Where is your brand positioned in the marketplace? How is it perceived, both positively and negatively? Can you identify your brand's core strength's and equities? What are the barriers or threats standing in the way? A brand strategy company will provide you with an objective assessment of your brand.
They can deliver specific solutions that will allow you to reach your strategic business goals and objectives, and clearly differentiate your brand and identity in the marketplace. Contact a branding company and they'll explore how they can help you develop a "BrandMasterpiece" branding and positioning strategy.
Many clients have the mistaken idea that they can't brand their company because it is too expensive. In fact, a smaller business can build a very strong brand in their sales area by being uniform in their image and message through a proactive and consistent campaign.
Corporate image and branding are strongly connected. In order for the brand to work effectively, the correct colors, font and design must be used in your corporate identity. It is not enough to say I need my logo to be blue; it's knowing what shade of blue, out of the 1000's to choose from. Remember your corporate identity is designed to attract your target markets, as well as represent your company.
Why Positioning
When people ask a branding company what exactly is it that they do, they unhesitatingly answer, "positioning". While they also perform other marketing-oriented activities for their clients, their philosophy is that the entire marketing mix hinges upon good positioning. If the client's product hasn't been positioned properly, it will fail. Period.
The strategies, tactics, messages, and creative are all directly dependent upon the development of appropriate positioning. Unsound positioning will weaken each of these endeavors and yet it's probably the least understood and most neglected of marketing activities. Many brand positions are hurriedly crafted by committee to placate management with obvious results. A landmark article by HCI once pointed out that fully 70% of new product positions mimic that of an established brand in the therapeutic category. That's not typically a formula for success.
A branding company believes that good positioning is born of thorough market and product understanding. Only then can a diligent, proven process craft the positioning that will drive proper strategic, tactical, and creative work.
Positioning Design
Positioning is arguably the most important and yet the most difficult responsibility of the marketing professional. That may be why a branding company's most popular service is a positioning design process. This unique, process makes use of a rigorous developmental methodology that designs brand positioning, and is quantitatively proven to create a positive product perception and generate incremental new prescriptions.
Whether it's a new product requiring positioning developed from scratch or an under-performing product needing re-positioning, a branding company can enhance your product's performance.
A branding company utilizes a disciplined, proven process to engineer an optimal brand positioning and an actionable communications blueprint. The process is broken down into three distinct phases: Surveying, Design and Engineering, and Brand Blueprint.
Researching Phase
The Researching phase includes the development of the initial strategic assessment based on an evaluation of the currently available information regarding the product, audience, and marketplace. This phase also includes recommendations for additional market research and exploration. The Researching activities include, but are not limited to:
· Qualitative evaluation and situation analysis
· Product and market differentiation
· Customer segmentation, needs and problem analysis
Qualitative / quantitative research and analysis
Strategic Phase
A branding company should believe that strategy, message, and tactics all flow from a well-structured positioning. In the Strategic phase, positioning development, evaluation, and testing lead to the formulation of an effective strategic framework for the Brand. Only with a thorough understanding of that brand positioning, can key messages for offline as well as online delivery be crafted and evaluated. The Strategic phase activities include, but are not limited to:
· Positioning workshops and option development
· Strategy creation, mapping, and metrics
· Attribute articulation / messaging
Blueprint
The Blueprint is a unifying document that provides strict guidance on the tactical application of the strategy and positioning to the full cadre of outsource communications partners (i.e., professional and consumer promotional agencies, public relations, publication planning, e-promotion resources, etc.) A primary goal of the Blueprint is to ensure consistent, cohesive, and synergistic promotion for the Brand across all tactics and media. The Blueprint:
· Creates appropriate relationship between science & marketing
· Increases cohesiveness of internal and external teams
· Is a focusing tool for tactical partners
To measure how strong your brand image is click on this link: (http://brandidentityguru.com/bightml/brandmasterpiece.html) or copy and paste. Then click "Take the brand strength test". This is a short survey that measures the strength of any company's brand. It's a great tool to see where you are today.
Scott White is President of Brand Identity Guru (http://www.brandidentityguru.com), a leading brand consulting and market research firm located in Easton, Massachusetts, USA, near Boston.
Brand Identity Guru specializes in creating corporate and product brands that increase sales, market share, customer loyalty, and brand valuation. Over the course of his 15-year branding career, Scott White has worked in a wide variety of industries: high-tech, manufacturing, computer hardware and software, telecommunications, banking, restaurants, fashion, healthcare, Internet, retail, and service businesses, as well as numerous non-profit organizations.
Brand Identity Guru clients include: Sun Life Financial, Coca Cola, HP, Sun, Nordstrom, American Federal Mortgage, Simon (America's largest shopping mall manager) and many others, including numerous emerging growth companies.
Scott White is a very enthusiastic speaker and has the gift of being able to explain the principles of branding in a compelling and entertaining manner so that people at all levels can understand.
Make A Bold Promise Then Back It Up With An... Read More
Building your brand into a brand leader isn't easy. There... Read More
One of the ways people get to know you is... Read More
Today's competitive marketplace for consulting services is no longer responsive... Read More
In a world of co-branding, point of destination strategies and... Read More
In the world of marketing, branding issues are always an... Read More
Adored, respected and coveted by customers and organisations alike, corporate... Read More
Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a... Read More
Do you have the architecture in place to make sure... Read More
Brands are important aspects of any business, but unlike money... Read More
Branding is perhaps the most important facet of any business--beyond... Read More
In this article i will explain how you can make... Read More
Successful Guru marketers have a secret weapon that they use... Read More
We will discuss Brand Marketing for a minute. In this... Read More
As a beginner, you would be forgiven for thinking that... Read More
Sometimes the best inspiration comes from hearing about the deconstruction... Read More
Visual processing is the most important way for gathering information... Read More
Developing brand strategy is extremely critical. The most important asset... Read More
Our experience as customers offers great instruction into the concept... Read More
The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an... Read More
New designer uniforms could be the gold charm McDonald's needs... Read More
Most people, when they hear the word branding, think logos... Read More
This may come as a surprise... to you, but Branding... Read More
The name of your business is important--it's one of the... Read More
This is not a how-to design a logo. This is... Read More
Q: How important is the name of a business? Should... Read More
Starting a business can take a lot of time, money,... Read More
Americans have always liked their coffee hot. But then Starbucks... Read More
Sometimes, new entrepreneurs are in such a rush to get... Read More
Your logo is the most important graphic element in which... Read More
A great logo can help a business project a positive... Read More
The one thing that everyone has in common is that... Read More
Many CEOs and marketing directors find their time wasted evaluating... Read More
Quite often small business owners will ask me to reveal... Read More
McDonald's buys its potatoes from corporate farmers in Idaho not... Read More
So... how have you been building your brand lately?Now, I'm... Read More
7 Qualities Of A Strong Brand:1. Commands premium pricing while... Read More
Developing brand value is critical to every organization and when... Read More
INTRODUCTION To get any business started successfully takes many ingredients.... Read More
In this article i will explain how you can make... Read More
Ever had one of those conversations where you wondered what... Read More
I heard an advertisement on the radio the other day... Read More
"Make no little plans, they have no magic to stir... Read More
Most people who own a small business have a huge... Read More
"Just do it." "We try harder." "The Ultimate Driving Machine."... Read More
The best brands always try... Read More
Building a product into a brand leader is not easy,... Read More
Branding is one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood.... Read More
Branding TodayHave you ever had a good brand experience? How... Read More
Starting Business Secrets will help you to start your own... Read More
How is branding different than marketing?Branding is not so much... Read More
Logos can be described as visual icons that provide a... Read More
Last issue, I talked about increasing your Brand Love-- meaning... Read More
The so called 'globalisation' has cluttered the world markets with... Read More
Ask any marketing executive and they will tell you that... Read More
I have never been a fan of Paris Hilton.I see... Read More
The number of complaints to the Federal Trade Commission on... Read More
What does it mean to be remarkable?Brian Scudamore, CEO and... Read More
We should all recognize the marketing efforts of John Deere... Read More
The Sears-Kmart merger hopes to fabricate some sort of silver... Read More
You'd have to labor to shield yourself from the power... Read More
Having a concise, clear image that you project to your... Read More
Make More Money Making a Name for YourselfCalling all realtors,... Read More
The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an... Read More
Franchisors often have issues when they own a brand which... Read More
The name of your business is important--it's one of the... Read More
Branding |