Ask 100 people what they think is strongest brand in the world and a large number would say ‘Apple’. What’s more, brand experts agree, with it regularly coming top of the charts of the world’s best brands.
A strong brand is a vital component of strong profitability, because with a strong brand people are more likely to
remember
recommend
rebuy
respect
reprieve
Think about your iPhone, or another favourite product, for example. How likely are you to remember its name, recommend it to others, buy it again, respect the company when it tells you about something like a new product, and reprieve it when it goes wrong? I love my iPhone and I’m guilty of all of the above.
So how have Apple managed this exalted status among consumers? I think there are three main reasons.
First, their products are so damn fantastic. When the iPhone came out, it was a complete game-changer for mobile phone users. Before it, few of us had sat on a train and browsed the internet, tweeted, bought things, sold stuff on eBay, played games, looked up train times and countless other things. Now, few of us haven’t done these things.
And it’s not just the iPhone. Every product they’ve launched in the last decade or more is packaged beautifully, looks wonderful and works brilliantly, and the staff in the Apple Store are well trained, intelligent and customer focused.
Second is how they’ve managed launches. They make a big play of a new product on the way, then open their (beautiful) stores at midnight on launch day – and ensure the media are there to broadcast the queues of people, growing demand further (people generally like to do what they see others doing).
Then, they restrict availability after the first few days, ensuring still more media coverage of the shortage (people also want what they can’t have!).
Third, comes a derived demand from people like me, who aspire to be part of their group of traditional Apple-lovers: designers, architects, musicians and the like. This sense of ‘belonging’ is an important emotion for humans – it’s why we wear brands on the outside of our clothing, to show others the tribe we belong to or the values we hold.
So how are these lessons applicable to generating a strong brand among landlords or vendors?
Following the first reason from above, the best way to ensure a strong brand is to do what you do brilliantly. Start with a brainstorm with your team (and led by a, ahem, specialist in this area) into how you can make people rave about your service.
The second lesson: well, you’d be a brave agent to restrict the number of instructions you take – but could it be worth thinking about? Could it be a strong proposition, for high value properties, for example to say that you’ll only ever deal with a certain number of properties, thus ensuring ‘boutique attention’?
And the third is very much active for people who sell with, for example, Savills or Knight Frank. For some people, having a Savills board outside their property is undoubtedly a large part of Savills’ appeal, acting as a badge of the quality of their property.
Incidentally, if you’d like to explore these further and understand the other steps needed to build a strong agency brand – email me at the address below as I’m planning some workshops on this very topic soon.
Good luck!
Charlie Snell
www.the-marketing-business.co.uk
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