Niels gave us today his second lecture on Marketing. He focused on Branding or ,as he puts it , the battle for a share in the mind of customers. Gaining Market share is based on the knowledge of past buying behavior of the customers. Gaining Mind share is linked to the prediction of the future buying behavior of the customers.

 

No one wins any territory and keeps it without a good strategy. Beside a good product description, beyond product features and benefits, to win a mind share one needs:

a) to observe customers buying behaviour,

b) to know perfectly customers accepted belief,

c) to have a good insight in customer insights . 

While observation does not lead to a motivation of action, accepted consumer belief do. What is your accepted consumer belief about Mac Donald’s, Coca Cola, Porsche, BMW, Mercedes, Toyota? What are your experiences with a brand you do not remember exactly the name and you will not buy again,   a shop for example where you do not go shopping? What are the products you buy even it is more expensive than others because of the name?

 

 Branding goes through five stages: 1) Awareness, 2) Consistency, 3)Performance, 4)Advantage, 5)Bonding. The first three define the price of entry; it is a must to win market shares. Consistency at every single level  is probably the most important. An example is easiness of use. It starts at packaging, goes through product use at the first contact and also when using more features. Advantage and bounding make the difference that wins the mind share.

 

Philips name is a brand. The slogan Sense and Simplicity is not only a claim. It must be experienced by customers of Philips all around the world, at every single level of the society. It is a story that a customer can tell about his experience with Philips products. It is emotional. Philips uses three pillars for the brand: Designed around you (some do without you), easy to experience, advanced (competitive edge, what makes Philips Philips).

 

An interesting discussion followed. It is more than a lecture in marketing class: we have discussed about branding ourselves. At the university we develop ourselves as products, with a good product description (a CV). What about our work on our customer (employer) insights? What is the story we can tell about our performances, consistency, advantages and that creates bonding with others?

 

The audience was far larger than in the first lecture. We were twenty. Rebin has sent a mail to International Student Network and seven joined. Very delighting . Next lecture: mid May 08. We expect to have Niels and a HRM to discuss about Marketing and branding ourselves.   

 

Niels thank you. Rebin (Mosaic) : thank you for sharing with others