What’s Your Brand?

By Barbara Hendrickson
President
Visible Communication LLC

It’s all about the Brand. What is your Brand messaging? Do you have a personal Brand?

Whether we’re conscious of it, we all make brand associations daily — major companies have engaged expensive ad agencies to make certain of it. We will likely all have a similar response when asked to name the attributes of these well-established brands:

McDonald’s:  inexpensive, filling food, toys with kid meals, consistent, clean restrooms

Godiva:  indulgent, highest quality chocolates, gold box

Apple:  innovative, cutting-edge, ergonomic, i-Products

Those who have built personal brands are immediately recognizable as well.  Most people will be able to accurately describe qualities associated with Paris Hilton, Tiger Woods (yes, still) and Barbara Walters; his personal brand is what makes it acceptable for Mark Zuckerberg to show up on Wall Street in a hoodie.

That’s all great for major corporations with huge ad budgets, but why does a small business owner need to stop running their business to think about establishing a Brand? 

Your Brand is the promise between you and your customers – it tells them what to expect on a consistent basis from you. Some brands naturally evolve, and some become very murky if there is not a plan or structure in place. Companies that do not have a clearly defined brand are at risk of confusing potential customers who many not want surprises.
 

When you travel, do you look for local privately-owned restaurants, or do you visit chain restaurants? When you choose a chain, you’re likely looking for a predictable experience. You know what to expect when you take customers to dinner at a Ruth’s Chris Steak House, and you know that you will have the same quality and type of service whether you’re in Detroit or San Francisco. 

Some think that “branding” is simply making sure that the logo and colors on your business cards match your marketing materials and website. Effective branding is far more pervasive. First, decide on the qualities that you want people to associate with you or your business then make sure that every element of your business is consistent with those qualities, including:

Your logo: does it convey what you do in the style of your business? (Is it quirky, creative, professional or corporate?) Do you have a tagline or sub-heading that helps to further define your brand?

Your website: is it immediately clear what your customers can expect when they work with you? Are you speaking in your customer’s language or your industry’s technical jargon?

Your business cards: are the elements of your card consistent with your brand attributes? (Is it colorful, thick, thin, jammed with copy or minimalistic?)

Your employees: do they understand your brand attributes, and do they live them on the job? (If you are selling high-quality luxury goods, your representatives should be dressed accordingly with expensive accessories; it would not be appropriate to show up for a meeting in a beat-up car).

Your communications: Whether it’s via social media, twitter, written notes or marketing brochures, the style in which you communicate is also indicative of your brand. If you are not personally communicating on behalf of your company, do the people you entrust to do it effectively speak in your voice? Some companies develop “personalities” or “characters” to communicate their values and qualities to employees.

Your events: whether you’re hosting or attending, your display, the way in which your representatives are dressed, the promotional products you choose to give away should all be representative of your brand attributes (after many years in that industry, it was my pet peeve to watch a company that said they were the high-quality supplier choose the cheapest promotional products they could find to give away at trade shows…actually counter-productive since it reinforced the wrong message to their potential customers).

If you’re wondering whether your brand is clearly defined, ask some customers (or employees). How would they describe you or your company/services? If their descriptions come close to matching the qualities that you think you’re conveying, then you have a defined brand. If not – it’s time to sit down to decide exactly how you’d like to be perceived, then put a plan in place to make sure everything you do is consistent with your message.   

Visible Communication helps companies to be more visible in their marketplace, through the use of effective communication, marketing and branding strategies. Contact Visible Communication at 734-805-2000 or www.visiblecommunication.com.