It’s a sad reality today that great branding inspires counterfeits in the market. Given this fact, should your marketing department tone down their efforts? We think not! Your company must strategically position the product in the market to generate sales. This strategic positioning in todays world, comes with consequences. Counterfeiters see your marketing efforts as an opportunity. They capitalize on the work your company has done internally.
How Branding Inspires Counterfeits?
When a company has put in great efforts and creative thinking into their marketing, they are likely to see great results from it. These great results translate into more sales and growth for the company. On the flip side, counterfeiters see the sales in the market and device a plan to capitalize on the already moving goods. They perform their research and develop a product or something similar but substandard with the same brand name and distribute in the market. You may ask “why not just sell your own product?” They have thought of that but the energy, time and effort to put into branding their own product is not worth it. So they capitalize on brands that have put in years of work and penetrate the market because it’s easier.
A video of a popular beverage brand recently went viral. The video has been out since last year and a good portion of the internet saw it this week which sparked more conversations around the brand. The video showed an illegal factory packaging a fake version of the beverage. The comment section was pouring with concerned consumers about the safety of the product. When the video was released, the company with a global presence published a statement targeting only the affected region. The company’s statement educated consumers on how to spot fake versions of the product. This approach was necessary for brand crisis management at the time. What the company did not predict was the global resurfacing of the video and the need for crisis management globally.
Counterfeiters can disrupt your business both locally and globally if precautions are not taken. Here are three things your company should do when faced with such an issue.
How to handle a counterfeiting situation
Develop a communication plan for your consumers. If your brand has a global presence, develop a global communication plan. Your company may be reluctant to communicate the issue but it is important to do so the minute it happens. It enables your brand build trust with the consumer and strengthens brand loyalty.
Implement a solution to tackle this problem. A technological solution like Sproxil Defender can be useful to enable your company handle this issue. When consumers see you are taking steps to address the problem, it strengthens their trust.
Run a loyalty marketing campaign. Sales are still important to your business. At this stage, you have communicated the issues and your consumers can trust you. You have also taken steps to protect your product and communicated that. The next step is to reward your consumers for remaining loyal during this turbulent time in your business.
It is important to note that whether your brand has a global or local presence, counterfeiters always want to capitalize on it. If your company plans on expanding or even maintaining its market share, it needs to protect its products from counterfeiting. Have you experienced this in your business?
