Branding Basics

Branding is the process by which you try to become the 1st business a person thinks of once they consider purchasing goods or services in your category. If you can "own" a word in the public's mind, you have a large competitive advantage.
Stigmatisation is the process by which you attempt to differentiate your business from your competitors. Simply as a brand wish allow your horse to be recognized among the rest of the herd, so too must your business’s brand set you apart. Though your name and logotype are important features of your brand, there’s a lot much to it than that.

You Must “Own” Your Category in the Minds of Your Customers

The absolute better way to create a brand is to invent a new product or service. Being 1st to market is a large advantage. Coca-Cola has turned its “secret formula” into a 70% market share of cola drinks worldwide.

However, most of us run businesses in categories filled with competitors. What’s the better way for us to create a strong brand?

The private secret lies in narrowing the focus of your business until you’ve created a new category you can be 1st in.

From Ford to BMW

Consider the automotive vehicle industry. Henry Ford didn’t invent the automobile, but he was the 1st to combine it with an assembly line. That reduced his cost enough so that millions could afford a car. Being 1st with an inexpensive car allowed Ford to dominate the category, even as although there were virtually hundreds of car companies in the U.S. by 1910. That’s a powerful brand!

So how did else automotive vehicle manufacturers develop flourishing brands? By creating new categories in the mind of the purchasing public. If you’re in the market for a “safe” car, Volvo is probably the 1st brand to pop into your mind. If you’re looking for the “ultimate drive machine,” BMW owns that category. Buyers buying for a high-priced luxury car think Mercedes Benz.

Notice that none of these companies is trying to be all things to all people. They narrowed their focus until they had a new category they could be 1st in. Even as although else car companies could do claims simply about the security of their cars, it’s unlikely they’re going to follow Volvo in the public’s mind. Volvo “owns” the safe car category.

Two Fast Food Examples

Once Tom Monaghan closely-held a small pizza pie eating place near a college campus, he started asking his customers what changes they would-be like to see in his business. Did they want a higher quality pizza? No, the quality was fine. Did they want a cheaper pizza? No, the cost was fair. What they actually wanted was a pizza pie that came to them. Thus, Domino’s Pizza pie created the new category of pizza pie delivery, and even as although others offer the same service, being 1st allows Domino’s to enjoy a dominant share of the market.

Little Caesars saw another opportunity. If they focused on take-out pizza, they could save money on delivery and a large restaurant. That would-be allow them to do money even as if they oversubscribed two pizzas for the cost of one. Pizza. Pizza. Brilliant.

Apply These Ideas to Your Business

If you’re trying to grow your business, it strength seem logical to expand your offerings, but that’s unlikely to be flourishing in the long run. As these few examples have shown, it’s often better to narrow your focus until you’ve created a new category you can be 1st in. If you’re a specialist, folk wish regard you as much of an expert in your field than a generalist.

Let’s say you’re a photographer. If you live in a town or city of any size, you no doubt have lots of competition. Look about for the opportunities to separate yourself from the herd. Peradventure you could become better-known as the only one in town to call for action shots during kids’ athletic games. Or peradventure you specialize in soft-focus sepia-toned photos of parent and child. Fly fishermen. Beaux arts details. Even as although you’ve narrowed your pool of prospects, you’ve likewise eliminated most of your competition.

Our creative person could expand her business spell maintaining focus by business enterprise a book, printing salutation cards and calendars, or teaching lessons, all in her specialized area.

She’ll cognize she’s created a powerful brand once her name is the 1st one to pop onto a parent’s head once they want a “hero shot” of their young football game player.

Message First, Advertising Later

One of the great benefits of being 1st in a new category is that you become newsworthy. Newspapers and magazines, TV and radio are always looking for “something new under the sun.”

Remember Pet Rocks? This small outfit gained international coverage, all of it free, for their unique idea. Millions of Pet Rocks were oversubscribed with virtually no advertising costs.

Advertising alone is seldom enough to create a new brand, although lots of businesses try that route. Remember the Super Bowl of a few years ago once the media was filled with stories simply about the millions that were spent on 30-second ads? This was supposed to be the launching of several new dot com businesses and the figure of money spent to launch these brands was incredible. In spite of all that money and the creative efforts of Madison Avenue’s finest minds, those businesses failing quickly and are altogether forgotten today.

A better path is the one followed by Google, the world’s most popular search engine. Google wasn’t the 1st search engine, but they created a new way to rating web sites that garnered them large amounts of free publicity. I’ve ne'er seen an ad for Google, and yet simply just about everyone who has surfed the web has detected of it. Simply this morning our local paper ran a large article simply about Google’s decision not to sell shares of stock in the institution yet. Much free publicity, which wish further boost the strength of their brand.

Conclusion

Focusing your business until you’ve created your own category is simply one step to stigmatisation your business. An superior resource for learning much route to create a strong brand is the book, The 22 Changeless Laws of Stigmatisation (http://www.zmoon.com/cgi-bin/pl.pl?branding22) by Al and Laura Ries. Next time I’ll have several specific ideas on how to brand yourself through your web site. Until then, stay focused!

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About the Author

Les Goss is President of ZebraMoon Design, Inc. To see a partial list of high-ranking web sites we've created for our clients, please visit our web site at http://www.zmoon.com. Sign up for our free news report at http://www.zmoon.com/webdesigntips.html. You'll obtain two issues a month on topics that should help you stay a step ahead of your competition.