Does your brand differentiate your organization?
If you’re like most organizations, you don’t have a real point of differentiation.
You’ve got great products and services, but you just don’t seem to be “connecting†with all of your customers. Some of your customers like you well enough, but they’re not actually raving fans, and they’re just as likely to defect if something less expensive or more interesting comes along. And who knows if they recommend you? They probably don’t, especially if you don’t regularly ask them to.
Your customers feel distanced from you  they feel like they’re doing business with an organization rather than with people, so they don’t mind leaving you for a competitor, and they figure you won’t mind  after all, they don’t really know you, you’re just a business. What’s the harm? The harm is you can’t afford to lose the customers you worked so hard to get.
You just don’t stand out from the competition  and the competition is getting tougher. It’s hard to really describe what makes you different or better, isn’t it? You think your customer service is better, and that should be enough for customers to buy and to stay with you. But it’s not and they don’t. You think you really care about your customers, and they should recognize that and continue to buy from you. But they don’t recognize it, and they leave when something else catches their eye.
And yet some organizations create raving fans, stand out in the marketplace, and demand premium prices.
Why is that? It’s the power of their brands.
Done correctly, branding can do more than anything else to plant a preference for your organization, product, or service firmly in the mind of your customers.
According to the Wall Street Journal, November, 2006, a neurological study at the University of Munich in Germany using MRI technology to monitor brain activity has revealed evidence that strong brands have a larger impact on the brain than lesser-known brands, regardless of what product the brand is known for.
While the study is preliminary and as of yet unpublished, the information revealed suggests that it’s not the product  like cars, which people expect to be associated with positivity and self-identification  that evokes positive brain activity. It appears to be the strength of the brand, and the positive emotions tied to it.
This is exciting proof that organizations can work to strengthen the power of their brands, proof that a strong brand can be a powerful differentiator. It’s proof that you can do much to differentiate your organization, if only you will take control of your brand.
For more information on neuromarketing studies, download our Neuromarketing special report.
[tags]neuromarketing, brand differentiation, strong brands, power of brands [/tags]
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