Branding: a case study

Building a Brand: Case Study

The difference between creating and developing a brand in a business to business context is dramatically different than building one in that is strictly in the consumer market. The key difference in this type of business revolves around the distinction in the type of audience one is trying to communicate with. With consumers, one is trying to grab their attention and distinguish oneself from one's competitors. With other businesses, there's the need to establish trust and transparency, along with being able to assert oneself as a brand that will be able to meet the needs of other businesses.

With both business and consumers, the brand is fundamentally the promise to the customer, telling them what they can anticipate from all products and services, while still signaling how the brand is different from others. The brand still needs to be derived from who one is and how one wants to be perceived. With both businesses and customers, one still needs to be careful: one cannot be all things to all people: there needs to be a strong impetus in mind of who the target audience is, and who one is communicating with.

When developing a brand to be used by other businesses, there's an inherent need to present one's brand in a way that is utterly professional, and which signals that one can be trusted and dependable. Branding to other businesses is so important, because it is so dependent on having a strong strategy and a strong capability for success. Businesses judge other business according to the standards that they set for themselves: thus, the standards set can be higher and more intensive.

When examining the most successful business to business brands and companies, there are particular defining characteristics that they share. Most importantly, the CEO and head of the organization needs to be an intensive and willing brand cheerleader who is strong invested in the brand heritage and is a committed and engaging storyteller who is a committed leader and team player at the same time (HBR, 2007). Other efforts which make developing a brand from businesses to other businesses means having "The CEO understands that building brand reputation reduces commercial risk, insulates the company in a crisis and provides the common purpose that can bond all the company's stakeholders. Efforts are focused on a single, global corporate brand rather than individual product brands" (HBR, 2007). Thus, in order to develop a brand effectively to other companies, one needs to be able to have a more rigorous focus and be able to more aggressively trouble-shoot within the staff team group. There also needs to be a higher level of coordination of the firm's website around the nation (and the world, if need be): when developing a brand to offer to other businesses, there's a more aggravated impetus to gain control of marketing dialogue so that a more consistent face is put forward to stakeholders (HBR, 2007).

When creating a brand to develop which will be presented to other clients, there's a more intensive need to communicate with hundreds of small businesses: there's really no way to do this in an economic fashion using the most traditional methods of sales (HBR, 2007). This means that leaders of business-to-business companies are often forced to think outside of the box. Building brand awareness among businesses can help create more loyalty and protect them all against competitors (HBR, 2007). Loyalty is something which should never be under-estimated. "Third, B2B marketers are realizing that developing brand awareness among their customers' customers can capture a larger share of channel margins and build loyalty that can protect them against lower-priced competitors" (HBR, 2007).

2. Is Cisco's plan to reach out to consumer's a viable one? Why or Why not?

Cisco's plan to reach out to consumers is a viable one, though it's not perfect. Cisco has long exhibited a clear understanding of the market they're in and the needs of their consumers. Consider the following excerpt from our textbook, "Television commercials explains how Cisco's systems change people's lives around the world and an eight page print ad spread didn't mention Cisco's name until the third page. Marilyn Mersereau, Cisco's vice president of corporate marketing, explained, 'Clever advertising involves the reader in something that's thought-provoking and provocative and doesn't slam the brand name into you in the first page'" (Understanding Marketing Management). This strategy demonstrates that Cisco had a strong understanding of their brand and who they were marketing to. This is something which is largely irreplaceable in business: knowing consumer needs means that one can more effectively communicate with the consumer. Cisco has demonstrated time and again that they exhibited an innate ability to grab the consumer's attention and to commune in a meaningful way with the customer. When Cisco started to debut more aggressively on the scene, they demonstrated that they understood that the last thing consumers wanted to see was that they were being pitched another commercial or having another brand shoved down their throat. Thus, reaching out to the imagination of consumers and their ability to think and wonder was a way they were able to very gently introduce their brand into the minds and hearts of consumers.