Punching above your weight in professional services 18 march 2020
•Download as PPTX, PDF•
0 likes•228 views
Our provocation… smaller professional services brands are inhibiting their growth potential by behaving like their corporate counterparts The opportunity… embrace challenger brand thinking to find a differentiated positioning and bigger voice in your market We’ve shared approaches, models and case studies that we’ve successfully used to help businesses thrive through more powerful marketing
Recommended
Recommended
More Related Content
What's hot
What's hot (20)
Similar to Punching above your weight in professional services 18 march 2020
Similar to Punching above your weight in professional services 18 march 2020 (20)
Recently uploaded
Recently uploaded (20)
Punching above your weight in professional services 18 march 2020
- 1. Finding a big voice when you’re a small(er) brand 18th March 2020
- 2. Unless you have a wholly new business model, brand is your biggest weapon
- 3. Unless you have a wholly new business model, brand is your biggest weapon
- 4. There’s usually more scope to think / act differently in brand world than in business model
- 5. It’s usually incumbent on smaller brands to think smarter, rather than relying on scale The guy you secretly like but don’t want your daughter to bring home Home of the most exciting and engaging betting experiences
- 6. When you can’t rely on scale and spend to win, you need to find a truth… a truth about your brand or a truth about your target audience …and you need to amplify it powerfully
- 7. We had to find a way of differentiating one of the smaller malt whisky distilleries…
- 8. But the big boys left the door open by building comms around clichés and stereotypes
- 9. That the island is tiny is true, but the higher purpose connecting the community was more compelling
- 10. Their focus on one thing, and commitment to doing it brilliantly, results in an extraordinary whisky…
- 11. Subaru was reliant on generic comms and clichés
- 12. But a connection between audience mindset and brand truth helped us help them… Brand challenge + audience truth Brand Vision We want our brand to become? Brand Promise Our commitment to customers Brand Values What we believe in & how we behave Brand Essence/ expression Our character/tone of voice Subaru isn’t a mainstream car brand but it’s doing a good job of looking like one We need to become more meaningful to our few, who… …have days on not days off …use their cars not drive them …are not defined by school runs and shopping trips Be recognised as the car brand that comes into its own out of town Brand Role Help people escape the everyday Great cars that will take everything (country) life throws at them Reasons to believe… Range Rural heritage Capability – on & off road Reliability Technical excellence Chosen by the people who sustain rural life. Peace of mind Character Resilience Readiness BORN READY Purposeful Effortless Enthusiastic
- 13. Which helped their agencies develop work that could only be for Subaru…
- 14. The bottom line… You can’t afford to think or look like the big boys if you want to beat them And the need to think different is as evident in professional services as any other category
- 15. Does branding matter in professional services and B2B? “People buy from people so it is crucial any B2B brand can find a narrative,” he says. “If there is an origin story around the founder then future buyers will connect with that and the brand” Tim Matthews… CMO at cyber security vendor Exabeam and author of the book The Professional Marketer “B2B advertising is often rational rather than emotional but in insurance the risk to a business owner can be greater than to someone personally. We are all human beings and we do not become a different person when we go to work” Claire Sadler, Direct Line
- 16. We don’t think it’s that different – if anything the approaches we use are more disruptive and thought provoking in a B2B (professional services) context What does change is the need to involve your people in the development of the thinking… In FMCG and consumer brand world, people tend to work for the business or brand (so the focus of thinking tends to fall on competitors or consumers) But in B2B world, it’s often the case that your people embody the brand rather than just work for the business – so the process revolves less around finding a way to inform external comms, it has to shape internal culture Does the approach change for B2B?
- 17. Generic thinking leads to cliched outputs… Plan Design Enable The most important thing we build is trust Smart engineering for extreme environments Bringing technology to life Bringing service to life Shaping the future Valued Quality. Delivered Trusted to deliver
- 18. Plan Design Enable The most important thing we build is trust Smart engineering for extreme environments Bringing technology to life Bringing service to life Shaping the future Valued Quality. Delivered Trusted to deliver
- 19. This kind of wallpaper makes branding for smaller professional services brands really interesting…
- 20. The world of recruitment takes stock shots and clichés to a whole new level
- 21. And the values are laughably generic – unlikely to make a difference internally or externally
- 22. Bromak used to look pretty much the same as the big boys it was trying to challenge…
- 23. Now it’s different because it understands the frustrations of its “few”…
- 24. Safe hands – we can be relied upon to get things right, put things right and do the right thing… our professional and personal reputations matter to us Broad shoulders – we never shirk a challenge and thrive in adversity …our people take responsibility in the day to day but come into their own when confronted with issues or problems Big hearts – we genuinely care about the people we deal with, inside and outside the business… our service comes from the heart, not the training manual Sharp minds – we’re committed to growing talent (within the business and beyond) by being knowledgeable, savvy and resourceful… we think and act quickly and decisively Bromak’s humanity in a world of heartlessness gave rise to a unique set of guiding principles…
- 25. So, where do brands go to find their edge?
- 27. An energised, fast-paced approach that puts brands through their paces, using techniques enable us to break through conditioned thinking Iterative and inclusive, it’s designed to take you and your people a little bit out of their comfort zone It can involve primary research with customers and prospects if time and budgets allow Tailor made to your needs, budgets and timings with a guarantee that end up with a more differentiated brand And a platform that enables you to cost effectively punch above your weight Your people will embrace it, your clients will respond to it, your competitors will be competitors will be jealous of it Brand Boot Camp
- 28. We develop ideas early and use them to fuel the process
- 29. We develop ideas early and use them to fuel the process
- 30. A flavour of the techniques
- 31. The Irreverent Maverick (wit, humour, shock) The Missionary (brave, beautiful, a higher calling) Next Generation Challenger (attack No.1, that was then, this is now) The Democratiser (challenging elitism and privilege) The Human (people to people, anti-corporate)
- 32. The Enlightened Zagger (deep felt beliefs in doing different) The Visionary (preacher not fixer) The Game Changer (change the way we think about a category) People’s Champion (standing up for the consumer) Scrappy David (good vs evil, big vs small)
- 34. Babcock’s Support Services… “Why?”… TO KEEP THE NATION AT THE TOP OF ITS GAME Why? How? What?
- 35. Workshop techniques Conflict discussions Brand reversal Lonely Hearts Brand warfare
- 36. Finding the right way to map potential positionings Purposeful Passive Patting ourselves on the back Putting ourselves in our customers’ shoes Faster acting / quicker thinking Championing community spirit One big family Bringing people together Infectious kindness Helping our region flourish Working wonders with nature The protectors Radical traditionalism Putting knowledge to good use Proud to serve
- 37. Dare to step out of your comfort zone – the process should stretch you and challenge your thinking Make things iterative, but not overly deliberative – you can end up with something that’s “correct” but not necessarily right Involve your people and open up what you do and how you do it to scrutiny Think about involving external agencies in the process – a good idea only becomes a great one when someone can bring it to life Be brave in application and activation – focus on what makes you most different and use the idea as a platform for innovation and engagement Beware “specialists” – too much knowledge can stifle creativity Summary – how do you get to a brand idea that will help you punch above your weight?
- 38. We hope you found this interesting If you would like to know a little more or to discuss a specific requirement, please get in touch with either… david@brand-edge.co.uk or ben@brand-edge.co.uk
Editor's Notes
- Brand Edge is a research and insight agency. Our belief is that smaller businesses in general, including many professional service brands are inhibiting their growth potential by behaving like their corporate counterparts rather than celebrating what makes them unique This presentation shares approaches, models and case studies that we’ve successfully used to help such businesses win by developing positionings that strengthen their brands and breathing life into their marketing, across applications as diverse as… - Internal culture and comms (by developing actionable “guiding principles” that are more fitting to smaller, agile businesses, replacing bland and often meaningless “values”) - Brand marketing (by identifying truths that can be leveraged to create more engaging comms and which provide a platform for engagement innovation) - Thought leadership and PR (by identifying the issues that businesses can build a bigger voice around)
- We deliberately work with a wide cross section of clients and across a broad cross section of industries. From blue chips to start ups, direct to consumer brands and business to business brands and high growth as well as those experiencing decline. We think we’ve developed a pretty good perspective on what brands, with different challenges, need to do to get ahead
- Why is differentiation so important? Because unless you’ve got the deepest pockets, you can’t win by being the same as everyone else. There are thousands of models out there like this one, all saying the same thing… that in whatever industry you are in… differentiation is crucial. If you want to grow, you’ve got to find, embed and amplify what makes you most different
- The drinks industry is a great example of this… loads of people with products that are fundamentally the same and distribution channels that are too. So a lot of effort is put into differentiation through other means… Sipsmiths went for a comms driven approach and maybe had one of the most talked about brands for a short while, but Whitley Neill concentrated on distribution and bossed the point of purchase. Both have been successful but have dared to break the mould versus the plethora of quiet craft brands… they’ve won by celebrating what made them different… bringing to life a quirky and eccentric brand positioning on one hand, and going for shelf standout through vibrancy and colour on the other
- And in another category, Ladbrokes play the establishment game, whereas Paddy Power continues to achieve more bang for their buck through by being more risk taking and playing the challenger brand with the big personality and clear sense of purpose which results in a willingness to take risks that Ladbrokes couldn’t stomach. Every £ Paddy Power spends is all the more successful because it’s defined its brand role, based around audacity and the deliberate courting of controversy
- So how do you go about applying this thinking? You always have to find an interesting truth… a truth about your brand or your business, or a truth about your target audience, who you are trying to connect with. That truth then needs to be applied, amplified and act as a platform for developing content and ideas that help you punch above your weight
- One of the brands we took through this process was a malt whisky called Jura. Jura is a tiny island off the west coast of Scotland with 5,000 red deer, 500 people, 1 road, 1 pub and 1 distillery. It’s a tiny brand with a unique story but it had a history of meandering between “samey” comms with cliched distillery shots, and odd executions that relied on quirkiness for cut-through
- These big brands build communications around tired and clichéd themes of aspiration, craft or taste. With little differentiation to drive memorability. So the door was open for a brand like Jura to do something (meaningfully) different
- We used research to explore the appeal and distinctiveness of various Jura brand truths. It came down to everyone on the island having a common, higher purpose… the people needed the distillery and the distillery relied on the people… for those living on Jura it’s their life and the whisky is a product of the community, the island and the distillery coming together to create something incredibly special. It mattered to them and it was their entire focus – and research proved that there was a very clear link between this fact and perceived liquid quality… if they care so much, it must result in a better whisky than those that are pumped out from big distilleries where people just turn up to earn a salary
- This made it easy for agencies to come up with distinctive and compelling comms that looked like they were conceived on Jura not contrived in Shoreditch
- In a completely different sector, we worked with Subaru, at a time when their obsession with acting like a mainstream car brand was clearly holding them back… the generic imagery and cheap puns were getting in the way of Subaru communicating their difference, and that in turn was inhibiting their ability to connect with the mindset and values of their audience
- We identified (and ratified through research) the truths about the brand that were most powerful, which showed it in its best light and, most importantly connected with the attitudes and aspirations of their target audience… Subaru drivers don’t have days off, they’re out there doing stuff and they need a car that can help them do it… when everyone else is doing the school run and Saturday morning grocery trip, these guys are out dong way more interesting stuff and their choice of car is enabling it all… we brought all this together into brand architecture which was used to brief the client’s creative and comms agencies…
- And the result was very much a campaign that gave Subaru a much bigger idea, a more engaging voice and a platform for real innovation – so you’d way more likely bump into the brand via a country event or campsite than a 96 sheet poster in the city
- To summarise… mirroring the big boys may seem like the thing to do… but if you genuinely want to compete… you have to find your own truth, your own voice and your unique way of taking it to market We’ve unashamedly used consumer brands to make these points because we’ll collectively learn more about the principles that work than if we only look at the landscape within B2B or our own specific categories – you’ve got to look outside of category if you want to find the inspiration for doing things differently
- It’s easy to think brand matters less in B2B but that would be a mistake – it has different manifestations and applications and “clients” can have different thought processes to “customers”. But we take the view that the need is MORE evident in B2B for small brands to celebrate their difference. And the potential gains are higher too
- One of the key differences is that in consumer world, we usually look within the product for the difference and we usually amplify that difference through external comms. But in B2B and professional services, it’s usually people and culture where the difference lies and, consequently, you have to embed the difference internally before communicating it externally
- One of our clients was an engineering and technology business. We started their process by sharing a load of straplines and asking them to identify their competitors through their straplines.
- Apart from their own, most struggled with this. This reflects a common problem – most of the content is generic, cliched, unmemorable and ultimately pointless
- The recruitment sector is similarly populated by look-a-likes. We worked with a really interesting recruitment and training business called Bromak – when we set out on their process, they looked like most other recruiters, but working with them revealed an altogether different story…
- Competitor brands in the recruitment market weren’t setting the bar very high … a sea of smiling people in grey suits, self-proclaimed expertise and cliched takes on professionalism and success.
- And the values were so “samey” they were pretty much guaranteed to fade into the background
- When we started the process with Bromak, they also had a very generic approach
- Through a process of uncovering what makes them different and better from competitors, and what clients and candidates valued most, we found that some people were comfortable with the “security” of the bigger businesses. But there was also a big and growing group who were getting tired of having their business taken for granted and being treated like numbers on a spreadsheet. This was also true of candidates who were tired of being abused and transacted
- Rather than develop values, we identified a number of really powerful cultural and behavioural truths that we used to celebrate Bromak’s way of doing things – principles that reflected a human approach rather than a corporate and uncaring one
- The right process is important as it not only mitigates against internal subjectivity but it leads brands and businesses to have confidence in adopting brave positionings that they may not otherwise have done so – because the process uncovers truths from within the business
- So as well as sharing case studies we thought it maybe interesting at looking under the bonnet and share some of our processes. We have a product called Brand Boot Camp, which is very flexible in terms of scale and how deep clients want to go. It’s deliberately designed to put brands and people through their paces with a view to coming out fitter
- It’s tailored to each business but is always inclusive, iterative and pacey. It’s also really engaging for the people within the business. Plus, it’s a really cost and time effective approach
- One of our techniques in Boot Camp is to create potential brand territories… ie starting points for a brand positioning. We aren’t seeking to get these “right” at this stage, rather they are there to provoke debate and inform thinking… here, for example… this project for Holts – the automotive brand – we explored a number of areas for one of their breakdown products including the emotional benefit of “taking the stress out of motoring”, the more direct “ability to fix a problem” and a more light-hearted take, that “shit can happen to anyone at anytime” – they helped us explore different capabilities and the appeal of different tones of voice
- In the B2B world, for a rail consultancy we did a similar exercise and helped root out what were considered hygiene factors and what had the potential to be more interesting and differentiated. This provided the fuel that helped us arrive at a brand positioning for the client around “keeping our world moving”
- We have a raft of techniques that help develop positionings. Sharing some of these…
- Exploring what type of challenger brand is most appropriate and differentiated. There are at least 10 types… and here’s a few examples… each one has it’s strengths and weaknesses and it’s appropriateness depends on the sector and the characteristics of the client company – we’re not looking to mimic any of the brands featured, rather explore the willingness and ability of brands to adopt different stances
- And it’s obviously critical that the client brand or company is capable of living up to the type of challenger it wants to be
- Golden Circles… a technique borrowed from Simon Sinek and in our view, much more suited to B2B brands that B2C brands… as the WHY usually revolves around a higher purpose that can galvanise and bring together often disparate parts of the business together through a unifying theme. Most B2B brands focus comms around what they do, occasionally some celebrate their different way of doing it, but sometimes you have to look at the “WHY” as a way of unleashing a more strident and compelling voice
- Babcock Support Services provides everything from the decommissioning of Nuclear power stations, vehicles for the Met police, apprenticeship training for some of the UK’s biggest employers and staff at Heathrow’s terminal 5. Babcock’s CEO believed that it would be impossible to develop a positioning that would be equally applicable to all parts of his business whilst still being meaningful and motivating. We developed a purpose of “keeping the nation at the top of its game”. The client loved it and the task was then simply applying this overall thought to each of the operating divisions
- Other tools we use include… Conflict sessions (rather than hoping something pops out of bland discussions, we deliberately bring people together with opposing views and encourage the debate you need to arrive at something more thought provoking) Brand Warfare (this isn’t competition, it’s war… how do you blow your enemies out of the water?) Lonely Hearts (a light hearted but really productive way of getting under the skin of what people want from each other) Brand Reversal (a projection technique designed to explore how other – out of category – brands might approach our task)
- And mapping potential positionings against attributes is a great way of bringing a degree of analysis and objectivity to the process. Understanding how different platforms work is crucial to assessing potential impact and ensuring we go for something that’s more powerful than obvious… here’s a recent mapping for territories we developed for a utility company looking to dial up emotional engagement with customers
- So, based on our experience, we think there are a number of critical principles to follow in order to develop a brand that stands out against competitors for all the right reasons
- We hope you’ve found this interesting and helpful. And we’re always happy to talk on a 1-2-1 basis so feel free to get in touch.