As a company you have to have a strong sense of who you are appealing to if you are to build a sense of personality (brand) that starts customers on the road to buying from you.

Confused companies, confuse customers, who buy from someone else. 

Unless of course your products are so cheap and competitors so weak it does not matter.

At the start of this crisis and especially when your country informed you you about 'lockdown' my guess is you did what most people did which is to go and panic buy food from the supermarket. 

Panic buying of pasta, tinned food, and for many months supply of toilet roll?

You would have done this based on your perceived 'need'. 

Without a doubt some of those purchases will have been influenced by your favourite brands, but as finances became tighter your 'need' will have superseded your want.

I would also guess that very few of you went out and panic bought a car, a new suit, a pair of jeans etc because this is stuff you 'want', and not stuff you need?

Brand marketing when done in the right way creates 'want' in the consumers mind above 'need', this in turn creates the opportunity increase the perception of value which can lead to a better margin and more loyal customer.

If you're a product led company e.g. you develop/find the product and then you involve marketing in order to 'promote it' with fingers crossed. This was how it's been done for several decades and if this is the way things are still being done I strongly suggest you learn how to become a 'consumer' led company pretty quickly.

What do I mean by this?

Prior to this crisis people didn't just buy because they NEEDED things. 

They bought because they WANTED things. 

This difference is critical and is the basis of Branding. 

And today it's going to become even more important for those companies needing to kick start revenues and compete against competitors with similar products or services.

As a retail guy I'm constantly obsessed with the emotional rationale that influences us to buy from one company over another.

Consumer hedonomics which is a bit of fluffy marketing research jargon and is a key pillar in my growth and transformation strategy process I use to help businesses become internally aligned on their 'Why'. 

In simple terms it is used to help us better understand what people like/dislike about a company or brand, why they prefer our company over a competitor and guides us to help fix it. 

It's a process that helps us to better understand internal and external behaviours that impact growth and transformation.

It's something I have repeatedly utilised with amazing success for over 15+ years.

Companies are starting to realise they can no longer afford all that marketing budget and resource they had before this crisis. 

So brands that better understand the power of consumer hedonics are more likely to better align themselves and the external messaging with consumer than those that don't.

Consumer hedonomics is how we describe the key drivers that can influence a consumer to spend money with you over a competitor. 

A brand/business that better understand the key drivers around consumer behaviour will inevitably win out over companies that don't. 

Brand marketing when done in the right way creates 'want' in the consumers mind above 'need', this in turn creates the opportunity increase the perception of value which can lead to a better margin and more loyal customer. 

•Moving from need to want in buying adds value/margin

•It erodes competitive threat, but doesn't remove it!

•It creates internal clarity boosting staff contribution

Pre-Covid most people purchased things because they 'wanted' something. 

Great brands work on emotions because 'people buy from people like themselves'. 

Unless they have no choice, or it’s a commodity. 

Memorable brands create a personality, which requires clarity and consistency in dealing with people. 

Above all a great brand will earn TRUST, simply because you can't impose it on someone.

I run a couple of workshops, and one of those workshops is designed to help business better understand how to stimulate and achieve growth by using consumer hedonomics which helps to better internally align the brand, this in turn helps to deliver an externally aligned brand strategy. 

My tried and tested process is underpinned by asking leadership teams in businesses to look in the mirror and better understand 'why' the consumer is choosing to spend their money with a competitor over them.

Are you bold enough to look in the business mirror and commit to acting on what is reflected back at you?