The other day I was asked to provide a perspective on why logos / brands are so important and why people connect with them. The problem with this question is that a logo and a brand are two very different things and unfortunately they’re often used interchangeably. But this question prompted me to think that a post might be in order to demystify common words often associated with Branding.
Brand
What is a brand?
The definition of branding has evolved quite rapidly over the past couple of years, mainly due to the advent of social media and the decline of the influence of traditional media. No longer are brands manufactured in board rooms and no longer are perceptions shaped primarily based on what corporations tell us to believe through advertising. Today a brand can be defined as your reputation built off of both your promise to your customers and the sum of all of their experiences with you.
In order to build a successful brand, and ultimately a loyal and energized consumer base, a brand needs to start from the inside out. That means having a clearly articulated Brand Positioning, Personality and Promise, a passionate team of partners / employees who are singing off of the same hymn sheet and an organization that runs in support of what your brand stands for.
Brand Positioning
What is Brand Positioning?
A brand positioning is a statement that should answer why your target market should satisfy their need with your brand instead of your competitor’s. This is derived through:
- A thorough understanding of your target market and their needs, wants and desires
- A concrete understanding of your competitors and how they are positioned, and
- An immersive review of your brand’s benefits and values and ultimately how you provide a unique and meaningful solution to your target
There is structure to a good positioning statement: Your compelling point of difference + Your segment + Your validation + Your target market + Their need
How is it used?
It’s not a slogan or a tagline, it’s an internal statement. And, unlike your promise (below), it may evolve over time as the market changes.
Example
Brand X is the coffee cafe that is a third place between work and home providing indulgence and escape to urban working women.
Note: This may have been close to Starbuck’s positioning statement when they launched. As you can see, the relevance of this statement now, with the growth of the coffee cafe market and the growth of the Starbucks chain, has diminished the uniqueness and relevance of this statement.
Brand Personality
What is Brand Personality?
This is the tone of your brand’s voice communicated as human characteristics. Often times, when working on an existing brand for a client, we start by asking: “If you were to describe your brand as a person, what traits would they have?”. I can tell you that in my 15+ years asking clients this question, I almost always hear ‘trusted’ as one of the descriptors. It’s important to understand that the personality traits you use to define your brand should not be ‘earned’ traits.
Some examples of brand personality traits could include: quirky, rebellious, authoritative, pragmatic, shocking, engaging, warm, flirty, carefree, adventurous.
How is it used?
It’s easy to see that personality can translate to the visual, verbal and written style of your brand’s communications. It’s also critical to how a brand behaves and often influences hiring strategies, service training as well as processes. Brands with personalities tend to feel more relatable, strike an emotional chord with consumers, differentiate themselves, and generally feel more exciting.
Example
Examples of brands with big personalities: Zappos, Apple and Virgin
Think about how these brands convey their personalities through communication style, logo, packaging, service, products, etc.
Brand Promise
What is Brand Promise?
A brand promise is the heart and soul of the functional benefits and emotive values a customer will receive when they experience your products and services. As Seth Godin once said: “Make big promises and overdeliver”. Just imagine what would happen if every brand lived by this credo… Promises, and more importantly kept promises, build loyalty.
A promise should be unique, meaningful, believable and consistently attainable (with effort). Since a critical component of the success of a Brand Promise is keeping it, it needs the passion and support of your employees.
Ultimately your Brand Promise needs to answer: What compelling benefits / values can only you offer to your target market?
How is it used?
A promise is not usually conveyed in advertising but it should be the driver behind everything you do and communicate.
Example
- Disney = magical family entertainment
- Volvo = safety
- Harley Davidson = complete freedom on the road and the comradeship of kindred spirits
- Starbucks = indulgence and escape
[on READY2SPARK] Branding demystified – http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/12/what-… #eventprofs
It’s so surprising to see how many companies there are that don’t know what their positioning is, what their products promise, or who their target is. I recently worked with an agriculture company that was completely lost. The impact is broad and deep. These principles affect how the company trains on their product. It affects where they advertised. It affects what tradeshows they attend. In working with the agriculture company, we dug into the existing customer base. Through a series of interviews and analysis, we pulled out the target, the points of differentiation, the promise, and ultimately their razor-sharp positioning. Your most loyal customers are a great source of really understanding your brand.
It’s true that not every business understands the importance of a brand strategy. Good thing there are people out there who can help guide them 😉
It seems that my original response to your comment didn’t go through – so my apologies for the delay in responding!
It’s true that many companies do not understand how to craft their brand’s promise, positioning and personality. But it’s a great thing that there are specialists out there who can help 🙂
Thank you for sharing your thoughts & a great example of how you’ve helped!
Lara,
I really love this! You not only made branding understandable, but even made it easier for companies to define and act on their brand. Well done!
#ecnc If you’re looking for how to craft a positioning statement, promise, etc http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/12/what-… #eventprofs
RT @ready2spark: #ecnc If you’re looking for how to craft a positioning statement, promise, etc http://www.ready2spark.com/2010/12/what-… #eventprofs
This is great! Wish I had stumbled upon this earlier on in my semester. This sounds basically like the outline in writing a Strategic Message Planner. An SMP, I believe, is more commonly known as a Creative Brief or a Creative Planner. At the University of Kansas we use a 12-step process in determining a strategic message. I will have to show this to my professor. Maybe this will help clear up some confusion among students! Thanks for the clear and concise descriptions, Lara!
Thanks so much! I’m so happy you’ve found value in it. I do think that the topic of branding is wrapped in mystique – I actually think that the practitioners of branding have done a good job making it far more complex than it needs to be. I’d love for you to share the 12-step process you have for identifying a strategic message (as long as it’s not proprietary info). I’m very interested in seeing different techniques.
Yeah, I can share the 12 steps! It’s basically the research behind the strategic message and each steps build on the one before.
1. Client/Product/Industry–This step helps you know the brand you are promoting and the category that it competes with. It’s basically the history of the company, where it stands in the industry. It helps evaluate the opportunities and threats for the company and the industry. I really like to use websites such as hoovers.com or KU has a subscription to Business and Company that is very helpful.
2. Target Audience– This can be primary and secondary research. This includes the psychographics and demographics. The rationale of this research also is shown to show credibility.
3. Full list of features and benefits– I found it a little difficult to determine what exactly was a feature and what was a benefit. I’ve noticed this in a lot of ads too. It seems like it’s easier to tell the consumers about a feature and not the WIFM (What’s in it for me,) factor.
4. Current Brand Image– This just will help bring to light what people REALLY think of the product. I like using the website brandtags.net for this step. It’s a helpful site and also fun to play around on.
5. Direct Competitors and Brand Images–This just gives you more insight into the competitors and their products that compete with yours. It should answer the questions such as, “What position does the competing brand occupy?” and “Which products to consumers see as upscale, fun, dependable, or old-fashioned?”
6. Indirect Competitors and Brand Images– Same as above. As my professors have said “If direct competitors are siblings, then indirect competitors are cousins who might draw customers and dollars away from your brand.”
7. Promotional History and Current Campaign Goal– It’s essential to know how the brand has been promoted in the past. Need to know what worked and what didn’t work.
8. Desired Brand Image– How will the brand move forward? This can also be the current brand image. Some brand positions may already be owned and others can be established through communications.
9. Motivation– What emotional and rational appeals will connect with the target audience to your brand. Rational of the motivations should be cited.
10. Selected Benefits with Features and Benefits Column– This is step 3 trimmed down. Our professors had us choose 4 to feature in this step.
11. Strategic Message– The entire Strategic Message Planner (SMP) builds to this step For example, You (describe the target) should buy (this brand) because..and then state the “why” in no more than 25 words.
12. THE FINAL STEP! Bibliography–This is a page or two of references that were used to help build the SMP.
I hope that someone finds this interesting and helpful. It sounds like quite a bit of work, and it is, but it definitely makes the process a lot easier!
Thank you so much for sharing & taking the time to write this!
This looks like a great comprehensive market, competitor and company audit. Critical to building a good strategy.
Features and benefits are good, but they’re generally easy to copy. Your fast, well now I’m faster. You have 50% cocoa, now I have 55% cocoa. What’s much harder to ‘copy’ is value. That’s the what’s in it for me that you mention.
I like to merge a value proposition with your customer research. When you uncover the psychographics & behaviours of your customers, weigh what F&Bs and values deliver against the fears & frustrations and/or the hopes & dreams of your customers. When you start from need states, you can develop a much more compelling and meaningful offering.
Good luck on your strategy!
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Lara McCulloch | Branding, Marketing + Social Media Strategist . International Speaker
t. 905 681 3332 | c. 289 937 0141 | skype. ready2spark | Connect: Blog . Twitter . LinkedIn . Facebook
Proud recipient of the 2008 CEIA Spirit of the Industry Award + ISES Toronto 2009 Dedication & 2007 Leadership Awards