Building Consumer Brand Awareness

Building Consumer Brand Awareness
by Steve French

Branding has always been one of the most imperative factors in building a successful business, whether it be foods, supplements, beverages, retail stores or any other consumer product or service. As so, within the world of healthy and natural products, the importance of branding is paramount. Indeed, most of us are aware that branding within the natural products channel is actually a paradoxical statement. It's one of two things--either consumers within this channel do not form the same relationships with brands as do mainstream consumers, or marketers within the channel, due to a variety of factors, have not executed optimal brand-building techniques.

Research by the Natural Marketing Institute (NMI), entitled The Natural Marketplace Trends Report (NMTR), confirms that brand awareness and related issues are significantly different within the natural products environment. According to the NMTR, based on a nationally projectable sample of 1,800 consumer households, overall brand awareness with top natural product brands is relatively low. The average brand awareness level of 53 top natural brands among consumers who shop the natural product channel is 20 percent. As expected, this brand awareness level is 25 percent lower (15 percent) among the general population, a phenomenon driven by the distribution of these brands and the inherent channel niche in which some of these brands operate.

Understanding this consumer brand behavior is essential to the development of new brands, the continued growth of existing brands and/or the revitalization of "challenged" brands.

A brand is a unique identity used to differentiate and identify a product in a meaningful and relevant way to a group of consumers. The product is the physical evidence of a brand that has specific features and attributes. Brand success is measured by consumer loyalty, which requires a consistent delivery of the brand promise. This brand promise is comprised of product benefits and rewards for the consumer. Within the brand itself is a carefully crafted brand personality and essence. In summary, without brands, all products and services would be equal with generic benefits and personalities.

Graph: Average Brand Awareness of "Natural" Brands

Beyond branding, a range of consumer trends and shifting paradigms have far-reaching implications for the development or continued success of new products. Although there is arguably an infinite litany of trends that could be reviewed, there are five meaningful trends that have high relevance and importance in today's marketplace:

1. The changing role of value. It used to be simple. Consumers compared price and quality. Whichever product offered the optimal, desired combination was chosen. Today it's not so straightforward. With all of life's complexities, the definition of value now includes ease of purchase, the time and stress involved in the brand decision and the energy required to evaluate alternatives. Taking these additional criteria into account are vital to brand success and longevity.

2. The concept of brand bonding. This trend involves creating a meaningful, consistent relationship between the brand and its user. With so many alternatives today, it is more important than ever to create an emotional and relational bond with consumers, actually making them feel part of the brand itself through interaction and involvement. This relationship, in turn, creates loyalty, retention, increased product consumption and hopefully, company profitability.

Graph: Branding and Natural Product Shopper Purchase Decisions

3. True and consistent functionality. Today's consumers are increasingly looking at the specific attributes and benefits of a particular product. These benefits are typically delivered in the form of features. These features, in turn, form the functionality of a product. Consumers are placing increasing demands on this functionality, such as health, taste, nutrition, effectiveness, safety, convenience and many others. In the end, a product that meets real consumer needs in a consistent fashion will be the winner.

4. Less is more. Artificial is taboo. Natural is good. In many categories, society is returning to the values and traditions of the "good old days." This is evident by the growth of natural products within foods, health & beauty aids, clothing, dietary supplementation and many other categories. It seems that low-tech products (in a complicated world) are providing an escape to "simpler ways." The key is to provide a single, focused communication to the consumer to help them through the purchase decision process.

5. Availability and experience. It used to be called shopping or going out to eat. Now it's an experience. Whether it's going to a restaurant, the local pet store or the food store, providing entertainment value to consumers is an important vehicle. Not only do the in-store activities need to be inviting and unique, products need to be available in a host of "outlets" across a range of channels, industries and geographies. And don't forget the impact of the Internet, in-home shopping and direct selling. Making products accessible to consumers at the right time in the right place is essential to brand prosperity in today's competitive environment.

Steve French is the senior vice president of the Natural Marketing Institute. He may be reached at (215) 721-1258, ext. 214 or steve@nmisolutions.com.

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