The month of January is rapidly drawing to a close and now that you’re over the post-holiday blues I challenge you to seriously consider the way you are branding your business.

You are building a brand, right?

According to Barrett and Smimonds, there are 8 main elements to branding. A good branding campaign simply can’t exist without all 8 elements but very rarely do marketers sit down and think about each element before launching a campaign.

So what are the 8 most important elements? They’re as follows:

• Competitive context – do you have a needed/wanted product and does it exist in a competitive market?
• Do you know your target market? Advertising without this information is a waste of your time and money.
• Have you asked your customers for insight about the products and services you are offering? They’re the best source of information you have – and they’re almost always honest.
• Does your product or company have features that set you apart from the crowd?
• Do you offer benefits no other company offers?
• Does your brand have a challenging, fun, and engaging personality or does it simply exist.
• Do you know what makes you different from the competition?
• Does your brand have its own essence? Is it real, invariable, and energetic?

What type of brand are you working to build right now? Hopefully it’s something your customers (and employees, for that matter) can identify with. If not, you may need to consider making a few changes – and soon.

All the best

Sean

Sean McPheat

Marketing Consultant – Motivational Speaker – Sales Expert

This morning I’d like to take a step back and discuss branding in a little more detail. We’ve all heard of branding and the ways we can make it work for us, but do we really understand what branding is and why it’s used in business?

Branding is a way of turning a name, symbol, or some other design into something that the public will recognize as an authority in a specific area of expertise. It’s not about convincing the public to choose one company over another, but about convincing them that your company is at the forefront of the market because it’s the only viable option. For example, Coca-Cola is the ONLY cola brand with a taste worth your money; or, Sean McPheat is the ONLY marketing consultant with the skill to help you solve your marketing problems!

In order for your brand to be successful you must take the time to research and know your audience (an idea we discuss when reviewing almost all marketing techniques). If you know you’re audience well you’ll be able to give them exactly what they want, when they want it, and not a second too late.

I challenge you to take a few hours to sit down, either by yourself or with your marketing team, to discuss your brand. Start by asking the following questions:

• Does our company brand portray our company mission?
• Do we have a clear idea of who are target market really is and is our brand targeting those specific groups?
• Does your company have a tagline that accompanies the name or logo? If so, what is the first thing you think of when you see that tagline (be honest)? Does that message portray the image your company wants to present to the public?

These are just a few questions to help you get started, but I think you’ll find the discussion you have regarding your brand will open the door for many future conversations. Later on we’ll talk about the different things you can do to develop your brand if you don’t already have one and we’ll look at more ways to strengthen the brand you already have.

Until then, happy marketing!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Telephone 0800 849 6732

Branding, or making yourself a recognizable household name, is important for major corporations like Coke and Microsoft, but many entrepreneurs don’t realise that it’s just as important for the small business as well. People should be so familiar with your name that the moment they need your services you are the first person they think of. Here are a few things you can do to strengthen your brand!

Worry Less about the Logo

Your logo isn’t as important as you think – the design that is. Very few people will decide to do business with you based upon whether or not they like your logo; they probably won’t even take the time to make that decision. They will, however, notice your logo which will increase the likelihood of them remembering your name. Make sure it’s on everything including your website, signs, newsletters, and anything else that meets the public eye.

Build a Blog

Blogs are becoming increasingly popular for both small and large businesses. Customers are looking for information, and the more you provide the more knowledgeable you will appear to be. Set up a blog and use it to share valuable information. Your customers will view you as an expert, interact with you, and keep you in mind when its time to make a purchasing decision. Keep in mind that while blogs are a great marketing tool, they’re just that – a tool. Make sure you have plenty of other great tools in your marketing arsenal as well.

Volunteer and Participate

It is one thing to show up at a local business event but it’s another thing to be one of the people who help the event take shape. Simply showing up makes you nothing but another face, but participating will increase you visibility and help you to more effectively network with other businesses at the same time.

Reliability

Be consistent and reliable in all that you do. Your brand depends on your ability to fulfill any and all promises you make. If you set a project deadline – meet it. If you promise to help at a charity event – show up. Everyone hates feeling snubbed and those who have a bad experience with you are going to talk about it much more than those who have a good experience, so make sure you stay on a positive path!

Relinquish Control

By this we mean you need to relax and realise that you can control where and how your brand is seen but you can not control who will respond to it. If you see that a particular group of people is responding to your brand than align your marketing strategy to that group. Marketing and branding is about being able to shift your goals to meet the needs of your target audience – and about being able to recognize when your target audience has changed!

You have no choice but to make sure you brand your business. If you don’t, you really will just be another face in the crowd. Remember, branding is about much more than developing a logo – it’s about understanding what your clients need and making sure they know you can help them get it!

Good luck!

Sean

Sean McPheat

Telephone 0800 849 6732

Coca-Cola has been named as the world’s top brand for the 4th consecutive year!

They sure know how to create a marketing brand image. It’s estimated that the Coca-Cola brand is worth a staggering £40 billion! Gulp.

The top 10 list of the world’s leading brands were dominated with US companies with the likes IBM, Microsoft and McDonalds all present and correct.

Want to know how many UK firms were in the top 100?

Only 5!

HSBC was the top UK brand in at # 29 worth £10 billion.

Now it might take you a while to break into this list but there is no excuse for you NOT TO BE in the top 10 or 100 brands for your specific industry or area of specialism.

So what should you do to build a brand?

Well, if you look at Coca-Cola all of their advertising and marketing communicate common themes that of:

Sociability
Fun
“This is the one”

You also identify coke with the red and white colouring.

What distinguishes your brand? What are the common themes in your advertising and marketing?

One effective way to do this is to work out what your unique selling points are and then ask yourself:

“What does my company need to be in order to live this?”

Then, go one stage further and ask yourself:

“What key messages and image do we want to be associated with?”

Branding can be as complex or as simple as you make it. When all is said and done Branding is the process of creating a unique, positive and recognisable identity for your product or service.

Here’s that 2008 top ten list:

MOST VALUABLE GLOBAL BRANDS
Coca-Cola – $67.5bn (US)
Microsoft – $59.9bn (US)
IBM – $53.4bn (US)
General Electric – $50bn (US)
Intel – $35.6bn (US)
Nokia – $26.5bn (Finland)
Disney – $26.4bn (US)
McDonald’s – $26bn (US)
Toyota – $24.8bn (Japan)
Marlboro – $21.1bn (US)

Source: Interbrand

Happy Branding!

Sean McPheat
Marketing Consultant