Let’s chat about what the big brands do that small ones don’t always do. That’s put their name on everything. If you’ve noticed some big brands have each product line under different names. There’s a strategic reason for that. The reason is multifold, but the main reason is that it makes it harder to sell things. Here’s why you don’t put your brand name on all your offers – especially ones that go against your values and reputation.
- Different audience: each product has a different audience with unique profiles and reasons to buy. If you maintain a select amount of product lines you can keep them separate, which helps it reach the audience it resonates with the most.
- Changes audience perception which can hurt business as a whole: This happens when people stop trusting your brand. Usually, that can happen if you pivot a lot, have way too many offers that don’t align with your core mission, or are inconsistent with your brand’s message and visuals. When they stop trusting you, they also see you as less valuable, and in essence, they become disappointed in you and stop buying.
- Doesn’t make the company specialized: This is what is known as brand dilution. In short, it means that people get confused about what you sell and stop wanting to buy from you. As much as we’d like to avoid it, people make assumptions about us based on whatever information and experience they have. Most of the time, whatever information they know is what’s on a company website. If every offer for every audience is under that name, it can change how people think of you. You suddenly stop being the expert in your field and all of that hard work you’ve done positioning and marketing your business as a certain reputation goes away.
What’s a brand with big ideas to do?
- Don’t over-extend yourself. Make sure you have the staff and the financial resources to maintain each offer.
- Do not go against your core audience. For example, if you’re a beverage company, stick to different types of beverages and ways to enjoy them. If you’re a cleaning products company, stick to different types of cleaning products and situations where those products would be needed.
- Don’t contradict yourself and offer something counterintuitive to what you already sell under the same name.
- Embrace the concept of sub-brands. In short; a sub-brand is a separate part of a bigger brand with a specialized focus, like a toy company having a special line just for plushies or action figures.
Okay, that’s all I got this week! I’ll talk to you soon!