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How Would Warren Buffett and Jack Welch Launch Your New Brand?

Written by Ashton Bishop | February 6, 2018

There are many different ways to launch a new brand, and any one of them can jumpstart your products from scratch. But it helps to take inspiration from some of the world’s greatest strategists because, after all, their success has been tried and tested.

While modern business leaders have much to learn from these strategic thinkers, these insights should be taken with a grain of salt and applied according to your specific circumstances today.

If you plan to launch your new brand anytime soon, it helps to look into how Warren Buffett and Jack Welch would use strategy to implement their ideas into your launch plan. 

 

What Would Warren Buffett Do?

Photo credits: Adam Jeffery | CNBC

Warren Buffett is undoubtedly one of the most successful business people today. But he wouldn’t get to where he is now without the right strategy.

There are three main things we expect Warren Buffett to do when launching a brand or trying to reshape a brand.

 

1. Set a high benchmark for quality

For Buffett, it all comes down to making sure that everything that he produces is of high quality.

He would never sell a sub-par product, and this is something that people have come to know him for and love about his brand. They know that anything he rallies behind will be worth the money because it is guaranteed to be of high quality.

This is something that all new brands should work towards.

You do not want to put out a product that is defective or breaks after a few uses. Over time, this will give your brand a bad reputation.

With a focus on high quality, a product malfunction that happens occasionally will not destroy the brand. 

 

2. Focus on the long-term goals

One of the biggest mistakes that entrepreneurs make when working on their brand is only taking a look at this year’s goals.

With such a short-sighted outlook, how can any company continue to grow and prosper? While it is still a good idea to take a look at current goals, you need to look at the bigger picture and be more forward-looking.

It’s hard to steer the brand forward without a clear goal to work towards. Make sure that you outline not only your short-term goals but also your plans for the future as well.

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3. Looking for value in things that others may have missed

This is something that Buffett is well-known for with all his brands. It’s almost as though he takes the time to look at all his brands with a different set of eyes.

Not only that, he often finds potential in brands and companies early on before anyone else realises their capacity for success.

This is one of the major reasons he’s become so successful as an individual and with his brands. From time to time, it can pay to look a bit deeper and with a new vision in sight. 

 

What Would Jack Welch Do?

Photo credits: nscblog

Jack Welch, who is most notably known for being the CEO of General Electric, helped increase his company by 4,000% and is another great strategist we need to look into.

He believes strategy should be all about a winning value proposition that jumpstarts growth. To him, strategy should be agile and used as a tool that adapts to the company’s ever-changing goals.

Here are some key points we can take from Jack Welch when launching a new brand:

 

1. Figure out where you can be #1

One of the things that Jack Welch succeeded at was getting GE to a position of power and influence, but this did not happen overnight.

He first made sure he understood and identified where GE could be the best at and found ways to continually exceed benchmarks while always driving value.

The key to his strategy was to focus on one thing and do it so well it would be a mistake for customers to turn to anyone else.

So have a look at your business and ask yourself, “Where can my business be the best at?” Focus on that to fuel your strategy.

 

2. Remove processes and people that don't add value

Jack Welch also never wasted time on anything that did not benefit the company. He was known for removing processes that offered no significant value to the company, even removing people that were not a positive resource.

Like Welch, it’s important to not waste time trying to fix a process that is not adding value. Invest in the right resources and root for people who can help you take your brand further. Find the ones that have the same drive and vision as you and help them to succeed in their roles. 

Watch this: How to Achieve Product/Market Fit

 

3. Become a learning organisation

Today, people want to work somewhere where they can grow. If you want to be successful, then you need to be able to attract these people.

Provide learning opportunities and find ways for your people to become just as invested as you in the brand. Share your commitment and passion, and you will find others that feel the same way.

Keep those valuable people around by providing them with valuable opportunities for growth.

 

Conclusion

With the right strategy to help you achieve your goals, you can launch just about any brand. There are a lot of great things that you can learn from both of history’s greatest strategists. By taking a cue from what worked for them, you can launch your brand successfully no matter what your market or industry is. 

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