Why a strong synergy between business & brand strategy is important to create great customer relationships.
Defining a clear and strong business plan when starting a company is self-evident. But what about brand strategy? At which point should you develop and implement it? Considering that brand is, in fact, the bridge between your business and your audience, designing it early enough is as important as building a strong business plan. The more synergy between the two, the more likely they are to empower each other in the process.
Let’s see how it’s done.
Let’s see how it’s done.
Thinking beyond profitability
Designed in 2005 by Alexander Osterwalder and Yves Pigneur, the Business Model Canvas has become the reference strategic management template for anyone who aims to map out a new or existing business. Entrepreneurs use it to gather different aspects of their business in one place, analyzing connections and consistency between all the elements. Typically, multiple versions are created during the conception of the endeavour’s final model, based on feedback, conversations, pitches, research, etc. Three elements of this canvas are particularly relevant to show the relationship between brand and business strategies and the need to build a strong core that not only generates revenue but also allows your concept to reach its full potential.
Value propositions, customer relationships and customer segments: those are the three first steps towards thinking about more than just your product or service and their functional features. By exploring in-depth what they encompass, you will be able to incorporate brand knowledge and advice into your model. To do that, you need to take a broader perspective than just strict marketing and business terms. The sooner this happens, the better, as it will consolidate the connections between your identity and your profitability.
Value propositions, customer relationships and customer segments: those are the three first steps towards thinking about more than just your product or service and their functional features. By exploring in-depth what they encompass, you will be able to incorporate brand knowledge and advice into your model. To do that, you need to take a broader perspective than just strict marketing and business terms. The sooner this happens, the better, as it will consolidate the connections between your identity and your profitability.
The dishwasher epiphany
Which customer needs are we satisfying? Which problems are we helping to solve? When answering questions on value propositions, most companies tend to stick to the strict definition of their product or service and forget to put themselves in the shoes of their customer. What ‘job’ is the product doing for the buyer? If you can’t fully answer that question, you can’t truly understand your customers, and you will miss out on their expectations and possibly even the latent needs they might have.
Let’s take the example of a simple and very common machine, the dishwasher. Its purpose is to deliver clean dishes. But its value for people who purchase one goes much deeper. It unburdens them and accomplishes a much more priceless task: it saves them time. As a company, embracing this aspect that goes beyond the mere cleaning performance will open the door to a real comprehensive and holistic approach of the business model and of the brand awareness. It will allow to build up a new kind of relationship with the customers, based on functional as well as emotional fulfilments.
Let’s take the example of a simple and very common machine, the dishwasher. Its purpose is to deliver clean dishes. But its value for people who purchase one goes much deeper. It unburdens them and accomplishes a much more priceless task: it saves them time. As a company, embracing this aspect that goes beyond the mere cleaning performance will open the door to a real comprehensive and holistic approach of the business model and of the brand awareness. It will allow to build up a new kind of relationship with the customers, based on functional as well as emotional fulfilments.
Building
your tribe
The customer relationship and the customer segments are the two other fundamental points of the business model canvas that create the very first bridges for brand-building. They are directly linked to the value propositions and, here again, the integration of brand strategic thinking in the first steps will benefit the whole structure. Who are we creating those values for? Intensive office coffee drinkers will not have the same expectations as specialty coffee aficionados when it comes to their espresso. Addressing one community with the propositions fitted for the other will lead to certain failure.
The connection you’re creating with your clients will most of the time be more important than the product itself, and it will certainly be stronger if you make it a consistent part of your brand identity. Sending only sales-focused messages or relying on ads will not provide the same level of efficiency in that matter. In order to establish a deep and durable relationship with the customers – the way Apple has achieved to do over the years, for example – it must be in some ways integrated into the complete business model. Naturally, answering these questions accurately on the level of the business model is only the foundation for further brand work. Nonetheless, a clearly defined answer to the questions of “with whom” and “how” do we want to establish a deeper connection, is just as important as “what” we are going to sell.
The connection you’re creating with your clients will most of the time be more important than the product itself, and it will certainly be stronger if you make it a consistent part of your brand identity. Sending only sales-focused messages or relying on ads will not provide the same level of efficiency in that matter. In order to establish a deep and durable relationship with the customers – the way Apple has achieved to do over the years, for example – it must be in some ways integrated into the complete business model. Naturally, answering these questions accurately on the level of the business model is only the foundation for further brand work. Nonetheless, a clearly defined answer to the questions of “with whom” and “how” do we want to establish a deeper connection, is just as important as “what” we are going to sell.
Renewing
your vows
Under the motto ‘it’s never too late to do the right thing’, every company or organization can, at any time, reconsider how to bridge its business model to a more pertinent audience by applying holistic brand strategies.
Because markets are constantly moving and changing, long-existing companies also need to keep monitoring the compatibility between business and brand-related aspects. Reconsidering your customer relationships and rethinking your value propositions will surely lead to even more consistency and relevance.
MORE
