Every brand
is different. The point of branding is to distinguish
you from the competition. Just about every good brand
meets the following criteria. Look at these criteria as
you develop a brand from the ground up, or test your
existing brand against them.
1.
Targeted
Your
brand must start by being appropriate to your market and
product. Microsoft
is a great brand, but if you were marketing to
kids and mothers, you wouldn't want to emulate
Microsoft.
Every
great brand you can think of clearly communicates who
the audience is: Apple —
nonconformists; Nordstrom
— upper class, by wealth or tastes; Toys"R"Us
— annoying, but obviously kids, kids, kids.
I
recently worked with a company to develop a logo and
brand strategy for an electronics engineering resource
site. The company had started with an idea for fun and
hip. But the more we worked from that angle, the farther
we got from the audience. Engineering tools just are not
fun or hip. We ended up doing an about-face, and defined
a brand that was clean, efficient, simple, and bright.
2. Clear
What's
the message? From the logo to the collateral, are you
communicating an instantly comprehensible message? Look
again at the example of Toys"R"Us.
You can instantly recognize the message: kid-oriented
and kids only, fun, everything a kid could want.
Test your
own messaging. Show several of your marketing pieces
(ads, collateral, business cards) to a total stranger.
Do they describe the company traits the same way you
would?
3.
Meaningful
The
message about your company must be meaningful. If you
base your image on excellent service, you must deliver
on that promise. If the customer's experience doesn't
match his or her expectations, the image will become
negative. You will lose the customer's
trust, which is a very serious problem that is difficult
to fix.
List the
strengths of your company. Does this match your brand?
List the weaknesses. Are you trying to use image and
branding to deny or rectify any of these weaknesses? The
brand should talk about what's great about your company.
It should then become a mission statement unto itself.
4.
Consistent
You have
established a clear, meaningful message. Now repeat.
Don't change the message; and communicate it
consistently through everything.
My
favorite aspect of the Nordstrom
brand is that they use their message perfectly.
Look at the catalogs, the ads, the retail space, the
merchandise, the Web site: The message is perfectly
consistent across media, across targets. They may market
to kids, to teens, to women, to men, to mall shoppers,
to Web shoppers, but they never stray from the core
image of quality and service.
Look at
your advertising, collateral, communications, and
environments. Are you consistent, or does your message
waver? Note that the more often you change your message,
logo, and branding, the harder it is to apply.
One of my
clients had a tough time deciding on a message, and kept
tinkering. This left the client with outdated
collateral, ads, press releases, and Web sites that did
not communicate a consistent message. Consistency means
both consistent application of the message, and
longevity.
5.
Recognizable
Crafting
a message is an important process. But once you have
that done, the tough part begins: getting the message
out there. This is the Zen of branding. If a brand is
good but no one knows about it, is it really a good
brand?
Good
branding can work to establish recognition if you target
it to customers, then consistently repeat it until they
memorize it. So start that repetition in advertising,
press releases, and collateral. Consistency, clarity,
and repetition build recognition, the real brass ring of
all branding.
6.
Actionable
The point
of branding and gaining recognition is to drive action.
The action should be built into the message: "We
are the fastest and cheapest (so buy from us)."
"Trust our service: we've been in the news industry
for 30 years (so visit us regularly)." "We are
cool enough and serious enough for competitive athletes
(so you should buy our shoes, too)."
The brand
we developed for the electronics industry site
communicated this concept: "Our service will help
you be more productive, more organized, and more
informed." This message revolves around the users'
self-interest.
In other
words, does the customer care about what you're saying?
It may be a great message, but the whole point is to
motivate sales. Does it do this?
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