What Is A Brand?

A lot of the clients we’ve worked with over the years were initially skeptical about the concept of branding, and that’s understandable. After all, when you get right down to it, a lot of marketing people are fuzzy about the concept.

It turns out that many marketers are guilty of focusing solely on the communication aspect of branding, and forget entirely about the underlying product, which is more important. Even the slickest advertising won’t save bad products. (Remember all those funny ads a few Super Bowls ago when well-funded, and now defunct, Internet companies advertised products which no one needed?)

To add to the confusion, various authorities, such as marketing academia, consultants, and texts, all have slightly different definitions for branding. These include:

• “A singular idea or concept that you own inside the mind of a prospect.”
• “The primary focus of your brand message must be on how special you are. “
• “You’re just anybody without your identity.”
• “Customers must recognize that you stand for something.”

The two best ones we’ve seen are:

• “A brand is the total experience that a customer has with your product, service or company.”
• “A brand is delivering on a promise … consistently.”

The good news… and the really good news for business owners

Branding has long been pervasive in business, and it now extends to people (e.g., Oprah Winfrey, Jerry Seinfeld, Tiger Woods, Martha Stewart). These savvy individuals know they have to be different to stand out from the crowd. Surprisingly, a large percentage of businesses simply don’t use branding to establish and reinforce a specific reputation in their market.

So the good news is that many small business owners, including your competitors, are not trying to brand their practices. The even better news is that the business that successfully brands itself will take a head-and-shoulders, standout lead above the competition. Positive differentiation is the whole idea.

In service industries, effective branding is about the entire experience and relationship that clients have with you. When you communicate what makes you special, you are setting expectations – a direct or implied promise – that clients will get the benefit of your unique value each time they visit or call.

Critical brand-building points to consider:

Businesses (the seller) are likely to think in terms of equipment (technical sophistication, hardware) or quality (skill level, training, peer reputation). But the public (the buyer) values service (access, amenities, ease of doing business) and value-added items (product or service differentiation).

Effective branding communicates to the tastes, attitudes, and sensibilities of the buyer, not the seller. And the wants and needs of the buyer (client) are mainly rooted in results: more interest shown in their products and services, more hits on their website, increase in sales. Think benefits.

It’s important to identify a value-added edge over the competition. What is highly unique about your business that delivers value to the client over and above whatever else is available in the marketplace? Whatever issue we choose to compete upon, it needs to be the one thing that best characterizes the experience, and has to be the centerpiece for everything you do and say about your business.

Be willing to offend someone. By definition, your positioning must be unique; therefore, you cannot be everything to everyone. The challenge will be to appeal to many, while recognizing that your positioning cannot be universal. Being everything to everyone is not unique, and that’s the same as vanilla.

Guard your brand zealously within your office. Once you’ve created your brand, you should beware of the trap of carrying the message banner for others. For example, I recently looked up from the dental chair and noticed a poster on the ceiling advertising a national whitening treatment. Since the manufacturer’s less expensive over-the-counter version is available at every grocery store in town, we hope the manufacturer at least sends the dentist a thank you note.

Deliver a consistent client experience. People prefer consistent quality to nasty surprises, and a brand isn’t really a brand if the business doesn’t deliver a consistent, high quality experience. That’s why it’s easy to understand why budget-minded American students traveling through Europe often pass on local fare to eat at McDonald’s. Remember, just a few negative experiences can blow your brand credibility and betray the trust you’ve worked so hard to build.

Deliver consistent branded communications. In addition to delivering consistent client experiences, you must effectively communicate your brand message at every marketing opportunity. This means your Yellow Pages ad, website, brochures, etc… all with a consistent, professional look and feel.

Call us now and we’ll build your brand

When you create a powerful business brand, you’ll attract the clients, projects, and referrals that you want. Deliver your branding message consistently, and your reward will be consistent profit growth.

Call Creative Instinct now at 615-945-9296 for a free quote on branding, brochures, logos, website design and more. Or, send an email to Gwen Canfield: gwen@creative-instinct.net. To see samples of our work, visit www.creativeinstinct.biz.