All posts in branding

Design Is Meaningless Without Strategic Direction

Oct17
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People frequently describe themselves as right-brained or left-brained – meaning they’re either analytical and verbal, or creative and visual. A strong brand, however, must be all of these. The best brands are a synthesis of sound strategy (left brain) and unique creativity (right brain). That’s why your organization needs a brand manager to provide strategic direction, and a creative director to oversee your creative process.

 

Why You Need A Brand Manager

An effective brand manager is a great leader, serving as an evangelist to build enthusiasm and passion around your brand. They wear many hats – from marketplace research, to marketing development, to overseeing promotional activities, to analyzing pricing and sales. Your brand manager ensures that the brand is accurately defined in all internal and external communications. A clear brand message gives employees a sense of purpose, an understanding of the company’s mission, and the motivation to deliver on your brand promise. Your brand manager is charged with safeguarding your company’s reputation by ensuring that employee actions are consistently in sync with your brand.

Establishing the right strategic direction is crucial to the success of any organization – impacting every facet of a brand’s products, communications, and marketing. As the architect of your brand’s image, a good brand manager recognizes valuable opportunities to help your brand grow long-term. A proactive approach to growth prevents the brand from being defined by people outside your company. Check out this article to discover five things all successful brand managers do. These fundamental skills are applicable regardless of your product category, geographical location, or industry.

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Innovative Ways to Build a Brand for Your New Restaurant

May17
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Opening a new business is always going to be a challenge but when you are opening a new restaurant in a location where no one knows you and you haven’t built a loyal following yet, it can be more than a challenge. However, there are some things you can do right from the start to build brand so that people understand right from day one who you are, what you serve and what sets you apart from other eating establishments in the area.

Four Plus Decades of Positioning Should Have Taught Us Something

Back in the 1980s, a pair of advertising gurus by the names of Al Ries and Jack Trout came up with a marketing concept called ‘positioning.’ It is a four-fold concept in which a new company needs to decide where it wants to be seen in the public eye. Before you set out to brand your new restaurant, decide if you want to be known by:

  1. Product
  2. Price
  3. Place
  4. Promotion

Where do you envision your restaurant being positioned within those four approaches to brand?
Do you want people to know that your food is special in some way such as organic or artisan? That would be product. Do you want to compete with Burger King or McDonald’s? That would be price. What about a spot on the boardwalk of South Beach in Miami? Of course, that would be place and for promotion, you could go in almost any direction you’d like! Perhaps you could sign on a brand ambassador that would promote your business, or you could offer special promotions like “Two Times Two Tuesdays.”

Visual Identification Is Key

Positioning should be a first step in developing a brand and the more innovative and creative you get, the more you will stand out from other restaurants in your locale. Next, you want to relate your brand image with your positioning. When you decide to create a menu, for example, keep everything from layout to graphics with the ‘position’ you want to be identified. You can get free restaurant menu templates which you can add your own graphics to, your own menu items and prices, and any little advertising slogans you want to display. Visual identification can have an impact on your positioning if used creatively.

You can never underestimate the importance of a brand and in opening a new restaurant in an area where the competition is stiff, you need to pay special attention to your positioning. By developing a brand based on your position within a market, you can quickly develop a following that is looking for what you have to offer. Whether you want to compete with the big guys or develop a unique niche all your own, use the positioning method to build a brand and see how quickly you become a success. Four decades later and we’re still exploring the benefits of innovative positioning, but once you’ve mastered it, memorable marketing and branding are within reach.

How to Successfully Expand a New Brand Online

Jan24
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Are you planning to get an online MBA degree to start your very own company? In class, you are learning business strategy and implementation but what about branding? You need to know how to create and then build your brand once you step out of school.

Online branding is one of the most popular and effective tools nowadays. With people living in a digital age, it’s only natural that online branding is so important. So how can you successfully expand your new brand online? Here are some techniques that can help. Read more

Why Branding Matters

Dec27
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Your brand is so much more than just your website or logo. It’s more than design. It’s more than the colors and typefaces you choose to represent your company. Your brand is your voice in the marketplace; it’s how you tell your story to the world. Creating a valuable brand depends on your ability to know what you stand for, and your effectiveness in communicating those values to others.

Most entrepreneurs enter the business world with an idea – not a brand. This idea may be so deeply personal that it’s difficult to share, and hard for other people to really understand. That’s why you need brand messaging. Your brand is your story and if you don’t tell it, it will never be told. To succeed, it must be planted in the hearts and minds (especially hearts) of your prospects and customers.


Perhaps no other company can boast of the emotional connection with customers created by Apple. Their marketing rarely focuses on what a product actually does. Instead, the company carefully instills an impression of how owning an Apple product will make you feel. All of their branding efforts reinforce this message. Whether you’re using one of their devices, visiting an Apple store, or purchasing online, there is a consistency to the experience. Every product, venue, and employee supports the brand image Apple strives to maintain.

The most successful brands own a word in the mind of the customer. For Nordstrom, that word has to be “service”. Employees personally notify their regular shoppers of special events and sales, and send handwritten thank-you notes to new customers. They’re taught that nothing matters more than pleasing the customer, and their efforts to do so are legendary. Read more

Why Branding is Important to Your Marketing Strategy

Dec20
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Branding encompasses everything to do with the your overall customer experience. When defining a brand, you must take into account your company’s logo, website, social media interactions, and customer service philosophy among other things. But why is branding so important and how does great branding affect your company?

1. Branding Enhances Recognition

While your logo isn’t everything, it is still a major component of branding as it helps customers to instantly recognize your company. You should therefore put special emphasis on your logo design since it will ultimately represent the face of your company.

A memorable logo will have a professional design, be simple enough for people to remember and respect basic design principles. Sometimes a simple icon is enough, for instance, the logo of Top Tests features a simple outline of a car which instantly indicates what the site is about. Adding an icon isn’t always necessary when creating the company logo, but it might more easily identify your service.

2. Branding Builds Trust

When you portray a professional appearance, it builds trust and credibility. Customers are more open to buying from a company that appears sophisticated and legitimate. Trust is the foundation of any relationship and branding will help you form personal relationships with emotional connections with your customers. Read more

How to Build Your Company’s Culture Around Your Brand

Dec19
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Your brand is so much more than just a logo, an advertisement, or a website. It’s the promise you’ve made to your customers – the tangible benefit that makes your product or service desirable and unique. What sets your business apart in a crowded marketplace? Does your culture reflect that differentiation? If there’s a disconnect between your internal operations and your messaging, employees will have little reason to believe in – or advocate for – your brand.

Here are four steps you can take to ensure that your company’s culture is aligned with your brand promise: Read more

How Branding is Related to Culture

Dec13
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Your brand is so much more than just what your customers see on a label. It conveys those qualities that really distinguish you from your competition – your unique values and characteristics. While it’s easy to focus primarily on advertising, promotions, and customer relations when developing your brand, you’re missing out if you ignore the impact of corporate culture on the branding process.

The relationship between your brand and your culture can make or break your business. Your company’s culture includes its values, vision, norms, beliefs, and habits. Developing a corporate culture that supports brand growth should be a top priority, since a robust culture will strengthen your brand – just as a weak culture will hinder it.

Craft a culture that supports your brand by hiring and training the right employees. Seek out people who are passionate about your vision and whose goals align with your brand. Like-minded employees who respect and share your ideals will adapt more fully to your company culture. Read more

How to Use My Brand to Make Strategic Decisions in My Business

Nov29
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Effective brand messaging requires effective brand positioning – one area where far too many businesses have failed. According to a 2015 study by Gallup, only about one-third of the American workforce said their company’s mission makes them feel like their job actually matters. This is significant, because a strong brand requires a commitment from each member of your team, and it can’t be created by a marketing department alone.

Here are three steps you should take to infuse your brand essence into every part of your organization:

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Building Brand From Within

Oct28
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Nothing has impacted the way in which we think about marketing quite as much as social media has over the past decade or so, and with this comes the realization that we have been looking at branding from an archaic approach. No longer is branding about developing a relationship with consumers but, in effect, your brand ‘is’ your relationship. If you are going to build any kind of following whatsoever, your brand needs to be about the special relationship you have with your target audience.

A Look at the Evolution of ‘Brand’

If you were to take a few moments to think about what the word brand means and where it came from, you’d probably work your way back to the days when ranchers began ‘branding’ their cattle. This was a definitive mark that proved, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that any particular branded animal belonged to that ranch. A brand back then was a mark indicating where the product came from. Branding was an external feature indicating ownership of an idea or a product. However, there has been a shift that has fundamentally changed the way in which branding works within today’s society.

Today’s Business Is Rooted in Relationships

Those who study business administration are being taught the new paradigm for understanding brand. Today’s business is rooted in relationships and if you are going to develop your brand you need to focus on how you engage with your audience. That’s the essence of branding as taught in major schools of business around the country, such as the D’Amore – McKim School of Business at Northeastern University. From on campus MBA curriculum to online MBA programs, a huge part of business administration is focused on how you are perceived by those you do business with. Did you know that marketing is also a central focus of many online MBA degree programs? Without marketing, a business is often doomed to failure.

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3 Keys To Branding Success

Sep27
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What makes your brand unique? What does your story tell your audience about your company? Are you nothing more than a logo or a tagline in the mind of your customer, or do you connect with them emotionally? The values your company stands for are just as important as the product or service you offer.

Here are three keys to crafting a brand that differentiates your business in today’s crowded marketplace:

Create A Brand Statement.

Your story encompasses the unique qualities of your brand that bring value to your customers. It goes to the heart of who you are, and builds an emotional connection with your buyer. If someone asks you what you do, and you can’t deliver a clear, 2-3 sentence answer, it’s time to rethink your brand statement! If you’re stumped on how to develop one, start by asking yourself these 4 questions: Who do you serve? What do you provide? Why do you care? How are you different? Now, combine your answers into several short sentences.

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