HOW TO STEAL MARKET SHARE WITH CREATIVE EXECUTION
Contrary to what most advertising agencies, design firms, and branding firms will tell you, stealing market share is not about clever copy or edgy design. It’s certainly not about talking about yourself and your products all the time. We all know those people who only talk about themselves and never ask what’s going on with you.
The secret to stealing market share with creative executions is finding the most emotional buying trigger and hitting it with all you’ve got.
How are you supposed to sell anything to a customer if you don’t know what makes them tick? Creative executions that steal market share demand that knowledge. Every human on Earth operates off a set of basic primal beliefs. Many think people make buying decisions based on rational criteria.
The truth is, people, buy things based on emotional beliefs then backfill them with rational justifications. To successfully steal market share, you must uncover the emotional foundations that drive customer beliefs and hence their buying decisions.
Stealing Share combines qualitative and projectable quantitative double-blind research to uncover the real meat. Foolish focus groups will never tell us what we need to know.
Developing an articulated brand strategy that clearly and concisely condenses the highest emotional intensity is the road map to building brand preference and stealing market share with creative executions.
If, for example, the research discovers customers believe accepting risk leads to their professional demise, and that being in control is the only way to stay alive, you’ll know you must make providing greater control to customers your reason for being.
Control is then woven into every aspect of your company, products, processes, and the way you interact and engage with customers every day. The brand becomes the very DNA of the company throughout the organization.
DISTILL THE BRAND STRATEGY INTO A BRAND THEME LINE
Distilling the brand into a quick memorable theme line is critical to instantly establishing the value the brand has for the customer. This brand theme line should be short and must not sound like advertising or it will not be taken seriously. For the control issue above, a brand theme line such as “Control Over Risk” frames and owns the issue in a way no competitor could ever touch.
The next step is applying this insight to every customer touchpoint.
Every creative execution that meets the customer – from logo to social media to trade shows to advertising and everything in between – must have the brand strategy front and center. Even when highlighting product features and benefits, showcasing the promise of the brand gives those products greater meaning.
For example, on the issue of control, a product benefit would be said like this: “In order to give you greater control, the new (product name) has been designed for advanced ergonomic comfort and dexterity.”
BEGIN WITH A STRATEGIC LOGO THAT HELPS TO STEAL MARKET SHARE
Begin your creative executions with the logo. With the brand theme line is attached to it, the logo symbolizes the highest emotional intensity.
This is how the logo helps to steal market share and not just be a simple identity marker. Logos designed to convey what a company does or makes misses the point. Most branding firms woefully miss the importance of a logo in setting the stage for brand meaning. Stealing Share uses the logo as a critical strategic instrument.
When a customer sees your logo in this way they become immediately aware of your focus on them – a refreshing change from others that start with how great they are.
THE SECRET TO DEVELOPING BRAND CREATIVE EXECUTIONS
Once the logo and brand theme line is established, they mesh to form the very foundation of the look and feel of everything that follows. The secret to the attitude and personality of the brand however is first creating a fully developed advertising concept. This establishes the character of the brand. It demonstrates copy and visuals all working together that is then expanded and adapted for everything the customer sees.
INSIGHT
Humans make buying decisions based on emotional beliefs, then backfill their decisions with rational justifications.
NEVER DILUTE OR STRAY FROM THE BRAND STRATEGY ESTABLISHED THROUGH THE DEEP-SEATED RESEARCH.
NEVER ALLOW UNNECESSARY CLEVER CRAP TO GET IN THE WAY OF THE BRAND MESSAGE.
BE BOLD. BE DIRECT. NO TIME TO BE TIMID.
OFFENDING THE FEW IS THE PRICE YOU PAY FOR ATTRACTING THE MOST.
SIMPLICITY IS THE FASTEST ROUTE TO THE BRAND.
WHAT YOU LEAVE OUT IS AS CRITICAL AS WHAT YOU INCLUDE.
THE FEWER THINGS YOU USE, THE BETTER THEY MUST BE.
IF IT WON’T HELP STEAL MARKET SHARE, THEN WHY THE HELL ARE YOU DOING IT?
The first step in stealing market share is hiring Stealing Share, Inc. We uncover emotional triggers and create creative executions that separate you from your competitors to steal market share. Call us, we can help.
