Are We Known By the Company We Keep?

Our recent ElectroIndustry Survey asked distributors “How important is it to build your brand to your customers?” Over 200 responded.

Their feedback was:

• 6.5 % said “Not important, want to promote manufacturers”
• 4.8% said “I am known by the brands that I sell”
• 15.3% said “Somewhat important, want to promote key manufacturers”
• 26.6% said “Equally as important as promoting manufacturers”
• 33.9% said “Very important…my brand is more important to my customers than my manufacturers’ brand”
• 12.9% said “Extremely important, we promote our company to our customers and do not focus on manufacturer branding”

Or, 46.8% of distributor respondents feel their brand is more important and 73.4% feel they are as or more important than their manufacturer brands.

Perhaps this explains why distributor marketing investments are now approaching .25-.5% of sales, but what does this means for future marketing coop and MDF funds from manufacturers ?
The recent Graybar ad in Electrical Contractor is indicative of this evolving approach – positioning oneself rather than being known by the company you keep. In the ad, Graybar espouses its belief that contractors are seeking Efficiency, Safety and Productivity and that Graybar has the ESP (foresight) to understand their needs and will be bringing new products to them. The ad takes the next step and sends them to a landing page for more information (good marketing idea).

A couple of questions:

• Do all Graybar locations have ESP for their customers? Are they prepared for contractor questions? – Branding is not advertising. Branding is creating an experience that generates a response from customers, and the experience must be at all touchpoints, and ultimately integrated into the culture of an organization.
• More tactically, whose CFL lamp is featured in the ad? Hopefully GE’s since that is the only lamp line listed on Graybar’s lamp linecard. But there is no logo on the lamp.

Another company that was prominently featured on television this fall is Granite City Electric with their logo on the Green Monster at Fenway Park, they are the official electrical distributor of the Red Sox and Patriots, as well as their advertising on NESN (pre/post game shows for Red Sox and Bruins). Most, if not all, of Granite City’s marketing does not involve manufacturers (other than manufacturer specific promotions). The belief is that customers buy from them and as long as they represent/sell quality products that get the job done, the customer isn’t too concerned. And as long as they generate sales results for manufacturers, the manufacturers are ambivalent about how their marketing funds are spent.

So, where is branding going? How much are you budgeting for your marketing? And, will manufacturer marketing / funding support change in the future?