In March of 2007 Consumer Reports issued the results of a survey they completed with a team of their trained coffee tasters. The idea was to pinpoint who had the best tasting coffee around.
For the surveyed bunch (which included McDonald’s, Starbucks, Burger King, and Dunkin’ Donuts) the winner was…
McDonald’s...?
I swear I’m not making this up. McDonald’s actually beat Starbucks in a coffee taste test! After reading this report I gained a little bit of insight of what advertising agencies like to call “brand image.”
Now, I’m not a coffee drinker myself, but even I was under the impression that Starbucks was the coffee to buy when you needed something quick and flavorful. I mean, to go head to head against McDonald’s in a taste test should have been a slam dunk for Starbucks.
Notice the operative word in that last paragraph is “impression.” That’s right, I was simply under the impression that Starbucks had a better tasting coffee because they have done such a good job branding their product. So good in fact, that it actually shaped my perception of their coffee!
A couple of things here…One, brand image can be misleading, and two, Starbucks has deep enough pockets to manipulate that perception.
But what about small to medium-sized companies that can’t really afford to spend millions of dollars trying to brand their company? What options do they have?
This is where direct marketing comes in handy. You don’t have to be a known brand for everybody…just your target market. Reread that last sentence because it is a powerful concept. The more you know about who you sell to the more relevant and useful your marketing will be to those people.
An obvious example of this would be the following scenario: Suppose you sell lawn care services. You could have a variety of target markets but on the whole you are more than likely interested in homeowners as opposed to renters.
So does it really matter if all the renters in town know your name? It’s debatable, but I would argue that it is far more cost-effective to only target those who are your most likely customer. How do you do that? Through a variety of direct marketing channels such as mail, telephone, flyers, referrals, etc.
Just keep in mind that when you are investing in marketing it is vitally important to know who you are selling to so that you tailor a message specific to their needs and wants.
Branding can be an important part of your long-term success, but approach it with a more targeted plan and your marketing will more consistently hit its mark.
Good luck!
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