Here, I share my thoughts and suggestions for weak brands:
1) Accept reality: A realistic assessment of the brand's situation is critical for an appropriate marketing strategy to address the challenges and problems. Management should have the maturity and guts to accept reality and act on it. Ignoring or falsifying reality will not make the problems go away.
While it sounds like the most obvious thing to do, it doesn't happen easily as acceptance of reality is also an admission of failure. It is even more difficult when people involved with the brand carry an irrational belief that "my baby is the best" or suffer from the "I am OK; you are not OK" mentality.
2) Re-align with reality: The next step is to re-align strategies, resources and expectations in line with the accepted reality. Marketing mix and market place behavior should be altered to be in consonance with the brand's position in the market.
Setting ambitious goals is good, but it is also important to be realistic about expectations. Turnaround will be slow and return on investments will be low. Unrealistic expectations, which are very often a reason for the brand to become weak, will result in more strain on the brand, resources and people.
3) Avoid deterioration: Re-aligning with reality is not to suggest that compromises should be made. Measures initiated to shore up the bottom line should not adversely impact the product quality, after sales service, customer experience, advertising and price. Deterioration of these would only give the consumers and trade even more reasons to reject the brand.
4) Don't wait for the big idea: Weak brands should not waste time and resources in waiting around for that one big idea. It will never come. Instead, resources should be spent in ensuring that the right things are done better, time and again. This will eventually pay-off when the stronger brands commit unforced errors. Gains will come only in random small doses.
5) Don't give up too soon: Strategies and programs should not be discarded prematurely just because immediate improvements are not visible. Consumers take a much longer time to respond to stimuli from weak brands. They need time to notice, process, re-evaluate, seek reassurance and then act on the stimuli. This process, depending on the strength of the stimuli and the purchase frequency, could sometimes take years. The cycle is much shorter for the stronger brands as consumers do not re-evaluate and seek reassurance every time.
In the perpetual search for the success formula weak brands should not jump too soon from one program to another. Frequent changes would confound the consumers in the evaluation process. Implementing short-term measures to hasten the recovery process will only be counter productive.
6) Focus on consumers; not on competition: Weak brands should not allow themselves to be distracted by the activities and success of the stronger brands. Consumers should be the sole purpose of the brand. Marketing programs should be initiated in response to a consumer need and not in response to a competitive activity.
7) Focus on strengths; not on weaknesses: This will help the brand to identify and prioritize the right products, unique propositions, strong markets and profitable customers. Limited resources are better invested in defending and growing strengths. By focusing on strengths the brand could avoid drawing attention to its weaknesses.
8) Overcome trust and credibility barriers: The biggest challenge a weak brand could have is to build trust, credibility and emotional connect. Better products, unique propositions, claims, etc might not work if the consumers are not willing to believe the brand. Credibility will come when the brand claims are tangible, demonstrable and unique, supported by a good reason to believe.
Trust and emotional barriers are far more difficult to gain. Positive WOM of existing customers will definitely bridge these barriers far more effectively and efficiently than advertising claims. Marketing programs should mandatorily include the existing customers.
9) Leverage Advantages: Weaker brands do have a few advantages over the stronger brands. Programs should be in place to identify, assesses and exploit all these advantages.
· Strong brands take consumers for granted; weaker brands can't afford to.
· Strong brands could be pre-occupied with heavy operations; weaker brands might not be.
· They have a lot to loose; weaker brands have nothing to lose.
· They have heavy competition; weaker brands don't have competition.
· By default strong brands become everything for everybody; weak brands are not everything to everybody.
10) Don't ignore the future: Non-stop fight for survival should not be an excuse to ignore future needs. Ignoring the future will only widen the gap further. For many weak brands, the solution could actually be in the future and not in the present. Relative to the bigger, stronger brands it would be easier for the weaker brands to adapt to changes faster.
Weak brands definitely need better marketing. The suggestions above are purely based on my observations of and experiences with weak brands and the people involved with them. They are by no means exhaustive or exclusive.
Please do share your experiences, thoughts and suggestions.
