Know-How Exchange : Branding

Start with doing your marketing!

Understand the market

• How big is the market (revenue, units, average selling price)?


• Who are the customers?


• What are their needs?


• How can you segment these customers by needs and/or demograhics and how big is each segment?


• How can you best reach these customers (what media, what message, etc)?


• What are the best sales channels to use to reach these customers - retailers, wholesalers, distributors? Map this out

Understand the competition

• Who are the competitors?


• What share does each of the competitors have or what segments


• What are the strenghts and weaknesses of each competitor?


• How well does each of the competitors meet the needs of the customers (by segment)

Understand your company

• Conduct a SWOT - strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats for your company


• Comparing your SWOT versus the competitive analysis, how can you use your strengths to attack the competitors' weakneses, how can you turn your weaknesses into strenghts, how can you take advantage of the opportunities, and how can you avoid the threats?


• How can you position your product/service to better meet the customers needs versus the competition?


• For which segments do you have the best compelling unique selling point? Also, what are the pricing needs for each based on the value you bring to the customers?


• In particular, why would people want to by your brand versus Ikea, Target, Tesco?

Branding
The brand you want to create involves much:

• Name


• Logo


• Product characteristics - colors, features, quality


• packaging and packaging characteristics (colors, font styling, logo and logo placement)


• tag lines

These are all decisions that have to be well thought out ahead of time and thought about from a context of "the future." Successful branding is more than just a cleaver logo/tagline. To be successful demands consistency in the long haul. Look at Nike and the Swoosh. This has not changed in forever. And because the have been consistent with the logo, colors, product quality, etc, Nike is one of the best known brands in the world.

When you have completed your marketing and made your branding decisions, then it's time to put together a plan to reach these customers with a message that will influenece them to understand how your company can serve their needs better than the competition. This involves advertising, press releases, preparing collateral material, training salesmen (if you have them), etc. The plans should take into account different approaches for different segments. When talking about end customers and promoting your brand, this is a pull strategy. This has to be augmented with a push strategy in the sales channel. In other words, you need to plan a promotions strategy with the retail stores, wholesalers, and distributors. Therefore, you want to plan your attack, since you probably can't afford to do everything at once! Pick a "segment" to go after - based on geography, customer characteristics, etc. The ideal segment also would be one that leads easily to another segment because this set of customers influences another set. When you're done planning how to attack that segment, plan the next and the next.

And that's all there is to it! Viola! You're in the retail business under your own brand. Good luck!

Hope this helps.

You have received some very good advice from the experts here -- candace.petersen and wnelsen, in particular.

I would add to their suggestions that you really need a partner or consultant who knows the US market, understands how merchandise like yours is distributed and marketed in North America, and has the skill set to develop a sound business and marketing plan with you.

Trying to do this alone, from another country, the first time, is almost impossible. You should remain deeply involved, of course, but not try to do it alone. You'll just frustrate yourself, take twice as long as the project requires, and end up with a sub-optimal plan when you're finished.

You also need to have a budget for the up-front planning and strategy development, plus an additional marketing implementation budget that depends on your strategic approach. It's not cheap to enter the US market, unfortunately. But often the rewards are far in excess of the entry costs. Your product offering sounds like one that has good potential in the US, and it would be a shame to blow it on your first attempt at branding this way.

I would probably be interested in taking on this project, or you can post a project in the "Hire an Expert" section of this site -- just click on "Post a Project" in the column at the right -- and you'll undoubtedly get several responses from highly qualified consultants who know the US market quite well.

If you want to discuss this offline, just send email by clicking on my screen name above and using the email address there.