Our Views

Your brand is guaranteed to go through changes in 2020.  You’re probably already working on some of those changes now.  You’ll launch new products or services, new campaigns or new promotions in the new year.  You might even unveil a brand makeover or acquire another company. No matter what form that change takes, you will ask your customers to embrace new messages and new promises. While most of these are exciting (if not a little daunting) initiatives, it can be

It’s rare for most traditional manufacturing businesses to have a true product breakthrough and offer something that sets itself apart. The majority of these companies are selling similar product offerings at comparable prices. And while some of these products might have different features, the core is essentially the same. Think of it this way: One dishwasher brand might offer an additional rinse cycle or be quieter than the dishwasher the competition is selling, but in essence, both still do what

The beauty of large organizations is the number of products and services they can launch in any given time frame. But the leaders of initiatives often find themselves competing for mindshare.   In some cases, they’ll go through the traditional company process to release information, which might involve training and internal communications. But sometimes they get so desperate to gain traction on their own initiatives that they go rogue. And when that happens, it becomes something like the Wild West.

When it comes to making high-consideration purchases, customers often get lost in the endless number of choices. When they’re purchasing a big-ticket item like an automobile, an appliance, flooring, or other home improvement items, competing products often look the same and tout similar features and benefits.   These expensive purchases aren’t everyday ones for most consumers, so they might be unfamiliar with the brands, the products, or the market in general. The stress of researching a new product, compounded with

Brand alignment is the effort to ensure every single connection your customer has with your company is consistent. Each interaction, whether digital or face to face, should reflect one story. That does not mean every single message is the same, but each message on its own will reinforce the core story. Brand alignment is not easy to achieve, especially in a world where marketing is becoming more complex. According to recent CMO Brand Strategy survey Gartner conducted, this challenge around

THIS ARTICLE FIRST APPEARED IN THE SEPTEMBER 16/23 EDITION OF FLOOR COVERING NEWS If you asked most people to tell you their favorite flooring brand, they’d struggle. In fact, they probably wouldn’t have one at all—and with reason. Brand recognition is incredibly low in the flooring industry, research shows. It isn’t easy to be a brand in the flooring sector. The product goes from the manufacturer that makes it to the retailers that sell it, and somewhere along the way