BRAND LEADERSHIP
How To Achieve
And Maintain Brand
Leadership
By Janet Sudi-Maina
C
hoice, as simple as it sounds,
can be nerve-wracking. Making
choices especially when it comes
to shopping can be daunting. Shopping
malls, to open-air markets, to clothing
stalls, to beauty salons are all embellished
and full of flair promising heaven and
oftentimes delivering hell.
In supermarkets, aisle after aisle, shelves
are lined up with audacious salesmen and
women chattering their brand superiority.
This can be daunting to the ever-growing
fickle consumer who wants an effortless
transaction process. Instant as if magic is
becoming more attractive, and disrupting
those that still swear by status quo. The
big question is how can one build brand
loyalty given the circumstances?
Know your product inside
out
It is embarrassing to have wobblers
swinging your logo and taglines in well-
organized supermarket aisles, yet your
talking heads are stuttering with every
question of interest a potential customer
prods. Great organizations demonstrate
leadership through their employees. Invest
in training and development and you will
avoid unnecessary losses.
Create ease for your
customers
In the 1990s our parents would effortlessly
go to the supermarket or send their
little ones to go pick powder soap, bar
soap, bathing soap, oil or flour, brand
notwithstanding. This would easily be
timed as it was a grab, pay and go process.
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Almost three decades later, you tap and
within minutes it is delivered on your
doorstep. Few if any parent would consider
sending their children for such purchases.
This is because the time for delivery might
be longer as they will go fiddling with
their gadgets. Adverts would occasionally
pop up and likely influence their choice,
which would give the parents unnecessary
headaches. As a brand think creatively of
ways to ease the shopping process of your
customers. This can be through deliveries.
Create valuable customer
experiences
There are those consumers who adore
shoving trolleys and strolling in the
malls looking for sales. Making choices
for them sometimes is not easy. This is
especially in the case where they come
across five options of the same product
or of a given solution. How can you
reach out to such individuals and inspire
them to action? Building brand loyalty
is still possible if only marketers would
understand the importance of creating
a customer experience. If you are selling
vacation destinations for example, market
that unforgettable cruise that would
nudge your target into action giving them
sleepless nights if they fail to indulge.
Why wouldn’t your potential customer
pay a deposit after having a conversation
with you? You could be flawless in
speaking and great at selling the idea
or product, however, this could be made
easier by embracing tech for example
through virtual reality. Sell the cruise
which a customer can visualize. Once
you have them visualize the experience,
you have authority and pinning down a
deadline date would immediately cause
your target to spring into motion, even
pursue debt options to avoid them missing
an unforgettable cruise.
Give unforgettable quality
products and services
After the hounding process of winning
a customer over, sometimes in the
sweltering heat, it is worth maintaining
the quality as promised. Delivering quality
and making it a consistent process is the
least you would do. As you journey with
the customer in provision of the service or
delivery of the goods, do not rest on your
laurels. Keep reviewing, keep improving
keep innovating. Stop and listen to your
customer needs or reviews and continue
giving better.
When the vision is clear,
results will appear
To become that legendary brand that
is relevant decade after another into
centuries, a company should not only
produce quality but have top employees
who understand the vision and mission
of the company. Let everyone including
the cleaner understand why they do what
they do. Understanding and seeing the
big picture contributes to the delivery
of objectives. Remember that when the
vision is clear, results will appear.
Janet is a Communications
Consultant and Lead Brand
Strategist at LCC Africa, a
boutique PR firm that offers 360
degrees Communications Services.
You can commune with her via
mail on Janet@lccafrica.com.