Over the last few days I’ve been doing a little homework on brand-building exercises. From what I’ve read, it seems like “branding” is often misunderstood as choosing colours, styles and logos. At a very, very basic level, that is true – but there is a lot more to it than that.
I’m not going to go into all of the gory details – look up Aaker, Keller and Kapferer for the real fancy stuff. Here are – however – my plan to get to the bottom of a brand conundrum. Keep in mind that we are dealing with two brands which have grown quite organically, and somewhere along the line, the focus on a single, cohesive message has been lost.
For a successful brand, it’s important to get tot he bottom of
1. What does your audience think of your brand at the current time?
2. What would you LIKE your audience to think when they see your brand?
Branding is really all about the message – whether it’s through images, words or sounds.
A couple of very simple concepts can point us in the right direction:
· Current situation: We need to try and get clear answers for: “who” the brand is, “what” exactly it does, and most importantly, “why” the audience should care.
· Branding and purchase decisions: Our messages and communications should allow the audience to organise the knowledge and information that we are giving them, so that they can then make a purchasing decision (that is what my end-goal is).
· Brand association: The brand needs to be associated with an outcome, something that the audience desires deep inside, and when they look at the image, they connect it with your brand.
· Choosing brand elements: Strap lines and slogans in some cases may be the most important brand element you have. Especially in B2Bcommunications, you may not have the privilege of explaining to a potential client what your product is through a 200-word paragraph – you’ll have to do it in just a few words.
· Satisfying a need: Research, research, research! Get to the bottom of what your customer needs, then make a connection between that need and your brand. Speak to current customers to find out how they feel. Speak to potential customers and see what they’d like. Once you know what the most powerful words are, you can then work it into a powerful message that works.
· Brand resonance and relevance: There’s brand awareness – and there’s brand resonance and relevance (linked to what I just wrote about). In addition to getting the brand out there, what you need to get clarity on are messages that the audience understand (relevance), and messages that they can relate to (resonance).
· Brand promise: The above discussion brings to our next question: What is our brand promise? Our branding needs to give the audience the confidence that using our product or service will lead to some kind of benefit for them.
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Tags: branding, online marketing
