WW Grainer has succeeded in mastering brand reputation. Founded in 1927 by William Wallace Grainger, W.W. Grainger, Inc. started as a supplier of motors and surfacing equipment. Nearly 100 years later, it’s #1 in Machines and Industrial Equipment on Newsweek’s list of Most Trustworthy Companies in America 2024. The company reported $16.5 billion in sales in 2023, boasting two business models operating simultaneously to meet the needs of its loyal customers.
“At Grainger, We Keep the World Working® by serving more than 4.5 million customers worldwide with products delivered through innovative technology and deep customer relationships.”
How does a company with more than 4 million customers, 25,000 team members, and 1.6 million products find themselves mastering brand reputation, and what can your brand learn from them? Let’s look at their success through the lenses of brand strategy, identity, awareness, and loyalty.
Brand Strategy
In 2019, Grainger revisited its core values and messaging, launching the Grainger EdgeSM framework to clearly define its “why” and communicate it across the board internally and externally. Built into the framework were expectations for how team members would interact with one another, outside vendors, and the customers and communities they serve.
Stated explicitly was the strategy Grainger would employ in each business model:
- In its high-touch solutions model, where maintenance, repair, and operating (MRO) solutions are the primary service, the company focus is differentiated sales and services along with “unparalleled customer service.”
- In the endless assortment model, Grainger provides millions of products mainly on digital platforms so customers can easily find and order what they need.
What does that mean for the marketing department?
The company had already incorporated what Paige Robbins, Senior Vice President and President of the Grainger Business Unit, called strategic growth engines: marketing, seller coverage, seller effectiveness, customer solutions, and merchandising.
Now, the message would be We Keep the World Working® as the company positioned itself to be the go-to partner in the MRO industry where end clients span a wide array of other industries. Including organic and paid marketing in the strategic approach, Grainger left nothing to chance.
Their external communications included:
- Radio ads
- TV ads
- Direct mail campaigns
- The Grainger catalog
- Paid search and display-ad retargeting
- Blog posts and other informational resources on their website
Although Hummingbird’s research didn’t uncover many details about the company’s internal communications to the team, part of brand strategy includes getting your team on board. Grainger needed to communicate to all 25,000 team members the details of the Grainger EdgeSM so they could maintain consistency in their interactions with customers, vendors, and the community. The consistency is one small part of a larger effort to continue building a strong brand and should be factored into brand strategy from the beginning.
When your company is developing a brand strategy, be sure to include both internal and external communications as well as paid and organic campaigns for maximum reach.
Brand Identity
At Hummingbird, we often tell our clients that the goal of developing a brand identity is for a potential customer to know you exist before they ever need your service.
That means every interaction with someone from your company should be consistent enough that prospective customers recognize your brand and know what it’s about.
When Grainger launched the Grainger EdgeSM, the framework included the company’s core values — from starting with the customer to winning as one team and doing the right thing. They made big promises to their customers, and the company’s continued growth suggests they’re continuing to deliver on those promises year after year.
What are you promising your customers? Your core values are at the heart of your brand identity, and you want them to be reflected in every interaction someone has with your brand. So, whether you’re just beginning to develop a brand identity or you’re rebranding, start with your core values.
Brand Awareness
Grainger spared no expense to build brand awareness. Investing in advertisements on a variety of media, the company made every effort to get its name out. In a continually evolving digital age, its leaders have also stayed one step ahead in meeting customers where they are.
One strategy they’ve employed effectively is segmenting their customers according to their needs and the solutions Grainger provides. Customer segmentation allows for more personalized, targeted content to get to the right audience on the right platforms.
For generations that depend on information from public airwaves, for example, Grainger used radio and TV ads to find them. For those who only get information digitally, they built organic content on the website and social media platforms and used paid ads to reach scrollers searching for tools and other building solutions.
Grainger has made the best use of a multitude of platforms to maintain a broad base of customers, and so can you. As you plan to build awareness of your brand, consider your audience first. Which platforms would be the best for introducing your brand to them? Start there.
Brand Loyalty
“Grainger has built a strong brand reputation over its long history of providing reliable products and exceptional customer service. This helps them attract and retain customers who trust Grainger as a dependable source for their industrial and maintenance needs.”
– Matthew Ramirez, PitchGrade
Strategy, identity, awareness — these wouldn’t be all that useful if the strategy didn’t include a plan for keeping customers loyal. Grainger has prided itself in building long lasting relationships with its clients, partly by innovating through the years and continuing to provide solutions for customers’ needs and getting those solutions to them quickly.
Words From a Loyal Customer
“I’m John Philip with the [Chicago] Field Museum. I’m the lead engineer here. I had one of my nightshift engineers working on a breeze separator underneath the sink, and it required a new O ring on top of the cap. This particular one I did not have in stock, didn’t know where I was going to be able to find it. So I went on the Grainger website, and I was so surprised to find the myriad of different size O rings. And there it was, and it was affordable. It was like $2 to fix this piece of equipment, and they got it here the next day, so I like doing business with them.”
Mastering Brand Reputation For Your Company
What’s your company’s unique value? Finding it, developing your brand’s unique voice, and communicating to your customers just how much you value them are strategies we emphasize to Hummingbird’s clients. The better your brand can implement these strategies and encourage loyalty, the stronger it’ll become.
Using these strategies and more, the branding experts at Hummingbird Creative Group can help your company ensure that it is mastering brand reputation. Reach out today to get started.