Branding

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Often the more a thing is discussed the less it is understood. Words have a point of diminishing return. That point is crossed when the effort to be clear and precise counts every tree standing, but misses the proverbial forest. Such is the case with branding.

Because the idea of branding is all the rage, people are tempted to think that it is a new idea. It is not. It’s roots reach back into history.

The Old West
Let’s go back to the Old West where brands were burned into the hind quarters of cattle. The thing branded was the cow, the product produced by the ranching endeavor. The brand itself was the twisted iron logo on the end of the rod that left its image or mark on the hide of the cow. Cows were roped, tied and branded in order to identify them, should they be stolen. The brand was a mark of identity, as it is in the corporate world.

Some ranchers also used their logo as a welcome sign wrought in iron over the gates of the corral or over the road leading to the rancher’s home. Again, the brand identified the ranch. Some ranchers even got their cowhands belt buckles with the ranch logo to identify them as employees. And over time logoed merchandise began to pop up on boots, hats, shirts, etc.

Identity
The brand is essentially a mark of identity. It identifies the ranch or company, and has come to represent or suggest the values and character of the company, and of its leaders. The brand is associated with the character of the company, as well as its products.

The early history of branding was always personal. Where does the ranch or company get the values and character that are associated with it? From its owners and leaders, and from their business practices.

Branding as we know it today is the art of instilling and communicating the values and character of a company or organization through association with its logo. Psychology calls it symbolic association, and finds it to be foundational to the learning process. Symbolic association has deep roots in human experience and in history.

Fish, Cross & Swastika
We find that branding as a practice began very early in history. The sign of the fish and the cross were symbols used by the early Christians. Over time they became Christian brands.

The Roman Emperor Constantine had a vision of a red cross in the sky before the battle of Saxa Rubra, October 28, 312, near Rome. He put that red cross on his shields and flags, branding the Holy Roman Empire for centuries.

On August 7, 1920, at the Salzburg Congress, a red flag bearing the Swastika became the official emblem of the Nazi Party, as Hitler branded the Third Reich. While our emotional reaction to the Swastika is usually negative, both the fact and the intensity of our response to it points to the power of branding. Most people probably have an emotional reaction to the examples above. That emotional reaction is the aim of branding.

It must be recognized that a branding effort does not always turn out the way the campaign intends. The cross was intended to be a symbol of derision, but became a symbol of grace and mercy. The Swastika was intended to be a symbol of the triumph of the Arian race, but has become a symbol of evil. In both cases branding was achieved, but not in the way intended.

Of course, companies want the emotional association to their brand to be positive—even to generate an urge to splurge, or trust sufficient to sustain a transaction. But regardless of one’s personal reaction to a symbol, the fundamental mechanics of branding involve soliciting an emotional response to a symbol.

There are two fundamental elements in the branding process. The first pertains to the symbol, the second to the association.

The Symbol
The symbol itself must be familiar. The more the symbol or logo is seen, the more familiar it becomes. The most successful branding campaigns will have a lot of sustained media coverage and use a variety of advertising mediums. This does not mean that smaller campaigns cannot be successful, only that their success will be smaller. Familiarity is primarily a function of exposure.

The Association
Secondly, the emotional content of the association also needs to be familiar. Of course it is true that new desires and/or emotional content can be created. But the effort is both time consuming and risky. The result might be other than the desired effect.

The more successful method for creating a symbolic association employs well-established and widely valued characteristics, like love, honor, truth, freedom, etc. Successful branding campaigns establish symbolic associations between their products and/or company and such noble characteristics. What is noble inspires people, and what inspires is remembered and discussed. It creates buzz. And buzz is branding’s engine.

To discuss the art of branding apart from these foundational elements is to miss the forest for the trees. However, branding is more than a mere advertising campaign can accomplish because the symbolic association that needs to be made for the branding to be successful involves the core values and character traits of the company— its leaders and its business practices.

Prior to branding, core values, character issues and company policies need to be determined, developed and deployed within the company. Because the process of branding reveals the values, character and policies of the company, those things need to be right, and be in place before they can be successfully revealed.

Premature Branding
A premature revelation of these things can be disastrous to the intention of the branding campaign. To be branded as hypocritical and shallow is worse than no branding at all. Again, branding occurs when an emotional response—any emotional response— is associated with a company symbol. The art of branding is to solicit the right emotional response.

So, what can be done to promote a brand? Begin by working to establish core values and character within and throughout the company. To be successfully branded is to be known widely for who you are. You want a great branding campaign? Be a great company. Aspire to the values and character traits of greatness and nobility. Herein lies the key to branding success.

Internet Branding

In the beginning there was traffic. It was easy to come by in 1993. Publish a web site and the entire web world would know about it and visit within a month. In fact in the days of yore one could visit every site on the Web. I know. I’ve done it several times.

And the offline saw that traffic was good and they came – by the millions. Thereafter publish a web site and you would be lucky to have any hits other than your own development hits within a month. And the people knew that traffic was good, yet they had little, or none. Challenge spawns opportunity. Hence directories and search engines arose and the people rejoiced for the millions could now be found. And so the first iteration of the Web passed and the found and the lost were as one – eventually indexed.

Commerce and competition arose, as it always does with every technological advance, business models decried the wild west confusion of the web and mandated order and profit. And the traffic remained good yet the people lamented because the ecumenical nature of traffic was replaced by the bought and the paid for. And the major brands rejoiced for the traffic was good and it could be bought, tamed and redirected. Yet, throughout it all the pioneers and the foolhardy and the diligent and the brave remained steadfast, for they had become digital in their outlook and on was the state of the Web. The traffic increased, though not for all. Traffic is the river that always flows. And so the second iteration of the Web passed and the lost were further still and the found paid with money or arduous labor.

And the third iteration dawned and Google became the word bandied throughout the land. The clouds thickened for many and cleared for some, a new term arose in the digital land, although long a staple in the of the analog. The term is brand and the nature of it will continue with the next episode.

Branding Concepts

“Branding” is the process by which a company employs marketing strategies to get people to easily remember their business and products over anothers…essentially, it’s applied psychology.

As a child, I was introduced to a relatively new hamburger chain that had begun in Australia. I still visit that burger chain regularly 25 years later. Not a lot has changed over those years in regards to this particular company and I guess that’s one of the reasons that I am still a customer. I know each time I walk into that establishment what I am going to have, where everything is and God help them if they ever remove the item from the menu! Even if they radically changed the decor, it would make me nervous. Many millions of people around the world would feel the same……

One of our countries major supermarkets has a habit of occasionally moving products around in their stores. It works well for them as it increases sales. Customers who usually seek out particular products are exposed to other items as they hunt for their favourites. It is a highly annoying tactic and only works in this situation because the supermarket is very competitive in pricing and range of products. People are not so patient on web sites and continiously moving items around on your site will see you losing traffic….nothing surer.

After having worked in management of another major fast food chain outlet, I learned that once a company has established a presence and become successful, any changes to operation must be carried out extremely carefully. Our patrons became very attuned to the company, they were essentially a part of it. Their perceptions and opinions needed to be taken into account every step of the way, and not just in regards to the products.

Why?

We have succumbed to the branding experience….. it makes us feel “safe”

Branding isn’t just about logos, it’s the entire “feel” associated with a company. In these days of bleeding edge technology and rapid change, people still enjoy going to places that follow a pattern of operation. This very much applies to our websites. Your logo should appear on every page, your domain name and one line blurb contained in every email, your theme consistent throughout your site. Granted, quality content is king, but it’s important that visitors remember where the content came from. Branding establishes recall abilities of your site.

Recently, I decided that I was going to change the colour schemes on my site due to the research that I had carried out on the psychology of colour. Many articles I had studied suggested that black was not really appropriate for a site about web design. After discussing the plans with a few regular visitors, I was surprised by the response. The feedback was for me not to change the colour in any way. Even those people who did not feel that black was appropriate considering the nature of site did not want me to change it. They were “used” to it. It was a constant on the site, the same as the logo placement and general navigation structure. So it is all staying. My plans were to make the site look more in tune with other very successful web presences that focus on web design. What was I thinking!?!?!?

Branding is not only about constants, but individuality……….

If some one told you that they were going to establish a hamburger franchise and the logo colour scheme would be red and yellow, you would probably think they were insane. Red tends to signify danger and yellow is purported to be the most annoying colour of all. But try telling McDonalds that…..

But having stated that, if you are just in the planning stages your site, I suggest that you do be careful in your choice of navigation, logos and colour schemes. If your site is established with a good traffic flow and you are considering revamping it, it is of the utmost importance that you consult your visitors first via some sort of survey before any radical changes are made. Otherwise the many hours of hard work that you put into the upgrade, as well as the hours invested in developing the original theme, may be lost.

…. along with your traffic.

About Branding

Branding, type-establishment, character-determination, name it whatever you like, we are practicing it all the time. Admitted, in business the skill of developing a rapid insight could be invaluable. Imagine how great it would be if we would all develop the ability to make a snapshot of every job-applicant, in order to see where his/her strengths and weaknesses were? Well, the positive side, according to the lecture I received today is, that we already do that – unconsciously. We “brand” people the moment we see them. However, the negative side remains that we don’t always execute the branding process in the right way. It is this very branding – this first moment snapshot – that guides our approach toward another person. It is branding that makes us extra open to some and overly defensive toward others. There are some people that we just can’t stand, no matter what they do… and others that just can’t go wrong with us, no matter how often we will receive warnings from third parties! As I also learned tonight, we tend to ignore those warnings, and sometimes even their realization, because we don’t like to admit to ourselves that our first impression was wrong?

Another funny thing I observed tonight is, that people will easily tell you, when asked, that they prefer to hire employees that are their opposites, “so that performance gaps can be filled.” This, as we all know by now, is just an idealistic dream, a song that we know by heart and therefore sing so well; yet don’t understand the words of. For in reality, it has been proven time and again that no one really goes for diversity, because we have an inborn tendency to stick with whatever is familiar to us, and that is…right!… the person with most of the characteristics we know best: the ones we own ourselves!

But in case we, as potential leaders, really want to establish an ideal work-environment with the necessary diversity in characteristics, backgrounds, and qualities; how can we, make a mental snapshot to be sure that we’re hiring the right people given our current team of workers? Well, easy: if you know what you have, you also know what you lack, and ? therefore – need to find. If you know about yourself, for instance, that you are a fast-paced, goal-oriented decision-maker (let’s call this type 1), you want to get an analytical and stabilizing element to balance your team. People with persuasive tendencies (type 2) usually don’t mind showing their emotions, while the type 1 individuals ? the ones with controlling personalities – will hide their feelings and just go for the job? fast! People with stabilizing skills (type 3) will seek to solve interpersonal problems. The ones with analytical skills (type 4) will review and re-review the process endlessly before shooting it to execution. Interestingly, most people have 2 types represented within them: a dominant and an underlying type. The dominant one is the one you represent, while the underlying one determines how you get your results.

It’s an interesting skill for leaders to look into. And an eye opener for people who thought they knew themselves for decades. However, a word of caution is in place here, no matter what personality test you take, remember that these are mere snapshots that are subject to change through time and in different situations: one can, for instance, predominantly be a controller at work, yet more of a persuader in the private domains of life.

Branding people on basis of a first impression is therefore never a good idea, even though it’s hardly preventable. The only thing we can do, now that we are aware of this tendency within us, is to keep an open mind for 2nd, 3rd, 4th and even 5th impressions. Sounds reasonable? I thought so too!

The Art of Self Branding

 How executives, salespeople and professional of all types can use personal branding to be more effective and successful.
You have permission to publish this article electronically, in print, in your ebook or on your web site, free of charge, as long as the author bylines are included.

The Power of a Self Brand

By Catherine Kaputa

Today, branding isn’t just for companies, Hollywood celebrities, or highly-paid athletes. People in all walks of life are starting to use personal or self branding to get ahead in the game of life.

The single factor that often explains the difference between a professional who is competent and doing okay and one who earns a significant income and generates lots of business is self branding.

Self branding defined: Self branding is a strong personal identity based on a clear perception about what you stand for, what sets you apart from others, and the added value you bring to a job or situation.

Your self brand is the sum total of other people’s feelings about your attributes and capabilities, how you perform, even their perceptions about what you are worth.

To brand or not to brand? Many people think that if they do a good job, their career will go fine. But no matter how secure your position seems to be, you are in competition with more people than you think.

To some people, branding may seem manipulative or phony. “I’d just rather be myself,” they say, “to with the flow and see where my career takes me.” Or, the familiar line, “I’m not good at marketing myself.”

If you don’t brand yourself, others will. The fact of the matter is you’re giving the power to other people to brand you if you don’t do it yourself.

Let me give you an example. A new client came in who was fuming because of the way another executive introduced her at a conference. He branded her as the company’s direct mail maven. That may have been the way she started out at the firm, but not quite how she saw herself now.

Self brands are created not born. Branding is mainly a process of analyzing a product in relationship to a market and figuring out how to maximize the brand’s potential. Branding is creating an asset out of something. It is a matter of satisfying a market need in a different way. And figuring out a plan of action – the marketing plan – to build awareness and trial of the brand.

Launching a person on a drive to become a successful personal brand is essentially the same process. It is a conscious strategic process, a branding process, a process that Hollywood celebrities and high profile athletes have been using for some time.

The Self Brand mindset: Self branding means looking at yourself as a marketer would look at a product that he or she wants to make a winning brand. You don’t think of yourself as an employee even if you work for a boss. You think of yourself as working for yourself marketing the brand, You.

The first thing a marketer does is analyze the market and the product to understand what the opportunities are, what the threats are. What are the current conditions? What are the assumptions about the future? What problems need to be solved? What needs aren’t being met?

Act like the marketer of the product: You. In personal branding, after analyzing the market, you do a self audit. What are my strengths and weaknesses? How does my brand compare with the people I am competing with?

You focus on key attributes and resources that differentiate you. Skills, abilities, even personality traits you have that are a solution to a market need. Then you adopt what Theodore Levitt called “the marketing imagination.” You build a personal brand identity that is different, relevant and adds value.

Plan to dazzle: write out a marketing plan. I often work with clients to develop a formal marketing plan that lays out a personal brand strategy and action plan. It is often in the writing that new creative options come to light.

It is important to set personal brand goals with a specific time frame and plan of action for achieving the goals. So just like a marketer would, you write down personal marketing activities to achieve your goals. And, of course, you execute the marketing plan. You can’t get to where you want to go unless you plan it and then do it.

The final step is measurement. You assess your effectiveness. How is my “portfolio” different now than it was last year? What new projects did I take on? How did I expand my network? What new learning did I acquire? If something isn’t working, you change trains. Branding is a dynamic process that offers the greatest rewards to the receptive individual.

Thinking and acting like a brand can create and maintain demand for your most important product – you.

Branding – More Than Just a Statement – A Memory Scar

Conjure up in your mind broad rolling meadows with runs of cattle or stock of some type, all discriminate by virtue of a registered brand. That’s a most common and accepted understanding of branding.

You have just now used your mind to develop a picture that promises easy recall. You may not yet be aware but there’s always a new secret marketing aid being developed and made available … nearly every day of the week.

I’d be one of many that could point out who the target group is for all of these hidden treasures and industrious salespeople. But if you’re reading this, then take a bow and a large step forward! You are in fact the “demand” component of the supply that’s being generated.

Now what happens when you also join the ranks of the industrious? It doesn’t take a whole deal of thinking to recognize that you can easily get lost in the traffic, especially if you are starting up a business of your own. Being known as an absolute is a very real way of defeating some of that traffic; not the only way but a very effective one.

Your general copy writing and headline creation tactics certainly help the cause but in a saturated market environment you need to embrace every advantage.

Exactly what then, can you do, to be noticed? Question well asked and the answer ….. consider branding yourself.

The reason branding works is that it gives individuality to the value you provide to those that come to your site. If they don’t come to your site then its through your e-mails, e-zines, blogs and advertisements.

It makes folk recall your Site and perhaps even prompts them to bookmark. Do it right and they might even opt to scan for forthcoming product that carries your brand name.

You’ll be far more noticeable if you can create something that settles on someone’s mind. Catch the imagination of your readers, use unique or quirky themes and make that difference that magnetizes your audience.

By way of example, let me relate a branding experience using a quick story…. tangent if you will.

There’s a huge red rock located in the middle of Australia that was at one time known as Ayers Rock. More recently it has adopted the term Uluru.

The rock and the country around it belong to a group of Aboriginal people called Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara.

So, the people also have been renamed and are now referred to as “Anangu” because it’s easier.

These people have a history rich in story and in this case they identify the various faces of the rock using that approach.

One saga goes something like this….. A long, long time ago, in the time of the Tjukurpa, which the Aborigines call the dreamtime, the animals gave shape to a rock.

There was a young woma python, or Kuniya, that was passing by and was surprised by a group of Liru, which are venomous snakes. Kuniya, not being from that area, was affronted by the Liru who threw spears at the python and killed him.

So hard did they throw their spears that the points made holes in the rock.

The Pythons ancestor, also a Kuniya, was so angered by this that he killed one of the Liru with a stick.

So, on the west face of the rock there are holes that are said to be from the points of the Lirus’ spears and on the south face of the rock, Kuniya the woma python can still be seen as a dark wavy line on Uluru.

Now the story in itself doesn’t mean a whole lot but if you are ever able to visit Uluru, you will happen to find a south and a west side of the rock that now has individuality because it’s been branded.

To any one else this is simply a rock but to you, you now know there exists Western and Southern rock walls that hold special understandings. These are unique and remembered even if not in the original light.

Get yourself branded and stand out from the rocks that exist in your niche marketplace.

Start with your ads, an article or two and build from that into your website. Regardless of what appearance might do to enhance any efforts, it’s generally how you stick in a customer’s mind that produces results.

Branding that Sells

Selling at a given perspective can be viewed as tedious and meticulous. If you include the overall process, that will make the subject a little complex.

Selling, according to a poem, is everyone’s business. Selling is knowing who’s your competition, market and what is important. It is knowing your service, idea, product and your market needs. It is knowing what are accepted and what are not. Selling is knowing how to treat and be treated. In a nutshell, selling is knowing – knowing the line of work of selling.

Successful brokers and agents are saying that when they have assimilated data successfully, chances are they are going to bag a purchase. Salesmen are saying that if they have already determined the needs, objectives and goals of the potential client, there is no need to sell, they will just come. Businessmen, on the other hand, are saying that if there is already a mutual feeling of trust and confidence it will be easier to sell.

One of the striking strategies in selling is by branding. Coke, Revlon, Adidas and the rest of the widely-popular brands became bearably popular by reason of branding. Branding, so to speak, is image building. It imbibes a certain stigma in connection to the thing it is associated with. Though the widely used kind of branding is done with products, branding can also be done to services like in legal services that a lawyer is offering. Also, it is applicable to persons especially celebrities and politicians. Branding is oftentimes widespread during the building up stage of a star and for politicians, in times of election.

Almost all large companies are using branding in order to solicit familiarity and brand retention. This is the reason why companies at the middle stratum are thinking that it involves large amount of money in order to make branding possible. This is not always the case. Branding can be made by using promotional materials like printed T-shirt, key, tags, mugs, pens, bags, CD holders, badge holders, calendars, clocks, caps, balloons and other promotional specialties. This is what we call image branding along with direct sales approach.

A brilliant selling investment need not be expensive. It just needs a dash of imagination, creativity and a slice of resources. The goal is to make the consumers think about the product to make him forget the rest of the products being marketed. Try this type of strategy and be the living witness of its impressive results!

Branding = Focus

Over the years I’ve frequently been asked what the secret formula is for successful branding. What people are really asking me is how to make their brand a global leader, like Coca-Cola.

Well, sorry guys. There’s no magic hidden in the process of building a brand. What successful brand-building is all about is following three simple principles. These form the crucial guidelines that help ensure you build a successful brand.

Branding is all about focus. When I say focus, I mean a lot of things. But the most important points are:
·your focus on a specific audience;
·which is reflected in your focus on a specific values;
·which is reflected by your clear focus on a specific tone-of-voice.
I know it sounds banal, but defining your unique target group is fundamental. Let me give you a couple of examples.

McDonald’s has always been a family restaurant, and never a burger bar. What’s the difference? None. But the family focus is a positioning strategy that’s reflected in everything the corporation does. McDonald’s knows that by targeting families it hits one of the most attractive, loyal consumer groups available: they get into the parents’ wallets via the kids’ minds. Knowing the strength of this strategy, it’s no wonder that McDonald’s has become what it is. And, by the way, the audience focus doesn’t mean that McDonald’s misses out on attracting teenagers, tweens or grown-up singles to their restaurants. Obviously, McDonald’s restaurants are full of such consumer groups. But, by attracting a target audience, McDonald’s hasn’t scared off other consumer groups away. Just imagine McDonald’s targeting teenagers. Do you think any families would show up?

A famous vodka brand decided to take targeting to the extreme by focusing on alternative audiences, like the gay community in the USA. By hitting this community in trendy bars in Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York, the product became fashionable and, so, a wider and wider audience was attracted to it. By now the vodka in question is one of the world’s best-known brands, yet it’s been raised in a very alternative background.

Having considered the importance of your brand’s audience focus, let’s look at its message. What is it your brand wants to say? What tracks should it leave in the consumer’s mind after exposure? What are its values? If I were to ask you what impressions spring to mind when I mention the word “Lego” you’d probably speak of “a creative construction toy”, or simply “colorful plastic bricks”. If I mention “Rolex” you’d probably respond with something like “high quality Swiss watch”. “Mercedes-Benz”? “A high quality German car”.

The principle is simple. What would you like the consumer to think, and not think, when they perceive your brand? Don’t be too ambitious. You can’t make the consumer say everything you want. For example, you probably didn’t say, “Just Imagine…” when I asked you to respond to the concept of Lego, even though that’s the product’s slogan today. Focus on your brand’s values, and communicate these consistently.

That’s the third important factor in a healthy branding strategy: communications consistency. Being consistent means delivering your brand’s message using a tone-of-voice that becomes recognisable as the voice of your brand: that communicates the brand’s values to its target audience day after day, year after year, everywhere, anywhere! A good rule of thumb to consider is this: when you start feeling sick and tired of your brand’s message and voice, its connection with the consumer’s recognition is probably just beginning. Remember, you are exposed to your brand thousands of times more frequently than your customers are. So don’t let your own frequency of exposure affect your communications decisions.

Consistency is applicable in every facet of your brand’s consumer communication strategy: ensure your brand targets its audience consistently, that it communicates the same message to it, that it personifies and transmits the same values, that it is exposed with the same vocabulary, nomenclature, design elements and graphics every time.

Many companies fail on the consistency prerequisite, even the big ones which you’d think would know how to handle this fundamental branding challenge. Take Swissair for example. I bet you know the name, but do you know that Swissair is also known as Crossair, Flightline, Jumbolino and Swissair Express? Each of these sub-identities are accompanied by a version of the Swissair logo, even though they all fly internationally. I’m sure there’s a logical reason behind the airline company’s divergent branding strategy. But I wonder if Swissair’s customers understand it.

So, why didn’t I define design consistency as a factor in its own right: the graphic design, the logo, the look that surrounds the brand? Well, because these elements are not what creates the brand. They support it and can help accelerate recognition and therefore, speed up the branding process. The “look” is a necessary element in the consistent communication strategy, but it’s just an element. If your brand possesses the most beautiful logo and is associated with perfect identifying design, yet it has no clear audience focus, no value focus and no tone-of-voice focus with which to deliver its well-honed message, I doubt you’d ever succeed in building your brand. However, by following the guidelines established by these three principles, you’re likely to score the brand-building goal, even without a fabulous logo.

Strong branding has nothing to do with a beautiful logo. But it has everything to do with your brand’s message.

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