Branding Conference
On Thursday November 21st at the Universidad del Valle de Mexico (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon), Moma Consulting‘s Marketing Manager Carlos Bortoni spoke to over 65 attendees about the importance of branding in a conference that lasted one hour and forty five minutes. During the hour and forty five minutes, Mr. Bortoni spoke about the importance of creating a solid emotional bonds between people and brands, and stated that although there is no recipe for branding, there are somethings that both individuals, and companies building their brand should take into account:
- That people cannot be addressed as a homogeneous mass – (Think about the i revolution [iPad, iPod, etc).
- Brands belong to people. Which means that it is the people who have the power of creating and/or destroying a brand. (Social Media, anyone?) If a brand can-not, will-not, or is incapable of adjusting to become what the people want, then that brand will sink into oblivion.
- People don’t really care about the characteristics of a product or service (as long as it doesn’t hurt them physically, their reputation, or their loved ones), and companies that intend to compete by pointing out their advantages in regards to their competition, will never obtain a real competitive advantage. Characteristics are easily copied, and worn out; the only way to truly stand out is to build a solid, reputable, honest, and strong emotional bond between your demographic, and your brand.
- Even on this time, where information is a few clicks away, most of our decisions as consumers are based on emotions.
- There is an enormous difference between buying products you need, and products you want. Products you need are just commodities aimed to satisfy the lower portion of Maslow’s Pyramid, which tend to be extremely price sensitive.
- Brands people love are not price sensitive.
Mr. Bortoni added: “Effective Brand Building is the one that connects at an emotional level with your demographic. The one that not only offers a sensory experience, but also helps them become a better (or the best) version of themselves.” Furthermore, he spoke about how the Internet merged the world into a super-market, and how People are now in control; how they can create or destroy a brand. As the conference went on, he told attendees about what Momentum Marketing is, and presented examples that Moma Consulting has done for their customers. Carlos Bortoni added: “The Traditional Marketing Mix (Product, Price, Placement, Promotion) can no longer be considered as the starting point of your strategy. At the Present Time, before defining the Product, Price, Place, and Promotion, there is a previous step that needs to be identified, and addressed that goes as follows:”
- Client before Product
- Cost before Price
- Convenience before Place
- Communication before Promotion
To end his presentation, Mr. Bortoni presented a list of 14 things to consider when defining your branding strategy:
- Identify your purpose.
- Know the values you stand for, and be true to them at all times
- Define an Action Plan with clear, reachable, and quantifiable objectives
- Always exceed your value proposition
- Be consistent, and cohesive in the way you execute your plan
- Branding begins in-house. Meaning that it is the leader’s job to ignite the flame of passion in their staff, for it is the employees who become the company’s face.
- Treat your customers for what they are; the reason you exist for there are no better brand ambassadors.
- Know your competition inside out. Learn from their mistakes and from what they excel at, then become better than them to offer that knowledge to your customers.
- Learn about where the industry is headed, and reinvent it, or at least reinvent your brand / company.
- Build a platform with customers, share-holders and companies that offer complimentary services to the ones you offer, for building a convenience center in favor of your demographic is the best way to become stronger.
- Create channels for your customers to communicate with your company, and be open for dialogue.
- Customer Service is something that has to take place before, during, and after the process of selling.
- Create Relevant Content
- At every step of the way, use the analytics to fine-tune your strategy, to data mine and obtain valuable insights.
We take this time to thank UVM – Campus Cumbres for the invitation, and we congratulate our Marketing Manager for his wonderful presentation. If you’d like to read about his latest posts, please visit his blog If there’s anyway we can help you or your brand, please contact us and let us know how we can help you communicate properly.