The Truth About What Customers Want - Softcover

Solomon, Michael R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0137142269 ISBN 13: 9780137142262

Publisher: FT Press, 2008

Synopsis

Customers demystified! How you can move them to buy...buy more...and keep on buying!

• The truth about what customers really want, think, and feel
• The truth about keeping current customers happy–and loyal
• The truth about the newest trends and advances in consumer behavior

 

Simply the best thinking

THE TRUTH AND NOTHING BUT THE TRUTH

 

This book reveals 50 bite-size, easy-to-use techniques for finding and keeping highly profitable customers

 

“Michael Solomon’s The Truth About What Customers Want contains great insights into consumer behavior and is a must-have tool for anyone working in a consumer-driven field. His 50 truths take the guesswork out of marketing intelligence and give insight into navigating today’s technology-driven world.”

Tim Dunphy, Senior Marketing Manager, Consumer Insights, Black & Decker

 

About this title

About the Author:

Michael R. Solomon, Ph.D. is Professor of Marketing and Director of the Center for Consumer Research in the Haub School of Business at Saint Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. He is also Professor of Consumer Behaviour at the Manchester School of Business, The University of Manchester, U.K. Professor Solomon’s primary research interests include consumer behavior and lifestyle issues, branding strategy, symbolic aspects of products, psychology of fashion, decoration, and image, services marketing, and the development of visually oriented online research methodologies. Professor Solomon has been recognized as one of the 15 most widely cited scholars in the academic behavioral sciences and fashion literature and as one of the 10 most productive scholars in the field of advertising and marketing communications. His textbook, Consumer Behavior: Buying, Having, and Being, published by Prentice Hall, is widely used in universities throughout North America, Europe, and Australia and is now in its eighth edition.

 

In addition to his academic activities, Professor Solomon is a frequent contributor to mass media. His feature articles have appeared in magazines such as Psychology Today, Gentleman’s Quarterly, and Savvy. He has been quoted in numerous national magazines and newspapers, including Allure, Elle, Glamour, Mademoiselle, Mirabella, Newsweek, The New York Times, Self, USA Today, and The Wall Street Journal. He frequently appears on television and radio to comment on consumer behavior issues, including The Today Show, Good Morning America, CNBC, Channel One, Inside Edition, Newsweek on the Air, The Wall Street Journal Radio Network, the Entrepreneur Sales and Marketing show, the WOR Radio Network, and National Public Radio. Professor Solomon provides input as a marketing consultant to a variety of organizations on issues related to consumer behavior, branding, services marketing, retailing, and advertising. He frequently speaks to business organizations around the world about new trends in consumer behavior.

 

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

Preface

Praise for The Truth About Creating Brands People Love

"I recommend this punchy, provocative book that uses vivid case studies to remind us of 51 truths about brands."

David Aaker, Vice-Chairman, Prophet and Author of Building Strong Brands and Spanning Silos

"Brian Till and Donna Heckler have captured the key proven principles of creating strong brands and managing them effectively over the long-run. Their work is practical and applicable to companies across a wide range of industries. They offer concrete marketing strategy guidelines necessary for creating sustainable brand commitment. Their ideas are expressed in an engaging fashion, and the book is divided into concise chapters that can stand alone to make powerful points during brand strategy planning sessions."

Dan Smith, Ph.D., Professor of Marketing and Dean, Kelley School of Business, Indiana University

"Utilizing a broad range of examples, anecdotes, and case history-style narrative, the authors answer many of the recurring questions brand managers and their agencies face every day in marketing consumer and business-to-business products and services. The truth about The Truth About Creating Brands People Love is that it offers sound, actionable advice that anyone in the business of building, managing, and stewarding brands can put into effective use immediately."

Joe Osborn, Partner, Osborn & Barr Communications

"This is an enjoyable read of spirited and engaging 'Truths' regarding effective brand building. Importantly, it is filled with wisdom and insights that apply to all brands and all businesses."

Patricia Seybold, Author of Customers.com, The Customer Revolution, and Outside Innovation

"Brian and Donna have peeled back the secrets of how to make great brands. Filled with countless real life examples, it's an easy and "relatable" read. A great primer for the marketer just starting out or for the established manager who thinks he knows it all."

M. Paul Kravitz, Manager, New Products and Business Development, Nestlé Purina PetCare

"A must read for corporate execs. It brings the basics back to branding."

Brian Abrahams, General Manager, U.S. Sales Division, Anheuser-Busch, Inc.

"A very easy to read-and-apply text that relates well to the new marketing 'guru' and the seasoned vet. A must read for all marketers."

Larry Brayman, Manager of Marketing, Dunkin Brands, Inc

Preface

Creating brands people love seems so easy. Just look around at all the wonderful brands that we experience every day. Yet, creating brands people love requires more than simply love of a product and spectacularly creative advertising—it requires intelligent, strategic, and coordinated decisions in many areas of marketing. Packaging, promotion, advertising, positioning, distribution, and pricing are just some of the important functions that, when successfully managed, lead to profitable brands that matter to consumers.

The purpose of this book is to illustrate universal truths about brand management that cover the range of brand-building activities. These truths transcend context, providing important insights irrespective of industry-specific dynamics. The guidelines here are as relevant to a marketing manager for a steel producer as for a cereal maker; as meaningful to a brand manager for coffee machines as for a ski resort; as useful to someone running an art gallery as to someone managing a high-end hotel.

For experienced and well-trained marketing managers, these truths provide a touchstone to those basic principles that are sometimes overlooked in day-to-day decision making. For the up-and-coming brand manager, this book provides thoughtful guidance that will serve you well over the course of a career. For senior executives responsible for the marketing function but not formally trained, the book serves as a framework to think about brand building and from which to challenge your marketing staff. Finally, for students, you will find these truths to be a solid foundation for life-long learning in this fascinating business.

The following chapters cover an assortment of issues regularly faced by marketing and brand managers such as media, taglines, brand extensions, brand names, use of celebrities, packaging, and so on. Importantly, though, none of those decisions will matter unless your basic product or service offering is on target. The product or service itself is the starting foundation of a great brand.

Consider Honda. Certainly there are cars more luxurious, cars that deliver greater thrills, and cars that are more stylish. But Honda nails the essence of a great product—reliability, excellent build quality, comfortable, well-planned ergonomics, and good fuel economy. Although Honda's brand image is not flashy, Honda's image does have appeal to a significant group of people. Importantly, the starting point for Honda as a brand is Honda the product.

Gas station and convenience store QuickTrip is another good example of a brand that pays close attention to the little things. The cashiers, in addition to their speedy change counting, are quick with a "Many thanks," or "Come back and see us soon." The consistency from QuickTrip is not simple coincidence but rather an intentional focus on speed and pleasantness. At many service stations, when filling to a prepay of $20, the rate of gas flow drops to a trickle at $19.80 or so, and then the last twenty cents worth dribbles in. Not at QuickTrip. The gas flow is constantly strong until it hits exactly $20. A small detail indeed, but a detail that reinforces the promise embodied in their name—quick trip.

Without diminishing the role and importance of public relations, creative TV advertising, an engaging website, captivating packaging, motivating promotions, or any of the other tools that collectively build strong brands and drive profitability, there is tremendous importance in putting first things first—and the first thing is a fundamentally great product. Great products make great brands.

The Truth About Creating Brands People Love is a complete toolbox of ideas, strategies, and techniques that can take a great product and transform it into a profitable brand people will love. Each concept has at its core a focus on how to connect with the consumer in a meaningful way. Be empowered, challenge conventional wisdom, think strategically, and use this book as a guide to creating a bond between your customers and your brand.

© Copyright Pearson Education. All rights reserved.

About this edition

• Publisher: FT Press
• Publication date: 2008
• ISBN 10: 0137142269
• ISBN 13: 9780137142262
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224