Are Your Customers Experiencing Brand Blindness?

Are Your Customers Experiencing Brand Blindness?

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A large number of business owners is probably not aware of the concept of "brand blindness" even though it results in bad consequences to a person's business.

This is a phenomenon that first happened during the 80s where consumers started choosing private label brands over established brands. Apparently, consumers can no longer tell the difference between the two.

Expect brand blindness to become an outbreak in the years to come given our deteriorating economic situation as well as the rapid surge of bargain-conscious shoppers.

So, does this mean that branding is dead? On the contrary, branding is more important than ever. How to make your products stand out is the ultimate challenge.

Here are some branding tips you can apply immediately to combat brand blindness:

Build a strong local presence. The marketing trend is shifting towards localization and there's big money to be had for early adopters. Register your business in Google Local, participate in local business events, take part in local trade shows, attend offline networking events, sponsor a local team, and join competitions and community projects in your area.

Don't engage in price war. Everybody is a loser in this war of attrition even if you have cost advantage over competition. Unless you're a big-box retailer like Wal-Mart, price war can seriously damage your bottom line.

Talk to your customers. Thanks to social networking sites, it's now very easy and very affordable to initiate conversations with your target customers. Have your own twitter account, upload relevant videos in YouTube, install your own Wordpress blog, create your own Facebook profile, and even fan page for your business. Be socially active and look for opportunities to promote your brand in a very subtle manner. Ask your existing customers what they love and even hate about your business. Don't forget to ask new customers as well to gain deeper insights.

Over Deliver. The key to customer satisfaction is exceeding expectations. Be efficient in every aspect of your operation. Make your leading competitors your benchmark to gauge your competitiveness. Practice Kaizen or the so-called art of continuous improvement. If the standard delivery lead time in your industry, for example, is 5 days then find ways to cut that to 3 days or better to just 1 day. Make sure that these improvements are strongly focused on areas that really matter to your customers.

Keep your employees involved at all times. Having great people in your team is very critical for they have the power to influence your customers both in positive and negative way. Make sure that they fully understand the essence of your brand. Also, they are an incredible source of innovative and useful alternatives to prevalent issues your small business is coping with.

Have a professional Website and strong visual identity. Many customers will go online first to check out your company's website. If they don't like what they see then there's a high probability that they will never ever buy whatever you're selling. As a gateway for new and prospective customers, it's imperative to present a professional image and well-designed website to impress them.


Copyright (c) 2010 Leo Blanco

About the Author:
Do you know that having a strong brand identity can help eliminate brand blindness? Visit LogoDesignWorks.com if you need a compelling logo design, professional Web design, mascot design, or promotional products for your business.



Article Originally Published On: http://www.articlesnatch.com


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