PBL 4

Brand identity and image

Problem:

What is a strong brand?

1. How to build a brand?

Part 1: Creating an authentic look and message

1. Pinpoint your mission. 

What qualities, values and experiences are you offering your customers?
It’s important to articulate your company’s mission so that you’re clear on what sets you apart from the pack.
Why did you start this business? What goals do you want to achieve? Who are the people you want to help? What makes your company different from others in your field?

2. Decide how you want to be seen.

Customers need to know that your product or service is the one they should turn to when faced with a dozen choices. Taking your mission into account, decide what type of attitude you want to project.
Your product can be seen as the ticket to an adventure or a brand new life or a second chance at youth; as smart and cutting edge; relying on nostalgia.

3. Think like a customer

Why do they buy your product? Find out what your customers are longing to feel and make your brand help them feel that way.Your brand needs to evoke a certain feeling with all of its copy, marketing, and design (language, colors and product design).

4. Refine your brand language

Choose a catchphrase or slogan and some key words that you want to be associated with your brand. The words should be closely aligned with your mission statement, and memorable and recognizable.
Keep your text streamlined and basic (as Apple used a tagline for much of the 90s and the 2000's: "Think Different").
All copy associated with your brand: a product’s label, website, and advertising materials, should match the tone you’re trying to project.

5. Choose a design scheme

Your brand needs a look that’s in keeping with the tone of your brand mission and language. This look should be synchronized across all of your media (brochures, website, product, offices, etc.).

• Design a logo
• Colors representing a brand
• Keep things simple

Get legal protection for your visual branding and any distinctive phrases you use to describe your business or your offer.

6. Involve your employees

Communicate the importance of your brand to your employees and ask for their advice and vision. They will have their own idea of what your business stands for and whether it is delivering on its promises. Besides, you will need their co-operation if you are going to change your operation.

Part 2. Gaining customer loyalty

1. Back up your message with a great product.

If your business delivers what your branding promises, you’ll gain your customers’ trust. Before long, they’ll start spreading the word about your quality of service, and your brand’s reputation will soon speak for itself.

2. Conduct market research to find out who you’re serving.

It's necessary to find out who’s interested in the product you’re offering, and how they’re responding to your branding, age groups and demographics. It might help focus on more narrow group.

3. Do a competitive analysis.

Conduct research to find out what other companies are offering and decide how your company is different. Finding that special something that sets you apart is essential, because your customers have so many choices that they’ll never even know your product exists unless you help it stand out.

4. Talk with your customers.

Represent your brand's values in how you talk and how you act, and constantly give your customers room to give feedback and ask questions so that they get the chance to get to know and eventually trust the brand.Respond promptly to feedback when you receive it and avoid using automatic replies to emails. 

Part 3. Promoting your brand.

1. Develop a marketing strategy.

Have a plan in place to get your brand name in as many stores and in front of as many people as possible. Depending on the product or service you’re offering, you might want to consider taking out ads online, in newspapers, in magazines, and wherever you might find new customers.

2. Have a presence on social media.

Get basic social media accounts and update them regularly with pictures, deals and other information about your company. Do not become spam. 

3. Have a killer website.

Discuss what your brand is about, where your offices can be found, what your hours are, and how you can be contacted. Use your site as an opportunity to tell your story proudly. 

4. Be involved in the community.

Throw events, attend events put on by others, do volunteer work, and be civically active. (street fairs, donations, sponsorships, etc.)

Resource: http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Brand

http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/branding/ten-ways-to-build-a-brand-for-your-small-business

http://www.marketingdonut.co.uk/marketing/marketing-strategy/branding/how-to-build-a-brand

Brand and marketing, and the difference between the two, is not just misunderstood in business. It is misunderstood in most companies and even in their own marketing departments.

Robert Bean's (Northstar Partners) definition of a brand is that it is a "promise delivered".  You make a promise to customers and colleagues with everything you do and, to be successful, you must deliver on that promise every single time. The idea that a brand is a badge, a name or a colour is just a tiny fraction of what a brand actually is.

Marketing is defined by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as "The management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying customer requirements profitably".

Marketing, then, is an integral part of your brand. It helps you to communicate the promise that you want customers and prospects to know about. Your marketing should also be based on your brand positioning, personality, values and tone of voice that have all been defined and communicated among your staff.

In essence, marketing is what you do to get your message or promise to customers, while your brand is how you keep the promise made through delivery to customers and colleagues.

2. How to communicate a brand?

It starts with internal communication, with employees' perception and understanding of the brand. when the workforce doesn't respond with appropraite enthusiasm for the brand promise, they work with heads of operations to flog the business into behaving the way they think it should. It's necessary to get understanding and engagement from the people.

Another suggestion is to create a story around your brand. Storytelling is a fundamental part of human nature and it allows to position the brand in human terms, rather than sterile marketing speak. But it shouldn't be too complicated: seek out big, simple, true idea. Big, so it is unmistakable; simple, so it is as straightforward as possible; and true, so it is based on genuine insight.

Adapt the offering to play to the media’s strengths – on Facebook you may focus on building your brand’s ‘cool factor’, while in trade publications the quality of goods and innovation is important – but keep the core values the same.

Marketing teams can and should drive consistency of presentation in design, language and brand presentation across all media channels and forms of communication. Being able to drive and support the same messages internally as you do externally will double the power and performance of your communications campaigns.

When communicating a message in other countries, focus on cultural differences and create it accordingly.

Be innovative, try something new!

Deliver what you promise with high quality and appropriate service.
Use different communication channels to deliver the message.

Resourse: http://www.themarketer.co.uk/archives/masterclass/how-to-communicate-your-brands-values/

3. How to maintain a brand?

Keep it fresh

Review your brand strategy every six months, and rethink all your brand elements in the light of what has been going on in your business, in your industry, and in the world. As you evolve, your brand has to evolve with you, or you risk a disconnect that your audience will notice for sure. Reinvention will keep your brand fresh and exciting to follow, model, and become a raving fan of.

Keep it relevant

Observe the trends, stay informed on the latest events, and keep a finger on the pulse of what your market wants and craves now, as opposed to six months or a year ago.

Keep it buzzworthy

If you allow your brand to nod off, regaining momentum is going to be challenging, so instead of letting your brand go dormant, keep it buzzing with events, launches, announcements, contests, associating with centers of influences as well as causes you believe in and support, and, last but not least, innovation. People love feeling involved in something successful, surprising, and meaningful, and they definitely appreciate the entertainment that comes with you boldly and confidently spreading your message.

Resourse: http://www.starbrandstudio.com/how-to-keep-your-brand-fresh-relevant-and-buzzworthy/

Do market research, ask your customers questions.

Embrace change, keep moving, present new ideas.

Storytelling - very effective to keep strong brand image in the minds of customers.

The brands that succeed are those that invest time and money into understanding what their customers want and making sure that they meet these evolving needs.

Resource: http://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/aug/12/five-ways-keep-brand-relevant