When most think of the term BRANDING they often associate it with the term Marketing or in some cases a cattle ranch. When they think of the term brand, generally an image or a symbol such as a logo, or a tagline come to mind. In fact, none of these associations are truly accurate. Your corporate identity (logo) or tagline, or jingle, or color scheme is only a representation of your brand, not your brand in and of itself. Your BRAND is actually what your customers PERCEIVE of you when they see your logo, hear your tagline or jingle. This is one of the most confused issues in business today. Knowing the difference can translate to rapid growth.
Marketing vs. Branding
Marketing is the act of communicating or disseminating the message of your brand. It is all about the creative vehicles you use to leverage the message to your market (e.g., advertisements or trade shows.) Branding is the process of creating and living the message of your brand. If your message isn't clearly defined with a consistent process in place that reflects and affirms it, then your marketing dollars are wasted and squander valuable budgets in the process. Our advice? Stop marketing, at least for now. And, start branding. Your challenge: Make a conscious effort to get crystal clear on the message you want to convey to your customers.
Think about ALL the facets that make up the doing of your business; from your values and behaviors, to your brand promise, to HOW you deliver your products and services, to how you promote a specific culture and "way of being" for your employees - your key assets! All of these are integral to building your successful brand. Making sure these facets show up in a conscious way, congruent with your Brand Promise, to build and sustain your brand will ensure the three key attributes of a strong brand: Relevance, Consistency and Distinctiveness.
Why focus on Relevance?
Brand RELEVANCE is matching and satisfying YOUR internal and external messages and values congruent to YOUR brand promise—attracting relevant customers to your brand.
How do your values show up in a RELEVANT way when delivering on the promise you commit to both internally and externally to your customers. Do your customers care about the same things you care about?
How relevant is Wal-Mart™ to its customers? Their tagline: Always, Low Prices, Always! What about Best Buy™? Relevance is explicit in their name? They provide the best price or the best value for the deal. Their name is relevant to the internal/external behavior and promise they deliver with each product and customer transaction.
Your authenticity must be consistently congruent with your core values, not everyone else's. So take some time to profile your perfect customer.
Consistency = Trust
Brand CONSISTENCY is showing up the same way every time, walking the talk and being true to your brand promise. Why is Consistency so important to sustaining your successful brand? What it boils down to is one simple word: Trust. Honesty is expected. Trust is engaging and intimate. It needs to be earned. Honesty is required to be in business today—Trust is something else altogether. It is one of the most important values of a brand and it requires real effort from corporations.
How you show up consistently in the various facets of your business—from how you answer the phone, to what customers see, hear, taste, touch, smell and intuit must be congruent with your promise.
Oprah is the 'Queen' of consistency. Thirty million people totally trust her. One initiative through Oprah?s Angel Network generated $12.1 million in donations for children in South Africa. No one would donate that kind of money if they did not trust Oprah and expect that she would consistently follow through on her promise.
Even You can Create Distinctiveness!
What is the one word you 'own' in the minds eye of your market that distinguishes your brand from others?
Brand DISTINCTIVENESS means you stand out uniquely and unequivocally different than your competition both internally and externally while being congruent with your Brand Promise.
What makes Fed Ex so distinctive in their industry is their unrelenting commitment to deliver. Google has transformed the experience of browsing on the internet, and Amazon and eBay with their unique approaches to e-business.
Stop Marketing and Start Branding!
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Make sure your brand's message is crystal clear and authentic to your core values (have you defined your core values?)
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Make sure every employee understands and lives your Brand Promise.
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Capitalize on creating a RELEVANT, CONSISTENT and DISTINCTIVE experience for your customers.
Creating and living the brand message cannot be overemphasized. Branding is a powerful lever for any business when it is approached in a conscious, strategic and holistic way to show up relevantly, consistently and distinctively in every way.
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