THE BIG
QUESTION
#6
What is your Purpose?
By isolating the most powerful customer
motivation, and combining it with your most
potent competitive difference, you’ll be able
amongst you, you might find it easier to flip at through this or a similar process; these
we’re able to satisfy our customers’ greatest ‘It’s Good to Talk’ for BT, ‘The Ultimate
the sentence: ‘By doing what we do best,
motivation.’ Up to you. In the interests
of clarity and simplicity, you will want to
condense this sentence down to two words
include ‘The Power of Dreams’ for Honda,
Driving Machine’ for BMW and ‘Make a
House a Home’ for Homebase.
Note the fact that each one of them has a
or a very short phrase. This will help with meaningful internal application as well as a
It’s then ready to be turned into a sexy made, so it behoves the business to deliver
portability and memorability.
motivating external one. ‘Promises’ are being
to create a proposition in a single sentence slogan that powerfully captures the essence you know you’re best placed to deliver. external audiences. Really good slogans exercise is not necessarily to end up with a
as a ready-to-hand guide for how your valuable outputs from the process.
which a) you know customers want, and b)
To get there, try completing this sentence:
‘In the lives of our customers the role for our
business is to… (satisfy their motivation by
doing the thing we do best.’) For the rebels
of your business for both internal and
become corporate elevator pitches as well
organisation goes about its business.
Many famous tag-lines have been arrived
against them.
Whilst the object of the brand definition
slogan, they can become useful and highly
At very least they remind everyone in the
business what it stands for on a daily basis.
So, by way of
conclusion, why
bother with branding?
Well-defined and well-articulated brands
are more focused, have stronger cultures,
understand their customers better, are more
competitive and, with good application,
become more profitable.
In short, if you’re an aspiring small or
medium business with customers who
need understanding, competitors who
need beating off and staff who need
nurturing, you really
ON THE RIGHT TRACK
Winning In Your Own Way by Robert Bean is a practical
guide to strategic brand development, based on
the experiences of a leading advertising and brand
development practitioner.
www.smeweb.com
should be bothering
to invest in
what could well
become your
most valuable
asset: your
brand.
2017 SME
27