Branding Strategy

Wanted: Brand Equity. Must Be Profitable.

 In the marketplace, there is nothing stronger than a product or a service that people ask for by name. If people demand to buy Coke, then the store has to carry it, or the people will go to a different retailer to buy it.  

 Customers will pay a premium for a branded product or service. They go out of their way to buy it. They buy more, and they buy it more often. Customers recommend the brand to their friends and family, and they are fiercely loyal.

 And brands are profitable. They give a competitive advantage to the owner. They give economies of scale to undercut the competition, or to improve the product, or to out-advertise everybody else. Brands are good. But you know all of this.

 The question is; how do you create this attitude and loyalty with your own customers? How do you use branding strategy for your own company?

Branding Strategy

Creating A Brand With Advertising

 The responsibility for branding a product or service has traditionally been considered to be the work of the marketing department. Your advertisements, packaging, logo, colors, tag line, and attitude made up your branding strategy.

 If you wanted to create a brand, then you had to advertise - heavily. To be successful, you had to spend millions of dollars on your branding strategy. And that meant that branding was only for large companies.

 Well it’s true. If you are only going to use advertising to promote your branding strategy, then you will need a really, really big budget.   

 But Professional Advertising is about getting excellent results without wasting or risking large amounts of money. Let’s pretend that you don’t have millions of dollars in your advertising budget. Let’s look at how your advertising and marketing can work with your other product and service activities to build an exclusive, strong, and profitable brand for you.

Branding Strategy

Brand Yourself

 First, every company creates a brand for itself, good or bad. Your reputation is your brand. Every time you have contact with a customer you leave an impression, you add to your reputation, and you create your own brand. But do you have a branding strategy?

 Your advertising starts the process. Your ads are the first impression you make with your customers, and they are where you start building your brand.

 The promise you make in your ad [your offer] generates customer expectations of quality, service, and satisfaction. The expectations, emotion, and excitement that you build in your ad is your promise of brand quality. It’s a promise to your customers that your brand will deliver what they want.

 So let's say your advertising has set the stage for building a strong and profitable brand. Your customers are paying attention. They have high expectations. They are coming in the front door. It’s up to you to deliver on your promises.

 Every point of contact that your customer subsequently has with your company is an important part of your branding strategy. Your advertisements were the first contact. They set brand expectations, and they did their job by getting the customer to call or to write or to come in. 

 Now your service and product quality, phone manners, atmosphere, signage, employees, guarantees, restrooms, customer wait time, inventory, customer follow-up, and every other customer contact point will work to build your brand. Your reputation - your brand - now depends on your implementation.

 So advertising really can’t create a brand for you. Even Coke has to make sure that there is always enough high quality product available in the right sizes at the right price. Too many flat soft drinks or late deliveries mean an end to a profitable brand. Coke must continually manage their customer contact points, and so does your company. It’s how branding strategy works. Advertising is just one part of the formula.

 Branding strategy is ultimately about fulfilling promises. It is about trust, quality, service, and reliability. It’s a relationship between your customers and your company. And it’s within your reach, if you can manage your customer contact points.

Branding Strategy

The Look And Feel Of Your Brand

 Your brand does need a unique, consistent look so that your customers can think of it as a separate, distinctive entity. 

 To create a brand, you need all the trappings – your name and logo, your colors and design, your ads and marketing materials, your tag line and attitude, and your statement of purpose. You want your branding strategy and company to be unique, so that people can recognize it, ask for it, and recommend it by name.

 All of your marketing materials should have a consistent look. They should match. Your logo, style, colors, catch phrase, attitude, benefits package, and contact information should be on every document you print. That includes invoices, business cards, press releases, register receipts, shopping bags, brochures, pamphlets, letter head, and to the extent possible, your printed advertisements.

 Your branding strategy should even carry over into your conversation. Use your catch phrase. Create a ten second description of your company and use it. Have your employees use it. You are giving your customers a way to remember you. And you are giving them the words you want them to repeat. The business card you hand them should reinforce the exact same message. That's branding strategy.

 Every printed advertisement you run should have the same look and feel. Your branding strategy should leave no question in the client's mind about which company is running the ad [so don’t copy your competitors ad]. You want the customer to see the consistent, unique look of your company.

 Your store or place of business should also integrate with, and reinforce, your marketing materials. Prominently display your slogan or company philosophy. Display poster size reproductions of your advertisements, and prominently offer all of your other marketing materials. That's branding strategy.

 Use matching uniforms and point-of-purchase displays. Use posters, signage, imprinted pens, sales receipts, and even your floor mat to reproduce your consistent, unique company look and feel. To the extent possible, your place of business and the quality of your service should look and feel like your marketing materials. After all, that is what the client expects from reading your ads.  

More Branding Strategy

 Be very consistent with your look. You can change your ads, but the basics of slogan, logo, and color need to essentially look the same. Make small changes over time so that your customers won’t get confused and lose you. After all, if you change your ad too much and your customers don’t recognize it, then you just lost all of the good will, recognition, and trust that you have built up with your branding strategy over time.

 If you do want to make big changes all at once, then you want to tell your customers about it. You will need to temporarily increase your advertising budget so that you can keep your customers informed, and not lose them. You might consider a direct mail campaign, or even a phone call to your customers.

 Remember that everyone you know [including yourself] will get really bored with your ads and your branding strategy. You will want to change them regularly, but this is a mistake. Only your customer's opinion counts.

 Until your customer is serious about making a purchase, they won’t really pay close attention to your ads. Your company will feel familiar to them because they have seen your ad 100 times, but only when they are ready will they really read it. Your same old boring advertisement will not bore your customers. Do not change the overall look and feel of your ads unless you don’t get the sales you expect or need.

 Continue to implement your branding strategy by cross-referencing all of your marketing materials. If you have a great brochure – advertise it in your other ads. Offer it everywhere possible.

 Your newsletter should advertise your brochure and your web site. Your brochure should advertise your newsletter and your catalog. If you have a commanding position in the yellow pages, scream it as loud as possible in all of your other marketing materials. Good branding strategy says you should cross-link everything, and if you have the space, do actual advertisements promoting your other marketing materials.

 Your fundamental company philosophy [your mission statement] should be communicated clearly and consistently to customers, employees, the public, investors, and partners and suppliers at every point of contact. Your mission statement should go forth loud and clear to everyone, every time. Make it a prominent part of doing business.

 Branding strategy for your company encompasses everything you do. But when your customers start to think of you as something special, fireworks will start going off in your bank account. Your advertising effectiveness will increase. Word of mouth will kick in. Goodwill will become an asset on your balance sheet. Your name will mean something to your customers. You will make more money – and that is what Professional Advertising is all about.

Branding Strategy

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Understanding brand advantage, and how to get there, is what Professional Advertising is all about. Please contact Professional Advertising for additional assistance.

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