Thought Leadership
Getting in the Mind of Your Customer
Common belief is that there is one and only one brand leader in every category. However, there are usually two: The market leader (who owns the biggest share and highest revenues) and the thought leader—the brand that may not be the largest, but is the one everybody is talking about. These are the ones actively targeting the customer's mind, behavior, and feelings, but are not necessarily the category leader. And these challenger firms are holding on tight to the market reins as a result of their thought leadership.
Thought leadership can be thought of as one of the most important aspects in creating successful brands. For example, thought leaders such as Apple who has redefined the mobile entertainment category, or Redbox with its innovative way of merging vending machine convenience with movie rentals, do not promote their brand necessarily, but rather promote their brand category. As a result, the brand promotes itself through the company's knowledge of innovation and change. Eight years ago, the mp3 player category was still in its infancy, when companies such as Rio tried to enter the new market. Apple, however, has been able to create an entirely new category—the iPod—that provides customers and third party companies with the ability to accessorize Apple's product for home, work, or even car use.
In truth, the key to understanding thought leadership within a certain category is to implement the following points:
1) Determine the relevance or purpose of the brand—The chief purpose of a brand is to differentiate a produce or service from a spectrum of competitive choices. With thought leadership, a company's products or services are the result of innovation and adaptation to the market. These firms understand that their products are never really "finished," as they are constantly improving (which is the driver for innovation).
2) Establish category leadership—Determine what role your company and brand play in solving customers' problems and meeting their needs.
3) Keep your brand in motion through good customer service and public relations—Create a way to manage customer relations while implementing consistent ways to inform them about new products, services, and promotions. Public relations can help inform your current and prospective customers without you being the only source of information.
4) Articulate a credible vision of the future—New ideas in technology and the way you do business is the currency of thought leadership. Customers expect companies and their brands to solve old products in new ways, which communicates thought leadership.
— Randall Smith
Experience Counts in Annual Reports
"The experience behind eGovernment" became the theme for the fifth annual report we've created for NIC. In addition to
essential financial facts, the report emphasizes what the company does and how experience has made them successful. The company helps
governments communicate with citizens and businesses by putting essential services online. NIC manages more eGovernment services than
any provider in the world. Through a series of six case studies, the report demonstrates how online services like license renewal for
pharmacists in Kentucky, or collection of property taxes in Iowa are easier, faster and more cost-effective, than their offline
equivalents.
We created a montage of photographs that visually tell the story in each of the featured states, depicting individuals, objects or scenes associated with the case study. The 40-page, 7" x 10" document was perfect bound with foldout front and back covers.
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Gets Ignited
First we designed the book and now we’ve completed the identity and the website for Ignition Consulting, the company headed by former advertising executive Tim Williams. The consulting company helps branding firms define and develop their own brand. We developed the logo into a comprehensive identity that was applied to stationery, business cards, loose-leaf binder and the website. The background graphics, navigation icons and the animated logo itself are all a reflection of the brand identity expressed online.
Nichols is Large
The large format graphic products from Nichols are used in tradeshows, displays and outdoor signage. modern8 recently completed the design of Nichols Display Hardware Catalog, the second in a series of catalog revisions to make all of their company literature a consistent brand expression. The new catalog is an exercise in information design, to make complex array of product information, details and options easily understood and accessible.