Category: Opinions

In May 2012 Newcastle FC finished the Premiership season in an unexpected and highly credible fifth place. The Premier League named Alan Pardew Manager of the Season. Newcastle rewarded his success with an eight year contract. The following season, Newcastle battled relegation and barely survived with their Premiership status intact. The story, told in the book ‘Hunger in Paradise’ and here on YouTube is one of classic ‘Outcome Bias’.

Outcome Bias is the assumption that good results are always the consequence of good decisions. Newcastle assumed that Pardew and his management team were super-smart football operators and success would therefore be sustainable.

That success was not sustainable, was in fact, highly predictable. Looking below the headline data of the excellent fifth place finish in 2012, Newcastle had some poor statistics. These were for goal difference, goal distribution and shot differential. Indicators of a team that in reality should have finished in the bottom third of the table! That they didn’t was down to random variation, not genius! In a low scoring game like football, the best team wins less often than in a high scoring sport like basketball.

The point of the story (read the book, its worth it!) is this.

When we see success, we search for a narrative that explains it. But that narrative may not necessarily be correct. Newcastle’s (incorrect) narrative was the 2012 league table. Actions and outcomes aren’t always linked. Outside of sport, there’s great danger in thinking that success to date is driven entirely by certain actions. It’s risky to think that to replicate them will inexorably lead to further glory!

When did you last look at how you position your brand? And more importantly how its delivered through your marketing communications? Never before have brands been in such a fragile position regarding brand ‘trust’. The huge reach of the many social channels has publicly put brand reputations on the line; 24/7/365.

Today it is no longer acceptable to have a brand vision or purpose that you buy into internally if it doesn’t resonate with your customers and prospects through your tactical communications. Growing businesses need a cohesive approach to regularly reviewing three things;
A) A robust and meaningful Value Proposition
B) An in-depth understanding of the needs and wants of your target personas
C) Your ‘Scale Up Voice’ (ie the themes & structures of your content and communications)

Without these three, your communications risk delivering little or no value to your business.

To sum up; for a great Scale Up brand, every touchpoint must be consistent, whether it’s face to face or online. Consumers are overloaded with pointless generic content from brands that is nothing more than noise. Have a point of difference, no matter how small you may think it is. Stand for something other than parity. In conclusion, become the brand that talks the talk and walks the walk. Contact us to get you started.

Value Proposition should be the fundamental DNA of your brand. To have a powerful and stand out brand is the aim of almost every business. Furthermore, strong brands shouldn’t be just the preserve of the big B2C guys. If you run a B2B business, you need a great B2B brand. But how to go about it? Where to start?

Here at M4G, we’ve helped lots of B2B brands find their voice. Our initial job (usually the most awkward part) is to unpick two key areas;

Firstly, its to get over the misconception that the brand is the logo. Many businesses feel that their ‘brand image’ is entirely represented by their logo and if they love their logo then the job is done! Sadly, not the case.

Secondly, we need to get past a set of buzz words about the B2B brand that are regularly offered up at this initial stage. Words and phrases like; ‘best’, ‘quality’, ‘value’, ‘innovation’, ‘class leading’, ‘world class’ and ‘customer focused’. These are our ‘red card’ words! Why? Because although your business could be any or all of these things, the words are meaningless in terms of defining your B2B brand. Countless B2B brands use these red card words in their branding. They are common words, easy words and lazy words. They’re not your words, they are everybody’s!

So lets set these words aside and get to the core and the foundation of your B2B brand; the Value Proposition. Clients ask us all the time; ‘What do you mean by ‘Value Proposition?’ We have a very simple answer. Your Value Proposition Is What You Are Really Selling! You Just Might Not Know It! This is a concept that can perplex and confound. Surely the answer is simply to be found in the list of products and services the business offers? Not quite.

To conclude; a key part of M4G’s marketing consultancy toolbox is a deep dive into what customers say about your offer. We also find the stories that your sales & product people tell supply vital insight. . Furthermore, there’s often an entirely different perspective and quite different language to the received wisdom in the business. These sources are a great way of understanding the real value of what your business offers. We’ll talk more about exactly how we do this in a forthcoming blog.

Image by Arek Socha from Pixabay 

In this post we want to explore how will the confusion around Brand Britain and Brexit shapes how the UK is seen in the world. The Guardian ran an article entitled ‘Un big mess – how the rest of Europe views Brexit’. Which got us thinking. What will ‘Brand Britain’ look like in a post – Brexit world? A 2018 Barclays study said that the premium carried by a ‘Made in UK’ tag may be worth up to £3.45bn to British business. Brand Britain has serious value. However, will it be burned or boosted by Brexit?

Trying to define what Brand Britain is about isn’t easy. We settle on a DNA encompassing values like ‘open’, ‘assimilating’, ‘involving’, ‘accessible’ and of course, ‘creative’. We’re the land of The Monarchy, The Beatles, Burberry, Bentley, Curries, Stormsy, Paul Smith, Harry Potter and lots more great stuff. So there’s a core of truth around Brand Britain’s value proposition. Conclusion? We’re pretty cool.

However, what is Brand Britain now? Quarrelsome, divided, angry, undecided, lost? Designer Oswald Boateng said on Channel Four news ; ‘You thought being British was an expanding proposition, involving many cultures. As a brand it was working. Suddenly, no one knows what to do…’

Finally, how will the Brexit trauma affect what our brand means, going forward? Is Brexit a cry for the past, a yearning for our former glories? (Dunkirk anyone?). Will Brand Britain wrap itself in Crumpets, Castles & The Queen, heading back to a chocolate box image of ourselves? How will the Union Jack fare? It resurfaced on Mini cars, Noel’s guitars and Geri’s dresses. Could dark forces reclaim it?

To sum up. Successful brands need a clear and agreed Value Proposition and DNA. Although our ‘Brand Britain’ ’emerged’ over the years, up until now we could at least broadly agree what it was. Are we losing it and how will we find it again?

When it comes to understanding what to say about your business, it’s easy to get lost. Creating a strong & stand-out Value Proposition is a process that many business struggle with. Perhaps that’s no surprise. When you’re as close to your business as most business leaders are, it can be hard to have the dispassionate, forensic view that’s needed to truly see where the business really adds value to customers.

So here’s a thought. Do a Ronseal. Work this out, very simply. What does it say on your tin? Ok, you may not have a real killer USP like Ronseal did. But in our experience, many businesses are looking into the face of some great attributes. These are often ignored in a drive to be more sophisticated in their Value Proposition.

Here’s an example. We worked with a client in the service sector who had killer core competencies. They looked after high spec clients, with pretty high spec (and highly profitable) needs. This was an area where there were fewer competitors. At the same time, the business also provided some basic, more ‘vanilla’ services. Less differentiated, less lucrative.

In their desire to have a Value Proposition that covered all the bases, they ended up struggling to create a VP with any real ‘cut through’. Our advice was simple – here’s we said. You have a core offer that really stands out. The job of the the Value Proposition is not to get in the way of that, but to say simply and straightforwardly ‘This is what it says on our tin’.