Five best practices in local brand management: "Success is a question of discipline"
Managing brands locally is a multifaceted, detailed—and therefore complex—challenge. Marketing directors and affiliate program managers from Stihl, Expert, Coca-Cola, Somfy, and E-Masters shared their individual recipes for success at the fourth Local Branding Day, hosted by the Local Branding Alliance. Google and futurist Sven Göth also spoke about the opportunities and hurdles of local brand management. The following best practices highlight what matters most in this context.
Felix Hentzen, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google Germany, during his presentation.
Michael Liehr, Head of Marketing Germany at Stihl, explained what needs to be considered when introducing a partner program. Inspiring and involving local specialist dealers is the key: those who actively participate in the partner program receive active support in local brand management. After all, service-providing specialist dealers are the foundation of STIHL. When the brand set up its new partner program, Michael Liehr first wanted to find out what the specialist dealers needed and expected. "We worked out the requirements with just ten dealers and then presented the new program at a roadshow," recalled the Head of Marketing. The response was very good: "90 percent of the participants joined the program afterwards."
The local specialist retailer takes center stage
The success of the program is based on two pillars: Even though it was a major challenge to integrate a marketing portal into their own IT system environment, on the one hand it must be child's play for dealers to book individual measures and complete campaigns. To ensure this, STIHL has defined templates for several dozen analogue and digital advertising materials, which the specialist dealers can adapt in places. On the other hand, it was important to the dealers that the focus was on them and not on the brand. For example, their own slogans reflect the individual personality of each company. Looking back, Michael Liehr named four key success factors: involving specialist retailers at an early stage, encouraging and challenging them, advising them on the implementation of measures in a targeted manner and granting advertising subsidies.
Courage for renewal
Somfy's previous partner retention initiatives have not worked. That is why the company has made a radical cut: "We have terminated over 600 partners and set up a completely new program that we are continuously developing," reported Andreas Schnell, Head of Partner Programs at somfy. The basis for the success of the revamped program is the discipline to consistently pursue the change process. In order to retain partners and make them visible locally, the program comprises six different modules: in order to be able to offer first-class service (1), they receive sales training (2). In addition, they can attend events (3) for continuous further training and exchange ideas with other partners. In addition, they receive support from Somfy in setting up their store (4) so that they can always present the latest product innovations there (5). Last but not least, the international company relies on extensive online marketing (6): from local websites with integrated search and its own online stores to professional evaluation and presence management, regional web banners and social media. This has enabled the company to gain loyal partners who stand behind the Somfy brand and to successfully extend global campaigns into the local market.
Personal advice makes all the difference
Motivating local specialist retailers was a major challenge for expert. As an association group made up of legally independent companies, it was not easy to get specialist retailers interested in local brand management. As they are firmly anchored locally and feel committed to their regional customers, they have sovereignty over product ranges and prices. When Head of Marketing Dietmar Bauer (pictured below) moved to Expert in 2015, he wanted to professionalize local brand management. Convincing the employees on the shop floor of the new concept was crucial to success. "Our USP is personal advice," explained the Head of Marketing. Customers are not dogs that you call and then come willingly. "Today's consumer is a cat. They have a mind of their own," Dietmar Bauer reported. This is why local brand management is based on three pillars: Attention (appealing to customers emotionally), acceptance (breaking down barriers through offers such as best price guarantees) and activation (triggering the purchase through concrete offers).
The Local Branding Day is Germany's largest congress for local brand management. It is organized by the Local Branding Alliance, a network of marketing and advertising specialists that offers companies with local sales partner structures holistic solutions for local brand management from a single source. The network organized the Local Branding Day in Bonn on 2 April 2019 for the fourth time.
Thomas Ötinger is the managing partner of Marcapo, a specialist in local brand management and marketing portals and a member of the Local Branding Alliance, as well as the initiator of Local Branding Day. With a degree in business informatics, he is responsible for marketing and sales, purchasing and procurement as well as project and product management. Ötinger advises retail and healthcare companies, insurance companies and manufacturers on all aspects of local brand management and supports the marketing of their products and services via local sales partners. The certified positioning professional and NLP master is a speaker on topics such as local brand management and the positioning of service brands and has published four specialist books.
Focus on local online marketing
Most of expert's budget still flows into print inserts. "Our inserts have a weekly circulation of 15 million. We have been familiar with this for decades," said Dietmar Bauer. Nevertheless, local online marketing is becoming increasingly important. Because hardly any specialist retailers are familiar with it, expert supports them in implementing measures. They can customize central campaigns for their local market and thus advertise their regional range at standard market prices. After all, local specialist retailers know best what their customers want - and what they don't want.
Identify with the national brand
E-Masters is also committed to its members. Following the merger of five brands from different wholesalers, the marketing service cooperation in the electrical industry wanted to create a new brand. As the majority of members are small family businesses, e-masters takes a back seat on advertising materials. "Otherwise our members would not identify with the brand," explained Jens Gorr, Managing Director of E-Masters. Local brand management is based on an advertising material configurator with around 50 digital and analog advertising material templates - from business cards and calendars to advertisements, flyers and large posters to online presence management. Companies can customize the templates for their individual purposes.
Attracting skilled workers
In addition to numerous local campaigns, E-Masters also launched a national initiative a few years ago. The focus was on four different TV commercials, which were broadcast over 1800 times on 17 German TV stations. We had such great success with the campaign that our companies had to turn down requests," reported Jens Gorr. E-Masters is currently planning another major campaign. "Our industry is 3,000 skilled workers short. That's why we want to introduce young people to the electrical trade." To do this, long-established electricians have to rethink: "They have to be open, understanding and tolerant. Otherwise the trainee will be gone very quickly," said Jens Gorr. The new campaign will be correspondingly innovative: The smartphone will be the focus.
Connecting online and offline
Google is very familiar with the relevance of mobile devices. Nevertheless, Felix Hentzen, Strategic Partner Development Manager at Google Germany, emphasized that brick-and-mortar retail is very important. Google wants to close the gap between online and offline. "For us, there is only omnichannel," explained Felix Hentzen. Users look at their smartphone around 150 times a day. It's important to reach them at the right moment. This is not that difficult. After all, users leave behind measurable signals that companies should evaluate in order to target advertising and influence purchasing decisions with vouchers or similar. Felix Hentzen also showed what is already possible today in terms of omnichannel: companies can measure how many users have contact with a Google product, such as an entry in Google My Business or a YouTube video, and then visit a brick-and-mortar store. "Brands need to reach their customers where they are: in the local market," said Felix Hentzen.
Doing good on site
Nicole Adler from Coca-Cola European Partners explained that a global brand like Coca-Cola relies on local partnerships. In order to tap into new customer segments, the Group is moving away from its proven bestseller. Every restaurateur who adds alternative products to their range receives a cash injection to support a local charitable project of their choice. "That can quickly add up to 500 or 1000 euros a month," said Nicole Adler. In general, Coca-Cola is realigning its strategy. "We want to go back to the small glass bottle, to the original," she explained. For the corresponding campaign, which is mainly taking place online, Coca-Cola has been looking for human originals, restaurateurs with rough edges who like to see their faces on advertising material. For local marketing, Coca-Cola is supporting them with branded materials and a banner creator. The company also carries out local influencer marketing. Nicole Adler is pleased to report that 200,000 visits per post are not uncommon.
Daring to change
Futurist Sven Göth advocated transforming tried-and-tested business models. Brands can only position themselves for the future if they make the most of technological opportunities. Examples such as the rapid rise of Netflix show that even market leaders lose out if they do not disruptively transform their business model. Instead of making an early takeover bid to Netflix, the Hollywood film industry has invested in stationary video stores. Getting to grips with technologies such as artificial intelligence or the Hololens and accepting that development will never again progress as slowly as it does today(!) is crucial to success. Against this backdrop, brands must be networked with their customers and provide them with individual offers in real time. In future, voice assistants will order goods independently online. Customers won't care where they do this - the main thing is that they receive their order quickly and at a good price. Bots can already search for a suitable insurance policy today and take it out directly.
Change the perspective
What needs to be done? Brands should reflect on old values. "Physical proximity is becoming the decisive USP," said Sven Göth (picture below). Human relationships are extremely important. "Only if employees live a brand can they offer first-class service. The point of sale will become the point of service," the futurist continued. In future, corporate success will depend on whether companies act and communicate transparently in order to gain the trust of their customers - and thus obtain their data voluntarily. "The future is a question of perspective," concluded Sven Göth. "It's time to take a new perspective."
