You Can’t Brand a CatDog
Brand messaging is the canary in the mineshaft. If you are having trouble creating a focused brand message that appeals to all within your target audience, it may be an indication that your business is not focused enough on winning and owning a narrow market niche.
Business success stems from identifying a profitable narrow market niche where you do one thing really well. Brands do not succeed who try to be everything to everybody across a diverse customer group. A strong brand has a specific brand promise to one core target audience. A brand cannot serve multiple core target audiences with diverse needs, as your brand messaging can only deliver one promise to one core target audience.
Ferrari is successful because it serves one niche very well; it makes fast, red, sexy, very expensive sports cars. There are lots of other types of cars out there that Ferrari does not make. This is because the Ferrari brand targets and serves just this narrow niche within the automotive marketplace. The Ferrari brand and its integrity are valued because they focus on serving this one narrow core niche market.
Sure, Ferrari could temporarily sell more cars if they widened their customer focus. If the Ferrari brand ever made a $22K station wagon they would likely sell a few to those outside their core target audience, but within a short period of time, the brand would become worthless as no one would buy their million dollar sports cars. Who wants to see a $22K Ferrari family station wagon pull up next to their $1M sports car? Widening the core target audience serves the needs of those who are not your core target audience and your brand no longer retains its focus and customer promise to your core target. When those who paid dearly for the brand promise of Ferrari exclusivity are no longer served and the brand dies.
Chevrolet has this exact branding problem - what is a Chevy? Is it the most dependable full size pickup on the road (Silverado)? Is it the (Corvette) poor man's Ferrari? Is it a family vehicle? Is it a green, eco-friendly battery powered car (Volt)? Actually- the brand stands for all those things and therefore it says nothing to anyone and the brand becomes meaningless in the customer's mind. BMW’s “The Ultimate Driving Machine” means something to the customer, where “Chevy” does not.
It’s human nature to want to sell to everyone who comes to your door. But this is a grave mistake.
If you are in the restaurant business, there are many food niches within this business sector including upscale fine dining and fast food. Would you go to a restaurant that tries to serve both of these customers, or would you go to the restaurant that focuses on doing one of those specialties really well? Of course you would go to the specialist.
Trying to accommodate both upscale dining and fast food under one roof is a “Cat/Dog” business. It is attempting to serve two very different target audiences that expect two very different deliverables based on two very different brand promises. One brand cannot deliver on two different promises. Your customer promise is either “fast” or “upscale.” Business niche focus is key to success. From a resources perspective, no one has the time, talent, focus and and money to simultaneously build, launch, fund and run two diametrically opposed businesses at once to serve both groups successfully.
To be successful, avoid the Cat/Dog path and select the most profitable business sector of interest that you can own where you will change the world. Find the 20% part of the market that drives 80% of the profit in a niche.
1. Select and serve one defined core profitable target niche serving one set of customer needs with one set of branding and messaging.
2. That we decide what we want to be and who we are.
3. Than decide: Why we matter? And why we are unique?
What do we offer that is highly desired?
When we agree upon and have answered these three questions - we are ready to move forward with with branding and messaging.