Branding

Let’t take a look at what a brand is. A brand is the sum of all its parts. For a business this consists of the logo, brand positioning (straplines and corporate statements, brand housestyle (fonts, colours, shapes and imagery), language, environs, events, signage, uniforms, staff and personnel, packaging, menus, print, point of sale, and digital promotion.

People are brands, businesses are brands, products are brands and so are events. Brands are something as individuals we connect with on a range of levels. Ask yourself why you connect with some brands and not others. You’ll find you connect with brands for different reasons. Maybe it’s the brand’s reputation, the experience, the quality of the product, the brand values they promote, price, recommendation, where it’s made, location, the people, the in-store experience or quality of service and product.

A business needs to address and consider ‘the sum of all its branding parts’ when developing or changing its brand persona or developing a campaign to create the desired impression in people’s minds.

Successful brands are those that set themselves apart from their competitors to create a competitive advantage. A well-considered and developed marketing plan should drive this.

The marketing plan will identify a key set of branding principles underpinned by a communication strategy framework (marketing umbrella 8P’s) for your business, product or event. The most successful businesses lead with passion, market their business and live and breathe their brand. They have clarity, authenticity, brand consistency, and good visibility in the marketplace.

 Planning

“By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” ― Benjamin Franklin

Put the foundations behind your brand & branding to build a solid marketing strategy

• Brand audit (for existing brands)

• Vision

• Mission & Purpose

• Brand Values

• External & Internal Analysis SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, Threats)

• Develop a strategy for every SWOT identified

Point of Difference

• Identify your unique point of difference (unique selling point) Refer to your SWOT analysis

• What sets you apart from your competitors that is a marketing opportunity

• This is your biggest asset to gain a competitive advantage

• Make sure you can deliver on the promise

• Build your USP into the branding of your business and products and event

Partnerships

• Start by identifying how your business could benefit other business operators & suppliers

• Then what partnerships could benefit your business & how?

• Build a List of potential partners

• Define the characteristics of your ideal businesses to work with. Size, location, revenue, decision-making, geographic scope etc

• Identify the potential marketing opportuniites. Joint promotions, sponsorship, brand awareness, testimonials, discounts, source potential employees, rewards program etc

People (Employees & customers)

• Build a profile of the type of employees you want in your business

• Employ people that reflect your brand values. Educate & train your staff about your branding, expectations and deliverables

• Take them on your journey & vision

• Build staff loyalty & reward for effort

• Create customer profiles that describe specific segments of your current & prospective clients. For each customer profile envision this person & what would motivate them to do business with you. For each customer profile include age, gender, income, personality type, behaviour (likes & dislikes)

• Identify customers buying pattern drivers? How & when they do their research & buy and need & benefits to finding a solution

• Develop your marketing strategy with these customer profiles in mind

Product

• Identify & list each of your products/services

• Translate each of these into buyer feelings referring to your customer/s profile

Price

• Overall, where does your pricing position you in the marketplace?

• What sales funnel could you develop to appeal to your customer/s profile & needs? Free consultation, discount, loyalty card, buy one get one free

Place

• Where will your product/s be sold? In-store, on-line, combination, home delivered

Promotion

• How will you build brand awareness, attract, build & maintain a strong customer base?

• Digital – facebook, instagram, twitter, email, blog, website, enews, App

• Print – newspaper, flyers, posters, loyalty card, menus, packages, information kit, invitations

• Face to Face

• Signage – Building, sandwich board, billboard, car decal

• Public Relations – Partnerships, events, sponsorship

Performance

• How will you measure the performance of your marketing initiatives?

• Refer these back to your goals & objectives & marketing strategy you put in place

• Analytics

• Survey

• $ return

• New customers