or What is branding and why should I care about it?

What is Branding?
Simply stated, branding is the process of creating an identifiable image that separates a company from it’s competitors. While the word “branding” has gone from being an industry buzz word into a household term, the reality is consumers don’t think about “branding” in their day to day lives. But the more they see and hear about a company the more they are likely to remember it in context of how it was portrayed, in essence building their own “brand image” for that company.

For companies branding is a very important game. In fact, brand name recognition is proven to raise profits by up to 20%. To ignore the impact of branding and how you are perceived by your users is in essence denying your company it’s full potential.

How to create an effective brand.
Brands are built by focusing on four simple areas:
1. an easily remembered name
2, a memorable logo
3. consistent marketing
4. quality of news about the company.

How to maintain a consistent brand image
Consistent type, color, imagery (photography and/or illustration), and verbal tone in copy across ALL mediums. But branding is more than just pretty packaging, it is the quality of the product/service as well as the public face of the company. A bad brand image can hurt the sales of a top quality product or service. A well thought out and marketed brand image may help sell a bad quality product or service for a little while, but once the public catches on they will turn on you. In the end it is the best quality products and services with the best brand and marketing plans the survive and grow.

Why brand?
Branding builds long term customer loyalty. The more your clientele see your company the more they have an opportunity to bond and build a relationship with your products and services, the more loyal they will become.

Building long term recognition
It is how a company interacts with clients, vendors, employees, prospects, and anyone else they come into contact with that builds the brand. If these contact points are inclined to tell others this is “virus” marketing.

10 steps to creating a Brand Cult
(From The Culting of Brands by Atkins):
Difference – distance yourself from establishment
Connectors – recruit successful attractive
Exclusivity – not everyone can join
Solidarity – a clear sense of belonging to a group
Ideology – develop a clear belief system
Love Bombs – continually let your loyalists know how much you appreciate them
Paradox – make joiners feel more individual
Make Enemies – define what you are not
Contact – put your ideas into the hands of capable people
Let Go – do not be over-controlling