Most of your potential customers don't know that your product is out there. The reason that big brands grow is because they target both their current customers, and future potential customers at the same time. Most smaller brands don't have this luxury. But if you're a smaller brand, can you really borrow the ideas and techniques of the bigger companies to help your brand grow? The answer is yes. Here's 5 lessons you can learn from the biggest brands.
You only need one brand
Big companies can often have colossal empires, with a portfolio of different brands. Instead, when you're growing your company, you should have one brand and stick to it. There's almost never a good reason to have more than one brand, or even sub-brands. In most cases they increase costs and complexity. Take for example Dove and Lynx. One brand is aimed at young men, the other at women. That's a good example of a reason to have two brands. But more big brands are trying to save money, and the way they do this is by reducing their brand portfolio. So start small, and try to stay with only one brand for the biggest impact.
Dramatise your differences
One of the biggest things you have to your advantage as a small business, is your size. You're free from the need to align across touchpoints and look like a big corporation. Yeah, it is true that consistency does matter. But many smaller brands get obsessed with brand guidelines and consistent look and feel, which can stop them being interesting creatively. Allow yourself the freedom to play around with your marketing materials and be a bit scrappy, because that's an advantage you have over a bigger brand.
The limitations of PPC advertising
Most small brands double down on performance ads, such as Facebook and Google ads. The reason? They're cheap and they're just text, so they're easy for any business to do. The downside? They're cheap and just text. This means they don't hit the 95% of the market who are not looking for your thing at that moment in time. Instead, you could use low cost digital video to get your message to as many people as possible through platforms like Instagram and Youtube. Combined, this will give you an integrated suite of digital channels to promote your company. Tell your story across digital media and reap the rewards of brand marketing. Speaking of which...
Build for the long term
One of the hardest things about building a brand, is that you need sales today to get to tomorrow. To build a brand though, we're going to need to think about, plan for and invest in the future. Most of your customers aren't buying today. But it's important to talk to them. Just ask the likes of the AA, Easyjet and Adidas. All three cut their brand spending only to backtrack after business performance dropped. Learn from them and remember that performance starts at the top and that brand building drives long term sales. Begin the brand building process to create long term sustainable demand. Start small and go from there.
Flexible positioning
Positioning gives you a huge advantage by making you different to the competition, while letting your customers know what you stand for. A simple story about your company can really do wonders. But in the early days of a brand, it's actually better to have a slightly looser plan. As you talk to customers and grow the brand, you'll tend to find that they help you find where that unique spot in the market should be. For example, take Apple. As a brand, they had the advantage of creative people using their products. So creativity is bakes into their DNA. So is technology of course. But in the 2010's they learned that people also enjoyed their products as a symbol of status.
In other words, they learned from the market and adjusted their approach. Now it goes without saying that you're not Apple, and so copying this move isn't advised. But we can learn from them and countless other brands who tweaked their position in response to market shifts. Until you hit year 5, let your customers tell you what your brand is - and position on that.
Over to you
Building a brand is a lot of work. But by learning how the bigger brands out there managed to achieve success, you could pinch a little bit of their magic for yourself and your brand.
