The goal for most advertising/branding/marketing efforts is to create top of mind awareness. However, this is only one step if your goal is to increase sales. You want to be the business the customer thinks of first, and feels best about when their moment of need arises.
A few years ago our local newspaper hosted a top of mind awareness event. Basically, a company contacted people in our market area and asked what business they thought of first in different product/service categories. I was a partner in retail jewelry store at the time and was invited to hear the results. (The newspaper’s goal was to sell more ads.)
Zales ranked number one in the survey. Makes sense, they have been around since the 1920’s. My store came in at number two. Not bad, we had only been in business four years at the time of the survey. But here’s the kicker: we did more in sales volume than the local Zales store. (I knew this because we had hired their store manager to work for us.) While I’d like to have been first in top of mind awareness, I’ll take being second if I can be first in sales any day. Top of mind awareness alone is not enough.
If you want to be the one customers think of first and feel best about, you’ll need to focus on your Story and Structure. What promise are your making to your customers? How are you delivering that promise? Make sure your advertising and marketing messages are relevant to the customer and not focusing on you. Ensure that your people, practices and systems make it easy to do business with you.
Apply these principles consistently and your business will be well on it’s way to being the one the customer thinks of first and feels best about when their moment of need arises.
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