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Branding InformationBranding Concepts
by:
Michael Bloch
"Branding" is the process by which a institution employs marketing strategies to get folk to easily remember their business and products over anothers...essentially, it's applied psychology.
As a child, I was introduced to a comparatively
new hamburger chain that had begun in Australia. I still visit that burger chain on a regular basis
25 years later. Not a lot has changed over those years in regards to this particular institution and I guess that's one of the reasons that I am still a customer. I cognize each time I walk into that establishment what I am going to have, wherever
everything is and God help them if they ever move out the item from the menu! Even as if they radically changed the decor, it would-be do me nervous. Many an millions of folk about the earth would-be feel the same......
One of our countries major supermarkets has a habit of from time to time moving products about in their stores. It works well for them as it increases sales. Customers who ordinarily seek out particular products are exposed to else items as they hunt for their favourites. It is a extremely
annoying manoeuvre and only works in this situation because the grocery is really competitive in valuation
and range of products. Folk are not so patient on web sites and continiously moving items about on your site will see you losing traffic....nothing surer.
After having worked in management of another major fast food chain outlet, I knowing that once a institution has established a presence and become successful, any changes to operation must be carried out extremely carefully. Our patrons became really attuned to the company, they were fundamentally a part of it. Their perceptions and opinions required to be taken into account every step of the way, and not simply in regards to the products.
Why?
We have succumbed to the stigmatisation
experience..... it does us feel "safe"
Branding isn't simply just about logos, it's the entire "feel" associated with a company. In these days of hurt edge technology and rapid change, folk still enjoy going to places that follow a pattern of operation. This really more applies to our websites. Your logotype should appear on every page, your domain name and one line promotion contained in every email, your theme consistent throughout your site. Granted, quality content is king, but it's important that visitors remember wherever
the content came from. Stigmatisation
establishes recall abilities of your site.
Recently, I distinct that I was going to change the colour schemes on my site due to the research that I had carried out on the scientific discipline
of colour. Many an articles I had studied recommended that black was not actually appropriate for a site simply about web design. After discussing the plans with a few regular visitors, I was astonished by the response. The feedback was for me not to change the colour in any way. Even as those folk who did not feel that black was appropriate considering the nature of site did not want me to change it. They were "used" to it. It was a constant on the site, the same as the logotype placement and general navigation structure. So it is all staying. My plans were to do the site look more in tune with else really flourishing web presences that focus on web design. What was I thinking!?!?!?
Branding is not only simply about constants, but individuality..........
If several one told you that they were going to establish a hamburger franchise and the logotype colour scheme would-be be red and yellow, you would-be probably think they were insane. Red tends to signify danger and yellow is reputed to be the most annoying colour of all. But try telling McDonalds that.....
But having expressed
that, if you are simply in the planning stages your site, I suggest that you do be careful in your select of navigation, logos and colour schemes. If your site is established with a nice traffic flow and you are considering revamping it, it is of the utmost importance that you consult your visitors 1st via several sort of survey before any radical changes are made. Otherwise the many an hours of hard activity that you put into the upgrade, as well as the hours invested with in developing the innovational theme, may be lost.
.... on
with your traffic.
Michael Bloch michael@tamingthebeast.net http://www.tamingthebeast.net Tutorials, web content and tools, computer code and community. Web Marketing, eCommerce & Development solutions. _____________________________________________
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Just simply about the Author
Michael is an Australian Information Technologies trainer and web developer. Many an else free web design, ecommerce development and Net
articles, tutorials, tools and resources are accessible from his award winning site; Taming the Beast.net (http://www.tamingthebeast.net)
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