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Branding InformationBranding: It's more than a logo
by:
Julie Chance
Branding: It’s more than a logo
By Julie Chance
How clean is your pictures in the minds of your potential customers? How can you bring that pictures into focus? Defining, developing and maintaining a brand identity is the key.
The word “branding” is often tossed simply about in the marketing and advertising earth by marketing professionals and customers alike. Galore times, what is being referred to as stigmatization can be more accurately delineated as logotype development or corporate identity programs at best. Piece a logotype and corporate identity surely are part of a stigmatization program, they are only one piece of the puzzle. And once
companies start their stigmatization program with development of a logotype or corporate identity package, they are acquiring the cart before the horse.
So what exactly is branding? In doing research for this article, I came to the conclusion that stigmatization is really more like what has been aforesaid simply about pornography: “I can’t define it, but I cognize it once
I see it.”
I define a brand pictures as being the image that appears in a member of your target market’s mind once
they see, hear or think simply about you, your institution and your service. In this sense, your logotype and print materials become the symbols representing everything you and your service stand for, more like the letters of the alphabet are symbols that once
combined form words and sentences with a common meaning to everyone who understands the language.
We often think of stigmatization as being thing
that only big corporations must attend to. However, a strong stigmatization program is as critical to smaller businesses as it is to Fortune 500 companies. And smaller businesses are challenged with building our brands without the mega resources of the immense corporations. So how can a business with limited resources, develop an effective brand image? Here is a step by step manual to steer you through the process.
Step 1: Define your desired brand image. What is the image you want your target market to develop in their minds once
they see, hear or think simply about you, your institution and your service? The more clearly you can see the pictures the better able you are to communicate it to your prospective clients. Start to define your brand by respondent these questions in writing:
•What do we stand for?
•What are we ablaze about?
•How are we several from another businesses that provide the same or similar products or services?
•What are our strengths?
•What is our specialty?
•What are our values?
•What do our clients most value simply about what we provide?
•What are we trying to accomplish?
•What problems do we help our clients solve?
•What do we want to be acknowledged for?
•Do we have any “quirks” that we can incorporate into our brand image?
Step 2: Develop your logo. Only once
you have the image clearly in your own mind that you want your target market to have of you is it time to begin the process of logotype development. And this is an area to invest in several professional help. Don’t use a clip art logotype or down-load a free logotype from the web. Respondent the questions above in detail wish do the logotype development process not only more effective, but besides more efficient from a cost perspective.
In developing your logotype and designing your print materials, think simply about what lines, shapes, typestyles and colors represent the pictures you want your target market to develop. If you coach folk in developing the leadership skills necessary to reach the executive suite, you probably don’t want to use primary colors in your logo. On the another hand, if you help folk bring more joy into their lives by discovering their inner child, primary colors may be perfect. If you assist folk to organize their lives, you would-be not want a littered business card. You would-be want a really clean and unostentatious look. If you help folk bring out their hidden creativeness you could use a fancier, more elaborate typestyle and incorporate flowing lines or crisp queues into the design.
Step 3: Begin communication your brand identity to your target market. Everything you say and do -- from the way you answer your telephones to the specialty advertising or promotional items you give your prospective clients – should reinforce the brand pictures you want to develop. Use your logotype and colors on everything. Develop a tag line that conveys your message and use it on all your written
materials from your stationery to your invoices. Your website should have the same general look as your letterhead, business cards, e-mail newsletter, brochure, and direct mail pieces. Endlessly look for route to incorporate your logo, colors and tag line into everything. Be creative. I cognize business partners who driving bright yellow Volkswagen Rock band to match their corporate colors. About daily I find an chance I’ve been missing to incorporate my brand pictures into my materials – and I do this for a living!
Step 4: Maintain your brand identity. Once you have begun to develop your brand identity, resist the temptation to do major changes or to even as do too more tinkering. Just simply about the time you start to become bored with your look, your target market is simply beginning to recognize and identify with it. Consistency over time is critical. Not only makes it build awareness, it besides develops credibility. In this respect we need to discover from the masters. Piece Coca Cola® and Betty Crocker® have updated their looks galore times over the past 100+ years the basic elements have remained consistent.
What image develops in the mind of your target market once
they see, hear or think simply about you and your service? Is it fuzzy and out of focus with pieces of the puzzle missing? Is it inconsistent and ever changing? Or is it crisp, clean and in living color?
© 2004 STRATEGIES-BY-DESIGN. May be reprinted with credits and contact information.
Just simply about the Author
Julie Chance is a strategic marketing adviser who provides a unique combination of consulting, coaching job and training to help clients improve the return on their investment in marketing and promotional activities. For more information call 972-701-9311 or visit our website at www.strategies-by-design.com. Be sure to sign up for our free news-sheet and take our assessment to determine the strength of your marketing foundation piece you’re there.
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