Value: Staying onside

Knowing your brand’s perceived value is more important than ever at this back end of a long downturn. Consumers still feel the financial pain and continue to turn their backs on brands that aren’t clear on the value they offer. But how to gain clarity in a marketplace that is more fragmented and cluttered than ever?

In recent client work we’ve started to look at perceived value as spread out along a continuum from ‘cheap’ to ‘value for money’ to ‘above and beyond’. And we’ve looked at the movement of brands along this spectrum over time.

At the risk of stating the obvious: the perceived value of a brand offering has a rather short shelf live. Even with very clear initial offers brands must remain vigilant to the fact that what they propose may slip down the value scale over time. Added value services such as Apple’s Genius Bar help keep the value of Apple’s products to consumers fresh. As the Geniuses see to it that each iDevice does what it has to for the user in question, they ensure that everyone leaves the store with a feeling that the brand has gone above and beyond the call of duty. Creating stickiness for the physical retail space one customer at a time.

No matter which end of the market they serve, brands need a coherent strategy for refreshing and reinforcing the perceived value to their customers. Otherwise they risk being outpaced as their established customers heed the call of more eloquent brands. A bit like Tesco last Christmas – but more on that in the next post…