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February 2009
(Continued)
Digging a Deep Foundation
Every branding effort is ultimately geared toward becoming a
relevant part of a consumer’s life. A key cog in the “Know
Thyself” wheel revolves around the various benefits obtained
by the consumer for doing business with your company.
Knowing these benefits will help you dig a deeper
foundation, making great strides toward becoming a relevant
part of the consumer’s daily course.
Know the Benefits
Every viable business will offer benefits to consumers.
Maybe this includes putting the right mix of product on the
shelves as it did for Ritter’s. Maybe it involves increasing
hours to fit consumer’s need for convenience; or a stronger
online presence. There are numerous magical formulas waiting
to be calculated. Those benefits lend much toward a
successful branding effort for one reason: Benefits generate
a relevant desire among consumers. Branding guru, David A.
Aaker, lists those benefits as: Functional; Emotional and
Self-Expressive.*
Functional Benefits
Functional benefits are, quite simply, what you are offering
to the consumer. It's the functional transactions involved
with conducting business or the actual product being
purchased. What do you do? What do you sell? How does this
product or service enhance a consumer’s life? In other
words, how do the practical benefits of a given business
serve to enhance a consumer’s life and become a vibrant
relevant contributor? For example, a community bank would
list functional benefits to include everything from
processing checking account transactions to processing loan
applications. Each step in the process is part of the
functional benefit provided by a business for the consumer.
From a branding standpoint, those functional basics leave
two marks on the consumer: 1) What your business provides
from a transactional standpoint; and, 2) What your business
provides on a deeper level. The remaining two benefits speak
to that depth.
Emotional Benefits and Self-Expressive Benefits
We usually buy something because we need it or, well,
because we flat-out want it. As consumers, we have many
motives when purchasing products and services. Of those
“many”, there are two real reasons that we buy. One, we need
the functionality provided by the product; and two, that
product fills a need for us on a deeper level. Yes, we need
or want the benefits brought into our lives by the product
itself. However, there is usually a more psychologically
jarring reason that we buy a product or shop where we shop.
For example, when purchasing a mortgage, I needed to secure
a loan that met the financial obligations of the contract.
That was more of a functional motive. There were many
institutions available that could fill that functional need.
However, I ultimately chose the bank because of the
relationship that I held with the people. Rates were going
to be essentially the same across the board. It was a matter
of going with a company that I knew I could trust. That
trust-centered relationship brought a more emotional
motivation into the picture.
Emotional attachment is perhaps one of the strongest reasons
to buy. What kind of emotional spark does buying your
product/service create for the consumer? Do these
transactions create an emotional tie that binds the consumer
further to the product/service and your business?
Considering the importance that emotion plays in consumer
behavior, this is an important benefit in which to be
well-schooled. In the local business setting, relationship
is often a vital component. Relationships spark emotional
connections that create mutually fulfilling relationships
and better enhance the emotional benefits. These are strong
ties that bind, indeed.
Those deeply connected motivations extend beyond
relationship. I bought a big screen television, not because
of the salesperson, whom reeked of smoke and at times I
wondered if he had also been hitting the sauce during
working hours. Rather, I bought the television because of
both the functional benefits it provided and because I
wanted to create a real theatre-like experience in my new
media room. I wanted to entertain and do so in grand style.
Quite often, we buy to make a statement about who we are
personally. Baseball fans provide a great example. After
all, aren’t Cubs fans looked at differently than Yankees
fans? Donning the pride and tradition of the pinstripes and
their 26 World Series rings makes a strong statement of
success, while the Bleacher Bums of the Chicago
“maybe-next-year” Cubs have a different persona altogether.
Theirs is steeped in tradition but better marked by loyalty
than banners. Cars provide another example. People look
differently at someone who drives a Mercedes-Benz than
someone tooling around in a Pinto. Clothes mark a final
example. Clothes are purchased to allow consumers to express
themselves.
Self-Expressive Benefits make a statement to others about us
as consumers. What am I communicating to those around me
when I conduct business with a specific store or company?
Consider the following two consumers. Mary banks at The Home
Bank; buys her family’s clothes at Wal-Mart and drives a
mini-van purchased at the area’s largest Ford dealer. Mary
finds very distinct benefits within each of these businesses
that make an equally distinct statement about who she is and
what she stands for as a person. She likes the personal
attention that she receives at her community bank. This
sense of relationship is far more important to her than
squeaking out a slightly better rate at one of the
conglomerate banks. By shopping at Wal-Mart, Mary is proud
to say that she’s value conscious; and her choice of
vehicles tells the world that she loves carting her kids
around in Super Soccer Mom style. Now, consider Sherrie.
She banks at a conglomerate bank, shops for clothing only at
Dillard's and Proffits a drives a BMW. The self-expressive
benefits found in those consumer behaviors make loud and
clear statements about who Mary and Sherrie are, not merely
as consumers, but as people as well. Each makes a distinct
statement--one no better nor worse than the other, but
clearly making statements to those around them whether
intended or not.
Examining these benefits is a very important first step
toward Knowing Thyself and furthering the branding process.
(CONTINUED NEXT MONTH with Part III).
© BrandVision Marketing.
2009. Matthew Scott Trueblood. All rights reserved.
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