Creating a Successful Brand

Written by Dianne Molvig Tuesday, September 14 2010

The concept of branding has been with us for some time. Ranchers long have branded cattle to signify “this one is mine.” History shows that as far back as 1300 B.C., potters in China, Greece, Rome, and India made their marks on their creations. Modern branding took off after World War II with the increased production of consumer goods and the advent of television.

But in today’s world, a brand is about much more than a mark or symbol on a product, according to Nancy Walker, president of Walker Brands in Tampa, Fla. “A brand is a cousin to the word ‘reputation,’” she explains. “I think branding is one of the strongest business tools there is today.”

Any business or organization, whether it’s product- or service-oriented, can benefit from a solid branding strategy. Still, misperceptions about the branding process persist.

Business owners and organization leaders often believe a brand springs up out of their marketing and public relations. The messages go out, and from that a brand, or reputation, emerges in the public’s mind – or so the thinking goes.

But effective branding actually works the other way around, says Pecanne Eby, founder of Brand Mentoring in Denver. Think of branding as “the art of building a desired reputation,” she says. “That gets into the fundamentals of creating what I call a brand identity.”

This process begins by asking yourself key questions: Who are you as a business or organization? What’s your promise to your customers, clients, or members? What are your organization’s core values? What is its personality?

“A lot of business owners think they already have answered those questions,” Eby says. “But they haven’t done the deep dive they need to do.”

A diving partner may be helpful. It’s difficult to be completely objective about your own business or organization. As Eby notes, “We fall in love with our own cooking.” Third-party sources, such as a consultant and your customers’ feedback, can help you pinpoint the essence of your organization’s brand.

Once you have determined answers to the “who are we” questions, that information can be “translated into the tangible stuff, such as your logo, tag line, and marketing materials,” Eby explains. “But before you get out there and start marketing, you have to know who you are, whom you serve, and what makes you uniquely you.”

Defining your brand first, before you do marketing, pays off. Your marketing sticks better and works smarter, Eby says. Plus, she cites a study from Boston-based Bain & Co. that shows 72 percent of consumers will pay up to a 20-percent premium on a brand that resonates with them.

By contrast, a business or organization that hasn’t done the advance soul-searching to clarify a brand ends up with marketing “that’s all over the place,” Eby says. “You confuse your market. People don’t think of you as one particular thing and as owning a certain reputation.”

Walker cites two elements as being critical to creating a successful brand:

• Distinctiveness. What is it that sets you apart from the competition? What need do you spot that you can fill in a different way? “The whole concept of branding,” Walker says, “is to help your customers, or audience, know why they should choose you over other marketplace choices.”
  
• Truthfulness. It’s easy to say what you think you are, or wish you were. But that won’t serve you well in defining your brand, Walker warns, especially in today’s technology environment. These days everybody is a critic and reviewer. “People investigate more before making decisions,” Walker says. “I can go to the internet and find out in a nanosecond what others think about you.” So if your brand presents promises you’re not keeping, there goes your brand’s credibility – and your organization’s reputation.

Once you have pinpointed a brand, then the harder work begins. The brand you’ve developed has to influence every aspect of your company or organization. “Your No. 1 audience to understand your brand needs to be the people who work for you,” Walker says.

Indeed, everything about your organization must fit your brand: whom you hire, how you recruit employees, what your office space looks like, how you answer your telephones, how you respond to complaints – and, of course, how you advertise and market.

“[Former Disney CEO] Michael Eisner once said a brand is ‘the product of a thousand small gestures,’” Walker points out. “So people have to get over the idea that branding lives only in their marketing department. That’s the old model. Today your brand is everything you do. It’s not something you just show and tell. You have to live it.”

Dianne Molvig is a Madison, Wis.-based freelance writer who writes regularly about business management, financial services, law practice, consumer education, and other topics.