Differentiate or Die

Charles Darwin wrote in his Evolution of species that genetic mutations allowed species to evolve. Those that evolved differently from their peers to adapt to the special conditions surrounding them won the survival race. Many brands today are fighting a similar survival for market share. Here is a quick look at why and how brands, especially corporates, can win the survival race.

Michael Jordan vs Vietnam

As an ardent socialist during my days at Mumbai University, I remember a debate where I had sprung an ace at my opponent. My question was supposed to be unassailable in a debate to prove the merits of socialism over capitalism. 

"How can Nike pay Michael Jordan more than the entire staff of the Vietnamese shoe factory?"

While I grinned confidently, my opponent answered smugly - "there are millions of Vietnamese workers ... But there's only ONE Michael Jordan". I learned the concept of diminishing marginal utility well that day. I also learned how we, in a capitalist society reward skills. Like the Vietnamese workers, many of the corporates and products are relegated to sphere of commodities, fighting for marginal cost and a bid to survive another month. Differentiation here was Michael Jordan's skill. For brands, it needs to be a unique and relevant position in the mind of the customer.

Differentiation for B2B

Many of the business promoters we have met of the last decade have heard us make this point and have reacted in a similar manner. "Branding is for products, and it needs a lot of marketing." Our submission is that a differentiated brand starts from the Corporate Level.

Why differentiate at a Corporate Level

1. Attracting the right investors and business partners
2. Attracting and retain best in class talent
3. Using your differentiated corporate brand to help your new business divisions gain respectability and margin share faster than other competitors
4. Leverage the social impact of your corporate while others only hawk products
5. A distinct and different corporate brand becomes a rallying point and a biding agent for your stakeholders and helps drive a common vision and agenda

There are enough and more examples how differentiated corporate brands are able to straddle different business easily. One of our favorite corporate brands is Virgin. The company has been able to take the image of it brash, nonchalant explorer founder and use it to build diverse business across the sectors like airline, telecom and entertainment.Even the name suggested they are proud of not having baggage in any industry yet having the gumption to take on existing players.

Becoming the different Finch starts with You.

In Darwin's research, finches that has specialised beaks for coconuts did better than other finches on the island. While Finches may not be conscious about the process of evolution, as business owners and corporate managers,we need to be mindful of the need and power of differentiation. The quest for differentiation and survival start with your own conviction.

By

Devatanu Banerjee

Head - Integrated Corporate Practice 

DY Works 

Perception Management in Corporate Branding

To begin with, Perception management is a term originated by the US military.
Another term used for perception management is impression management subtly defined as an attempt to control the perceptions or impressions of others. Targets are likely to use impression management tactics when interacting with perceivers who have power over them. Several impression management tactics include behavioral matching between the target of perception and the perceiver.

As we know, brands always evoke emotions. From these emotions, form perceptions. Hence in corporate branding, perceptions become an integral part of brand management. Overall, perception management therefore becomes a science to deal with.
Perception management cannot be managed individually without it being a part of the overall brand management process.

Now the question is- where do we find such perceptions happening and possibly capture them?
Social Media is a possible platform wherein different perceptions can be captured.
In the corporate world, perceptions are important and mapping them is equally important as it adds to the overall dynamics existing in the corporate world. To showcase this to the external as well internal audience, the same has to be capsulated via the branding route. Brand perceptions are much more often created by the product or service experience itself than from brand communications or any such campaigns. Brand campaigns are much more effective in building brand awareness than it is in creating or changing brand perceptions. It doesn’t mean that branding cannot be used to help change perceptions, but it can’t do it unless the perception management in the entire gamut of branding is captured.

Three Ideas Beyond Facebook For B2B Social Media Communication

All businesses want to create or manage their reputation, and online media or “digital marketing” plays an important role in achieving this objective. According to a report by E&Y on social media, top social media platforms used by businesses in India, today, are Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Linkedin and blogs. However, most B2B brand owners feel that these platforms are not suitable for them. Here are a few alternatives beyond the Usual Social Media Suspects for B2B businesses.

1. Thought Leadership Through Online Communities

What makes the CEO of a B2B firm excited is the sight of a live, healthy discussion about the brand. He envisages a platform where an online community can talk about its brand news, thought leadership, customer acquisition/retention, lead generation/management and create positive word of mouth. Long gone are the days where creating brand awareness used to be the priority. Although online platforms like Facebook and Youtube do the job of creating positive brand awareness, let us agree that they incline more towards the individual, personal or consumer end of the spectrum. Today, everything is about effective use of content and creating a knowledge pool that can be used and shared by many. We came across few online communities, if you know about more do share it with us.

2. Document Discovery via Slideshare and Scribd

While traditional popular social media has been explored to the T, there are several emerging avenues to facilitate this endeavour. For instance, platforms like Slideshare and Scribd with almost 60+ mn visitors/day and 75+ mn visitors/day respectively are changing the face of online marketing. Professionals from various industries are always in search of relevant content and this gives an opportunity to the brand to create a knowledge pool wherein they can highlight their strength, and thus automatically create positive word of mouth. It also provides a facility werein user can embed the document within their website and you can also do the same. Brand can also tag their document in different ways – technology, branding, corporate practice etc, increasing the chance of being found. We are planning to share our marketing collaterals on these platforms, what do you think about privacy issues?