A Brand operates very much like real estate, it appreciates over time if it is maintained and well located. I like to think of Branding as intellectual property development (IPD).
But Brands reside in a very volatile place: the brain of their market.
This means that a Brand’s value can change very quickly, it can be ousted by a newer, cheaper or better Brand and it is subject to generational and peer Brand values.
So how does one ensure that one’s Brand value is as best as it can possibly be?
This is our recipe for success:
A. Determine the potential reach of the Brand.
This first process calls for pragmatic evaluation. It’s no good being unrealistic.
Aim too high and you get frustrated; aim too low and you get less than you should.
No one knows your market better than you, but it is usually very helpful to dream with someone who has an objective and professional opinion.
Very often I find that the very thing a client is hoping to do with his business is not out of his reach at all. It’s just that he has not yet realised the strength of his Brand; it’s like a lever in his hand.
Here are questions that must be asked when discussing Brand Development:
- Business Name and a brief history of the Brand.
- Brand Name (where applicable)
- Does this business own other Brands?
- How do the owners of the Brand feel about its current logo?
- How do the owners of the Brand feel about the Brand’s current communication style?
- What are some keywords or phrases that would describe the product/service. Adjectives like: “fresh” “simple” “classical” “rich” “American”, etc., go a long way to describe what is needed.
- Who/What are the competitors of the Brand?
- What is different about this Brand? (cost, copyright, patented component, durability…)
- What markets are being targeted with this Brand? (age, race, gender, income, country, other product association, generation)
- Does this Brand have a registered Trademark?
- Will it be necessary to register one?
- It this a worldwide brand? If not, are there plans to make it worldwide??
- Are there plans to extend the Brand range at any stage?
- Where is the Brand being advertised?
- Are there regulatory issues? (example: medicines)
B. Determine what is needed to achieve that potential reach.
This process is a bit like dreaming. You don’t have to be limited by pragmatism in your thinking. The sky is the limit; some ideas may be out of the reach of your budget, but mentioning them, none-the-less, can only enhance the process. Very often an out-of-reach idea sparks off another, better and more affordable idea that would not have been considered without the first one being mentioned.
Always think New Media when determining what is needed to reach IPD goals. Weblinks, Storefronts (e-commerce), Social Media advertising (Facebook, etc), cell phone promotions, etc.
BUT, sometimes a really old idea would do the job best. Business Cards, or a big painting or some signage, for example. Be sure to use a Brand consultant who has a lot of experience.
It is always vital to ask loads of questions; at this stage ‘missing the boat’ will come from assumptions about the Brand and the market. Remember that Brand location is always volatile. A Brand may be subjective, but the processes establishing it and maintaining it need not be subjective. Malcolm Gladwell in his excellent book "Tipping Point" speaks of the unexpected and unplanned rush of success experienced by a dying Brand; Hush Puppies not so long ago. It’s a great story and one is happy for them stumbling upon their success. But I would not want to put years of hard work and personal investment into the fickle and stingy hands of chance! And I don’t think any Brand owner has to do that.
When Brand Dreaming here are questions that must be asked (I always recommend that you do this with at least one other person, preferably someone who can be objective about your brand):
- Does the Brand have its own website?
- If so is its website on its own Brand domain name? (www.thebrand.com as opposed to www.someoneelse.com/thebrand)
- What is the availability of the brand domain name?
- Are there any desired markets that are out of the Brand’s current reach? (like another country, or another generation)
- What opportunities are there for this Brand? For example, many of my clients are small to medium-sized businesses. Many of them were concerned about the impact of the recession on their already-lean businesses. My advice was to invest in the Brand, because most of their competitors, big-muscle corporations, were at that moment un-bundling, downscaling, and leaving wide open gaps in the market for the smaller guys. All who took the advice have been pleasantly surprised.
One client told me recently "I can’t believe it, the Facebook campaign is opening new business for us while all our competitors are laying-off."
- What kind of information would be helpful for the Brand? (success rate of advertising, complaints, etc.)
If you were to be able to say "I wish we knew how many Y-gen’s responded to our last campaign," then there is a process that can answer the question in the next campaign.
- What kind of statistics do we currently have for the Brand?
- Is there a Brand-building budget? Which is usually followed up by "How can we extend it?"
- What is happening now or about to happen that will have some sort of impact on the Brand?
This is an ongoing question that should be asked all the time. I would say that anyone wanting to successfully build and maintain a Brand should have access to lucid, regular and objective research into trends, current and future.
One last point:
A good logo with effective advertising does not make up for a bad product and poor service. In fact, very often good communication can sink a poor product because a Brand is the whole show, the value a client has in his/her mind, it’s not just a great logo or a catchy name.
Brand-building is great fun, and so it should be.
