Blog Brand of the Week: Joystiq

It's hard to find a great blog brand. In the blogosphere, it's trendy to think of some cute, clever names instead of a great brand name. Another thing it's trendy to do is to forget about focus. Broad topics seem to be popular. Great blog brands are focused and have a sharp brand name related to the topic. That's what the Blog Brand of the Week is all about.

This week's Blog Brand of the Week: Joystiq. Part of the Weblogs, Inc, Joystiq has two key attributes of great blog branding: Great name, Great focus. The name Joystiq has seven letters and instead of being called 'Video Games Blog,' or 'GamerBlog,' the founder figured it would be smart to choose a key component of the gaming experience, the joystick. Then, they twisted the end of the word to make it stick out, keeping it to seven letters or less. Just 'Joystick' wouldn't be nearly at compelling or attractive as Joystiq.

Is that all? No. Joystiq foqused. Go to Joystiq and find something (other than paid advertisements) that does not reinforce the video game focus. Gamers go here to find out the latest for one reason: great content on the subject they love.

Keeping the Company and Product Names Separate

Of all the mistakes a business can make, this one will not affect you until it's too late. Your product or service needs a name and that name should be different than the company name. Furthermore, you should not use the company name + product name together. When doing so, it implies that the latter is generic, when in fact you want the brand name of the product to stand out and be distinctive. If a product/service brand is distinctive, it doesn't need the company brand name to support it.

In consumer markets, successful brands often do not need to have the corporate endorsement. Other brands rely on the strength of the company's reputation. Proctor & Gamble does not use its corporate name as leverage to sell Tide, or any of the hundreds of consumer packaged goods it sells successfully. Kellogg's uses a similar model with its brands, except the Kellogg's name is a little more prominent in some cases, such as Kellogg's Frosted Flakes and Kellogg's Frosted Mini-Wheats or Kellogg's Rice Crispies, key brands developed in house over the years. The best brand names that Kellogg's developed itself were Apple Jacks and Pop-Tarts, which have the capability to stand on their own without referencing Kellogg. Acquired brands such as Lender's and Eggo also do not need the Kellogg's name. Beverage manufacturers have learned lessons in bridging companies with products. Coca-Cola did make a collasol branding mistake by reverting its popular '80's diet cola brand Tab to Diet Coke. Al Ries discusses this error in the 22 Immutable Laws of Branding. In the consumer goods market, P&G has one of the best product brand strategy, none of which has to do with advertising. On the flip side, Service Brand International, Inc. manages a portfolio of service-based franchises, including Molly Maid, Mr. Handyman, 1-800-DryClean, Certified Restoration Dry Cleaning Network and Ductz. The individual service brand that I like the most here is Ductz. Certified Resotration Dry Cleaning Network is too long and too generic. Ductz is short and sweet. The Service Brand International strategy, containing a few solid individual brands is likely more lucrative and valuable than if each brand carried the SBI name. If you provide services, divide them down as far as you can and brand everything individually.

B2B's often attempt to leverage the company name as part of its product branding strategy. The reason this concept gets so much traction is that in B2B, the customer places more of an emphasis on the company and the decision to buy is often equally company and product/service dependent. B2B corporate acquisitions often times transition the use of corporate names into the use of product names. Microsoft Windows is an example of company/products kept together. Windows doesn't need the Microsoft name. When IBM acquired Tivoli, Rational and Lotus, each was previously used as a dual corporate-product brand, but came to be a product line brand post-merger. Now, IBM markets the product brands keeping the namesake of the former company as the brand.

Small businesses usually do not consider the difference. In business infancy, the product or service is the basis for the company. There isn't a lot of harm here, but if the entire business is focused on one product and the names are intertwined, it often makes it difficult to launch seperate, distinctive product or service brands. This leads to poor market performance as perception of the company/product/service appears to be diversified, and the jack of all trades brand never wins. When you keep the company and product/service separate, and giv ethe products AND services distinctive brand names, the business adds value. The brand is an investment in the value of the business.

Using Net Promoter(r) Score to Bolster Your Brand

Anybody in business wants to know how they are doing. Feedback on what customers like, what they don't like, what they want, etc. There is a lot of effort spent on discovering what will make for a bigger, better, more profitable business. But, there is something very simple about what a customer feels/knows/wants that when learned, can help a business work backawards to find out what really could be better.

Bain & Co, a management consultancy, developed Net Promoter Score. The formula suggests that customers fall into three (3) categories:

Promoters: People who buy, continue to buy, and promote you to others
Passives: The satisfied customers without an anchor (competitor bait)
Detractors: Unhappy customers who don't see value in the relationship, usually telling others about their unhappiness

Understanding this segmentation, you ask your customers the following question:
How likely is it that you would recommend us to a friend?

On a scale of 0-10:
Promoters: 9-10
Passives: 7-8
Detractors: 0-6

Take the percetage of total respondents who were Promoters and subtract the total respondents who were passives. For example, if you gave the question to 10 customers, and five gave you a 9 (50%) and four gave you a 6 (40%), your NPS would be 10%.

So what does this all mean? The Promoters represent the portion of your customer population that are most likely to continue doing profitable business with you. They represent long-term value to your business. The example also means you have a great opportunity to explore the world of service, because with a 10% NPS, you could have a long way to go. You need to take care of your brand and for every detractor you have, the value of your brand goes south. If you don't think so, just think back to the last time you told someone to stay away from a car dealership or a credit card. You are not immune. Your brand is at stake.

Net Promoter Score is an awesome brand. One question + One formula = Amazing Results. NPS is not complicated and easy for one to communicate to another. Even if you are not prepared to find out how your brand is working in the marketplace, I encourage you to visit the NPS web site and spend 15 minutes getting your arms around the concept. Then, spend 15 minutes planning how you are going to go about asking your customers the questions. Then, get to work. This is a high priority item, no matter how many complaints or compliments your business receives. Good luck.

Branding -101 (that's a minus sign)

Take a step back. Why did you select the name(s) of your company, products, or services? Did you even consider branding a service that you offer? Most entrepreneurs I know have a couple of reasons why they picked a brand name.

1. They selected the brand name(s) because they needed a name and it was the 'most logical name.'
2. A clever idea provided by themselves, a friend or a relative.
3. They thought forever and could not come to a conclusion, so they just gave it a name.

A business needs a good name. It's important. Opportunity may be knocking and you feel that you need to have a name to pursue something. Just as serving each of your customers to the best of your ability is important now and in the future, your brand name is important. But the only thing that could be more important than a brand is what it stands for. What is unique about the company? The products? The services? If you are lacking in differentiation, you are lacking the foundation of a brand. So, before you can select a brand, you need to know what it stands for. The brand's value is what should actually be communicated. Without it, there is nothing you can establish about the brand.

Big business examples usually do not work when you are branding the small business. But there is a recent campaign where a big brand got in touch with its value. Allstate. Before the campaign, Allstate was in my mind (and many other minds I am sure) just another insurance provider. Many small businesses that are not as successful as they would like to be might take a lesson from the Allstate book. Allstate took a portfolio of services inside of an insurance policy and explained to the customer why those services were important to Allstate's identity. Further, they took standard services that many are commonly familiar with and set an expectation about the services.

Here are examples of how Allstate chose to brand services they offer within an insurance policy:

* Accident Forgiveness
* Deductible Rewards
* Safe Driving Bonus
* New Car Replacement

Posturing the brand's value in such a way will help you towards one of your primary goals: gaining new business. It will also help in two other ways not often considered, but incredibly important - delivering continuous value to past or existing customers and becoming the 'backup' choice in the category. The backup brand is the one which you would choose if you were not satisfied with your current provider. Being the next brand of choice is key in winning future business as you can give your prospects comfort that they have a confident provider. More on being the 'next brand' in a future post...

In closing, make sure that your brand offers value first. If not, it may not deliver value where it counts. Your pocket.

Assignment: Think of 25 things you do or could consider doing to deliver distinct value to your customers. Then, think like the customer. What are the top five most important things to be considered when making this purchase? Did those five make your top twenty-five? If so, ask yourself if delivering these values are truly something you can provide. One rule: price doesn't count. Quality doesn't count. So don't bother including them in your top 25 and in no way should they be part of your top 5. More on that in a future post...