Baseball, Singles and Brand Strategy

My brother and I used to play baseball on Little League teams on Saturdays and in the evenings during the summer. One coach of mine had a thing about singles that he, let us say, taught at every single batting practice. His coaching would go something like this, “Alright Marin, you know what I want donʼt you!” I would shout “A single coach!” and heʼd shout back “Thatʼs right Marin — give me a single!” Well, you get the picture.

For the life of me I could not figure out why singles were so important to him. But by the middle of the season, I noticed something I hadnʼt noticed on other teams I had been on...We were winning more games! I thought, hey, this guy may know what heʼs doing after all!

In hindsight, I must say, he knew exactly what he was doing. Which brings me to the point of this Brand Building blog: itʼs far better to have one brand strategy that really works than 10 that are all struggling to find an audience.

Consider wining brands such as Apple and Nike. Why is their marketing so effective? Is it because their products are superior? Is it because they are more creative in how they tell their story? Or is it because they have more money to spend on marketing so their target audiences are immersed with their brand messaging and this has given them a sizable market-share advantage?

Although the foregoing may all be true, I think their significant advantage is they know what their customers want and they deliver it in one single after the next.

Tom Wants to Hear Your Branding Issues:
If you are a printing company, or product/services company serving the industry, and would like to be considered for a feature in this blog, please contact Tom Marin for an interview.