Often brand messaging can be more difficult than one might imagine, especially for larger organizations that offer a myriad of products or services that appeal to different customer groups. And functional benefits may not be the most powerful things to promote to stimulate purchase and especially repeat purchase and brand loyalty. Often, it is shared values and emotional, experiential or self-expressive benefits that have the most power to motivate purchase decisions.
So, if the objective is to determine the optimal brand positioning and messaging, especially succinct and powerful messaging, the focus groups should include a discussion of the following:
- Customer beliefs, attitudes, values, anxieties, hopes, fears, motivations and behaviors
- How purchase decisions are made
- What other product or services, if any, they considered in the purchase decision
- What the purchase experience was like
- What the product or service usage experience was like
- Asking them how they felt while using the brand's products or services
- Talking about the brand as if it were a person, identifying the adjectives that best define the brand
- Identifying what they believe the brand's values are
- Perceived relevance of the brand and its products or services
- The need that led to considering the brand
- Asking them to use only one word to describe the brand
- Asking them how they would sell the brand to someone who was unfamiliar with the brand
- Asking them what the most important things about the brand are to them
Another insightful question to ask would be, "What would the world miss most if the brand ceased to exist?"
Usually, you would want to talk with loyal customers, new customers and customers who have walked away from the brand after having purchased its products and services previously.
This will lead you to a potent motivating unique value proposition and messaging for the brand.
Did you notice that I did not include questions about the product's or service's functions and features? While this might become part of the discussion, these are rarely the things that sell the brand.
I wish you great success in gaining insight into customer's motivations for purchasing your brand's products and services.
