Originally posted – Dec 23, 2013
As CEO of brand management firm Turkel Brands, Bruce Turkel has been creating and working with valuable brands for more than 25 years.
Born and raised in Miami, Mr. Turkel studied design at the University of Florida and rushed to New York City to start his career. Preferring the sun to the subway, he returned to Miami and opened his own advertising agency built on the belief that marketing should be well-designed, simple, and should make a client’s products and services more valuable. Using this straightforward checklist, he has worked with hundreds of clients, written thousands of headlines, and designed even more print ads, television spots, websites and campaigns.
Mr. Turkel is a husband, father of two and the author of three books – his most recent is “Building Brand Value.” He also will be a keynote speaker at the Coin Laundry Association’s Excellence in Laundry Conference, which is scheduled for May 14-15 at the Ocean Reef Club in Key Largo, Fla.
Why is it important for business owners to brand their businesses?
It’s important because these days all products and services are essentially the same. Due to computerization, globalization and a number of factors, there is no longer a real differentiation between products.
For example, do you remember when televisions used to break? The tubes would blow and the remote control buttons would stop working. Today, TVs don’t break anymore. In fact, TV manufacturers had to come up with new kinds of televisions because there was no reason for consumers to buy new ones. This is when flat-screen TVs began to appear on the scene.
Also, “good enough”was good enough. If a product worked well, we bought it. Mercedes and Volvos were worth more money because they worked better, and other cars were less expensive and simply not as reliable. That’s not so true anymore. You can argue that a Hyundai or a Kia is as good a car as any of those others.
That’s a long way of saying that, if you’re selling only what you do, you are not giving consumers a compelling reason to buy your product. They have so many choices these days. They’re better off going to Walmart and buying whatever is cheaper. What difference does it make when they all work?
With that said, what are you going to do as a laundry owner to make your business more compelling? If all I need is a machine and a relatively comfortable place to get my clothes washed, I don’t need to go to your laundromat. I can go to any laundromat there is, or I can do it at home, or I can go to my friend’s house. I have a lot of options. The world has changed drastically, and marketers must change with it.
What are the main benefits of branding?
You’ll sell more stuff – and you’ll sell more stuff for more money, if that’s your goal. Once you add brand value to whatever it is you’re selling, it’s worth more perceptually to the consumer. It’s not necessarily worth more functionally; the product might not do anything better. However, it’s worth more because they’re buying the brand – they’re not buying the function.
Are there any drawbacks?
If you don’t think out your brand properly, you can find yourself with an obsolete brand. Or, if you don’t manage your messaging, you could end up with a brand that people don’t want.
Look at Paula Deen. She had a great brand. Then, for a number of reasons, her brand became unattractive.
And the amazing thing about Paul Deen is that the food she served in her restaurants didn’t change. The quality of her pots and pans you bought at Walmart or Macy’s didn’t change. The sharpness of her knives that you could buy at Crate & Barrel didn’t change. Yet, the perception of the value of those products changed drastically. So, brands can get you into trouble if you don’t manage them properly.
You’ve worked with some of the world’s most compelling brands, including the Discovery Channel, Nike and the City of Miami. Is branding as important for the neighborhood laundromat as it is for these much larger entities?
Not necessarily. If you’re the only game in town and there is no chance that there will ever be competition – due to zoning or a grandfather clause – then consumers don’t have a choice. In that case, don’t waste your money.
However, what are the chances you’re truly going to be the only game in town? Probably slim to none. Eventually, you might find yourself down the road with a new competitor who’s got an entirely new way of doing things.
My experience with the coin laundry industry stems back to a chain of laundromats we worked with here in south Florida. The owners decided they were going to go into underserved neighborhoods and provide a better experience. We designed brighter, happier and cleaner stores. We gave the customers more large-capacity machines. We sold coffee and snacks. We created a look and a feel. We even developed a spokesperson called Bubblina, who wore this big bubble costume.
We wanted volume of customers, not volume of quarters in machines. We tried to look at it a different way. Therefore, we were able to offer the consumer a better experience.
Branding is important and can be used specifically in the laundry industry and other smaller businesses, especially because much of what we do doesn’t cost anything. It doesn’t cost any more to make a good-looking sign than an ugly sign. It doesn’t cost any more to put in a floor with attractive colors than a floor with drab colors. You’re going to have to do these things anyway, so why don’t you think about it first and do those things in a way that communicates what it is you want to get across?
In what ways is branding a small business easier?
There are fewer decision-makers. It’s easier to make decisions on the fly. It’s easier to have a clear single goal when there are less people getting in the way.
Also, it’s less expensive to do things. If you wanted to change a portion of the brand for McDonald’s, how many locations would you have to change over? If Coca-Cola wanted to change its branding, how many bottling plants, bottles, signs and delivery trucks would be affected?
Look at what American Airlines is going through with its changes. Some planes are new. Some planes are old. Some brochures are new. Some brochures are old. Some uniforms are new. Some uniforms are old. It’s going to take them years to completely make that change.
If you have just two or three locations, how much would it take to change them? You’re much more flexible. Your cost of entry is less, and your downside is much lower.
In what ways can it be more difficult?
Small businesses tend to look at daily activities as trends: “We were busy today, therefore, we did everything right,” or “today was dead – we don’t know what we’re doing.”
Of course, those daily results could be due a million things that are both measurable and unmeasurable. It could have been the weather. It could have been the fact that there was a ball game on. Or it could have been that people just didn’t come into the store that day.
But, for many small-business owners – because they are so focused on the experience as the operator – every day is a trend. Unfortunately, when every day is a trend, you can’t plan. You can’t think big, because you’re too busy thinking small.
The expression is that you can’t see the forest for the trees. We deal with that a lot. “You’re marketing plan isn’t working because nobody came in today.” Really? We just incorporated it. How would anybody even know about it? These things take time.
In fact, sometimes when you make changes, business will go down first, because consumers don’t know what they’re looking at anymore. It’s a new experience. They don’t know what to expect. And what do people do when they’re confused? Nothing.
So, sometimes you don’t get the payoff right away.
In larger businesses, there are marketing professionals who have been to the rodeo before and understand this. However, often in a small business, the marketing person also fixes the plumbing, mops the floors and counts the change – so he or she doesn’t know these things.
You’re the author of “Building Brand Value.” Why did you feel the need to write this book?
I realized that clients were often making decisions on the work we did based on their personal tastes or personal experiences. I was hoping we were providing a higher level of service, quality and ideas than that.
For instance, we would show someone a campaign, and he or she would say, “This campaign uses yellow, and I don’t like yellow.” Yeah, but you don’t buy your product. What different does it make?
A perfect example is Bacardi, which is a client of ours. During a presentation to them, a man walks in and just stands against the wall. It was company chairman Facundo Bacardi.
The specific assignment their marketing people had given us was to pursue what they called LDA, or legal drinking age. So, we did our research and came up with what we called the two L’s – getting loaded and getting lucky. Meaning that this is what young drinkers wanted.
After we got done with the presentation, Mr. Bacardi clears his throat and says, “My grandfather brought Bacardi from Cuba to Puerto Rico. He smuggled the recipe sewn into his lapel. We use fine oak casks. You don’t mention any of that in the advertising.”
Again, we were asked to pursue LDA, not a mature audience looking for a quality experience. So, I said, “Let me ask you a question, if you don’t mind. How often do you buy Bacardi?”
“What do you mean?”Mr. Bacardi said. “That’s all I drink.”
“I didn’t say ‘drink’ – I said ‘buy.'”I corrected him.
“Whenever I go to a bar, I…” he began again.
“You give your AMX Black Card to the bartender and say ‘Bacardi for everybody,'”I said.
“That’s right. I buy it all the time.”
“Let me rephrase that,” I tried again. “When was the last time you were invited to a party, and you had $28 in your pocket to last you the whole weekend. You can buy Bacardi for $22 or Old Mr. Boston for $12.
“I’m not comparing the two products.” I assured him. “I’m comparing the fact that you’re a 22-year-old kid with 28 bucks in your pocket, and your friend asked you to bring a bottle of rum to his party.”
To his credit, Mr. Bacardi admitted that this had never happened to him. And, from that point on, we were able to explain why we did what we did.
In a nutshell, that’s why I wrote the book, because I wanted to make sure people understood the tools and techniques behind what we do so they can make intelligent decisions on how to use what we offer them.
Furthermore, it’s not only for my clients. There is all of this great information. It’s not expensive to do it right. In fact, it’s only expensive to do it wrong. Why not share this information with people so that they can actually improve their businesses and ultimately improve their lives.
You talk about the seven steps of building, maintaining and communicating a great brand. What are those key steps?
The first step is “All About Them.” Most marketing is about the product. It tells you how good the product is, how cheap the product is, etc. In the case of the laundry industry, it might give your locations, tell how many machines you have, and talk about your two-for-one special on Thursdays.
Consumers don’t care about you. The bottom line is that consumers care about themselves. What’s in it for them? The fact that you have a two-for-one special is about you. The fact that the customer can do twice the laundry for half the price is about them.
I was just with a client that sells pharmaceuticals online, and they emphasize same-day shipping. That’s OK, but same-day shipping talks about the client, not the end user. I suggested something like, “When you order from us, you start feeling better tomorrow – because we have same-day shipping.” It’s the same comment, and the company wouldn’t have to change anything operationally. It changes the message. It redirects it toward the consumer.
The second step is “Hearts Then Minds.” Most marketing is intellectual. Again, it lists facts, locations and prices. None of that matters if I don’t want the product in the first place. Sure, I could tell you how much it costs to get a first-class ticket to Somalia, but if you don’t want to go to Somalia, what do you care?
Build an emotional connection with the consumer before you worry about building an intellectual one. Make people want the product before you tell them what it is you’re going to give them.
For example, I don’t care that a particular syringe goes in 42 percent easier. However, if you told me that my child won’t cry as much when he gets his vaccination, I would start to care. Why? It’s because the needle is 42 percent smaller. OK, now I want that.
The third step is “Make It Simple.” We tend make this stuff so complicated. All I want to do is wash my kid’s softball uniform and go home, or clean the comforter that I can’t fit it in my home washer. That’s all.
I don’t care about soft water this or high-extract G-force that. Sure, I care about those things, but only after the fact. So keep it simple – the best brands do.
Look at Walmart. It’s probably the most complicated business in the world. But what do they say? “Always Low Prices.”
Volvo uses one word – “Safety.”
The fourth step is “Make It Quick.”
That brings us to the fifth step, which is “Make It Yours.” What are you going to own? If there is a laundromat on every third block, why am I going to go to yours? Are you going to choose that you have the best technology? The lowest prices? The greatest washing capacity?
Whatever it is, own it. Make it yours. What are you going to stand for? All the best brands own something.
The sixth step is “All Five Senses.” We don’t make decisions based only on what we see and hear. We think we do, which is why most marketing is visual and aural. Television, you hear it and see it; newspapers, you see them; billboards, you see them; and radio, you hear it.
But people also make decisions based on how things smell, feel and taste. How can you incorporate those senses into your brand?
And the seventh step is “Repeat, Repeat, Repeat.” Once you figure it out, say it over and over and over again. That’s when people are going to start to realize there is something unique, different and special about your business.
A word of warning: this doesn’t give you the right to be repetitive. You have to come up with new and creative ways to say it. But, as the old saying goes, the goal is to keep the goal the goal.
As a business, coin laundries are more of a “need”than a “want”for their customers. Does this affect the branding process?
It’s a “need”more than a “want”only if the marketers haven’t done their job. Their job is to change the service from a need to a want. Once you create a want, price goes out the window.
How do you do that with a laundromat?
You can just as easily ask how to do it with a purse? Why would a woman spend $15,000 for a Hermes purse? It’s not possibly something she needs. It’s something she wants.
Is the craftsmanship better? Yes. Is the leather quality better? Yes. But that doesn’t change the functionality of the product. A Hermes bag will not hold your stuff any better than a free paper bag from the grocery store.
You’re not selling function. That’s the hardest thing for many businesspeople to understand. If all you’re selling is a place for me to get my clothes cleaned, I have too many options. I don’t need you.
As you move down the socioeconomic ladder, services definitely become more need-oriented. However, even in the poorest neighborhoods with the most underserved populations, the residents are still purchasing luxury products – whether it’s jewelry, name-brand food items or cell phones.
So, if you can turn your laundry into a place where people want to be – either through cleanliness or safety or equipment or something else – all of a sudden, the game changes.
What should laundry owners try to accomplish with their brands?
There are as many answers to that as there are laundromats. But, in a general sense, the number-one thing to do is figure out what your messaging is.
Start with strategy, not tactics. Tactics are easy – they’re things like giving out free hotdogs on Wednesdays or painting all of the machines pink. Those are tactical moves.
But what is your strategy? Look at your audience – not only existing customers, but also those who are not utilizing your services. If you’re in a more affluent market, why not talk about washing comforters, quilts and sleeping bags that can’t fit into home equipment? Or maybe tout your wash-dry-fold service?
Where are the opportunities? The idea is to figure out a consistent messaging strategy that will then drive everything else you do.
Is branding more important or less important with regard to unattended coin laundries?
Instantly, you might say that it’s more important. After all, if nobody is there, you need some way of conveying your message. On the other hand, if you have employees at the store, they can become evangelists or detractors of your brand.
For example, if you’re a golfer and you know someone at the local pro shop who just breathes golf and can tell you all about the latest drivers he just got in, that enhances the shop’s brand.
Then again, if you have a kid at the laundromat who doesn’t care and it sitting there picking his teeth… “Yeah, use whatever machine you want.” That detracts from the brand.
So, I don’t know that branding is more or less important in either situation.
Can branding help when acquiring additional stores?
Absolutely. That’s because you don’t have to figure it out twice. Once you figure it out, you can apply the brand to your new acquisitions. Or, if you acquire a stronger brand than yours, you can apply that brand to your business.
Sixty years ago, Colonel Sanders talked about building one store, working out every bug, and then replicating it across the country. He said you don’t want to have any mistakes because then you replicate them over and over.
If you’ve figured out why people come to your store, you can replicate that across a number of stores, which lowers your unit price. However, pay attention to different neighborhoods, different customer bases, and different wants and needs. Your brand has to be big enough to be inclusive. If you make your brand about one small, specific niche within your market, it can be great for one store, but it might not work at all when you have two.
You do a lot of speaking to business owners across the country. What have you learned from these interactions?
I’ve learned that every industry thinks it’s unique, different and special. But, other than the operation of what they do, they are essentially the same.
For instance, we do a lot of work in tourism, as well as in health care. Other than the immediate delivery of service, which is either a hotel room or a surgery, the tourism and health care industries are the same.
In each business, they’re saying, “Come here.” Of course, in the case of tourism, this refers to a hotel, an airplane, a destination, a cruise ship, etc. In the case of health care, it refers to a hospital, a doctor’s office and so on.
Next, they say, “You’ll be impressed.” For tourism, this means beaches, mountains, whatever. For health care, this can mean doctors, surgeons, X-ray machines and the like.
Then, they say, “We’ll take good care of you.” With tourism, you’ll visit museums, lie on beaches and eat in good restaurants. With health care, you’ll be treated well by the hospital staff, your surgery will be successful and so on.
Lastly, they say, “When you leave, you’ll be better.” In the case of tourism, you’ll be tanner, thinner, more relaxed, more educated – whatever it is you went away for. In the case of health care, you’ll be healed.
It’s the same business with a different delivery of services.
And you can do the exact same thing with the laundry business. “Come here”- to our laundromat. “You’ll be impressed”- by our new machines, bright lighting and friendly attendants. “We’ll take good care of you”- our equipment works well, we have big-screen TVs and free WiFi, and you can purchase food and beverages. “When you leave, you’ll be better”- your clothes will be clean.
Again, it’s the same business from a consumer demand point of view.
What’s the biggest mistake you see small-business owners making these days, regarding their brands?
The biggest one is not having a strategy. As the saying goes, if you don’t stand for something, you’ll fall for anything. Today you’re doing this, and tomorrow you’re doing that. Every day becomes a trend. There is no set structure or thought process.
And, by the way, you don’t have to reinvent the wheel. You can copy it from the big guys. See what’s working for others.
Many business owners think the stuff they spend the most time and effort on becomes the most important thing, simply because that’s where they spend the time. If I spend the most time sweating the copper pipes behind my machines, all of a sudden that’s important. It is, but not to your customers.
If the laundry owners reading this do just one thing in 2014, what should that be?
Think about their customers. It’s all about them. I’m convinced if you do that right, the rest of it is almost irrelevant. Stop thinking about the business from the way you utilize it, and start thinking about your customers. If you go from being company-centric to consumer-centric, your world will change.
