How Does Your Customer See Your Company?

The word "branding" is thrown around a lot in marketing books. They site cases such as Coca Cola and Charmin bathroom tissue and speak about how they have become household names thanks to capturing the customer’s attention and holding space in their mind when they think about their particular product category.

This information normally isn’t too helpful to the typical small business owner. While it would be nice to be the generic name in concrete (think making a "Xerox" copy instead of a photocopy), the typical CTi Dealer should try one of the following: Aim his branding efforts at capturing a certain niche within the enormous category of "concrete", and even look at owning a niche within the much smaller category of "concrete restoration."

This can be done with the advertising you are currently doing. When you speak to your customer via your advertising, what are you telling them about your business? Are you aiming your message at them in a way where they will remember you as "the guys who are on time…every time." Or is it simply "the concrete restoration guys." The difference can be whether the customer remembers your message or it gets lost in the tidal wave of advertising the customer experiences every day (the typical customer sees over 1600 advertising impression PER DAY.)

So what message should you relay? That depends on a few factors….

1. What is important to your customer?
2. What does your company do better than the competition?
3. Is that niche large enough to create a market big enough to support your business?
4. Does any other company currently own that niche?

Looking at your business, what are some niches within the customer’s mind that you could own?

1. One Dealer used a police motif in his advertising and his ad line was "To Beautify and Protect", playing on the "To Serve and Protect" line used by most police departments. His ads stress the durability and protective qualities of the CTi Hallmark System. His ads are aimed at homeowners whose concrete is showing the first signs of wear and tear and are wanting to protect the concrete from further deterioration.
2. Another Dealer speaks to higher end homeowners with a message of being unique. Their advertising talks about how a homeowner will pick out drapes, furniture, landscaping, etc. to bring out their unique taste. Why would they leave their concrete as a plain gray distraction to this custom home environment they are creating? Their ad then goes on to stress how their company can install a virtually limitless array of colors, designs, and textures to create the look the customer desires. They use the corporate line of "Concrete Is Our Canvas", but back it up throughout their company by creating a "boutique" type feel for the customer.

The stronger the message and the tighter the niche will always create better customer retention of your advertising message and what it stands for. This all leads to more people buying your products and a more successful Dealership.