Annual Brand 'Tune-Up' (Part One)
by Gary C. Sain
Chief Marketing Officer & Partner
Yesawich, Pepperdine, Brown & Russell

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Before you immediately race out of the gate, I would recommend reviewing the following brand "tune- up" questions. If you are a CMO, or senior marketing person, you are the brand champion and responsible for its well being. It is up to you to ensure your company is well positioned for success in 2006 and to meet or exceed your marketing and sales goals. These are important questions to ask of yourself and your team at the start of every New Year. Answering them candidly is critical to truly understanding if your brand is properly being managed and then addressing any issues or concerns.

Also, many of us carry over to the New Year unfinished business from the previous year due to unforeseen priorities. These tasks yet to be completed, plus the tasks in your 2006 action plan, are daunting. Being a marketer -- a very good marketer -- is having the discipline to rise above the many distractions and day-to-day priorities to focus on what's really important -- enhancing brand equity. Now is an excellent time to focus on the what's really important for your brand's future success, especially in the eyes of your customer. Hopefully, this article will provide a mini-roadmap.

What is your brand story? Can every employee recite it? If not, what story is being told to your customers/prospects?

Your story is critical to branding. Without an effective brand story, how can you brand? Story is a fundamental building block for all learning. It has been proven to be the most effective means of communication between people, as well as, the most memorable. In branding, especially marketing travel experiences, travelers will recite and relate their travel experiences through stories. No one recites features and benefits. Consumers relate to stories, humanistic experiences to which they can relate to. It is the story that brings the brand to life. If you do not believe it, ask five friends about their last travel experience. Be ready for some great storytelling!

Questions to ask yourself and your senior team. Do we have a story? What is it? Is it written down? Is everyone on the same page? Is it immersed in the culture of our company? Do we enculturate new employees with our story so they know it, understand it and can present it to customers? Is senior management on board? Is the guest experience centered on our story? Do we deliver what we communicate? How does our story compare to our competitor's brand stories? How do we measure story effectiveness? How often do we review our brand story and make adjustments?

I always say to clients that if they do not have a well-crafted story that they aggressively tell, it will be told for them and the story may not be as favorable. Every brand has a story. Many times, it is being told very differently by past guests, employees, stakeholders, the press, blogs, etc. Hopefully, many are good stories, however, some may not be. The CMO and the senior team need to ensure their brand has a compelling story that is reflective of the travel experience their enterprise is committed to delivering. And most importantly, ensuring it is consistently being managed, executed and told at every customer touchpoint.

One of the fundamental benefits of having a well-crafted brand story provides the opportunity to have all stakeholders speak from the same platform. Here is an exercise. Ask 10 different individuals within your enterprise to tell you the company's core brand story in 15 seconds or less. Yes…the elevator speech! The findings may be quite eye popping! How many different recitations and variations? How does the story differ between managers and employees? Ask the same question just to your senior team. Ask several of your customers. Again, the insight may be enlightening. It is very difficult to move brand communications/brand execution forward without everyone centered on the core brand story. This exercise may uncover the need to focus your marketing efforts internally to ensure everyone is story centric and committed to the same story. Story is the glue that holds everything in place.

Answering these critical questions and developing a plan to ensure success in storytelling is a key component in brand marketing.

Who are your customers? Is your marketing communications relevant to them? Are you speaking to all of them the same way?

By the year 2050, half of the U.S. population will be non-white. A quarter of all American households do not speak English at home. The consumer marketplace today is highly diverse. One size does not fit all. Mass marketing will not be as effective in the future as it may have been in the past. Travel marketers who can clearly define who their customers are and communicate to them in a relevant manner will distance themselves from their competitors. They will be able to connect with their targeted audience(s) and build a more compelling personalized brand relationship. Taking the time to truly understand your targeted audience and making the necessary marketing adjustments can enhance brand clarity. Before you try to satisfy "the client", understand the person.

How do you segment your customers? How do you communicate to them? How do you ensure your marketing communications are relevant to them? What measurements do you have in place? Is your Web site in one language - should it be in more than one? Are the models in your ads reflective of the audiences with whom you wish to connect? Do you conduct qualitative and quantitative research to learn more about your customers? Is your enterprise customer-centric? How do you know? What are you doing to gain insight on what your customers may want in the future? Do you know the changing attitudes of your targeted audience?

Research is essential in providing the senior team with the proper insight. Research tends to get pushed down the budget priority list. However, for travel marketers to truly understand who their customers are, what they want, how they like to be communicated with, etc.; allocating the proper financial support research is crucial. Remember, branding is relationship building. The key to a successful relationship is knowing what each partner wants from the relationship. It's not what you think your customer wants; it's having the insight to know exactly what they want.

Relevancy is a pillar of successful branding. The more insight you can obtain on your customers, through permission marketing, the more compelling the relationship you will develop with those customers. Personalization and customization has been talked about for years. Some travel marketers are doing a better job than others in this area. I believe through innovation and technology, we have the ability to communicate one-to-one with selected customers. Maybe these are your best twenty percent. If so, why not reward them with travel offerings built around them…their ethnicity, sex, age, interests, family component, food interests, recreational interests, hobbies, dreams, etc. As good as the general marketing of any one travel provider may be, customers want personal recognition and they want it their way. If you are selling a service, you're selling a relationship. Make it personal and relevant.

Taking the time to evaluate your customer database and incorporating strategies to ensure your brand story is relevant to the targeted audience is essential in building long-term brand loyalty and clarity.

Are you delivering the brand promise? How do you know? How can you improve it?

Certainly guest comment cards help you in identifying what is good and what needs improvement. However, how many guests have had a negative experience and never told you? Worse, they told many of their friends how bad the experience was and have promised never to use your product or service again. You don’t know who they are. They are telling your story in an unflattering manner and to whoever will listen. The key is to eliminate poor service deliveries before they happen. However, if your customers do encounter a service issue, the key is taking care of the problem immediately. Ninety-five percent of customers will do business with you again if you solve the problem/issue on the spot. Waiting for the comment card is too late.

Are your employees empowered to make it right (on the spot) with disgruntled guests? Who reviews guest comment cards? What actions are taken with poor performance? What actions are taken with great performance? How do you “shop” your guest experience? What is your brand promise? Is it written down? Are all the stakeholders aware of it? Do all your employees know? Do you reward great customer service? Are senior manager’s bonuses tied to overall guest satisfaction?

Today’s customers are tough. They feel they know more than you do, have more information than you do and have a number of other choices. Second chances don’t come easy. That is why it is essential to get it right each time and every time. Focusing senior management time on how to better the guest experience is a critical brand component. For what is a brand? It is a promise. Consistently delivering the brand promise is where the rubber hits the road. The key word is consistent.

Take the time to experience your brand and do it often. If you are a small enterprise, get someone you know to do it, who is not known by your employees. Take off your marketing hat and experience your brand like a regular customer. Do this six times a year (minimum) and you will gain terrific insight in how your customers are being treated, or not being treated. Share this feedback with the executive team and your employees. Delivering the brand promise, each and every time, to each and every guest, can make a discernible difference.

Strive to be remarkable with your brand delivery. The extra effort you put into it can dramatically increase your opportunity in building brand loyalty. Or as I like to say, turning customers into BRAND EVANGELISTS!

What is your discernible difference? In your mind or your targeted audience…are they the same? Can it be competitively defended?

I had the pleasure of working with John Teets, the former Chairman of Dial Corporation. I was CMO of Premier Cruise Lines, a.k.a. The Big Red Boat. We would have these exhausting Operating Review sessions in Phoenix once a quarter…ORs for short. Each company of Dial would have to present a two-hour presentation on their performance for the previous quarter and what they hoped to achieve in the next quarter. Mr. Teets would always harp on several key themes. The one used quite often: What is your discernible difference? Believe it or not, many key executives could not answer.

Discernible differences within the travel space are tough to find and harder to maintain. Remember, it is easy for a competitor to copy. The secret is identifying what is your key discernible difference that cannot be easily duplicated. At Premier, we were the family cruise line. Sure, other cruise lines marketed to families; however, our entire focus at Premier was families. We even changed the name to the Big Red Boat. Our accommodations, services, food, excursions, programs, tours and staff all reflected this single-minded brand focus. We were able to create a credible distinction in the marketplace that was not easily duplicated.

Here is an exercise. Have your senior team in your next executive meeting write down on a piece of paper three separate words that best describe your brand. Next, have them write down the one key discernible difference they feel your brand has over your competition. Finally, ask them to write down what they feel can/cannot be easily duplicated by your competition. This will give you a good idea on how your senior team views your brand in relationship to others.

If we as travel marketers are doing such a good job in product or experience differentiation, how is that so much of travel advertising looks the same? I encourage you to review the travel offerings in any one of the travel magazines, or any advertising, for that matter. What travel products truly stand out and why? How differentiated are the travel products? What is the compelling story vs. all others? If a consumer cannot easily identify brand differences, they will buy on price. We are not a commodity industry. However, if we do not proactively market our discernible differences, we will be viewed as one of many vs. one of one.

Stand for something or stand for nothing.

Are you consistent with your brand messaging across all customer touch points? How often do you check? When was the last time you shopped your competitor’s/your brand?

One of the most rewarding exercises for CMO’s and senior marketing individuals is the agency review. Although it can consume formidable time and energy, it is a terrific way to receive feedback on the brand from a fresh pair of eyes. One of the activities many agencies will offer is a mini-brand audit…how your brand is being communicated across all customer touch points, as well as what the competition is doing. It is amazing to see how brand communications differ across these customer touchpoints. Many times, the CMO is not aware of these differences, especially if they are managing a larger workforce with many moving parts.

I trust many of you did a similar exercise during your marketing planning for 2006. If you did not, now is a great time to do it. You may be surprised what you learn. This is important because it provides you with an excellent opportunity to see what your customer sees. If you are not consistent with your messaging, tonality, story, personality, etc., you will confuse your audience. Granted, you may have different messaging for different targeted groups; however, they should all be based on a core story and unified brand platform.

Knowing your competition is Marketing 101. However, it’s the subtle insight that is so critical. This insight which can only be obtained by being a student of the industry and your competition. Your competition may not be as visible as you may think. Cruise lines compete with land vacations, not just other cruise lines. Reviewing your competitors Web sites, press articles, collateral, blogs, customer reviews, public financial reports, etc., can be hugely beneficial and insightful. The secret is doing it on an on-going basis, not just once a year.

I believe in the phrase “Inspect What You Expect”. Making assumptions on what the competition is doing is a kiss of death. Also, making internal assumptions on how your brand is being received by the targeted audience can equally be as painful. Don’t assume. Peel back the onion for yourself and see if your brand is walking the talk.

As I mentioned above, consistently shopping your product/service, through the eyes of your customer can provide incredible feedback. It is difficult to build a brand relationship with your targeted audience if you are inconsistent with your brand story, brand messaging and brand delivery.

Remember, branding is more than your advertising campaign. It is much more than your logo or slogan. It is a carefully crafted holistic approach to your business and the relationships you wish to foster. Call it “surround sound”. Every customer touchpoint is reinforced with the brand story, brand promise and brand differentiation.

Nothing in this article is difficult to do. These are the basics in proper brand stewardship. However, having been a CMO, I know firsthand how challenging the daily grind can be and the number of unplanned distractions that seem to pop up every day. It is easy to skip over the basics due to more pressing issues. That is why I recommend you take some quality time this month to reflect and review the questions I have raised. The insight from the answers may help you understand how your brand is being perceived, both internally and externally. A brand “tune-up” I like to say. More importantly, it will help you to see your brand from the eyes of your customers.

YPB&R is a specialist in brand building and creating brand charisma for travel brands. We offer a proprietary process called brandRing. brandRing is a proven methodology which can help travel companies increase their overall brand equity and maximize their brand clarity. Please visit us at www.ypbr.com.

If I can provide any additional insight on this topic, please do not hesitate to contact me at 407-875-1111 or gary_sain@ypbr.com.

I wish you much success in 2006!