If You're Not Sure About Your Brand Strategy, You're Burning Money

(updated 8/20/15) You wouldn’t take off on a dangerous trek without excellent navigational tools and a damn good map, right? That’s just what you’re doing when you strike off boldly with communications – without the directional beacon of brand strategy.

Brand is, flatly, the image or idea people have when they think about your store, your products or your services. Everything about and surrounding that entity is brand. Think about the retailing giants, such as Pottery Barn, Williams Sonoma, Macy’s, Orvis, Victoria Secret and others. Think about the giants that have stumbled, such as The Gap, Kmart and JCPenney. And even though this post was originally written three years ago (as of this update), those three brands are still having problems. Just this week, Gap announced another new plan to reshape their brand.

What do people think about your stores?

It’s your logo, the style of your advertising, the layout and fixtures in your store. It’s your staff, their dress, their sales techniques and their speech. For our furniture retailers, it’s also the delivery services, especially the drivers and helpers. You have to look at every aspect of your company and every touch point it has with your customers – because it all adds up to what your brand is.

Brand is NOT what you wish your operation was. Brand must be a true reflection of what you are doing and how people perceive it. And if you don’t like what you’re doing it’s time to get your house in order.

Stated simply: every touch point you provide to your customers has to be consistent with your brand or you’re pouring money down a hole and pushing your stores in the wrong direction. You can’t stop selling to fix this – the ship is under sail. But you must get your brand message together sooner rather than later, and drive it down into every aspect of your customers’ experience. And that can't be just a one or two month campaign and then forgotten about. Your brand is more important today than it ever was and it needs to be cared for on a constant basis.

When you get your brand act together, every dollar you spend and every step you take will be a sound investment in existing and future sales. Your strategy will drive you where you want to go.

Michael Morin, Yaffe EVP and Brand Fan