Is Your Brand Ready For Fame?
In the late 60’s Andy Warhol proclaimed his belief that everyone was destined for at least 15 minutes of fame. While the definition of “fame” may be up for interpretation, the prediction does hold some truth. It also begs a question for companies. Will your brand be ready? If yes, your 15 minutes could easily translate into a lifetime of fame for you and your company. If not, your company may just as easily fade into the shadows of media’s clutter. To ensure your brand’s fame lasts a lifetime, follow these tips to a picture perfect media close-up.
Tip: Understand What Branding IS (and isn’t)
Branding isn’t just your logo or fancy company letterhead. Branding goes much deeper. Understanding this is the crucial first step to becoming memorable in your customers’ minds. Ultimately, branding is how THEY feel about your company, NOT what YOU want them to feel. Brand Identity, on the other hand, is the logo and fancy company letterhead. Be aware of the difference.
Tip: Anything Can Be a Brand
Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that your product or service can’t be branded. The truth is that anything can be branded. For example, let’s take a look at water. Water is a naturally occurring resource and even it has hundreds, if not thousands, of different brands available. If water can do it, your tax filing service can as well. Find what makes your product or services different and share it with the world through branding.
Tip: Branding Isn’t Just For Blue Chips
Branding is an integral marketing tool for all companies. This includes start-ups, established companies, and especially companies attempting a comeback. Whether you are big or small, branding should be a top priority. Branding helps you break free from a cluttered marketplace by encouraging brand awareness, recognition, and ideally preference. Successfully completing this cycle will take your product from the store shelf to the checkout lane.
Tip: Effective Branding = Additional Revenue Streams
A successful branding program can lead to opportunities for additional revenue streams. One of the most popular examples of this is licensing. Licensing is the leasing of a trademarked brand identity to another company for the purpose of creating additional products or services. The brand owner then receives a royalty, or percentage of sales, in exchange for the brand usage. This strategy has been highly effective for brands such as Harley Davidson, Marvel Comics, and Disney. Why not add your name to the list?
Tip: Consistency Is the Key
Once you’ve taken the time to develop all the critical pieces of the brand identity puzzle, including the name, logos, and tagline, ensure that the new message is consistent. This means including this core brand identity information in all company websites, newsletters, press releases, and even internal marketing materials. The goal is to have your customers hear the same brand message regardless of how they interact with your company. Ensure that all of your team members understand and truly believe in the company’s brand identity. Customers are smart and will sense a non-believer. And if your employees don’t believe the brand, neither will your customers.
If you’re not already convinced that an effective branding strategy is critical, please consider this. It is estimated that the average American is inundated with over 3,000 advertising messages each day. The human mind can only accept and process about 100 of these messages daily. Effective branding is the only chance your company has to stand out during this advertising overload. The sooner you understand and embrace this process, the better your chances for becoming one of the lucky 100.
I’d love to hear your comments below! Also, please follow me on www.twitter.com/glamajama to hear more!
March 4th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
I think another important thing to remember is to make sure your brand resonates with you. If your personality does not match the brand you have created it will be hard to keep your brand consistent.
March 4th, 2009 at 1:09 pm
I can’t emphasize enough on the importance of branding and having a design firm that actually cares about your product. Every time I get a new client my first question to my self is, “Do I care about this product?” If my answer is yes, which is has been the case except once, I am on board and willing to do anything to get there business branded correctly.
My advice to new business owners is to find a design company that not only feels right but has the tools and resources to get you to where you want to be.
I can’t tell you how important it is for a company to have a well run website that is content specific and updated frequently. If you feel like your product is worth talking about, then talk about it in a way that get your customers excited about you and your product. Knowledge is key for this type of content as well. If you don’t know why your product is better than the others, then nobody else will.
This website is great for helping start ups to hone in on there specialty or niche.
Thank you Start Up Nation for all that you do, you have helped me gain a real desire to serve others.
March 5th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Great article Heather. I’m glad you made the distinction between the brand itself and the brand identity. It’s easy to think they are one in the same. Based on your article, I realized that every company has a brand whether they think so or not.
I’ve started to build my personal brand, Teaiiano, around my personal strength. No matter where I go, I find myself helping others to think through their plans and unleash their vision for life beyond where they are right now. Recently, I’ve been able to sum that up in to five words - “A Catalyst for Vision Development.” And I’ve started to include that phrase on my outgoing emails and even in the copy on my company website (which has it’s own separate message/tagline). Although this is my personal marketing message, I don’t want clients to confuse it with the Teaiiano message or the company website.
Any ideas on how I can manage the three separate messages so that no one gets confused?
March 5th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
Hi Thomas,
As marketing becomes increasingly personal with the popularity of social media, many entrepreneurs will find themselves in this situation. You are essentially “co-branding” with your personal brand and your company brand.
My best advice would be to make sure you have clear intentions for your marketing efforts to avoid confusing your customers. For example, you mention having your personal AND company taglines on your email signature. I’m concerned this might actually HURT your company brand. Instead of reinforcing your company message, you are sabotaging it with extra information that distracts your customer.
I would suggest having two email signatures, one for contacting company contacts and one for your personal branding contacts. I understand that there will be some overlap, but you have to draw a line somewhere. To help emphasize your personal branding efforts, be sure to include your “Catalyst for Vision Development” BIO in your company website’s “about” section. Also, possibly use LinkedIn to connect and market your business, but then have a twitter account that allows you to interact on a more personal level.
Co-branding can be tricky, but it can be done. Understanding the potential for confusion and addressing it before you implement your marketing plan is essential.
I think you are on the right track- best of luck!
March 18th, 2009 at 8:44 am
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