The concept of branding is much maligned in today’s media and has taken on an almost universal meaning for marketing and its many facets. In fact, branding is the essence of what your product or service stands for in the mind of your best customers. Too many companies talk about brand initiatives and programs that are merely a “repackaging” of their tactical approach to engaging customers and lack any meaningful input from their target audience.

Instead, firms looking to grasp what their true brand message is need to engage customers and prospects in an ongoing dialog versus a traditional marketing monologue. Internally created brand themes or messages are attempts at positioning that attempt to carve out a niche in the mind of the user or buyer. In some cases, this approach can be successful, but in most instances, the internally-focused “guessing game” fails and in short order another “new” brand message needs to be created. (Think BMW – “The Ultimate Driving Machine” or Lexus - “The Relentless Pursuit of Perfection” versus the brand promise from nearly any other car company.)

So, not only does the typical brand message “du jour” waste time and money, it does nothing to advance the cause of the company to connect with their best customers and establish a sustainable presence for their product or service.

A solid approach to developing a sustainable brand and message is to engage customers and prospects in an ongoing dialog where they tell you what their frustrations are relative to a given product or service. A frustration is also an “unmet need” that can be assessed for its relevancy to a product or service that may or may not exist today.

By engaging in a dialog with enough potential customers, the leading frustrations of a market or target audience can be identified. Some of the frustrations noted will not be relevant to you, or your offering. While others will be in the realm of unmet needs you can address, but you will have the option to decide whether to pursue them based on your interests and resources.

Now, the guesswork is gone and you know precisely who your audience is and what need(s) you can address. How you decide to respond at this stage is a function of timing, competition, resources, people and the end goal for your organization. The end result is a dialog with the marketplace that not only tells you the needs of the audience, but just as importantly, what you need to do to stay relevant to your chosen target over time.