Creating Brand Leading Products

Brand Leading Tip #1: Be what your target market NEEDS

Being a Brand Leader takes more than just being a great product – if your target market is even moderately happy using something else they won’t switch to your product to find out how great it is! To get your Target Market to purchase your product in the first place, you need to:

• Be what your target market NEEDS – note that we have emphasised that your product needs to be not just what they want, but what they actually NEED (or at least think they need!). You have to establish a need for your product through clever marketing that pulls at the heart strings of your target consumer. Solve the problem they may not even be aware they have – make them feel more than just a ‘want’ to purchase your product then you’ll get them to actually purchase your product.
• Make sure you know your target market extremely well. Having a broad target market in mind is not focused enough. Knowing your target market extremely well and having a product that fulfils their NEEDS (see first dot point) is the way to make sure they not just want to purchase your product but actually make the purchase.
• Provide some sort of instant ‘needs’ fulfilment – this may be an instant visual effect or an instant feel. The type of instant ‘needs’ fulfilment will depend on who your target market is and what ‘need’ you are trying to fulfil, but either way, your target market will need instant gratification when trialling your product to help them jump the hurdle to purchase the product.
• Profile your market and find a ‘need’ that hasn’t yet been accommodated – this includes meeting their ‘need’ at their ‘needed’ price! Establishing the ‘need’ will make them want to purchase; ensuring it is the right price will remove the final barrier to get them to purchase.

Brand Leading Tip #2: Be EXCEPTIONAL

All too often you hear consumers talk about their latest personal care purchase with less than satisfaction. This occurs when a company over promises the results that can be expected from a product (which sets up unrealistic expectations) and then under-delivers. To be a Brand Leader, your product needs to deliver on its promises and be EXCEPTIONAL! Invest in great R&D (you’ll read more about that in Tip #5) and conduct appropriate evaluations before launching the product to be sure it will deliver on its promises.

The benefits of having an exceptional product are more than just repeat purchases: your consumer will love your product, and tell others. In the past, one happy customer could be relied upon to tell 2-3 other people about a product. Now, with social media, the amount of people they can spread the word to is significantly more. If your product truly exceeds their expectations, they’ll tell others and commonly put it in some form of social media – and you just can’t beat that type of exposure!

The only way you can have a Brand Leader is to not just promise to give your target market what it needs but actually GIVE it what it NEEDS. A consumer that finally finds something EXCEPTIONAL will tell other people, will continue to purchase that product, and potentially try other products in your range as well!

Brand Leading Tip #3: Be DIFFERENT

Sure, some brands exist purely by being cheaper and following the Brand Leaders… but we are not here to tell you how to follow the pack! If you want to have a Brand Leading product then come out with something DIFFERENT that fully meets the NEEDS of your target market and performs EXCEPTIONALLY.

Conduct good market research to find out what your target market NEEDS, determine how to meet that need DIFFERENTLY to every other product in the market so far, ensure your product is exactly what they are looking for (be EXCEPTIONAL), allocate a suitable R&D budget, get to market FIRST and/or LOUDEST (you’ll read about that next!) and you’ll have a Brand Leader.

Brand Leading Tip #4: Get to market FIRST and/or LOUDEST

To be a Brand Leader, you have to be different – or at least appear to be. If you are FIRST to market and make a LOUD enough presence to be noticed, then you will accomplish this task. However, if you do not allocate a suitable marketing budget to be noticed, then even if you are the first, another brand making a louder noise could be seen as the FIRST to be DIFFERENT with an EXCEPTIONAL product. If this happens, it only makes you look like a brand follower, not a leader. So if you are going to invest in being a Brand Leader then make it really count. Be seen (be LOUD) as the FIRST to market with an EXCEPTIONAL product that is DIFFERENT to what is currently out there, fulfils your target market NEEDS at the right price and you’ll be the Brand Leader.

Brand Leading Tip #5: Budget for GREAT RESEARCH & DEVELOPMENT (R&D)

To be a Brand Leader you need to have an EXCEPTIONAL product that is DIFFERENT and the FIRST of its kind. You don’t want to invest in the required marketing to be LOUD about how great your product is if it truly isn’t great; so make sure you budget for GREAT R&D to ensure your product provides EXCEPTIONAL performance. Investing in R&D is investing in Brand Leading potential – so don’t skimp on this if you want a Brand Leading product. Remember, being different sometimes means pushing the boundaries, so don’t forget Regulatory Checks early on to ensure compliance – you can’t risk non-compliance if you want to make some serious noise with your promotions, and you can’t have a Brand Leader without getting noticed. You also don’t want to risk quality issues involving scale up to large batches or the product’s shelf life, so invest in all essential steps of R&D such as great formulation development, necessary regulatory checks, appropriate scale-up and stability testing. Ensure GREAT R&D by up-skilling those within your Organisation or contract someone with the innovative skills to ensure this is achieved. Behind every Brand Leading product is GREAT R&D – without it you can’t possibly have a Brand Leading product.