| |
| |
|
Branding Information |
|
|
|
Positioning and Branding - Brand Identity Guru
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.
MORE RESOURCES:
Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
How a Great Tagline can Help your Business "Just do it." "We try harder. Mascots - The Killer Promotional Concept Mascots are the unique dolls or puppets that help identify a sports team or a company. These carry the unique property of "Stickiness". Effective Branding...Whats in a Name! Ask any marketing executive and they will tell you that a company's name is golden. There are certain associations that people have with a name, one that invokes emotions -- good or bad. Trademark Issues in the Mobil Auto Business There have always been trademark issues and lawsuits in the mobile auto service business. I know this because I own several such businesses. Brand Equity - Brand Identity Guru 7 Qualities Of A Strong Brand:1. Commands premium pricing while retaining loyalty2. No Logo? Launching A Business Without a Logo Can Sabotage You Initial lack of customers and cash flow often causes a small business to put off designing a logo and marketing materials professionally "until [they] got a few clients" or "until [they] get started." Designing their own marketing materials when they launch their business, instead of having them professionally created, will make getting those initial clients more difficult, and may result in a business that will not succeed. Don't Get Caught In the Trap: The BIG Difference Between Personal and Business Branding When you're all alone in the privacy of your home office, surrounded by your computer, your phone and your business idea, have you ever asked yourself, "Where's the line between me in my business and the business in me"?With hundreds of thousands of home-based businesses starting every year, and few ever flourishing, the topic of branding has become hot, hot, hot. And thanks to experts touting the need for a personal brand in sole proprietor businesses the confusion is growing. Corporate Internet Branding is only Part of A Business Success Gaining new clients that are excited about developing a corporate Web site, and are gung-ho to get started is a dream come true. Trust me - as a creative individual with a keen understanding of what the Web can do for a business - I know what I'm talking about. The Big-Pay Off -- Brand Value Many CEOs and marketing directors find their time wasted evaluating marketing opportunities instead of acting on them. When every possibility is followed, a meandering trail of hit and miss effectiveness is the result. Logo-ize For Instant Identification & Increased Awareness The task of creating an indelible impact on the memory of your target market is arduous but can be made much easier with a well thought out logo. The word comes from the ancient Greek where it was used in philosophy and theology to mean "the divine reason implicit in the cosmos, ordering it and giving it form and meaning. Naming Names... How to Name your Business Sometimes the best inspiration comes from hearing about the deconstruction of other company's names. For you, I am happy to share how I came up with "Slice A Day :: your slice on marketing". Power Your Word for Profit Discovering and owning a powerful word that reflects you and your business is the true key of successful branding.Some organisations invest fortunes in this endeavour but there's nothing stopping any of us from doing the same at a fraction of the cost. Brand Building 201: Finding The Ideal Way The strongest and longest lasting brands branch off of an existing category. Branching takes patience and time. Brand Identity - Corporate Identity and Brand Value Companies work hard building the strength of their brands - it is critical to the ongoing brand management process to have meaningful and actionable data-driven measures of these efforts.Building a brand, cultivating its strengths, pruning its weaknesses, and making it more valuable to its owners is the bottom line job of marketing. Brand Warfare is More of a War than You Think We will discuss Brand Marketing for a minute. In this discussion we would like to talk about brand line extension and how to do it correctly. Build Brand Identity - Brand Identity Guru Successful Guru marketers have a secret weapon that they use every single time they communicate about their businesses. It's one of those intangibles that are easily misunderstood. Brand to Sell Well Branding is an application of appropriate marketing techniques in the right proportion to a product. Brand management is to manage the forces in a market suitably to win favors for the product. Great Brands Depend On Attention To The Brand Architecture Do you have the architecture in place to make sure each and every brand contact sends the right message?Thinking in terms of architecture, a building that looks great and catches your attention is probably designed so that each component looks perfect and enhances the overall effect of the building.In the audiobook, "Sound Advice on Brand Marketing," author Tom Miller says, "Great architecture works because of attention to detail, and great brands depend on the same level of attention. Branding Is Not Selling Out: ITS SELLING IN Ever see an amazing band perform and wonder why you've never heard of them before? Ever see an astonishing artist on the street and wonder why isn't their work isnąt in a gallery? Ever see an astounding independent film and wonder why people all over the world don't know about it?Me too!It breaks my heart to know that there are musicians, painters, sculptors, and filmmakers everywhere starving. Starving. Choosing the Right Color Palette Color is a highly personal experience - everyone has favorite colors, and other colors that they absolutely don't like. So, how do you determine which colors that will work for your business identity, and that will send the right message to?We have developed several methods and approaches for determining successful color palettes.
|
| home | site map |
| © 2006 |
