Talking Point: Time to take stock?
When the economy recovers, you’ll be in a different marketplace - time to take stock?
Assuming that the East Midlands economic situation can only get better soon (and that is a huge assumption, I admit, but I'm trying to be positive) the thoughts of those companies that have survived this last two years will soon be returning to more aggressive marketing of their brands.
Be mindful that all companies are themselves, or they own, brands. Brands are the personification of a business. And brands help build businesses, however large or small they may be.
Inevitably, and ill-advisedly, some East Midlands companies will have dramatically retrenched their brand marketing spend during the recent difficult times. But a study by research provider Millward Brown clearly shows that drastic marketing budget cuts inevitably result in reduced customer bonding, weakened brand image, lower sales and ultimately market share decline. If these companies survive at all, their market situation will have been severely weakened.
To ensure that their brand is in good shape to pick up and drive when the recovery comes, the more enlightened companies in the region will have continued to invest in brand advertising and promotion during the recession, albeit perhaps at a reduced level of spend. To gain competitive advantage, even in difficult trading conditions, a brand's share of voice should exceed its share of market - otherwise its voice will be drowned out by that of its competitors.
But even for those more enlightened companies, it’s no good just going at it gung-ho as if everything’s as it was back in 2008. When the recovery comes the market will have changed in size and shape, and so will your brand positioning. Some of your competitors will have disappeared. Your marketing goals may have changed in the light of changing circumstances.
So now's the time to check out how prepared you are for the upturn - time for a brand healthcheck. Think of it as a stocktaking exercise, with your brand equity being the stock in question.
Step back to see if your brand is in good shape, is it fit to perform? Ask yourself where your brand presently sits in the marketplace, why it's there, how it got there, what its strengths and weaknesses are and, most importantly, what it's capable of and where you might now wish to take it.
And now really is the time to do it, before the challenges of an uplifted economy hit you from all directions. Don't wait until you're 'up to your arse in alligators …’.
A successful business must have a clear and full understanding of where its brand sits in its present marketplace, how its values, and your aspirations for it, might have changed.
Be mindful that the market you remember as we went into recession will not be the market you see as we emerge from it.
Andy Sellers, managing director of Sellers & Rogers
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