Breaking Down Branding

If you asked a customer what they think about your business, how would they respond? Would they recognize your logo or be able to recite your slogan? Would they talk about the quality of your product? Maybe they'd talk about how much they love working with your employees.

These perceptions – both positive and negative – are what form your brand, your company image. Your brand is central to all of your marketing and public relations, letting customers know what they can expect from you. A memorable brand will define your business, separate you from the pack, and create loyal customers. So how you do you build a effective brand?

In order to build an effective brand, you first need to understand how your brand is constructed. More than just your logo and slogan, your brand is the overall perception of your company. This perception starts with what customers have heard about you (marketing, PR and word-of-mouth) and are reinforced by what they experience when they use your product or service.

Marketing Messaging that defines your brand, including logos, slogans, design elements and copy		Customer Experience Every customer interaction, including experiences with your employees and your products
Public Relations Non-advertising channels including sponsorships, events, and news coverage		Word-of-Mouth Somewhere between PR and personal experience is WOM: stories from other customers

It's important to gain a top-to-bottom understanding of your business so that your branding accurately reflects what your customers will experience. Define that things that differentiate you from your competitors. Answer these questions:

• What are your company's values and mission?
• What are the key benefits of your products/services?
• What do current customers like about your company?
• What aspects of your company appeal to prospective customers?

No matter what aspect is at the center of your brand, make sure you can meet the expectations you establish; think of your brand as a promise to customers – make sure you make good. When customer experiences match perceptions you achieve a sort of synergy; your business is "as good as advertised." Fulfilling your brand promise leads to engaged, loyal customers and positive word-of-mouth.

If you want people to remember your business, every interaction customers have with you needs to reinforce your brand. The consistent use of visual cues – such as colors and typography – and verbal cues – like the use of your slogan – will help your brand stick in customers' minds.

So my brand isn't just my logo? Nope.

Logo A single, simple representation of your business.

Identity The collection of visual elements that represent your brand.

Brand The overall perception of your business, your corporate image.

Developing your brand's visual identity starts with your logo, making sure it's used consistently and correctly on all materials. Use the same color palette, typography and design elements to further cement your brand's visual identity. Developing templates and implementing identity standards will help you maintain consistency, especially if different designers are working on your communications (such as your print advertising versus your website).

Verbal consistency can be a bit more difficult to achieve. Creating a slogan or tagline is the easiest way to start, but developing a 'voice' for your company is the real key to verbal consistency. Your company 'voice' – or writing style – should reflect your business' personality and be used across all written materials (and spoken, in the case of audio/video). Is your brand fun and friendly? Maybe you're more formal. Could you be sassy or humorous?

There's one major caveat to building a consistent brand message – especially for creative-types – your brand may eventually start to feel stale.

Fact: You will get bored with your brand.

Think about how frequently you'll be exposed to your brand. A truly-integrated brand will appear everywhere; not only in your marketing materials, but on your company vehicles, signage, clothing, website, letterhead, email signatures... everywhere. Then think about how many times your customers might see it. For every hundred times you see your logo, your average customer may see it once, if you're lucky.

It takes years to build a recognizable brand; look at companies like Nike, Apple, Target and Starbucks who have been brand-building so long that their logos are instantly recognizable, even without their name attached. Ironically, marketing managers tend to grow tired of their brand – especially logos and slogans– about the time it starts to become widely recognizable.

Ironically, most marketing managers grow tired of their brand about the time it starts to become widely recognizable.

So what can you do to beat the boredom and keep your image fresh without compromising the brand you've spent so much time building?

Create Campaigns

Developing campaigns for specific products, services or events gives you a chance to introduce new creative – designs, photos and more. Just make sure the new creative is "on-brand," that it still uses established parts of your identity, including your logo, colors and voice.

Tweak Your Templates

Consider making adjustments to your newsletter, email and advertising formats. As long as your identity and voice stay the same, your brand should be safe. Consistency is still important, so you'll want to limit the frequency of these tweaks, sticking with formats for a year or two at a time.

Ultimately, your brand is the key to your marketing communications efforts and is essential in defining who you are, what you do, and how customers perceive you. IdeaBank builds brands that hit the mark – with logos, identity systems, and crystal-clear messaging that consistently rise to the top. Contact us today to find out how we can help define and build your brand, or click below and get started today!