Before I get into my story on the market penetration branding from the Gorilla Glue Brand, let me introduce the topic of start-up branding.
There are certainly many new start-ups looking to take advantage of change driven by the internet, yes?
And there are many looking to win the online branding battle also. And if your business is looking to improve its online branding, where should you turn?
The entrepreneur always searches for change, responds to it, and exploits it as an opportunity.
Peter Drucker
Before we continue, let me ask you a question.
What works best for branding design in your business? We would love to hear what it was. Would you do us a favor and post it in the comments section below? Be the one who starts a conversation.
With the advent of the Internet, the number of marketing options available to both budding and experienced entrepreneurs has become staggering.
It was over eleven years ago when Mark Zuckerberg and his college roommates were checking out the cute girls on campus with a “hot or not” approach on a program called “Facemash.”
Today, millions of people like me can be watching their distant grandchildren, nieces and nephew come of age online through pictures and videoes.
They were posted on the internet, thus dubbing them cute or adorable. Sometimes it is difficult to remember what life was like before the World Wide Web gave birth to the many social media networking sites.
When it came to launching a new social scene online, buddies Kevin Systrom and Mike Krieger knocked one out of the ballpark when they created a photo-sharing app called Instagram.
Just after midnight on October 6, 2010, Kevin put their creation in Apple’s online app store. Their picturesque creation exploded on the internet with over 10,000 downloads in the first few hours.
The duo scrambled to keep up with that massive internet traffic. Less than two years later, Facebook acquired Instagram for a cool $1 billion in cash and stock.
So what do those examples have to do with branding? Let’s go back to Gorilla Glue to connect the thoughts.
Gorilla Glue brand … market penetration branding
To establish itself as a new brand in a commodity market, Gorilla Glue differentiated its product with unique features and benefits.
However, competing with a strong market leader like Elmer as an unknown brand wasn’t enough.
To strengthen their marketing campaign, they came up with a highly engaging online retail experience to engage customers and create memorable experiences with the brand.
Much like Facebook and Instagram.
Gorilla Glue brand … market penetration strategy example
Don’t think a branding strategy is necessary? Check out the Gorilla Glue image below and check out their website at www.gorillaglue.com.
Remarkable is a word many marketers are familiar with. Especially those that are fans of Seth Godin. Seth has written a lot about remarkable branding design.
Remarkable … it’s something brands around the world are trying to be.
Being noticed is not the same thing as being remarkable. Seth Godin talks about how running down the street naked will get you noticed, but it won’t accomplish much. It’s easy to pull off a stunt, but it’s not useful.
Your brand doesn’t need to do crazy things to grab attention. And certainly not to be remarkable. You don’t want to border the line of insane and outlandish.
In his book, Purple Cow, Seth Godin talks about how remarkability lies in the edges. The biggest, fastest, slowest, richest, easiest, most difficult. It doesn’t usually matter which edge; it matters more that you’re at (or beyond) the edge.
Here is the thing: don’t follow in the footsteps of other businesses. If you do, you’ll find that your brand marketing is boring. So Gorilla Glue went a step beyond. They made some very good promises about their product.
At the heart of all brands is the promise they commit to delivering to their clients. No matter how clever or memorable their brand image, if they fail to deliver on that promise, they fail.
And those promises represent what the brand stands for. Feelings and emotion are critical in the way customers are influenced.
Failure to deliver on your promise or to be what you stand for is like a politician promising no new taxes.
Mark my words. Those kinds of promises are a prescription for a marketing disaster.
The bottom line
A significant portion of a company’s value is intangible, so a strong brand is a significant competitive advantage. As Philip Kotler wrote:
The art of marketing is the art of brand building. If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. Then the price is everything, and the low-cost producer is the only winner.
Brands, marketing, and communication have long been highly related. From TV ads and press releases to events and endorsements, the way consumers view a brand will influence their decision making.
Crafting and reinforcing a brand image has long been a top priority for marketers.
To be effective in this new era, we as marketers need to see our jobs differently. No more just focusing on metrics like clicks, video views or social media shares.
We must successfully integrate our function with other business functions to create entire brand experiences. These experiences need to serve the customer all the way through their experiences throughout the business.
We can do better. Much better. But first, we need to stop seeing ourselves as crafters of clever brand messages. We need to become creators of positive brand experiences.
