Friday, April 20, 2007

Brand & basics of "Branding" - Part I

Standing out amid a massive chorus of competitors is a challenge for any company in today’s business climate. Want evidence? Look at any magazine, TV show or surf the Internet. The number of offers and sales pitches one receives on a daily basis is simply staggering and increasingly ineffective. It’s no wonder, then, why businesses are seeking new and more effective ways of increasing the influence of their brand strategy in the marketplace. A strong brand strategy can increase the awareness of a company and its offerings in such a way that establishes strong feelings and reactions and a favorable view towards the company as a whole.

To create this sort of “brand awareness” in your market, it takes skillful Brand Strategy know-how.

Successfully out-branding your competitors is a continuous battle for the hearts and minds of your customers. The proposition your brand strategy makes must be very compelling, attractive and unique among competitive offerings. The proposition must also be consistently reinforced throughout all phases of an organization, from senior executives to customer service, research and development, business development and even your business partners.


What entails a comprehensive and effective “Brand Strategy process?” Well, it varies from industry to industry, but here are some very basic guidelines about what makes a good Brand Strategy.

Brand Strategy—what’s the big deal?

Brand Strategy is nothing new. Yet, the expectations consumers have for a product or service they buy is stronger than it’s ever been. This is why companies interested in long-term success must create the most promising, targeted brand experience possible.

Whether you know it or not, you already have a brand, and your customers are having a “brand experience” when they interact with you, whether it be with your products and services or the people in your company. In order to craft this “brand experience” in a calculated way that is beneficial for your company, you must have a strong understanding about what exactly a brand is.

Brand is the Alpha and Omega

In other words, brand is the totality of your company and its business.

“A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly and the off-strategy,” says Scott White, one of the leading branding consultants. “It is your best and worst product. It is your best and worst employee. It is communicated through award-winning advertising as well as those ads that somehow slipped through the approval cracks and sank anything riding on them. It is your on-hold music and the demeanor of the receptionist who puts that valued client or prospect on hold. It is the carefully crafted comments by a CEO as well as negative buzz by the water cooler or in chat rooms on the Internet. Brand is expressed through written, audio and visual content. It is interpreted through emotional filters every human being has—where anything can happen. Ultimately, you can’t control your brand. You can only hope to guide it.”


... To be Continued



The above essay is by Scott White, who is the President of Brand Identity Guru Inc. I chose to use his work because I found his ideas extremely simple but at the same time conveying the exact message. All of us have very different ideas about what Brand or Branding is, and this essay kind of clarifies most of our doubts.

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