Branding in Taiwan – Let me get straight to the point. No matter what kind of company you are (big or small, B2C or B2B), you should be Branding your company, products and services. In this 3-part series I explain why many companies in Taiwan don’t focus on Branding, and how they can harness the power of brand to reboot their business amidst growing competition and an uncertain future.
Taiwan companies struggle with traditional marketing
We run across a lot of established companies in Taiwan that had been successful manufacturers for their OEM/ODM customers. Many of these companies had also begun promoting their own labels along the way, using traditional marketing methods – that is, cold-calling, DMs, media-exposure, emails, websites, exhibition booths. And for most, they achieved certain levels of success in sales and growth.
But change is always imminent. These same Taiwan companies have, in recent years, faced increasing competition from overseas companies with price-competitive products. This competition also uses the same marketing campaigns, promoting their own products with persuasive sales rhetoric.
So companies pour millions and millions more into marketing on the basis that “more is better” – however, these methods no longer guarantee a return on investment and often the results are negligible and sales continue to stagnate. Traditional marketing is no longer the sales-generating machine it used to be. So what can you do? Where do you go from here?
Harnessing the Power of Brand in Taiwan
Branding is a powerful, proven ideology in modern marketing and yet a lot of companies in Taiwan do not engage in it . In large part, it’s because a lot of companies are stuck in the cycle of traditional marketing methods and resist Branding as a concept that’s difficult to understand or implement. But still, most companies at least have some idea that it’s important.
Why is Starbucks a multi-billion dollar company? Anyone can make a cup of coffee. It’s because of Brand (see here What is Brand?). In fact, Starbucks is the quintessential example that you come across in “Branding” articles and books. Many successful companies, like a Starbucks or an Apple, rely on Branding to grow their business and establish market share. So how can you deny that Brand is not important?
Branding focuses on distinguishing your company from the rest of the pack. But it’s not necessarily on the power of your product or services. It’s about delivering an experience that connects with your customers at some emotional level. In effect, Brand generates trust, the single most important factor in conversion (sales).
Actually, it’s not the DMs, Websites, Exhibitions etc. that are the problem. It’s the experience and the message that you are delivering.
So how do you build a brand that will boost company/product awareness like Starbucks? That’s the million dollar question we will gravitate towards – in Part II, we will talk about why companies don’t brand.
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