Читать книгу Launching & Building a Brand For Dummies - Amy Will - Страница 13

One way to think about what a brand is and does is to compare it with a commodity:

 Commodities are indistinguishable goods and services that serve the same purpose regardless of who makes them, such as gasoline, batteries, dishwashing detergent, coffee beans, Internet bandwidth, and vacuum cleaners. Unless you have a good reason to buy one commodity instead of another, you buy the cheapest one.

 Brands are offerings that are different in some way that matters to customers or clients, such as Shell gasoline, Energizer batteries, Dawn dishwashing detergent, Starbucks coffee, Verizon Internet service, and Shark vacuum cleaners. You’re willing to pay more for your favorite brands because they’re different and better in your mind than the competition.

If you’re not a brand, you’re a commodity, and if you’re a commodity, the only way you can compete in your market is to offer the lowest price.

Don’t confuse the purposes of branding with brand purpose. Brand purpose is the brand’s raison d’être. The brand purpose of Starbucks, for example, is to help facilitate human connections. And although Walmart is committed to charging low prices, its purpose is to help people provide better lives for their families. To define your brand’s purpose, answer the question “Why is my brand here?” When you define your brand’s purpose, you don’t need to be concerned too much about the competition; you just need to be sure that everything you do aligns with that purpose.