new questions ✓ Build everything around your brand’s core strength ✓ Think strategically to tighten your brand’s bond with customers ✓ Think strategically to win the competitive battles you face ✓ Think strategically within your brand’s current situation ✓ Write strategic objective statements for each of the four strategies 2. How to define your brand positioning Too many marketers are trying to be everything to anyone. This strategy is the usual recipe for becoming nothing to everyone. The best brand leaders target a specific motivated customer audience and then define their brand around a brand idea that is interesting, simple, unique, motivating, and ownable. I will show you how to write a winning brand positioning statement with four essential elements: target market, competitive set, main benefit, and reason to believe (RTB). You will learn how to build a brand idea that leads every touchpoint of your brand, including the brand promise, brand story, innovation, purchase moment, and the customer experience. I will give you the tools for how to write a winning brand concept and brand story. In our section on defining your brand, you will learn how to: ✓ Write brand positioning statements ✓ Define your target market, with insights, enemies, and need states ✓ Define customer benefits, both functional and emotional ✓ Come up with brand support points and claims ✓ Understand the relationships among brand soul, brand idea and brand reputation ✓ Develop your brand idea ✓ Write brand concept statements ✓ Turn your brand concept into a brand story ✓ Use the brand positioning and brand idea to build your internal brand credo
- 17. 3. How to write brand plans Too many marketers focus on a short-term to-do list, not a long-term plan. The best brand leaders write brand plans, so everyone in the organization can follow with ease, including senior management, sales, R&D, agencies, and operational teams. I will teach you how to write each element of the brand plan, including the brand vision, purpose, values, goals, key Issues, strategies, and tactics. Real-life examples will give you a framework to use on your brand. You will learn to build execution plans, including a brand communications plan, an innovation plan, and a selling plan. In our section on how to write brand plans, you will learn how to: ✓ Use five strategic questions as an outline for your entire plan ✓ Write an inspirational brand vision statement to frame your brand plan ✓ Develop a brand purpose and brand values ✓ Summarize your brand’s situation analysis ✓ Map out the key issues your brand faces ✓ Write smart, brand strategy objective statements to build around your brand’s core strength ✓ Write smart, customer-driven brand objective strategy statements ✓ Write smart, competitor-driven brand objective strategy statements ✓ Write smart, situational brand strategy objective statements ✓ Focus tactics to ensure a high return on effort ✓ Write specific execution plans for brand communications, innovation, and a selling plan. ✓ Develop a profit statement, sales forecast, goals, and marketing budget for your plan ✓ Use an ideal one-page brand format for the annual brand plan and long-range strategic roadmap 4. How to inspire marketing execution Too many marketing leaders are becoming task-masters and step over the line into execution. The best brand leaders need to inspire experts to produce smart and creative execution. I will provide tools and techniques for judging and making decisions on creative content marketing your agency creates. For judging marketing execution, I use the ABC’s tool, believing the best marketing executions must drive Attention (A), Brand link (B), Communication (C), and Stickiness (S). I will provide a checklist for you to use when judging executions, which will provide better direction to your agency to inspire and challenge great marketing execution. 17
- 18. In our section on how to lead the marketing execution, you will learn how to: ✓ Understand the crucial role of the B2B brand leader in getting great creative execution ✓ Be the brand leader who can successfully manage all stages of the content process ✓ Write a brand communications plan ✓ Turn the brand communications plan into a creative brief ✓ Leverage smart and bad examples of the creative brief ✓ Use the ABC’s marketing execution decision-making tool ✓ Give inspiring feedback on content marketing to push for great work ✓ Build your media planning with six media questions ✓ Align media choices with where customers are most willing to engage with your brand 5. How to analyze your brand’s performance Too few marketers take the time to dig into data analytics. There is no value in having access to data if you are not using it to discover meaningful insights. The best brand leaders can tell strategic stories through analytics. I will show you how to create a deep-dive business review, looking at the marketplace, customers, competitors, sales channels, and brand. I will teach you how to turn your analysis into a presentation for management, showing the ideal presentation slide format. I will also provide a Finance 101 for Marketers, giving you every financial formula you need to run your brand. In our section on how to analyze the brand’s performance, you will learn how to: ✓ Analyze the marketplace your brand plays in ✓ Assess your customers ✓ Assess the channels you sell through ✓ Analyze the competitors ✓ Analyze the health of your brand ✓ Use 60 of the best analytical questions to ask ✓ Bring the analysis together to summarize drivers, inhibitors, threats, and opportunities ✓ Know the financial formulas for compound CAGR, price increases, COGs, and ROI ✓ Prepare a deep-dive business review presentation
- 19. Who should read the Beloved Brands playbook? B2B marketing pros, B2B founders and entrepreneurs, this book is for you. Whether you are a VP, CMO, director, marketing manager, sales manager, or just starting your marketing career, I promise you will learn how to realize your full potential. You could be in brand management working for a B2B organization or an owner-operator managing a B2B business. Think of this B2B Brands playbook is a toolbox intended to help you every day in your job. Keep it on your desk and refer to it whenever you need to write a brand plan, create a brand idea, develop a creative brief, make content marketing decisions, or lead a deep-dive business review. You can even share the tools with your team so they can learn how to deliver the fundamentals needed for your brands. This book is also an excellent resource for marketing professors, who can use it as an in-class textbook to develop future B2B marketers. It will challenge communications agency professionals, who are looking to get better at managing B2B brands, including those who work in content marketing development, public relations, trade show marketing, digital marketing, or event marketing. You will learn how to think, define, plan, execute, and analyze, and I provide every tool you will ever need to run your brand. My brand promise is to help make you smarter so you can realize your full potential. Graham Robertson Founder and CMO of Beloved Brands Inc. 19 The best B2B brands help customers feel more and think less
- 20. B2B BRANDS The playbook for B2B brands Chapter Summaries Introduction: How the B2B Brands playbook can work for you • The purpose of the B2B Brands playbook is to make you a smarter B2B brand leader so your brand can win in the market. You will learn how to think strategically, define your brand with a positioning statement and a brand idea, write a brand plan everyone can follow, inspire smart and creative marketing execution, and be able to analyze the performance of your brand through a deep-dive business review. 1. Why being a beloved brand matters • The more love your brand generates, the more powerful and profitable your brand will be. Understand the emotional bond you can create with customers. We will explore the concept of a brand idea, showing how it helps you connect with B2B customers and organize everything you do on your brand. An overview of the brand love curve will steer your strategic thinking and execution decisions. 2. How to use strategic thinking to help your brand win • Strategic thinking is the foundation of brand management. I will take you through the five elements of smart strategic thinking, including setting a vision, investing in a strategic program that focuses on an identified opportunity, and how to leverage a breakthrough market impact into a performance result. I will show how to turn smart thinking into strategic objective statements you can use in your brand plans. Moreover, I will set up the four types of strategy, looking at your brand’s core strength, customers, competitors, and looking at the situation. 3. How to build your brand around your core strength • Our core strength model forces you to select one of four possible options as your brand’s lead strength: the product, brand story, experience, or price. Each choice has a distinct strategic focus, brand communications, and desired reputation. I will show how the model comes to life with numerous brand examples. 4. How to build a tight bond with your most cherished customers • Customer strategy is about building a bond with your target customer. I use the brand love curve to demonstrate specific game plans for each stage of the curve, whether your brand is at the unknown, indifferent, like it, love it, or the beloved stage. This model sets up distinct strategies and 20 potential actions.
- 21. 5. How to win the competitive battle for your customer’s heart • The competitive strategy leverages the brand’s positioning to win in the market. Brands must evolve their strategy as they move from a craft brand to a disruptor brand to a challenger brand up to the dominant power player. Each of the four choices offers a different target focus, unique strategies, and tactics. 6. How to address your brand situation before you make your next move • Before initiating your plan, you must understand what is happening internally within your own company. You can learn four distinct situations, including fueling the momentum, fix it, re-alignment, or a start-up. Each situation has different indicators and recommended strategies, as well as advice on the leadership style to engage. 7. How to define the ideal target market to build your B2B brand around • Everything must start with the customer target you will serve. I will show you how to develop a B2B customer profile that includes a segmented definition, customer insights, customer enemies, need states, and the desired response that matches your overall strategy. 8. Mapping out the B2B customer journey to set up your brand to win • A typical brand funnel focuses on awareness, purchase, satisfied and loyalty. Brands must understand how potential customers move from one stage to the next, as well as understanding why they exit the journey. 9. How to define your brand positioning to help your brand win • You will learn the four elements of a brand positioning statement, including the target you serve, the category you play in, the space you serve that will help you win, and deal-closing support points—the best positioning balances functional and emotional benefits. You will access a tool to choose from more than 100 benefits. 10. How to create a brand idea you can build everything around • To become a successful and beloved brand, you need a brand idea that is interesting, simple, unique, inspiring, motivating, and own-able. I will introduce a tool to help build your brand idea and how to build a winning brand concept. 11. How to use your brand idea to organize everything you do • Use the brand idea to organize everything you do around five customer touch-points, including the brand promise, brand story, innovation, purchase moment, and the customer experience. The brand idea should organize your brand positioning, marketing communications, media, product innovation, selling, retailing, and customer experience. Learn how to build a brand credo and brand story. 12. How to build a brand plan everyone can follow • Use a one-page format to simplify and organize your brand plan so everyone in your organization can follow it with ease. You will learn how to find your brand vision, purpose, key issues, strategies, execution tactics, and measurements. 21
- 22. 13. How to build your brand’s execution plans • Once you draft your brand plan, it is time to build separate execution plans with crystal clear strategies for those who will execute on your brand's behalf. I will show how to complete a brand communication plan, execution plan, and sales plan. 14. How to write a creative brief to set up brilliant execution • The bridge between your brand plan and marketing execution is the creative brief. I will show you how to write a world-class brief using a recommended format. We will review smart and bad examples of a brief, broken out on a line-by-line basis. I also introduce a mini-brief for when you are time-pressed. 15. How to make marketing communications decisions to break through clutter • Six questions help you frame your media plan. Consider factors such as your brand's budget size, your brand's core strength, and how tightly connected your brand is with customers. Then identify which point on the customer journey you wish to impact, where your customers are most willing to engage with your message and what media choices best fit with your creative execution. I show you the ABC’s approach to decision-making for marketing communications: attention, brand link, communication, and stickiness. 16. How to conduct a deep-dive business review to uncover brand issues • The deep-dive review forces a 360-degree view of your brand by examining the marketplace, customers, channels, competitors, and the brands. You will learn some of the best analytical tools, including customer tracking, customer scorecards, brand funnels, and the leaky bucket. I provide the 50 best analytical questions to get you started, and a format for how to bring it all together into a business review presentation. 17. Marketing Finance 101 to help manage your brand’s profitability • Learn what you need to know about brand finance, including the eight ways you can drive profit. Learn how to dissect an income statement and use the essential financial formulas that marketers need to know, including return on investment (ROI), growth, forecasting, cost of goods sold (COGS), and compound annual growth rate (CAGR).