“Brand” embodies how a company is recognized by its target market. However, brand-building is a process. if we break the term “brand” into its different components, we can have a better understanding of what it is and why it matters. Specifically, we will look at:
Brand positioning
Brand identity
Brand delivery
Brand image
Brand strategy
Brand positioning. Brand positioning is the first step in brand-building. According to Phillip Kotler, the father of modern marketing, brand positioning is “the act of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the mind of the target market.” Notice the language: "the act." Brand positioning is an active and deliberate process, and includes:
-Analyzing your competition.
-Determining what unique value your company offers
-Defining your specific target market
-Constructing a positioning statement
-Backing it up.
The first important step in positioning is knowing who you are as compared to your competition. This allows you to pinpoint what differentiates you, and will also bring your target buyer into clear focus. Carefully defining yourself, your competition, and your buyer will create the foundation for your brand strategy. Your goal isn't to try to be all things to all people; rather it is to connect with your clearly defined target market by promoting your identity via your brand. Brand positioning means finding your company's authentic self, and using it to attract and secure market share.
Leveraging your differentiators in a defined space allows you to efficiently deliver on your unique value proposition, which eventually becomes synonymous with your brand. Dan Go, fitness entrepreneur, said it this way: "You eliminate competition by being yourself."
Brand identity. Your company's position should be the starting point for developing your brand identity. Brand identity includes the visible elements that a company uses to portray a desired impression to its target market; things like name, logo, style, and tagline. Your brand identity should be deliberately and carefully constructed to visually reflect your unique position, as well as to connect your buyers emotionally to your brand. To put it another way, every company has a personality, and your brand identity should embody it.
A good way to understand this concept is to think of your company as a person. As soon as you meet someone, you make assumptions about them based on their appearance. The pictures to the left offer you first impressions of who these people are based on how they look. Your company’s brand identity works the same way; it offers an opportunity to tell your audience who you are before they get to know you, and in doing so, their first impression begins to establish your position.
Your brand identity should differentiate you, offer a perception of your value, and be credible. To put it another way, it should be a clear visible representation of who you are. If they guy holding the guitar in the picture above isn't a musician, then he's sending the wrong message and he's making it harder for his audience to get to know who is really is. On the other hand, if he's a great guitar player looking to land a gig at the neighborhood coffeeshop, then his overall impression is a good one. As you get to know a person, you will eventually come to associate their name with their unique talents, idiosyncrasies, characteristics, and personal style. That's how brand identity works: you start by visually portraying who you are, and eventually your brand identity becomes synonymous with who you prove yourself to be.
Your brand identity should be consistent. Consistency builds brand recognition, and brand recognition builds brand loyalty. For this reason, your marketing professionals will want to develop "rules," often in the form of a brand stye guide to offer concise direction regarding your brand identity. It will define how your company should stylistically use your logo, tagline, color palette, tone and voice, and more.
Brand delivery. Brand delivery (or brand marketing) is how you deliver your brand. To put it another way, brand delivery "is the process of establishing and growing a relationship between a brand and consumers. Rather than highlighting an individual product or service, brand marketing promotes the entirety of the brand, using the products and services as proof points that support the brand’s promise. The goal of brand delivery is to build a brand’s value – and the company’s value as a result." (Amazon advertising)
Effective brand delivery requires creating and executing on an outreach strategy that connects the company's brand with its clearly defined audience. Marketing to women over the age of 60 looks different than marketing to men in their 20s, from the methods used to reach your buyer to tone, style, and message. Your brand can be delivered many different ways, including:
Your company's website, especially the home page
Advertising, on and offline
Trade show signage
Written copy on brochures
Video and blog content
Seminars and sales scripts
Social media posts
Brand delivery doesn't stop when you secure a new customer. It is an ongoing process, whereby your brand is strengthened and becomes more clearly defined through every interaction with your customers. Branding is as important in retaining business as it is in securing it.
Brand Image. Brand image refers to how a company is ultimately perceived by its marketplace.
Brand image evolves through the ongoing interactions your company has with its prospective buyers, its customers, and its industry as a whole. Brand image is influenced by every grassroots interaction your prospects and your customers have with you, right down to the online chat experience, the look and feel of your website, the tone of your advertising, the communication with your customer service representative, or the impression your sales professional gives in a trade show booth. You need to consistently deliver on the value you've promised in order to preserve your brand. Your brand image is defined by your customers, not by you.
Even so, your company has the opportunity to influence a positive, consistent brand image by implementing a cross-departmental awareness of, belief in, and commitment to your brand position. This requires disciplined management of your brand strategy and marketing plan. When done well, your brand image develops into a true reflection of your brand identity, and it is aligned with your brand goals.
Brand strategy. Ultimately, it all comes down to your brand strategy, which is the roadmap that guides every aspect of your brand development. Your brand strategy starts with your positioning exercise, includes defining your brand identity, encompasses your plan for brand delivery, and lays the foundation for how your company interacts with its marketplace on an ongoing basis. A well-constructed brand strategy is a living document, and a philosophy, that keeps your entire company aligned regarding its priorities when communicating with your target audience. The ultimate goal of your brand strategy is to establish, communicate, and support your market position and your brand image in order to create value, secure market share and grow your business.
If your company doesn't have a well-defined brand strategy, consider working with a partner who has experience in strategic marketing. Contact us for more information.
Comments