Branding – to cut the long story short

Coca-cola, Facebook, Google, Ford, Apple, Rolex, Nike, McDonalds, Amazon, BMW, GE, Samsung, Versace and Tesla – just a few of the scores of names that turn heads no matter which part of the world you are.  Yes, these brands rule the world and probably would have more than 90% of the entire world market share. Each one of these names are not just names anymore, they are bold statements of a lifestyle that everyone aspires or dreams to be a part of.

The story of Branding dates back to 350 A.D and is believed to be derived from the word “Brandr”, which means “to burn” in Old Norse language. A thousand years later, it meant the mark or stamp that ranchers and farmers burned on cattle with a branding iron to signify ownership.

Let’s look at some Branding basics –

A brand, in simple terms, represents a product, service, event or an organisation.

Every brand makes a promise to the customer and should have a defining purpose.

Branding is logos, colours, style, language, images, presentations and the way you deal with customers. It could even be the kind of shirts you wear, what your office space looks like, how you answer the phone, what type of deal you offer your clients, how you sign your mails, posts in social media and pretty much everything and anything you do or say.

In other words, Branding is the comprehensive process of creating a strong, positive perception of a company, its products or services in the customer’s mind by combining such elements as logo, design, mission statement, and a consistent theme throughout all marketing communications.

By carefully constructing your brand through stories, relationships, marketing messages and visuals on print and social media, you could shape your customers’ expectations of your business and create a unique bond that goes beyond the buying-selling relationship.

So, what strategy do we use to create a brand and to keep it alive in the market for ages?

• Understand the purpose of the business – on both the commercial aspects and its relevance to the world out there, the bigger picture.
• Maintain consistency in all the communications that go out to the target audience, to enhance better brand recognition
• Create an emotional attachment with the customer with campaigns and activities that gives the customer a feeling of ‘belongingness’
• Encourage loyalty towards the brand by recognitions and loyalty programs
• Be flexible in the approach and adapt quickly to the timely demands of the market
• Emphasize on the importance of employee involvement in all promotional and brand building activities. It is the employees to whom the brand should be sold first…
• Every brand out there needs to compete with similar products, services or organisations. Its always an added advantage if you understand your competition.

My suggestions and tips for your Brand

1. Create a brand identity / logo

a. Ensure that your logo is a simple, relevant, creative and minimalistic in nature. Use subtle or bright colours, but with a sense of being close to what your brand resonates as a product or service. Stand out from the rest, establish an individuality in the design, avoid look-alike designs.

b. Logo could be with or without a tagline.  “Think Different ”      “Just do it”       “I’m lovin’ it “      “Connecting people” These set of words are more than enough to remind you of the brand behind them.That’s what a properly phrased tagline does to your brand, they become the very character of it.

c. Know your target audience and their likes and dislikes. Your brand and logo character should sync well with that of your target audience.

2. Rebranding

When it comes to rebranding, think of what went wrong and what needs to be changed. Re-branding is to give a new face to the organisation. In the process, the mistakes in the past could be wiped off and the fresh new look and feel would rejuvenate the entire brand image and its customers.

3. Be near to omnipotent.

a. Enhance visibility by using all sources of communication, including social media. The better the visibility, better would be the brand registration and retention.

b. Perfect the visual appearance of the brand. A brand’s visual attributes are all the front facing elements like the website design, fonts and typography, colour palette, logo and ad designs. Even packaging and the unboxing experience you create (if it is a product) needs to be refined.

4. Know your customer

a. Record customer experiences and improve based on the feedbacks. Take your customers suggestions seriously, those opinions will decide how long your brand will be around, eventually.

b. Remember to give it back to the loyal customers. Run loyalty programs, promotions, discounts and free gifts for their loyalty. This gesture is sure to take your brand a long away ahead.

A brand is not just a logo, a website, the product, service, office or your business cards, it is an experience that makes one to come back again and again. Jeff Bezos, the founder and CEO of Amazon,com said,  “Your brand is what other people say about you, when you are not in the room”.

To be in business and upholding brand image is like being fit and healthy as a human being.  The more fit and healthy you are, better would be the chances of having a healthy life ahead.

For your queries on logo design, branding and re-branding services please feel free to contact me.

http://www.subhashchandran.com/contact-subhashchandran/