Stay Focused

When you create your company you set out with ideals and build on a promise to the customer or client, this grows into your brand promise and becomes your position in the consumers mind. Use our service or product and you will receive a level of quality that isn't offered by our competition, we are what you want, because we are better than anyone else. If you are wise early on your will already have established dominance in your domain and niche in the marketplace, either being first to market or by solid marketing.



Sadly though as you grow and think of investment and future positioning it is tempting to consider something that isn't exactly aligned to your current business. It offers riches and success beyond your wildest dreams, and surely everyone else seems to be making the changes. Trouble is though that this probably isn't exactly in the your domain of expertise. So you go ahead and make the move as company anyhow, whether through acquisition, investment or merger. The reality is that what you have started to do is blur your companies boundaries, take it out of focus. This not only causes confusion within your own company for employees but more importantly it affects the mind of your customers. Your brand maybe known for reliability or safety and the wrong growth in the wrong area may make people start to question what your brand stands for. You may offer one very successful product, but then start to offer alternatives not quite in alignment. What happens, you muddy the waters of all that you had laid down before. It can lead to short term gains, but ultimately alter the brand perception.

So how to avoid this. Stay Focused. Keep to your company goals and brand values. Keep to your core products and improve all that surrounds them. Of course disruption comes along and times change, but think how to integrate the right opportunities that continue with the right brand voice. Don't be tempted to blur your company or brand for the sake of a quick profit, the damage maybe hard to undo.

Loss Aversion

The pain of loss is felt so deeply at an emotional level that we tend to go out of our way to avoid this feeling at all costs. Amos Tversky and Daniel Kahneman demonstrated this experimentally with testing. This is referred to as loss aversion, the act of trying to remove or reduce the sensation of loss with the aim of making gains. This persuasive force is so powerful that sometimes we base important decisions on it, without a more rational thought to the consequences.

Of course the advertisers and marketing types all are aware of this force and use it to their advantage when they feel they want to play some persuasion games. They like to get you to take free gifts and have things sent to your home to try, and return if you are unhappy, how often have you returned that item you had delivered? Think also about gambling and the power of the casinos to help people keep putting more money down to just make back all those losses.

It has been suggested by Kahneman and Tversky that this force is twice as powerful as the feeling of gain, and that makes it very effective and important in peoples decision making. It has also lead to belief that people generally over valuing things they already own, more than their material worth. Some have questioned the actual existence of loss aversion, and I am sure that it does not always apply in all instances, such as small pay off situations, situations that have large delays and non competitive scenarios. However, I definitely believe that there is something to the idea and have certainly experienced the sensation first hand in watching my money on the stock market or deciding to give old stuff to a donation center.

The power of ownership and the feeling of lose are definitely not good feelings and although we can over come them with rational thinking, we all know we are not always in control of those decisions consciously. Next time you order a product online or receive a gift from a company and realize that it is not quite what you wanted, ask yourself why you don't want to send it back, is it because of the inconvenience, or just maybe you don't want to loose out having something you now own.

Retailing an Experience

In an article found here IDEO turns it's focus on retail and the future of the physical store. So much talk these days is about how brick and mortar stores are disappearing and becoming obsolete with the rising of internet purchases and consumer shopping habits. As this article suggests in is probably very premature to assume that that consumers are completely over physical stores and transactions. People like to connect with people and from a branding stand point and engagement with consumers the store still leads the way, and probably won't be replaced anytime soon with a digital alternative. So what things should be considerations for the stores of the future? This the article goes on the explain, is where a store needs to evolve to the new needs and expectations of consumers.

Considerations include.

Design stores that are more than places to buy stuff.
People still visit stores, people still go out at weekends and shop around, even if they ultimately do not buy from the store they are wandering and touching real products. Stores can use this to their advantage, making casual browsing, enjoyable, the goal should be brand experience.
Employ brand enthusiasts
Today more than ever, people share their opinions about things they buy, people love reviews and ratings. Stores should be hiring brand enthusiasts that are like evangelists to the products. These are people that care about the products they sell and want others to join their joy in ownership.
Target existing users of your product
People that are already consumers of your brand, have most likely bought into the dream and vision. Building in-store experiences that focus on education, trials and membership to these users of your product are going to build longer term relationships, and advocates. It's much more about open relationships than before.
Make shops into R&D labs
If one thing differentiates a physical store from a digital store it's the physical face-time with the consumers. This is an opportunity to speak directly with people and gauge honest feedback on new initiatives or products. This allows the physical space to become a feedback loop directly with customers.

Nice article and some interesting value adds to physical stores of the future. The internet has certainly empowered the consumer, but really people still want those physical interactions and feelings of belonging that brands promote, these ideas are definitely inline with those thoughts. These future stores could add huge brand value and loyalty, and I think Apple stores already show the way and how well it works.