Benefit: The Second Level of Brand Development

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Ask 10 people for a definition of a brand, and you'll get 10 different answers. That's because the meaning and value of a brand grows with time and experience.

To simplify this topic for discussion here, we’re considering just three levels of brand development. In our initial post we identified level one as applying a brand as identification. This post will present Level 2: Brand as Benefit.

When, in the course of business, a perceptive leader recognizes that his/her company's individual strengths and capabilities can be integrated into a broader customer benefit significantly unique to his/her company, the brand advances to the second level.

Several years ago, Dell computers used the unifying brand promise, "Easy as Dell", to integrate a broad range of product and service advantages into a single statement of benefit. This approach allowed them to feature everything from their bundled productivity tools and 24/7 customer service to their custom-built hardware configurations and even durability.

It made Dell not just another seller of high-tech systems, but "the" source for easy solutions. Plus, it established a strong emotional appeal that, combined with the logical presentation of product features, produced high levels of brand preference and purchase intent.

Conveying a clear, desirable benefit with your brand forces competitors to do more than just meet or beat your specific product or service features. It demands that they deliver a notably better value-added total experience as well.

Read about the other two levels of brand development now.

If you want to talk to someone about taking your brand to the next level, contact us today by e-mail or phone, 903-534-5220.