Brand Image

While Brand X cola or even Pepsi-Cola may win blind taste tests over Coca Cola, the fact is that more people buy Coke than any other cola and, most importantly, they enjoy the experience of buying and drinking Coca Cola. The fond memories of childhood and refreshment that people have when they drink Coke is often more important than a little bit better cola taste. It is this emotional relationship with brands that make them so powerful.

What makes up a brand identity?

A good brand name gives a good first impression, is easy to remember, and evokes positive associations with the brand. The positioning statement tells, in one sentence, what business the company is in, what benefits it provides and why it is better than the competition. Imagine you’re in an elevator and you have 30 seconds to answer the question, "What business are you in?" The category descriptor lets your customers know what "hook" to put your branding on in their mind. Linking your internal organizational values with your brand builds trust with your customers. Brand archetype and personality adds emotion, culture and myth to the brand identity by the use of a famous spokesperson (Bill Cosby - Jello), a character (the Pink Panther), an animal (the Merrill Lynch bull) or an image (You’re in good hands with Allstate).

Brand associations are the attributes that customers think of when they hear or see the brand name. Ideally, you want customers to think of what they want from the brand (e.g., reliability and the benefits of reliability) and then associate that attribute with your brand name.

Is Branding just for large companies?

No, BrandSolutions’ process can be applied to any business, organization, or product. The techniques of branding have been kept secret for many years because they provided a competitive advantage to those companies that used them. Our process takes the proven principles of branding used by companies like Microsoft, P&G, GE, and Coca Cola and puts them into a simple, understandable, and easy-to-use process. This process can be used by retailers, service businesses, manufacturers, businesses, and organizations of all types and sizes.

How do we determine our brand identity?

Brand has been called the most powerful idea in the commercial world, yet few companies consciously create a brand identity. Do you want your company’s brand identity created for you by competitors and unhappy customers? Of course not. Our advice to executives is to research their customers and find the top ranked reasons that customers buy their products rather than their competitors. Then pound that message home in every ad, in every news release, in communications with employees, in every sales call, and every media interview. By consistent repetition of the most persuasive selling messages, customers will think of you and buy from you when they are deciding on whether to buy from you or your competitor.

Labels: brand