HOW DO YOU CREATE A BRAND?
One of the key elements is market positioning. This begins with strategizing how you and your company are different from the competition. As part of this process, come up with a one-word positioning statement.
As an example: Volvo’s word is “safety” while Victoria Secret’s is “sexy”.
What is yours? Once complete you will want to rank your company on a positioning chart relative to your competitors in the industry. The axes of the positioning chart are up to you, but I like to use cost and quality. Are you low cost but a high quality or high quality but high cost?
When creating your brand, it’s important to think about your ideal demographic and the service you will provide them. That then becomes the brand the archetype for your company. It’s also important to consider the name, of your company, logo, and tagline. They all have to look great if you want to be the best.
If you are marketing Executive Protection, you don’t want to market EP to grocery stores. You are marketing to the top 1% of high net individuals in the country or your geographic area. Remember that Executive Protection services are a small niche market. How successful will you be marketing Executive Protection services in Alaska? I have not done any studies, but I would guess that there is not much EP in Alaska, so you may starve and go out of business.
The purpose of a brand is not what you think about yourself, it is what the customers think about you. As an example, WPG does a number of security briefings in Beverly Hills, CA. Where we hold the luncheon is important to elevate or lower our brand. If I choose the high profile restaurant, Spago, in Beverly Hills, then I am creating an impression about my company that is high end and high quality. Alternatively, if I decided to have the event at a restaurant in Compton, California the impact of the low rent location would deteriorate my brand. No high net worth person would even show up. All of our actions every day will either lower or raise the brand.
“Remember the ‘brand’ is not what you think about you, it is what your customers say to other people.”
So do you want to be the Rolls-Royce of protection or the Ralph’s grocery store of Executive Protection? The Rolls-Royce brand alone is worth 60 million dollars.
About the Author:
CEO/ President
The World Protection Group Inc.
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