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1 Minute Advice: Brand Differentiation through Customer Focus is Key

Customer focus is the key to brand differentiation, writes Isaac Krakovsky, principal at PwC US for strategy + business. "An inability to connect with customers is a big part of the problem for companies that find themselves lost in the undifferentiated middle," says Krakovsky. "To implement a successful customer-centric brand strategy, companies need to have a foundation of operational excellence. They should be exceptional on practical points, such as product offering or omnichannel experience, so they have a basis from which they can reinvigorate and maintain customer engagement."

Krakovsky offers a useful framework for brand differentiation in the article, dividing companies into four groups: "The path to differentiation (and to thriving as a differentiator) depends on whether your company is currently a hopeful, a doer, a visionary, or a differentiator..."

For any brand executive seeking brand differentiation, the article is a must read:
https://www.strategy-business.com/article/How-to-stand-out-in-a-crowded-marketplace?

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Have you heard about the book, Boomer Brands?

1 Minute Advice: Surprisingly, Online Brands are Plunging into Retail

This may sound counterintuitive, but the growth in retail seems to be coming from online direct-to-consumer brands. According to eMarketer principal analyst David Lipsman, “D2C brands with a demonstrated aptitude for selling online are now expanding to physical retail. Brick-and-mortar isn’t always the most hospitable environment, particularly for brands targeting the more elusive millennial shopper, but D2C brands nevertheless feel confident about their prospects."

As a result, online brands are exploring pop-ups, showrooms and full-fledged retail stores. eMarketer says it expects this trend to continue, reporting the following: "October 2018 data from Activate—the most recent research we have on the topic—found that a plurality of D2C brands, including Fabletics, Warby Parker and Glossier, opened or announced a store opening worldwide last year. That figure is significantly higher this year as other brands such as Allbirds, Casper and Burrow continue to expand their physical footprints."

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Have you heard about the book, Boomer Brands?

1 Minute Advice: 2019's "Most Relevant" Brands

The Brand Relevance Index from business consulting firm Prophet is out for 2019. For the fifth straight year, Apple is the top most relevant brand to U.S. consumers. As reported by Marketing Charts, here are the top five most relevant brands:

1. Apple
2. Spotify
3. Android
4. Bose
5. Disney

Brand relevancy differs by demographics, however. Note the comparison of most relevant brands, Millennials vs. non-Millennials:

Millennials

1. Apple
2. Android
3. Google
4. Bose
5. Disney

Non-Millennials

1. Apple
2. Amazon
3. Pinterest
4. Android
5. Netflix

Rankings are based on a survey of 13,500 US customers, who rated 225 brands across 27 industries.

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Have you heard about the book, Boomer Brands?

1 Minute Advice: How CMOs See the Current and Future State of Marketing

The American Marketing Association, Deloitte LLP and Duke University's Fuqua School of Business sponsored the August 2019 "CMO Survey," a twice annually, long-running survey of Chief Marketing Officers. The survey generated 341 responses from U.S. for-profit companies and 95 percent of respondents were VP-level and above. A few interesting data points:

• Companies are bullish on marketing, with marketing budgets expected to grow by 8.7 percent next year.
• Marketing leaders believe new technologies have strengthened the importance of marketing in their companies, but they struggle with being forward-looking: Two out of three executives say they tend to focus on "managing the present" rather than "preparing for the future."
• Artificial Intelligence (AI) is having an impact on marketing; there has been a 27 percent increase in the use of AI over last year.
• The percentage of the marketing budget spent on mobile marketing is significantly increasing and expected to grow over 70 percent in the next five years.

More about the survey here: https://cmosurvey.org/

This post is brought to you by 123eGuides.com. 123 eGuides are a series of authoritative guides about branding, marketing and small business published exclusively in electronic format to provide maximum value at minimum cost.

Have you heard about the book, Boomer Brands?