1700’s
If you didn’t have a prominent last name you were identified as your father’s son.” This is Tim, John’s son.” This soon evolved into your last name—Johnson.
1800’s
As families began to accrue livestock such as cattle, there needed to be a way to distinguish whose cow belonged to whom. Thus a hot brand was applied to the cow’s hind end with the initials of the owner.
1900’s
Small town’s began to grow. Soon their were more options to purchase goods, have a drink or keep your money. No longer could townspeople refer to the one general store in town. Thus started the modern brand as we know it.
1920 – Present
No longer was it enough to just be “Tom’s General Store or Johnson’s General Store.” More emphasis was placed on image and message.
Noticing that your General Store competitor hadn’t changed since the turn of the century, it was time to update your image to attract more customers. A brighter, cleaner store with a new name and messaging that implied “I’m better than the other guy” did just the trick.
But in an effort to compete, your competitor leverages his traditional look and values to reach your audience with messages of trust and family values creating his own market and now bringing back the audience you thought you had. This has lasted even until today with more stores, more competition and even more emphasis placed on staking your claim in the market and positioning yourself to succeed.
Today more than ever it is imperative to know your audience, know who’s competing for their attention and how to leverage or create new assets to reach them. A walk through a grocery store is always a good reminder of how important this is. Yet, if the world is the grocery store, are you certain that people searching for a retailer, service provider, school, church, dealership, etc… will glance twice if they're walking down your specific “aisle”?
If there is any doubt or you are finding that competitors are slowly encroaching on your “General Store”, let us assist you in leveraging or creating assets to strengthening your brand.
If you didn’t have a prominent last name you were identified as your father’s son.” This is Tim, John’s son.” This soon evolved into your last name—Johnson.
1800’s
As families began to accrue livestock such as cattle, there needed to be a way to distinguish whose cow belonged to whom. Thus a hot brand was applied to the cow’s hind end with the initials of the owner.
1900’s
Small town’s began to grow. Soon their were more options to purchase goods, have a drink or keep your money. No longer could townspeople refer to the one general store in town. Thus started the modern brand as we know it.
1920 – Present
No longer was it enough to just be “Tom’s General Store or Johnson’s General Store.” More emphasis was placed on image and message.
Noticing that your General Store competitor hadn’t changed since the turn of the century, it was time to update your image to attract more customers. A brighter, cleaner store with a new name and messaging that implied “I’m better than the other guy” did just the trick.
But in an effort to compete, your competitor leverages his traditional look and values to reach your audience with messages of trust and family values creating his own market and now bringing back the audience you thought you had. This has lasted even until today with more stores, more competition and even more emphasis placed on staking your claim in the market and positioning yourself to succeed.
Today more than ever it is imperative to know your audience, know who’s competing for their attention and how to leverage or create new assets to reach them. A walk through a grocery store is always a good reminder of how important this is. Yet, if the world is the grocery store, are you certain that people searching for a retailer, service provider, school, church, dealership, etc… will glance twice if they're walking down your specific “aisle”?
If there is any doubt or you are finding that competitors are slowly encroaching on your “General Store”, let us assist you in leveraging or creating assets to strengthening your brand.
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