How do you Brand your Business Effectively?

The goal of branding is to create in the mind of the end user the belief, or curiosity, that something special exists that didn’t exist before.

The brand happens when you describe what you do in a term that builds you into the partnership with your client. This is based on what they tell you they want, or things you see happening that they haven’t yet identified. The Apple iPhone, iPod and iPad are great examples.

Three ways to brand your business starting today:Personal Brand – Your brand is created by you and the people at your company. You emphasize the image of your company and de-emphasize the product. If you ask your end users, they will easily be able to identify your “people brand.” The most notable example of this is IBM. You can’t help but picture blue suits, white shirts and red ties. You can make a conscious decision to change your personal brand if it isn’t what you would like it to be. What should your staff look like?

Product or Service Brand – Brand is simply by virtue of the product or service being differentiable. The implication is that the service aligns with something the consumer wants – either by fulfilling a need, or solving a problem. Revlon is an example. They sell beauty, not cosmetics. What do your customers want? What makes you different?

Market Branding – You brand is by virtue of the target market that you take the product or service to. Your expertise and your specialty need to reinforce your target market. You won’t find a Rolex advertisement in Fishing or Popular Mechanics, but you will in Skiing and Fortune magazines.

Your brand will only have power if it is constantly reiterated and reinforced in the marketplace by everything you do – advertising, promotions, word-of-mouth, PR, etc. (Marketing Touch Points)

The goal of continually positioning your brand is to situate your product or service permanently in the mind of the consumer. The realities of your product or service have no bearing on the decision to use your brand. The only decision that counts is what your customers believe.

So what Ever you do…….Don’t be Generic!

If you do not create brand identity for your product or service, you are selling something generic. Positioning your product or service to be “brand identifiable” and make sure it is measurable in the eyes of the customer.

For this to happen, your customers must:
1. Understand what makes you different
2. Articulate it to others
3. Value your brand and be willing to pay more for it
4. Embrace it and defend it when it comes under attack

What are the benefits of Branding my business?
• Branding helps to unlock profitability
• Branding prompts consumer selection
• Branding builds name awareness
• Branding increases the odds of business survival
• Branding produces long term loyalty
• Branding differentiates you form the competition
• Branding allows you to introduce new services more quickly because of the trust you have created
• Branding builds a positive image of your business

If the customer can not differentiate your product or service on these criteria’s, then you will fall into a large gray, non-descript category.

Create a strong Brand and Build Your Business.

If your Brand is ….. not working!!!!

Contact us today and start Marketing and Branding your Business!!

FloodLight Consulting – 250-768-9415

Branding

Branding strategy, global branding, online branding, corporate branding, digital branding, product branding, internet branding, web branding, branding logos, corporate identity, advertising, marketing, branding, design, identity, brand

This entry was posted on Saturday, September 26th, 2009 at 9:36 pm and is filed under Branding. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.