In the world of promotion, branding has been called anything from a logo, to putting a logo on things, to a general image. If I may be so humble to speak for those those of us who specialize in branding, a brand could replace the word “reputation.” How a customer perceives you, your town , your product, experience, or organization etc. is your brand.
Most marketing people I come into contact with simply don’t get it and arrogantly think that sales promotion is 100% of what branding encompasses. Now, granted the end game in branding is to bring more dollars into the organization, BUT that isn’t soley achieved through sales promotion.
Branding done properly with a skilled facilitator looks at all aspects of your brand to see that all elements are pulling in the same direction. All of this is strategic thinking and much of it exists outside the sales and promotion circles. HR plays a role, business management culture plays a role, even people associated with the organization such as the custodian can affect the brand for good or bad. My opinion here on this blog post affects my brand, depending on my audience’s response to it.
Once you learn to embrace your brand and define it, only then will you appreciate the value it holds in making your entire business a success on multiple levels including but not limited to sales promotion.
Hey Ed,
Branding is surely a powerful tool to bring not only profit but also to establish identity as well as trust to customers. However, because it is sometimes too broad to understand , many are bound to get mistakes using such business strategy. I, for one, is struggling to understand branding work. But I do have the same idea that such aspect is connected to my reputation and to my business. This is why I am thankful to you for having this post. This surely gives me a lot of idea how to tackle branding and how many factors can affect its effectiveness. Cheers!
Thank you Farrell, I am glad you found the post useful. Myself I use my own branding process that I have developed over the years. I have consistent proven success with it. It does the heavy lifting for me. What is great is that it is relevant over multiple categories. Since it is proprietary I am sure not to let my competition in on its components, that way ensuring that my conversation with a potential customer is drastically different than my competitor’s. If you have not already, you might consider signing up for my FREE weekly branding tips. I have been sending these out to a few thousand businesses for the past 4 years or so. I get great feedback from them.
Branding is the opposite of advertising. Branding is to share with the client, you don’t need to find them. They’ll find you.
first of all i should say that this is great topic to discuss.what you said is picture perfect.
If you’re positioning is compelling enough you also become not only desirable but their first choice as well. Thank you for reading my post.