Corporate Branding Key Concepts

Discussing about branding and corporate branding we meet a lot of different and sometimes confusing concepts, sometimes similar or sometimes very different, sometimes unanimously similar understood or sometimes generating controversy in terms of meaning.

Corporate Philosophy – the business mission and values espoused by the management board (or founder).

Corporate Personality – the sum total of the characteristics of the organisation or a distinct organisational culture, which reflects the organisations (or founders) distinct mission and philosophy

Corporate Image – consisting of two components; functional and emotional. Functional relates to tangible characteristics while the emotional component is associated with psychological dimensions that are manifested by feelings and attitudes towards a company. Or it can be described as a profile or sum of impressions and expectations of that organisation, built up in the minds of individuals who comprise its publics.

Corporate Identity – comes into being when there is a common ownership of an organisations philosophy which is manifest in a distinct corporate culture (the corporate personality). At its most profound, the public feel that they have ownership of the philosophy.

Corporate Reputation – a collective representation of a firm’s past actions and results that describes the firm’s ability to deliver valued outcomes to multiple stakeholders.

Corporate Associations – a generic label used for “all information about a organisation that a person holds, including perceptions, inferences, and beliefs about a organisation.

Read more about Corporate Branding and Corporate Identity – what are they ?

 

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6 Types of Brand Extension

I had some posts on brand extensions here before, and tried to categorize brand extension, but here are some excerpts of another interesting categorization by Mike Bawden of Brand Crafting”

The Next Step – An evolutionary brand extension.

The Sequel – More than evolutionary, these extensions tend to be a complete re-thinking of existing products and then re-packaged and represented with or without the lineage clarified.

The Spin-Off – Just as the name implies, these are extensions that take some small element of the original and tries to make a full-blown brand out of it.

The Partnership – Co-branded extensions can confuse and confound customers, eventually pissing them off in the process.

The Anti-Brand – Not really an extension, these are brands that leverage the brand awareness of another product to their benefit by claiming to NOT be them.

The Non-Sequitur – These are brand extensions that generate a “huh?” reaction out of consumers.

Read more on the subject, from Amazon.com:

Brand Extensions: Keys to success in international marketing

Brand Stretch: Why 1 in 2 extensions fail, and how to beat the odds: A brandgym workout

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Evaluate Your Name

When re-branding a business or a product or when you set up a new one and have to come up with a brand new name you should find a way to evaluate among different options that might come up in order to choose the best one out of them. Here I just stumble upon and interesting tool to dissect potential names into the nine categories to make it easier to understand why name work or don’t work, and to more easily weigh the pros and cons of one name versus another:

Appearance – Simply how the name looks as a visual signifier, in a logo, an ad, on a billboard, etc.

Distinctive – How differentiated is a given name from its competition. Being distinctive is only one element that goes into making a name memorable, but it is a required element, since if a name is not distinct from a sea of similar names it will not be memorable.

Depth – Layer upon layer of meaning and association. Names with great depth never reveal all they have to offer all at once, but keep surprising you with new ideas.

Energy – How vital and full of life is the name? Does it have buzz? Can it carry an ad campaign on its shoulders?

Humanity – A measure of a name’s warmth, its “humanness,” as opposed to names that are cold, clinical, unemotional. Another – though not foolproof – way to think about this category is to imagine each of the names as a nickname for one of your children.

Positioning – How relevant the name is to the positioning of the product or company being named, the service offered, or to the industry served.

Sound – Again, while always existing in a context of some sort or another, the name will be heard, in radio or television commercials, being presented at a trade show, or simply being discussed in a cocktail party conversation.

“33” – The force of brand magic, and the word-of-mouth buzz that a name is likely to generate. Refers to the mysterious “33” printed on the back of Rolling Rock beer bottles for decades that everybody talks about because nobody is really sure what it means. “33” is that certain something that makes people lean forward and want to learn more about a brand, and to want to share the brand with others. The “33” angle is different for each name.

Trademark – As in the ugly, meat hook reality of trademark availability. All of the names on this list have been prescreened by a trademarked attorney and have been deemed “likely” for trademark registration.

Read more about it here

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Branding Is Strategy

Few independent business owners have the time and resources to dedicate to the level of detail big corporates do in their branding. But there are plenty of things the big companies do well that small-business owners should consider as they strive for long-term survival:

1. Establish a strong brand position

Defining a market position is the most critical step in developing a brand. You must know who you are before you can get to where you want to be. Brand positioning characterizes the way a company wants its target audience to think about its brand. It is the core message you want to deliver in every medium, and it creates clarity, consistency and continuity in the way the organization speaks to the market. Essential to an effective positioning statement is the concept of narrowing rather than broadening a company’s focus. The secret to a good brand-positioning strategy is a clear message that talks about your strengths and explains to customers why your product is the best in your category or industry.

2. Use market research to create a strategic plan

When most of us think of market research, we think of statistics, focus groups and expensive surveys. In most cases, that is overkill. Market research needs to answer only a few key questions — the simpler, the better. Big businesses take feedback and apply it to a strategic plan. They evaluate sales and segment performance, predict sales growth, compile market trends and consumer insights, identify key drivers from the previous year’s successes and failures, set firm marketing objectives for the coming year, estimate costs and craft tactical programs and marketing initiatives to achieve those objectives. Good planning allows companies to continuously measure, refine and optimize their marketing mix. You should demand that all programs have financial benefits and amplify sales. Spend wisely, and know your cost per generated lead.

3. Everything you do communicates, so be consistent

The perception of your company and brand is defined by the interactions people have with your company. Your message must be consistent and compelling at all points of contact with customers.
Take a look at any coupon, print ad, television commercial or Web site for IBM Corp. Every message is marked by a vivid blue color, graphic elements influenced by the geometric shape of the logo, a single-minded tagline, uniform font type in headlines and the same tone across all printed material.

4. Being unique is crucial, even if you’re coming in second

Companies that grab market share first often grab the glory, but they aren’t always the last one standing. At one time, The Procter & Gamble Co. was second to Union Carbide Corp. in marketing disposable diapers. Dell Inc. unseated Compaq Computer Corp. by marketing to the upcoming college generation. The secret to second-mover advantage: You can’t propose just a me-too idea; you need a unique angle to spin. Me-too businesses rarely survive. They usually end up in price wars because they don’t have anything unique that establishes value in the minds of their prospects. They are left with only one competitive weapon: price. Unless you have a significant cost advantage over your competitors, you will lose.

5. Speak to the consumer and create value

Does your marketing material directly address the value of doing business with your company? Can it answer any consumer’s basic question, “What’s in it for me?” Some companies forget communication is about getting consumers to see brand benefits for themselves. To get that across, a brand must speak from the consumer’s point of view, not the marketing department’s. Remove all those meaningless benefits from your Web site and other communications materials. Replace them with the added value customers are after.

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3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before Develop Your Brand

Before you begin developing a brand, you must have a solid understanding on who your customers are and how do you intend to serve them. Details can be extracted from your marketing plan or mission statement, but after all there everithing goes to asking yourself the next questions:

How do I want consumers to view my company? – Is the identity you want to portray friendly and personable? Professional? Efficient? Creative? Innovative? Appropriate for your target market? To begin choosing your branding direction, it may be helpful to write a list of characteristics that people would ideally use when describing your business. Identify the words you want consumers to recall when your business comes to mind.

Who are my customers and how does my product or service address their needs? – You need a strong understanding of your customer base to create an effective branding strategy. The idea of branding is to tell a consumer in as few words as possible how you will fulfill their needs. Knowing their needs is the first part, and communicating how you intend to fulfill those needs is the second.

Who are my competitors and why is my product or service better? – Sometimes looking at the competition can give you food for thought. You can see what is working for them and what is not working, and keep that information in mind as you create your own brand. Study people’s perceptions of other businesses. Use your personal experience as a consumer to guide you. Emphasize what is unique about your business that makes it a better choice than the competition.

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3 Elements of an Effective Brand

In order for your brand to be effective, it must be visible, and consumers should be able to recognize it wherever they see it, they hear about it or think about it. It should stand out in a crowd and always create the same look and feel. In order to achieve these goals, your brand should be:

  • Consistent
    Using your brand consistently is imperative. The logo should never differ, and your mission statement or slogan should carry through to every element of your business. This is also true of consistency between the online and offline sectors of your business. Your bricks and mortar presence should be interchangeable with the image you project on the Web.
  • Visible
    The more you reinforce your brand identity, the more memorable it becomes. For example, each page of your Web site should feature your logo. Market your business with advertising, using your logo and slogan. Get your brand out there whenever possible-on your company vehicles and on the products themselves.
  • Unique
    The business world is a sea of brands. In order to develop successful marketing strategies using your brand, your business has to stand out. Emphasize what you have that the competition doesn’t. Tell your consumers what makes your business different than all the rest

.Effective branding carries the message of your business succinctly and consistently wherever consumers encounter you. Your logo, look and feel, and slogan reinforce the values of your business and project your image efficiently to customers. Following these guidelines will help you create a brand that makes you stand out in a crowd-and stay fresh in the minds of consumers.

Tags: effective branding

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Branding News Roundup – 12/08/05

Coca-Cola previews global advertising campaign – AdAge (free reg. required) is featuring the full story on the sneak peak Coca-Cola offered at its new global advertising campaign for its flagship brand, campaign that carries the theme Welcome to the Coke side of life

Brand Gamble: Mergers and Aquisitions — the article published on brandchannel by Alycia de Mesa is addresses the problems that appear when two brands join in the holy M&A, and they sometimes overlook their first love: the customer. Hard to belive but it happens all the time. The resulting company may be stronger and bigger but it doesn’t really matter if the customer’s great expectations are not met.

It’s the Purpose Brand, Stupid — Wall Street Journal article on the best brands that are created around a purpose, entirely published on Brand On Blog

All Branding is Divided into Three Parts — interesting classification of the brands made by Warren who considers three branding approaches: independent branding, endorsed branding and monolithic branding.

Employerbrand.com – if you are into the employer branding concept, here is a site for you with insights on the matter and some interesting case studies on Microsoft, Reuters, Unilever and Tesco

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Small Business and Branding

Interesting issue posted at AllBusiness.com, regarding small and/or emerging businesses and branding.

Answering the question: what’s so urgent about branding, when there are so many things to worry about when growing a business like making payroll and meeting sales goals? the answer comes like this:

Branding a small or emerging business is key to the early success of that business. It is the quickest way for the company to express who it is and what it does. Inaccurate branding of a new business can make it difficult for people to fundamentally understand why the business exists in the first place.

For start-up and small businesses, branding can often take a backseat to other considerations, such as funding and product development. This is unfortunate; a company’s brand can be key to its success. Dollar for dollar, it is as important and vital as any other start-up activity.

Basically you have to know who you are, what you’re doing, where do you want to go and how will your customer find out about it and these are as important as getting the funds to do them.

Read the full article here

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10 Rules To Turn a Small Business In a Big Brand

Starting from the idea that in the last few years, we have witnessed a growing number of small companies that are starting to realise that branding is not the reward for success but the reason why strong brands become strong brands in the first place, The Business Times of Singapore is publishing an interesting list of 10 fundamental rules of branding, nothing new, but still interesting:

1 Perception is the truth

The battlefield of branding is in the minds of the customers. And as far as customers are concerned, perception is the truth, regardless of the facts.

2 Fortune favours the first

Many experts argue that the first mover advantage is a fallacy as there have been many first movers who failed. Being first only gives you the opportunity to lodge your brand in customers’ minds first. Fail to exploit that advantage and your competitors can, and will, catch up.

3 If you are not first, move the battlefield

If you are not first in the market, then you might need to shift the battlefield by creating a new category in which they can be first.

4 Keep a clear focus

If you stand for everything, you stand for nothing. Focused brands concentrate on owning one thing in the mind instead of creating line extensions indiscriminately.

5 Differentiate or sell cheap

In the absence of any perceived difference between products, customers will focus on the price.

6 Use PR for brand building, advertising for maintenance

Many companies make the mistake of using advertising to launch their brands. As advertising is a self-declaration, it has near-zero credibility in the eyes of consumers. Public relations, however, involves what others say about you, and hence carries with it the weight of third party endorsement.

7 Find a great name

In the long term, the name of your products is what separates you from your competitors as your unique ideas and concepts can be copied. To ensure greater brand recall, a short, unique and memorable name should be adopted.

8 Be absolutely consistent

Successful branding requires unwavering consistency

9 Find an enemy

To have credibility, you need to have an enemy. What would Superman be without Lex Luthor? Competition between brands creates excitement in the media and with the customer base, thus helping the category grow.

10 You may need a second brand

Your brand cannot stand for everything, thus necessitating the launch of a second brand in order to enter a new category. It is advisable, however, to launch a new brand only when your existing one is a dominant player in its category. If you struggle to increase sales in a category you know well, what are the chances of you doing well in a category you know nothing about?

Read full article here.

Posted on by Daniel