by Miriam Hara | Oct 21, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
Where is brand awareness today?
Many marketers and business executives don’t value brand awareness as much as they did a decade ago. Some say it’s a thing of the past while others insist that it’s alive and well. For those who are in the former camp, I would urge them to think again. Investors put a lot of stock (excuse the pun!) in brand awareness. In fact, it plays a significant role in determining whether or not they will support a product or company.
Brand awareness is no longer about yelling the loudest and longest. Now it’s really about breaking away from the clutter to make your brand impression count.
Rather than trying to convince non-believers that brand awareness really does increase ROI, the aim of this post is to carve out what the building blocks of brand awareness are in today’s multidimensional market environment.
Be different: In order to develop brand awareness you need to provide your consumer base with something to remember and want to talk about. Your brand needs be solid and stand out through its brand persona, premise and brand positioning. It’s not enough to just talk at people anymore, brands must engage and interact with their audience. This is becoming increasingly important for building solid brand awareness. In order to do that, your brand needs to establish a voice and tone.
Get found: It’s important that your marketing strategy includes a strong SEO component. This should include a comprehensive online advertising campaign or a google keyword campaign.
Be engaged: One of the marketing channels available to us now is social media. How effectively you use this channel can mean the difference between success and failure. So it’s important that your marketing plan include a social media strategy in order to increase engagement and build upon your other SEO initiatives.
Be holistic: Don’t just rely on new media, make sure you have a good dose of traditional media too. I often laugh when people say, “Traditional media is no longer effective”, especially when I come across 30 second TV or radio ads urging me to go to Facebook and “Like” them! And yes, you’ll also find the same message in print media. But regardless of what channel you choose to communicate in, make sure that all your communications tactics drive your point of contact to the same place.
Be consistent: Don’t rely on a one hit wonder, especially with branding! It takes a solid, consistent commitment to build brand awareness. The good news is that with social media, relative to traditional media, being “out there” doesn’t necessarily take a lot of money – but it does take a lot of time and planning.
Be website ready: There’s nothing worse than having your audience listen and engage with your brand only to direct them to a website that isn’t primed to take advantage of that opportunity! First impressions count. And in today’s environment, that means your website has to perform well by creating a positive experience to potential consumers and customers.
How do you feel about building brand awareness in the current market conditions? And what have you done to outperform your competitors?
Please share your thoughts here…
by Suzy Godefroy | Sep 24, 2013 | Branding, Latest
Your corporate brand and branding promise are both the most significant factors in running a successful and progressive business. No matter what size of company you run, own, and/or manage it is crucial that you invest your time into branding yourself and your business.
It is not surprising to see many business owners lose site of their branding and confuse a company logo and corporate slogan as their brand. Rule number one branding not a quick fix. Branding is all about discipline and a 
commitment to a long-term business strategy that you review on a regular basis and make changes and modifications where you see fit. A logo and slogan are tools to communicate your brand attributes and deliver your brand promise. Your brand promise is what your company stands by, how your markets relates to this positioning and how your businesses stands out from your competitors.
At the management level, the day-to-day strategic approach is a key success factor in building and maintaining a strong brand. If your business strategy gets lost in paper, things can quickly go astray very quickly, as the consumer messaging will become fragmented weakening your branding.
Often staff and management are not singing to the same tune. So take note! Just like your heart you must protect your brand and weigh your decisions extremely carefully so that you are confident that you are being true to your authentic brand identity and branding promise.
Brand strategists are the gatekeepers of your brands and look at the bigger picture on a daily basis. Reviewing how your staff is carrying out their day-to-day functions. Strategic Brand Management also reviews your consumer feedback to effectively deliver your brand promise.
How do you choose your branding promise? We recommend that you hire a professional branding company or marketing company and invest in some time and money and do it right. Do not rush the process!
Engage! Engage! Engage…Engage with your stakeholders, your staff and most importantly with your loyal consumers. And use this information to formulate your brand promise. This exercise is also a very effective way to integrate your brand internally across the board with all staff.
Brand Trust…In such a competitive marketplace trust, accountability and corporate leadership are imperative factors for a business to protect and hone. It’s the little things, like how you react and solve problems, what types of programs do you have in place to react and solve this issues immediately? How do you treat your customers? Is your pricing competitive? How do you support your staff? All of these corporate character traits relate back to your consumer and the markets that you are serving, so be sure to be vigilant.
Brand Values… What kind of value system and culture does your company have? You need to ask yourself this question, day in and day out to be able to assess your values and make sure your team is helping you stay true to the corporate vision. This is also where you can have some fun with your staff and get involved in non-marketing events and do some community relationship building to build your corporate public profile.
Your brand promise is really an extension of you! So at the end of the day, your brand promise is an extension of your business products and services and how your consumers truly relate to them. The big question is what does your consumer need? And this really means what is important to them and how do you differentiate from your competitors?
by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 21, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing
Big companies spend lots of money and effort to build their brands. Brands help their products stand out. Microsoft, Walmart, Volkswagen. We get it. We know what they do.
But what about building a personal brand. Can building a personal brand help us to become recognized. Can a personal brand help build our careers? Build brand loyalty…to us?
Each one of us has a personal brand whether we consciously created it or not.
Our personal brand is the summary of what defines us as a unique and distinctive individual.
This summary is used when you talk about yourself to others. Or when others talk about you. More importantly when others talk about you… you should be memorable! Wouldn’t you rather someone say “call Joe, he can fix that” rather than “call what was his name… he’s the one that ….…pause…what was his name …?
Unless you want to be called ‘What was his name’, don’t leave your personal brand to chance. Personal branding is a way to make a name for yourself and to sell your talent and your skills. It highlights your values and enhances your reputation.
A strong, solid personal brand will make you stand out from the rest. It will help you when applying for a job, building a business or networking with new friends or associates. A powerful brand defines you at all times and lets others know who you are.
Your personal brand is an investment
When you invest in your personal brand you invest for a lifetime. And like any strong investment, with the right foundation and careful planning it will continue to grow. As it grows it encompasses your values and accomplishments and defines the person you are at any given moment in time.
Your personal brand is based on the thoughts and perception of others. That’s the beauty. Building a personal brand is your opportunity to construct that image. How would you like others to think of you? You have control and you can decide what image you want to project and work on that image.
Name it to claim it
Take the time to consider how you want to be perceived. Be clear about who you are and who you are not. This will become your mantra, your raison d’être. Every action, every activity should reflect that person. Focus your message on who you are and what you have to offer.
Personal branding isn’t easy but it can and will bring impressive results. Just ask Oprah! But no, seriously…if you want to know how to go about building a brand, click here.
by Lisa Wedmann | Aug 9, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Creative, Latest
“Life can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it.” – Steve Jobs
I was reading about the soon to be released movie “Jobs” with Ashton Kutcher and this quote jumped out at me. So much knowledge packed into one simple sentence.
I get it. I totally agree. Jobs is a testimony to this philosophy. I can easily live vicariously through Jobs and let this knowledge spill into all areas of my life. In this case, it captures my interest in marketing and brand building. Brand can be much broader. You can embrace it, change it, improve it, make your mark upon it. It’s about a brand’s life cycle and it being able to live in the now.
Embrace it
There’s much to be said about your product and positioning your brand. But embracing it, now that’s where it gets juicy. Embracing is about nurturing and caring. It’s the point in your product life cycle where you have done your research. You understand what it takes to make your brand strong and resilient. You are not afraid to stand behind your brand and make your mark. You own your product. You protect it. And you embrace it.
Change it
For brands, change is not always good, but sometimes it’s necessary.. Knowing when to tweak an element of your brand or when to re-haul it takes a keen sense of timing and a marketing intuition. In most cases when brands (not products) need a total re-position, it’s because the brand hasn’t had the attention it deserves…for quite some time.
Improve it
Improving your brand is not about changing it. It is about realigning your brand to keep it current. It’s about paying attention and having your brand live in the now. Improving how your brand is presented and keeping it relevant to the market ensures its success. Staying on trend. Being fresh. In today’s marketing landscape, this is keeping current with social media and all that it has to offer.
Make your mark upon it
And here’s where Jobs was so distinctive. We can all agree he made his mark. We are all familiar with the iconic apple symbol, the brand and all that it means, not only as a product, but as an experience and a promise.
Jobs left us the formula for life success that can easily be adopted to brand success
We can all follow in Jobs’ footsteps. He left us the formula albeit, for life. To my way of thinking, Brand has a persona, and therefore, as mentioned at the beginning of this post, Brand has a life. We all refer to a brand and it’s product life cycle. Create a cohesive brand identity. Develop a unique identity that demonstrates your company’s personality. Make your product so impressive that people rush to do business with you and not your competition. Do whatever it takes to make it happen.
by Miriam Hara | Jul 15, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
Brand naming…why it’s important.
More to the point, what is required for a brand to become like the much covet name brands like Coca Cola, Nike and Apple? It seems that brand names explode in the market…and yet, most take years until they become visible and reach the market consciousness. It’s important to state here that the term brand naming refers to products, service businesses and retail stores.
There are many brand naming agencies and writers who boast of their ability of being name generators. However, whether the business that your are seeking to name is a service or a product or even a retail store, the process of naming should not be taken lightly. Once you settle on a name for your business, it’s with you for a very long time. The process of brand naming is often difficult and should at least include some sort of market research.
Brand naming is only the very first, tiny step in developing a brand. Just as a logo isn’t branding… well, becoming a brand sensation doesn’t happen because you just name it. So what do the most popular brands out there do in order to penetrate the market consciousness? Here’s my take:
1) Create a brand definition. A brand name , especially an awesome one, needs to create an emotional connection. This may be in the form of visual tonality, a tagline, a promise. Make sure that brand definition appears or is stated whenever your brand appears…each and every time.
2) Create sensation: Brand needs to ‘be’. It needs to reach far and wide. After all what’s the use having an awesome brand and you’re 1 of 3 people who know about it. If you’re not out there… then you’re winking in the dark. If you are local retail store, then you need to promote locally, sponsor events, create hype with traditional and social media campaigns such as billboard, radio or print.These, of course, are only a few suggestions.
3) Develop a connection…. or rather community: It’s becoming increasingly easier to create brand connections with your audience. Easier doesn’t make it easy or quick but it is doable. It’s important to have a long term view in developing that brand community… it has to be strategic . With the use of a succinct social media plan, your awesome brand can reach your very select target group…and yes, talk to them. Develop connections that transcends the sell cycle…
4) Be awesome! Whether it’s a business, a product or a service, being branded means that you must deliver on its promise. No brand becomes any name brand unless it speaks, acts and delivers on what it says it will.
We all know that overnight successes often takes years to happen and brands are no different. Developing and creating a brand with a brand name that has market equity takes time and strategy. It’s all in the how to create a brand, that makes it a brand name… and that’s why brand naming is important.
