Branding 101

1/11/11  

What is Branding?   Branding is a concerted, company-wide effort to establish your offering as memorable, different, desirable, valuable and advantageous

Branding creates consensus around what you believe in, stand-for, and aspire to. It clarifies and solidifies your competitive position, offering, significance, and key differentiators; creating cachet, mystique and interest

Branding establishes your company as relevant and meaningful to all desired audiences

What is Branding?   Brand credibly and convincingly articulates the promise, value and benefit customers will derive from their experience with your company and its services

When executed correctly, a brand, and its unique tenets, beliefs and persona, is understood inherently at the very first interaction—because the experience consistently adheres to a fixed set of qualities and behaviors that are undeniable, inimitable and unforgettable

A singular, predictable, premeditated experience is the true essence of brand

What is the quintessential brand?  

There is none.

Any brand can be iconic, meaningful and revered if given enough thought and attention.

X?

Why Brand is Important?   Brand is the only sustainable, discernable point of difference in an increasingly commoditized, over-touted, oversold, overabundant marketplace

What do successful brands do?   They create memorable experiences you want to be a part of….

Even if what’s being sold is really a “story” rather than something new or different.

Why invest in brand?  •  To establish a baseline for targeted, consistent and accurate communications

•  To create an unwavering, steadfast and recognizable persona across all media and manifold touchpoints

•  To reach the right audience with the right message—every time

•  To underscore the how, what, where, why and “who” of a company—establishing a clear and undeniable competitive stake in the ground

•  To reinforce intangible, emotional qualities that have real meaning and purpose

Why invest in brand?  The law of increasing returns:

•  Overcome category resistance

•  Reduce the cost of client acquisition, awareness and retention

•  Predispose clients to consider, try or recommend your offering

•  Attract important partners and allies

What’s the pay-off?  

50¢

$3.90

The perceived value of your brand directly impacts your ability to sell and grow

To build a brand, you must:  

•  See the big picture: industry, competition, trends, client behavior

•  Know what people expect from you

•  Know what you can actually deliver

•  Identify your truly inimitable qualities

•  Be prepared to consistently perform and “own” your position

•  Take every opportunity to leverage brand permission

•  Walk the walk at every conceivable corporate level and touchpoint (down to the mailroom)

The secret formula: conviction, recognition, and… consistency

Brand strategy is meaningless without the endorsement of brand stewards

Brand Strategy

Brand Stewards

Branding reveals the concrete and intangible qualities that make you, you.

Brand stewards bring these qualities to life.

(And your brand stewards are everyone from your CEO and summer intern to your clients and your vendors. In other words, codifying your brand and making it known, is a “Good Thing”)