BRANDING:
WHAT DOES HAVING A BRAND MEAN TO YOU?

By: Maja Rehou

There is a lot of talk in marketing and promotions about building a brand and how crucial it is to the success of your business. Your brand is your competitive edge and what makes you stand out against the competition. But for someone who isn’t in marketing what does it actually mean? As an executive or entrepreneur, your brand is more often than not “you.”

If you want customers to think of your business first when they think of your product category you need to create a strong brand identity. For example Kleenex is a brand, but we think of it before we think of tissues.

Brand identity comprises the following:
Pricing - higher prices often signify to consumers higher quality
Distribution - limited distribution of a product or service may imply exclusivity
Quality - higher quality equals satisfied customers, resulting in repeat business
Presence – presence in paid or unpaid media
Awareness –consumer knowledge of your service/product
Reputation - enduring public opinion of brand character
Image – perception(s) of brand traits or prototypical buyers
Benefits - perceived positive and negative consequences with use of your product or service
Positioning salience – differentiation between you and the competition
Preference - a predisposition to buy your product/service
Share of market – the more successful your branding campaign the more of the market share you own
Customer commitment - loyalty

Source: http://www.va-interactive.com/inbusiness/editorial/sales/ibt/branding.html

Are Your Customers Loyal?
Of all the elements above, loyalty is the one that matters the most. Loyalty is what keeps you top-of-mind, results in repeat business and generates referrals. It isn’t blind loyalty though; it’s loyalty that has been built over time, due to customer satisfaction and close consumer contact. How you treat your colleagues, team, projects, customers, as well as yourself, creates a deeper sense of loyalty, and one of the strongest competitive advantages - mind share.

“You” as a brand
So when marketing yourself or your business what do “you” say about your business.What words, feelings or images do you evoke in your prospects? If you’re not sure about your brand then ask your contacts, clients and colleagues what immediately comes to mind when trying to describe you and/or your service. If it is chic or hip, build upon that and create an unique brand to promote yourself instead of trying to fit into a typical mold of what say a lawyer or financial planner would usually fit into. A weak brand image is signified by responses that are highly variable, non-forthcoming, or refer to non-image attributes such as price.

Once you have defined the image and feeling you evoke the next step is to reinforce your brand with your marketing communications such as: packaging, business cards, logo, advertising, customer service strategy and other aspects of the brand experience. For example, if you are soft spoken or very opinionated does that detract from your brand message? Not necessarily. The key is to use what you have to your advantage and be consistent in supporting it.

“In marketing, a brand is the symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a company, product or service. A brand typically includes a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images, fonts, color schemes, or symbols. It also encompasses the set of expectations associated with a product or service which typically arise in the minds of people. Such people include employees of the brand owner, people involved with distribution, sale or supply of the product or service, and ultimately consumers.”
Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brand

Remember, a brand cannot be everything to everybody and therefore no one brand is going to attract all customers. Branding is based on the concept of singularity not universal appeal.

You own your brand, it’s something that nobody can take away from you. It creates a lasting value above and beyond all the other elements of your business. So to truly succeed in business you should take the time to develop it and make every effort to support it, which is what CAWEE is all about. An organization that gives professional businesswomen the opportunity to bond and build relationships, creating loyalty between its members and in the end, results in a strong brand presence.

Maja Rehou
Editor, Acclaim
WordForce Communications