Mindshare Marketing

I had the opportunity this past weekend to speak with a man very knowledgeable about barbecue. This was both fun for me, and upsetting. Growing up, “barbecue” has always meant “grilling on the patio” for me. It wasn’t until I was much older that I was exposed to the spices and robust flavors of “authentic” barbecue.

Now I am told that different regions have different styles of barbecue! This, I think, is totally unfair. I spend most of my life thinking of barbecue in one way, only to have the real world suddenly thrust on me on a Friday afternoon. What to do?

If “barbecue” were the brand name of your company, how many customers would react the same way to the realization that you make more than one thing in more than one way? How well do you communicate differentiation between your goods and someone else’s? How about the differentiation between your own goods? How will your customers react when they figure out your widget and your competitor’s widget don’t actually do the same thing?

Maybe you should take them out to dinner to explain it all. Food always makes difficult news easier to digest.

It’s amazing how much a price can affect the perception of a brand. A little while ago on SmarterMarkets, I commented on how the price of the new iPhone could possibly hurt its standing as a premium product. When a product can actually demand a price premium, making its price competitive in the market (lowering the price to something more reasonable) calls into question the blind respect customers gave in the first place. “Wow, the iPhone I just spent $399 on isn’t actually worth that much?”

Just yesterday, a friend pointed out to me that people are auctioning off the ability to follow them on Twitter through eBay. Twitter is a free service that allows anyone and everyone to follow frequent “updates” about you through SMS text messaging, website plug-ins, or email. ANYONE can sign up to follow you FOR FREE. Oddly enough, the man selling this right for $10 each is actually making money by identifying himself as a “Twitter superstar.”

Here’s his hilarious note that follows the eBay listing:

Dear Friend,

It would be foolish of you to go to www.twitter.com/jasonmoffatt and follow me there
because we both know it will mean so much more if you give me $10 to follow me.

Let’s face it, the idea of paying me $10 to be my Twitter friend is a way smarter idea
then trying to follow one of these obvious links to my Twitter page and waste away hours
of your time when you could easily just Paypal the $10.

And I promise to spend it on nice Micro Brews.

And hey, it’s the American Way isn’t it? or maybe it was the Canadian Way?

Either way, Strange Brew was a kick ass movie.

So, I’m the inventor of ADD, ADHD, and that makes for really awesome Twits.

By now you can easily see that $10 is a drop in the bucket for all the comedy, action,
and the occasional smart money making nuggets that could help you buy at least a
Snickers or something with our profits.

So hurry now because I’m probably be going to raise the price to follow me on Twitter
to about $100 soon.

Because as you can see, this auction has a ton of design skills and this takes some serious
time and effort. Heck, I may have to jack up the price to $500 or more.

While supplies last, you can follow me at Twitter or you can be lame.

Cheers,

Jason Moffatt

The friend who forwarded me this listing just laughed. At first, so did I. Then I noticed that the number of available “products” has been steadily declining. People are actually paying for a free service! While I find it mildly disgusting that Jason is so proud of himself over this, it demonstrates the power premium pricing has over the market.

Just wait, next we’ll be paying more for brand-label bottles of filtered water than we do for gasoline.

Oh, wait …

“My name’s Ralph, and no one knows my brand…”

Unfortunately for us, there are quite a few Ralphs in the world. The problem is that they don’t have a Brand Managers Anonymous support group to attend - many are left to fend for themselves. In a market as harsh as today’s, that can be a death sentence for your brand, not to mention your career. Like the better known Alcoholics Anonymous, any B.M.A. would give its members a list of steps to follow to build strength for themselves and their brand:

Step 1: Admit we are powerless over our brand

The brand is the property of the entire company. No one man or woman is responsible for its success or downfall. The brand manager is merely the figurehead of brand development campaigns (and, too often, the scapegoat of brand failures).

Step 2: Believe a higher power can restore the brand

The market and, consequently, the consumer are ultimately more powerful in building your brand than any one, two, or twenty people inside your organization. Faith in your brand champions will lead you back to success.

Step 3: Make a decision to turn the brand over to the hands of the customer

Mis-managed brands tend to be built from the outside-in. Rebuilding such a brand from the inside-out would be impossible, so don’t try.

Step 4: Make a fearless inventory of your brand and its assets

Chances are good that, if you’re in this predicament, you don’t have a thorough list of what your brand does well or what your customers value about it. Take some time to figure these out, even if what you find goes in a different direction than you expected or want.

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