Branding and the Waste of Resources (Part 2)

As we previously discussed, providing cheaper products for customers to buy things that they do not need only lead to a misuse of resources. Customers think in terms of needs and preferences: physical, emotional, functional or social. Too much money is being wasted to promote products that people do not need. As the saying goes, marketing budget is the price you pay for a bad product or service. Advertising alone does not build a brand. It is foolish to think it does. It never did and never will. As Clayton explains, “advertising is not a substitute for designing products that do specific jobs and ensuring that improvements in their features and functions are relevant to that job.” When your product resolves a specific need, your customer will talk about it. They will share it with their friends and family. It become a purposeful brand; one that resolves a specific need for the end user. As result, your brand gradually builds brand equity.  It becomes associated with a specific purpose.

Advertising is only useful to the point that is reminds people of your product or reinforces your product’s purpose. While advertising your product, we have to make sure that your brand equity does not dilute and lose its purpose. Otherwise, customers will use your product for a different need, thus creating a bad experience and reputation for the brand. Different jobs requires a different purpose/product. We can either expand with a purpose brand (many products, one job) or an endorser brand (many jobs, one brand) as explained by Clayton. However, we have to be careful since endorser brand can easily erode our purpose brand and create a different expectation for consumers. A stronger brand is built on differentiation and specificity (one job=one product).