A brand is an expression of the core values of a company or an individual. A brand reveals the fundamental reason for its existence, and how it is differs from others in that category. A brand also defines the principles that it lives by. When someone likes your brand, they are essentially saying, my core values match yours. People like doing business with people like them.
Marketing is having your brand seen in the right places by the right people who are a match to your brand. It is based on thoroughly researching the psychographics and demographics of those whose values match yours. The Internet is just one source. Take time to survey your marketplace. That means actual face-to-face time. And in the long run it will save money, because you will be communicating to the right people rather than taking the scatter shot approach.
In an earlier post, we mentioned the importance of this type of research by citing the example of the agent who when jogging noticed that the homes in his target market read the Los Angeles Times. When he started advertising there, his listing and sales numbers significantly increased.
Psychographics is a relatively new concept in the marketing and advertising world. Large firms have made the mistake of opening stores or buying companies that did not fit the overall core values of its brand. In our town, 8 years ago, Louis Vuitton opened a store at great expense and closed a year later, even though the demographics (i.e. incomes) are some of the highest in Santa Barbara.
They neglected the psychographic research of the community, whose fundamental values are that their own initials are good enough. Had they taken the time to research the psychographics of our different communities, they would have opened their store in another section of Santa Barbara, where they would have thrived to this day.
Brand comes first and marketing flows from the brand’s reason for its existence. Marketing is promoting your brand in the right places where the right people will identify with it.