Branding Mania Again To Get The Lime light
With the development with the core values of brand then comes the part of brand development & brand positioning. Once the brand’s core values have been identified, the road towards effective brand proposition development begins. The traditional branding efforts differ the latest efforts put in by marketers. Let us have a look at the traditional plan
Traditional elements of a brand plan would include:
Brand vision
Brand mission
Market definition
Situation analysis
Market size and forecasts as well as the dynamics and trends
Market structure and share of trade at supplier, intermediary, and end customer level segmentation
Market attraction vs. brand competency chart
Once the brand’s core values have been identified, the road towards effective brand proposition development begins. To ensure a successful outcome, comprehensive and objective research involving at the minimum, the brand’s strengths and weaknesses, the target audience, and the competition will be conducted. If the resources are available, research should also involve extensive observation into the brand’s industry, its history, the current market picture, and potential growth and direction.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners often have two misconceptions about brand design: that it is either very easy, or very complicated. Those who think it is very easy think that it involves just designing a logo. Those who think it is very complicated think that it involves many deep, thoughtful, and time-consuming exercises, and that you have to hire high-priced consultants.
In reality, it is somewhere in between. You do need a logo, and you need to put some foundational pieces in place for your brand and envision your future brand even before you design that logo, because the rest of the basic steps in creating a brand are based on these preparations and definitions.
Thoughtfully defining your position will help you to understand who you are, what you do, and what makes you different. It will give you a strong, differentiated foundation upon which to build your brand and marketing communication materials.
It is proven principle that successful relationships are based on trust. And the client-provider relationship is no exception.
It is not surprising research shows that there is a growing trust deficit between clients and businesses given the high profile corporate scandals led by Enron and WorldCom. Where consumers and clients used to give businesses the “benefit of the doubt,” today they require their trust to be earned.
Professional service firms and independent consultants share this need to earn and build trust. In fact, with smaller numbers of clients, the stakes are even higher for these enterprises. This trust must attach to your brand as a key attribute.
You have a brand as much as Coca-Cola has one. Building your brand with a trustworthy reputation is the most important marketing strategy you can have given the cynical mood of the marketplace today. Here are five “don'ts” and five “dos” to guide your efforts.
Deliver the Unexpected
When developing a brand proposition, never let your brand’s promise be one that is already expected; this is a sure way to NOT stand out from your competitors. Advertising efforts that utilize adjectives like “good”, or “nice” are sure to fail when seeking to be both engaging and unique.
How many times while driving, have you seen restaurant or dry cleaning signs, that announce “good Chinese food”, or “good dry cleaning service”? The answer is probably more times than you can count. These businesses are able to survive because they are often the only game in town. But for businesses and organizations that are competing for a larger market, this type of advertising is sure way toward obscurity.
Remember, you must convey an engaging, unique, relevant, and consistent message to your target audience. Consumers already expect “good service” from you. This isn’t an engaging message nor is it unique. This message doesn’t lead towards a strong positive emotional relationship.
An important aspect of brand development is to create a positive emotional attachment to the brand which creates a response in its audience without the audience seeing the product or directly experiencing the service. Again from Bedbury’s book; “think Godiva chocolates for a moment: the very name, perhaps even the logo, conjures up an image of sinful indulgence. Yes, it represents chocolate or ice cream, but it is the feeling and the anticipation of that feeling that the brand conveys most compellingly.”
Your brand proposition should convey a message that is:
Aligned with the brand’s core values
Clear, Engaging, Unique, and Relevant to your target audience
Able to incorporate an element of positive emotional attachment that is better than just "good”
Consistent across multiple marketing and advertising mediums (print, online presence, etc)
Continually reinforced within the organization so that your employees consistently deliver what is promised
At the end it is the brand that will take you to great heights and will earn goodwill and reputation for you. Hence brand management has become an important part of every businessmen’s or a marketer’s life
With the development with the core values of brand then comes the part of brand development & brand positioning. Once the brand’s core values have been identified, the road towards effective brand proposition development begins. The traditional branding efforts differ the latest efforts put in by marketers. Let us have a look at the traditional plan
Traditional elements of a brand plan would include:
Brand vision
Brand mission
Market definition
Situation analysis
Market size and forecasts as well as the dynamics and trends
Market structure and share of trade at supplier, intermediary, and end customer level segmentation
Market attraction vs. brand competency chart
Once the brand’s core values have been identified, the road towards effective brand proposition development begins. To ensure a successful outcome, comprehensive and objective research involving at the minimum, the brand’s strengths and weaknesses, the target audience, and the competition will be conducted. If the resources are available, research should also involve extensive observation into the brand’s industry, its history, the current market picture, and potential growth and direction.
Entrepreneurs and small business owners often have two misconceptions about brand design: that it is either very easy, or very complicated. Those who think it is very easy think that it involves just designing a logo. Those who think it is very complicated think that it involves many deep, thoughtful, and time-consuming exercises, and that you have to hire high-priced consultants.
In reality, it is somewhere in between. You do need a logo, and you need to put some foundational pieces in place for your brand and envision your future brand even before you design that logo, because the rest of the basic steps in creating a brand are based on these preparations and definitions.
Thoughtfully defining your position will help you to understand who you are, what you do, and what makes you different. It will give you a strong, differentiated foundation upon which to build your brand and marketing communication materials.
It is proven principle that successful relationships are based on trust. And the client-provider relationship is no exception.
It is not surprising research shows that there is a growing trust deficit between clients and businesses given the high profile corporate scandals led by Enron and WorldCom. Where consumers and clients used to give businesses the “benefit of the doubt,” today they require their trust to be earned.
Professional service firms and independent consultants share this need to earn and build trust. In fact, with smaller numbers of clients, the stakes are even higher for these enterprises. This trust must attach to your brand as a key attribute.
You have a brand as much as Coca-Cola has one. Building your brand with a trustworthy reputation is the most important marketing strategy you can have given the cynical mood of the marketplace today. Here are five “don'ts” and five “dos” to guide your efforts.
Deliver the Unexpected
When developing a brand proposition, never let your brand’s promise be one that is already expected; this is a sure way to NOT stand out from your competitors. Advertising efforts that utilize adjectives like “good”, or “nice” are sure to fail when seeking to be both engaging and unique.
How many times while driving, have you seen restaurant or dry cleaning signs, that announce “good Chinese food”, or “good dry cleaning service”? The answer is probably more times than you can count. These businesses are able to survive because they are often the only game in town. But for businesses and organizations that are competing for a larger market, this type of advertising is sure way toward obscurity.
Remember, you must convey an engaging, unique, relevant, and consistent message to your target audience. Consumers already expect “good service” from you. This isn’t an engaging message nor is it unique. This message doesn’t lead towards a strong positive emotional relationship.
An important aspect of brand development is to create a positive emotional attachment to the brand which creates a response in its audience without the audience seeing the product or directly experiencing the service. Again from Bedbury’s book; “think Godiva chocolates for a moment: the very name, perhaps even the logo, conjures up an image of sinful indulgence. Yes, it represents chocolate or ice cream, but it is the feeling and the anticipation of that feeling that the brand conveys most compellingly.”
Your brand proposition should convey a message that is:
Aligned with the brand’s core values
Clear, Engaging, Unique, and Relevant to your target audience
Able to incorporate an element of positive emotional attachment that is better than just "good”
Consistent across multiple marketing and advertising mediums (print, online presence, etc)
Continually reinforced within the organization so that your employees consistently deliver what is promised
At the end it is the brand that will take you to great heights and will earn goodwill and reputation for you. Hence brand management has become an important part of every businessmen’s or a marketer’s life