Branding Basics Part 1 – How To Build A Powerful Brand
Why is successful branding so important?
You may be wondering, “Why should we spend valuable time and resources, having someone develop our branding strategy?” Well, while branding is certainly not a new idea, it is perhaps now more important than ever, given the increased access your clients have to information and choices.
Fortune 500 clients often pay US$50,000 to $100,000 for the formulation of their brand strategy. Why? Because failing to craft a brand strategy results in your market forming their own conclusions about your brand (for better or worse).
However, a well thought-out brand strategy can help you:
- Differentiate yourself from your competition and attain a specific position in the hearts and minds of clients,
- Bring your competitive position and value proposition to life,
- Grow faster than weaker, more diluted brands,
- Create ‘brand equity’ – (the amount customers are willing to pay for your services, simply because it’s your brand),
- Brand equity also makes your company more valuable in the long term, and
- Gain market share.
In order to successfully develop an effective branding strategy, an understanding of what a brand is, must first be established.
What is a ‘Brand’?
A brand is essentially ‘the idea’ inside your target market’s mind about your product, company or service. They will arrive at this ‘idea’ through the entire experience they have with your company, from your logo, to your offices, the way your staff answer phones, the added extras you do or don’t supply, your marketing material and everything in between – we call these ‘brand touch points’. Your brand is what you stand for, the promise you make and the personality you convey.
Since a ‘brand’ is the idea [a concept of value] that your clients have about your company, ‘branding’ is the process of forming this idea in their minds. The process of branding occurs via two main types of communication:
- Your client’s actual experience with your business itself, and
- our outbound marketing communications to this client before, during and after the delivery of service.
So, where to start?
1. Develop your Competitive Positioning Strategy:
A competitive positioning strategy will define how you differentiate your service offering from your competitors and creates value for your market. It is the first step in branding development and will require research and analysis of the following areas:
- Market profile: Size, competitors, stage of growth,
- Customer segmentation: Who is your target audience and how can they be segmented, where are they located, what do they currently think of your brand, what would you like them to think about your brand, etc.,
- Competitive analysis: Strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in the landscape. Here, you impartially rate your company and its direct competitors on price, product leadership and customer intimacy, and
- Positioning strategy: Here you stake a position in the market for your brand. You also identify areas where your competition is vulnerable, whether those vulnerabilities can be focused on to create opportunities and identify any new services you might offer to serve the true needs of your market, in a better way.
What’s next?
Once a competitive positioning strategy has been formulated, you can begin developing a ‘brand strategy’ – the aim of which is to help communicate your competitive position (your differentiating concept of value), at every single point that your clients and prospects interact with your brand. Brand strategy is always developed around the emotional benefits your clients receive from using your services.
Tune in next week for part two of this series on branding.
