In 2020, Create Your Brand With 20/20 Vision

by Scott Carpenter | June 30, 2020

Through our work at the Florida SBDC at University of South Florida, we provide no-cost consulting to a wide range of diverse business clients.  Some are doing very well as they seek our consultant’s insight to help them expand into new markets. And we see companies struggling to stay competitive during challenging times.

While there are many factors that probably separate the two types of companies mentioned above, we often find that the successful companies have a firm vision of their brand’s value and have the ability to communicate that position in a clear, concise and compelling manner.

In contrast, the companies that struggle typically haven’t found their “voice” in the marketplace and blindly wander trying to be all things to all customers.

In today’s highly volatile marketplace where every dollar is important, the stakes are too high to not find your true brand vision. In 2020 and beyond, your brand vision must be clear — perfectly focused – or 20/20.

How does a company find that vision? We help our clients find that vision through a variety of exercises designed to find a distinct ‘a-ha’ moment that uniquely encompasses the true value of the client’s brand that no other competitor can define.

1. Understanding Brand

People buy products and services through emotional triggers – what’s in for me – that a brand provides, and then justifies the purchase with logic…the function and product features that deliver on their expectation. Struggling companies often mistaken their brand as simply being the logo and color schemes used on their website, advertising, and marketing materials. Rather, a brand symbolically represents the customer’s perceptions, expectations, past experiences and feelings about the company’s products and services.

2. Creating A Value Proposition

The ‘big picture,’ value propositions are broad in nature and are a direct output of a company’s business strategy. It’s a planning statement that crafts the uniqueness of the brand that directly creates the “promise of value” the company will deliver each and every time the product interacts with the end customer.

3. Brand Position

Brand positioning reflects a subset of the value proposition. Essentially, this position is the emotional space a company wants to own in the target consumer’s mind — the benefits a business wants them to think of when they think of the brand.

4. Competitive Analysis

In most cases, regardless of industry, most companies fall into the sea of sameness, meaning you can strip their name off any marketing piece and they would look and sound like any other company. Through a competitive analysis, clients can determine how to position themselves not only away from the competition, but at a much higher level than the sea of sameness.

Through these steps and a few others, a company can begin to create effective clarity for their brand and a clear, 20/20 vision. After all, your brand may well be your company’s biggest asset.