The Truth About Creating Brands People Love - 9780137128167

Branding: secrets revealed, best practices explained, pitfalls exposed!

• The truth about positioning brands and developing brand meaning

• The truth about brands as corporate profit drivers

• The truth about advertising, pricing, segmentation, and more

Simply the best thinking

the truth and nothing but the truth

This book reveals the 51 bite-size, easy-to-use techniques for building great brands—and keeping them great.

“I recommend this punchy, provocative book that uses vivid case studies to remind us of 51 truths about brands.”

DAVID AAKER, Vice-Chairman, Prophet and Author of Building Strong Brands and Spanning Silos

Preface ix

Truth 1 Managing brands is not common sense 1

Truth 2 No one loves your brand as much as you love it 5

Truth 3 The brand is not owned by marketing; everyone owns it 9

Truth 4 Making more by doing less 13

Truth 5 Does your brand keep its promise? 17

Truth 6 Price is the communication of the value of your brand 21

Truth 7 Brand personality is the emotional connection with your brand 25

Truth 8 Does your sales force know the difference between a product and a brand? 29

Truth 9 Beware of the discounting minefield 33

Truth 10 Packaging protects your product; great packaging protects your brand 37

Truth 11 Brand management is association management 41

Truth 12 The retail experience is the brand experience 45

Truth 13 Corporate ego: Danger ahead 49

Truth 14 Brand metrics: Best measure of success? 53

Truth 15 Customer complaints are a treasure 57

Truth 16 Brand stewardship begins at home 61

Truth 17 Market share doesn't matter 65

Truth 18 Avoid the most common segmentation mistake 69

Truth 19 Public relations and damage control: The defining moment 73

Truth 20 Focus equals simplicity 77

Truth 21 Marketing is courtship, not combat 81

Truth 22 Don't sacrifice brand focus for sales 85

Truth 23 The medium is not the message; the message is the message 89

Truth 24 Brand development and the small business 93

Truth 25 Imitation is an ineffective form of flattery 97

Truth 26 Positioning lives in the mind of your target customer 101

Truth 27 The value of brand loyalty 105

Truth 28 Quality is not an effective branding message 109

Truth 29 Effective use of celebrity endorsers: The fit's the thing 113

Truth 30 Brand-building consumer promotion 117

Truth 31 Advertising built for the long run 121

Truth 32 A service brand is a personal brand 125