Gumas. Marketing Smart

Ordinary companies have bought into the belief that you can’t reach C-level executives through online communications.  Challenger Brands know that there is simply no truth to that common misperception, but they welcome the opportunities it provides them.  In a recent study by Forbes Insight in cooperation with Google entitled “The Rise of the Digital C-Suite: How Executives Locate and Filter Business Information,” it was discovered that senior-level executives considered the web to be their most valuable resource for gathering business information.  The results of the study indicated that the web far outpaced other sources, including personal networks, trade publications, seminars and trade shows.  Challenger Brands know that, contrary to common belief, C-level executives are far more involved online than are other members of the management team.  And Challenger Brands also know that the younger generation of C-level executives who have grown up in the era of the web are bringing about monumental changes to the manner in which market and product and/or service research is conducted.  Challenger Brands know of these things instinctively as well as intellectually.  Are you a Challenger Brand?

Imagine for a moment it’s the early 1950s and you’re the CMO (or senior-most marketing executive of the day) at Colgate-Palmolive Company.  You’re about to invest tens of thousands (millions in inflation-adjusted dollars) in the sponsorship of a radio or television program.  While you would have faced challenges in the process, the one challenge you would not have had to face was that of a Challenger Brand trying to do something similar.  Smaller, less affluent competitors could not afford to produce and broadcast such programs.  Fast-forward to the second decade of the next millennium, and that same CMO would be faced with a multitude of challenges from Challenger Brands.

Thanks to vod-casting, pod-casting, vlogs, blogs, etc., anyone with a flip video and/or handheld recorder can create, produce, direct and even star in a broadcast-quality video or audio production and deliver that message to an even broader audience for literally pennies compared to that 1950s investment.  And Challenger Brands are doing just that with startling results.  The world has shrunk even further as a result of the Internet.  Small Challenger Brand companies are making substantial inroads in ways in which they could never have even imagined just a few short years ago.  Challenger Brands are leveraging this advantage and making significant progress in absorbing marketshare from their less nimble and formerly formidable competitors.  Challenger Brands are embracing and leveraging technology as fast as it is made available.  They are using it to their full advantage to consistently lead popular culture somewhere new.  Are you leveraging technology to its fullest?  Are you a Challenger Brand?

Challenger Brands realize that brand identity and business promotion are now the domain of every dedicated employee.  That’s why Challenger Brands encourage their employees to participate in the promotion of the business through one of the more readily accessible forums for targeted communications: blogging.  Instead of restricting such activity to the corporate communications department, Challenger Brands embrace the Internet as an equalizer that levels the playing field and allows them to appear as large as the better-funded competition.  Fortunately for Challenger Brands, various recent studies show only about a quarter of all companies utilize blogging.

But what if an employee posts a controversial opinion, you ask?  Challenger Brands set obvious guidelines (don’t slam the competition, don’t divulge corporate secrets, etc.) and leave the rest to the imaginations of their discerning employees.  Challenger Brands realize that communication from inside the organization (R&D speaking to individuals with a similar mindset, engineering speaking passionately with folks with like minds, accounting, production, HR, etc.) trumps a single-focus communication from the communications department.  Blogging permits all of that communication and brand identity to be accomplished by folks who share common interests with your audience, and that equates to a different level of passion in the communication itself.  So take the lid off and let your brand be exposed.  Make the call now for “all hands on deck.”  There’s a whole world out there waiting to hear your organization’s multiple voices.  Challenger Brands satisfy that desire.  Are you a Challenger Brand?

Sure, traditional interruption marketing still has its place.  But rarely do Challenger Brands have the resources available to conduct the type of sustained print, broadcast or out-of-home advertising campaigns that are necessary to achieve the brand recognition and ROI that would justify such an expenditure.  Challenger Brands recognize the cost-effective impact Internet exposure provides. However, Challenger Brands do not act like advertisers of a product online; they act like publishers of information.  The difference is dramatic, and necessary, in this social media-driven world. Challenger brands generate an online presence that their target audience is eager to consume for its educational value.  Challenger Brands create a virtual front door that their target audience is eager to link to.  Challenger Brands recognize that they need to share their knowledge and expertise with a world that is seeking the information they have to offer.  Challenger Brands recognize that, as the authoritative source, sales and revenue streams will follow by default.  Are you a Challenger Brand?

Challenger Brands by definition are thought leaders.  They are constantly seeking to lead popular culture somewhere new.  They recognize that it is no longer a “sell to me” world, that they need to stay ahead of the curve by providing their target audience with valuable information. Think about that for a moment.  If a brand is telling you what you already know, is that leadership?  Would you respect them for it?  Would you buy from them?  If a brand is leading you somewhere new, opening exciting new vistas, providing you with knowledge to make informed decisions, is that not a brand you will respect and trust?  Thought leadership is demonstrated by answering the questions the audience didn’t think to ask.  A Challenger Brand gains sales traction in subtle ways by delivering authentic thought leadership that brands the organization as a serious player that you want to do business with.  Are you a Challenger Brand?

According to author and entrepreneur Simon Sinek (Start With Why), ordinary companies know what they do: they sell products or services, hopefully at a profit.  The better companies know how to organize that process in a manner that becomes systematic, and the replication turns into a successful and hopefully profitable routine.  The most successful companies (what we refer to as “Challenger Brands”) know why they do what they do. That distinction of purpose transcends everything, including profit.  In following that passion, Challenger Brands inspire a movement or lead culture somewhere new that results in a deep connection with discerning, loyal customers who become advocates and/or evangelists for that cause.  In the long run, the customers of Challenger Brands don’t buy what those brands produce; they buy why they produce it.  Profits follow as a matter of course.  Are you a Challenger Brand?

All too often, brands try to appeal to everyone.  In so doing, they limit the appeal to those they covet most.  Knowing what your brand stands for is essential for truly effective Challenger Brand marketing.  Being willing to stand for something that is unique and culturally relevant is key to having a successful Challenger marketing strategy.  A few examples:

-   Costco with its membership-only strategy, where you pay to play.

-   American Apparel with its provocative marketing approach that is a turn-off to some and a turn-on to others.

-   And, of course, there is Apple with its proprietary operating system and “join-the-club-if-you-wish” approach to marketing.

So, stand for something unique and relevant, or risk standing for nothing.

Once upon a time if you had a brand, you stood for something and never wavered. But many brands who have stood by this maxim have become extinct. Why? Because culture has shifted, and the brand’s point of view has become irrelevant. (C’mon, you don’t have to think too hard to come up with a brand that used to mean something to you but now doesn’t.)

If you want your brand to succeed today, you need to develop a brand that doesn’t just make sense to popular culture; you need one that ultimately leads it. Popular culture should be your brand’s touchstone. After all, brands are personalities that live in popular culture. When they tell relevant stories that dovetail with popular culture, people connect with them.

Far too often, companies get caught up in their own constantly developing spin.  This is especially troublesome for start-up firms that have been in the development stage for months or, in some cases, years.  They spend so much time listening to themselves chatter about the fun of discovery in the alpha stage, or the positive feedback they get from users in the beta stage, that by the time they are ready for GA they are convinced that there is nothing like their widget anywhere, and the world will undoubtedly beat a path to their door.

Don’t get caught up in the self-adulation game.  To ensure a more favorable chance of success, have your marketing department conduct the necessary research to test whether the market place is really ready for that latest innovation to your mousetrap.