Our guide to branding,
what it is and how you can use it to drive success
A brand is everything to an organisation or individual. But what is a brand exactly.
In its simplistic form, a brand can be defined as a unique design featuring signs, symbols, word marks, emblems, characters or a combination of them all to create a brand image that identifies a product and differentiates businesses from its competitors. The question, what is a brand becomes more complex when organisations seek to use the power of their brand to add value to consumers lives in attempts to become indispensable.
You can’t escape a brand, no matter how hard you try. They are everywhere. We see them in advertising, at every purchase point we encounter often popping up when we least expect it.
The most switches on businesses are using their brand as an asset. Chief Marketing Offices, Chief Executives, Boards and Directors and Business Owners are beginning to realise the potential a successful brand has in creating value and mapping out future success for their organisations.
Branding success relies on…
Your brand holds real strategic value. It can can help consumers pick you out in a noisy marketplace. No matter how big or small, new or old your organisation is, make sure your branding:
- forges an emotional connection
- builds long term relationships
- evolves to remain relevant
- navigates a purchase choice
- offers reassurance customers your have made the right choice
- utilises intelligent design to maintain engagement
Business to Business, Consumer and personal branding has become an essential part of an organisations or individuals success. Good branding achieves all of the above if brand strategists, creatives and marketers embrace the branding process and use it as a real tool to leverage a businesses potential.
Our guide to brand strategy
Here is some key information about the brand basics you need to consider when you faced with the exciting journey of creating, developing and marketing your brand.
Brand
What is a brand is a question we are often asked. The Chartered Institute of Marketing define the word ‘brand’ to be a unique combination of physical attributes (associated with your product or service) mixed with a consumers expectations and beliefs. The immediate recognition of your company name or logo is what should evoke such thoughts and feelings.
Brand assets such as photography, imagery, language, tone of voice and typography are just a few examples of how businesses encourage customers to identify with their brand. Innovative businesses who recognise the potential of a strong brand do much more than whip up a logo and a name.
According to Brandwatch, the top 10 brands customers talk most positively about are:
- Galeria Kaufhof (97.93%)
- Pixar (97.53%)
- GameStop (95.86%)
- MTV (95.48%)
- Bentley (95.44%)
- Moet & Chandon (95.17%)
- Hewlett-Packard (95%)
- Intel (95%)
- Pantene (95%)
- Yves Saint Laurent (94%)
Source: Brandwatch 2019.
Branding
The actual term branding covers a systematic process that involves research, clarifying strategy, designing an identity, creating touch points and then managing these assets as an integral part of your overall business strategy. Ultimately, good branding helps you cut through the noise to make your organisation the number one choice for the product or service you offer.
Branding is a fun, interesting and complex process that mixes vision, values, marketing insights, intelligent design and big ideas with creativity and imagination. The aim is to devise the best ways of attracting customers, turning their interest into desire (and then action) to create loyal fans who love your brand and return to it over and over again.
An interesting statistic
10% of firms see Design as strategy. 24% Use design as a process in operations and delivery. 26% use design as form-giving at the interface with customers (e.g. marketing or packaging). Sadly 40% see design as non-important. We’d like to change this last statistic!
Source: The Design Economy 2019. The state of Design in age UK. www.designcouncil.org.uk
Brand Strategy
The best brand strategies are centred around one unifying idea associated with your brand which has come about from your company’s vision, organisational culture and unique offering. The most important, enduring value of a brand is used to create a difference between you and your competitors. All organisations (small, large, global and non-for-profit) have a much higher chance of success with a clear brand strategy as it becomes a map for relevant marketing strategy, better well informed sales process and an inspiring context for employees to work in.
Did you know?
A Design Economy Survey has found that two-fifths of survey respondents agree that the use of design within their organisation has contributed to an increase in sales turnover, business competitiveness, recognition of the brand and raised brand loyalty.
Source: The Design Economy 2019. The state of Design in age UK. www.designcouncil.org.uk
Brand Vision
As a business owner, CEO, CMO or entrepreneur, your brand vision is an articulated description of the aspirational image you imagine for your brand. Often it is placed in the future and can an inspired image of doing something better than anyone else. It might be a new concept that no one has done before.
Essentially, brand vision reflects your big idea and defines how you want your company to appear in the eyes, minds and hearts of your customers.
Communicated well, it also allows employees and other key stakeholders live your brand just as you want it as a well articulated brand vision will energise your staff, inspire everyone associated with it and provide purpose for turning up to work.
Famous business visions
We started with a vision of a computer on every desk and in every home… every day, we’re finding new ways for technology to enhance and enrich people’s lives. We’re really only just getting started.
Bill Gates, Microsoft Chairman
Brand Values
Your brand values are closely tied to your brand vision. Now you’ve imagined what you want to be famous for, the use of thoughtful brand values will add meaning to your existence. As Simon Sinek notes in his ‘Start with Why’ Book, he famously said ‘your customers don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it’. Do you want to realise your vision in socially responsible ways? Do you only want to use local suppliers? Or are your business practices community driven? These are just some example of brand values in today’s world.
Did you know?
64% of consumers say that shared values create a more trusted relationship.
Source: forbes.com (April, 2018).
Brand values in action: Pret A Manger
Pret A Manger makes a big play of valuing fresh food and minimising wastage. So, all food is made on location each morning and feature no sell by dates. Anything left over at the end of the day is given to homeless charities and shelters. Every day.
Brand Differentation
This is how you set your brand apart from the competition. You can no longer just be better. You now have to be different. Good different. And you have to communicate this key difference in ways that’s easy for your customers to recognise and understand. Ultimately, you need to use this difference to become irreplaceable.
Brand differentiation in action: Rachels Organic Butter
This brand of butter has deliberately chosen black for its packaging design. Why? So it would immediately stand out from the typical yellow, gold and green colours (representing sunshine and fields) used for many of its competitors products. Consequently, Rachel’s Organic Butter as a brand represents a more premium, distinctive and perhaps more daring and modern than their competitors.
Brand Personality
Brand Personality is important as it gives your business an enduring value, often defining the type of relationship you can have your consumers. Just like our own personalities, we are able to attribute a number of human characteristics to brands. People do treat brands like people or friends or enemies in terms of whether you like the brand or not. Subsequently, we behave and act differently around each of the different brands we encounter on a daily basis.
Brand personality in action: Fosters Lager
Fosters uses personality in its ‘Good Call’ campaign to bring Australian humour to the UK’s beer market. Brad and Dan as two agony uncles answer British men’s most pressing questions when it comes to dealing with relationships and male life problems. During its five year run, the marketing campaign help drive 70% sales growth and established Fosters s the UK’s biggest beer brand sold in supermarkets and off licences. in 2014, it also won the IPA Effectiveness Awards Grand Prix with an Return on Investment (ROI) of £32 for every £1 spend on marketing.
Heineken, the parent company of Fosters use personality to suggest life doesn’t need to be taken too seriously. The brands sense of humour appeals to men aged 23-35 years old but carefully tries to exclude no-one. Whilst the old Good Call campaign were criticised for sexism, the new revised campaign to be launched this year (2019) will shy away from outdated content and will reflect new male attitudes.
Source: Molly Flemming, 8th April 2019 – Foster’s on why it’s bringing back ‘Good Call’ after a four-year absence. www.marketingweek.com
Who finds it difficult to smile at Brad and Dan giving out advice to a man who doesn’t know what to serve his ‘fancy pants’ brother-in-law at a BBQ.
Need a professional branding agency to create or develop your brand?
Brand Jam can take care of all of your branding needs. From creating new brands for startups to tweaking or developing existing brands for all organisational types and sizes.
Our Creative Director, Chris Robinson, has been developing brands for over 20 years and has an intimate understanding of the branding process and what it takes to create and maintain successful brands, Sarah Hackett, Brand Jam’s Marketing Director has worked in marketing both client and agency side for 15 years and brings insight and marketing to the table. Together, they offer you a holistic view of how your brand can best be designed and marketed to drive successful returns on investment.
