Marketing God. Donna A. Heckler

       Foreword

      Building and marketing strong brands plays a very important role in our economy — it helps consumers find a good match between the needs that they have and the myriad of products and services competing for attention.

      These consumer needs can be as basic as protection from the weather (Patagonia clothing) or unexpected life events (Farmers Insurance). These needs can be at a more abstract level, such as the need for enjoyment (Norwegian Cruise Line) or to express our values (Volvo cars). Irrespective of the wide spectrum of needs that we have (even a need for spiritual fulfillment) and the myriad of brands populating (some might say cluttering) the marketplace, marketing is the basic process of communicating a meaningful proposition about a brand that will tap into a basic human need.

      Donna A. Heckler brings a wealth of marketing and brand building experience across a variety of industries along with her own deep faith commitment to exploring how marketing and brand building principles can benefit spiritually based enterprises.

      This book introduces many fundamental principles that have been time-tested — principles such as the importance of focus, brand clarity, empathy with the customer, simplicity, and consistency. Donna demonstrates through example how these principles help faith-based organizations better connect with their constituencies and help to make a stronger statement of the organization’s principles and values.

      The short chapters you will find here weave together, in a very accessible way, contemporary branding concepts with examples of how these concepts have been successfully applied in practice. This book will hold up well over time and serve as a valuable resource over the years.

      Brian D. Till

      James H. Keyes Dean of Business Administration and Professor of Marketing at Marquette University, coauthor of The Truth About Creating Brands People Love