Don’t ever believe you can build a great brand with just marketing and advertising: if your stores are being run properly, your brand will flourish, regardless of your advertising or your marketing plan.
Branding may be one of the most misunderstood aspects of business, so, let me ask you an important question about branding.
You’re CEO of a chain of five-hundred retail stores. It doesn’t matter what kind of stores. You have a VP of marketing, VP of advertising, and a VP of store operations. Which of these vice presidents is most important to building the brand of your retail chain?
I’m pretty sure you said either the VP of advertising or marketing. Right?
Actually, the most critical guy for building your brand is the VP of store operations: if your stores are being run properly, your brand will flourish, regardless of your advertising or your marketing plan.
If your stores aren’t right, it doesn’t make any difference how great is your advertising or how solid your marketing plan, because branding should not begin with advertising. Successful branding begins inside each store. Great branding begins with great execution in every single store. It’s how the customer feels from turning into the parking lot through checking out. That’s how the customer will rate your brand.
If all’s right in the stores, great marketing decisions and advertising execution will make the brand grow faster. But don’t ever believe you can build a great brand with just marketing and advertising.
To reach Mr. Malmo, hear and read more of his commentaries, or to ask him your own marketing question, go to http://askmalmo.com.
