Have you ever stopped to think about what people say about your organisation, when you are not in the room?
It is an interesting thought and a question that taps straight into the strength of your brand. A positive reputation for a brand is crucial for success. Referring back to our last blog post ‘Beauty and the brand,’ this reputation maybe reflective of the inside of your brand (purpose, values, personality & promise) or outside of your brand (positioning, visual & messaging) and usually is made up of both.
To help our clients understand the reputation they have in their customer’s minds, we have in the past done a simple, cost effective research exercise to help clients/brands understand this more. This piece of research is an informal piece however can provide some valuable insights!
The Research Exercise
We start by defining the target audience for this research. We then locate a sample of the target audience in a public setting such as a ‘shopping centre.’
When we approach them to ask if they would be happy to be part of the research, we also get their permission to film the interview so we can record their reactions and responses. Once they agree we then ask them the following types of questions;
- Do you know brand X? (Awareness/ Visibility)
- What do you know about them? (Awareness/ Visibility/ Messaging)
- Have you used the brand before? (Usage)
- How would you rate the product/service? (Performance)
- Would you use the product / service again or recommend it to a friend/s? (Repeat purchase and referral attitudes)
After getting about 15-20 interviews recorded. We then put the responses together in a play back video to present to the client/brand with insights and recommendations to help the brand move forward.
Reflections of the Process
It is a very interesting exercise for a brand to do for a bit of a reality check. It is an uncomfortable exercise for most, interestingly usually for both the customer being interviewed and also for the client/brand watching the replay.
For the customer, because they know the client/brand isn’t in the room (as we are filming instead), they seem to realise this is an important opportunity to be helpful and provide some honest feedback, so the client/brand can learn and be at it’s best. Which is Sodablue’s mission to ‘help brands be their best.’
As for the client/brand the thoughts quickly start to roll into their head, ‘ahh…what will they say…do I really want to know? This makes them feel very vulnerable, which can be hard if they are aware that it may not be positive. However, we reassure them they will be rewarded with great insight if they do this. And usually after the client watches the video they will be relieved and say ‘this is great, we should actually share this information with the rest of the organisation.’ As the customer’s responses both verbal and non-verbal are very helpful, often encouraging, and many observations, can be gathered from this simple little exercise.
Time for the Strategy
Once you know what your customer thinks of your brand (when you aren’t in the room), along with other external research you can develop an insightful strategy and a plan of how you are going to create a future experience for the customer. You can unpack what you want them to think, feel and say about your brand in the future. As this will help inform future positioning of the brand, customer service standards, processes and of course a marketing strategy or plan. This simple exercise can be done again annually or every few years as necessary to review the progress and impact.
Brand Reputation X Visibility = Brand Strength
The ‘Reputation’ and ‘Visibility’ of a brand in many ways sums up the strength of a brand, which this exercise informally explores nicely at a low cost. Although the exercise doesn't produce statistically sound research, the observations and insights however will definitely provide a good base of information which can be used or further researched if necessary.
So, a few questions for you. Do you know what your target audience thinks of your brand… really thinks of your brand? How strong is your brand today? Do you need to do some work on your brand for 2017?
If you are curious (like us) and would like to explore what your customer thinks of your brand, please contact me at karin@sodablue.com.au or 0409 501 270, as I would love to chat about how I can help your brand ‘be at its best’ in 2017.
Blog post by: Karin Forster, Freelance Brand and Marketing Consultant - Sodablue
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