Nestle, Coca-Cola, and Proctor & Gamble? You probably do, but have you thought about the many brands each own that are not under a universal name and why?

These are all decades old companies and they strategically expanded their product lines over years. And, they all have an on-going commitment of innovation and acquisition to insuring the company’s longevity.

This is important no matter your company size. A company must commit to its future with innovation and acquisition. For each of these processes the rules for vetting are unique.

This is also true for companies that offer a service and don’t have hard products. When you look at the history of retail, it’s understandable considering the changes technology and society has demanded of businesses.

Let’s begin with defining a private label. Typically, it is a retailer’s house brand. Craftsman is a well know Sears brand. Sears is not a manufacturer, so the Craftsman products were other brands cosmetically enhanced to have the brand color and badge of Craftsman. GE appliances and Milwaukee Power Tools are two of the major brands that provided Sears “private labeled” products.

Bloomindale's and Cotton rolled out a 1-minute interactive video giving shoppers a fashion show experience. Using a celebrity host and targeting Gen Z, the virtual runway featured young models on the cat-walk in a variety of outfits that the viewer could purchase with a call-to-action button.

First and foremost, people are willing to pay for the best. If you already have a strong brand reputation for luxury products it is easier to launch additional products. When you are an unknown brand you have to build a “high end” image and reputation. Existing brands moving into luxury category have a head start but still have to consider how to effectively add the luxury price category to their reputation.

Great brands build it. Weak brands destroy it.

It only takes an instant. A customer sees your product package, website, maybe a post and immediately makes a judgment on your brand based solely on that single experience.

That one instantaneous judgment can result in loss of credibility. All the hours and money invested in creating the product is wasted. It’s a fact of business.

The end of the year is soon upon us. Retailers everywhere are ramping up for the holidays, which for some translates to a third of their annual sales total, and the online retail space is no exception. Indeed, last years’ Black Friday and Cyber Monday generated $7.9 billion in sales to become the biggest online shopping experience in US history. This coupled with the multiple holidays during October through December make Q4 a prime time to realize some serious profits.

Some call this defining your “customer persona”.

Few products and services are so specialized that they have only one target audience.

Yet many brands -- in an attempt to stretch budgets -- use one general message which reaches too broad of an audience. This creates a diluted message that delivers lower ROI than if it was targeting the single best customer.