selling
Branding is more than a logo, symbol, color, and tagline. It’s
broader—encompassing the expectations, memories, stories, and relationships that account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. “Ideally, consumers will tell others about
your brand and pay a premium for it,” said Seth Godin, author and
branding expert. Brands, like people, are complex. They’re made up
of a number of elements or components—four to eight depending on
whom you ask or what you read. But it’s not as simple as filling in the
blanks. Good branding starts with building a platform—and that platform is the result of a thoughtful, planned-out, and strategic process.
A branding platform requires identifying and building a brand and includes
the following components:
• Brand identity is how a company
wants to be perceived. It’s what the
brand stands for based on a set of
unique brand associations that imply a
promise to customers. Brand identity
drives the company’s communication; it
provides direction, purpose, and meaning for everything the company says
and does.
• Brand character relates to how
trustworthy or honest a company is—
its integrity. A brand’s character is enhanced when it delivers on the experience associated with its name, when it
stays true to its stated brand identity,
and when it honestly communicates to
its customers.
• Brand culture is about creating a
small society or community around a
brand based on a system of values.
Disney’s brand culture, for example,
is about creating magical experiences
for its patrons. Its “cast members” (i.e.,
employees) support this culture by
being “aggressively friendly”: volunteering to take photos for visitors and
helping people who are looking at
maps. Disney even uses “Smellitizers”
to produce scene-appropriate smells
such as baked goods on Main Street
and a musky sea smell on the Pirates of
the Caribbean ride.
Brands have internal and external
brand cultures; ideally these are similar,
or at least complementary. For example,
a culture of “empowerment” may mean
that even low-level employees can
make decisions to satisfy customers.
Similarly, customers may feel empowered to make requests, knowing that
employees are able to grant them. This
strong brand culture breeds loyalty and
results in repeat customers.
• Brand image is based on consumers’ current perception of a company. It’s the reputation of the brand in
the marketplace and the starting point
for developing a forward-looking, accurate, and desired brand identity. Brand
image tends to be more tactical rather
than strategic and is often (some would
Build a solid
branding platform
Forget branding if you are going to approach it
half-heartedly—it must be supported by actions,
behavior, and evidence. by Katrina Olson
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