“A business based on brand is, very simply, a business primed for success.” David F. D’Alessandro

The brand creation process is a long one, it requires perseverance, consistency and an underlying emotional connection with the target segment. Its aim is to instill a level of brand loyalty in its customers, which will in turn generate exponentially increasing recurring streams of income. This process needs to be thought through thoroughly from the very beginning of developing a business model. It is far more challenging to change the perception of your product/service in the mind of your customer once it is established. Therefore, focus on first impressions and how to position your product/service from the onset.

Listed below are 5 steps to help you get started in the brand creation process. I believe these are vital foundational steps. The development of a brand is however not limited to these steps alone, and I will discuss advanced branding concepts in later posts. 

1. Brand Personality: A brand personality consists of two important components. The first being a thorough understanding of what your business is, and what it stands for. These can be goals, objectives and core strengths. The second component is understanding your target segment. One should be completely aware of their needs, pain points, competition and goals. When these two components are brought together a better understanding emerges of how to get across to customers and stakeholders. To learn more about creating a brand personality please click here.

2. Competitive Edge: Why should a customer pick your product/service over a competitor’s? Your brand needs to communicate its competitive edge clearly to help develop a connection with the target audience. Use your competitive edge as an integral part of brand development and positioning strategy to enable you to not only build a worthwhile brand, but also a strong business model. To learn more about integrating your competitive edge into the brand development process please click here.

3. Positioning: Every customer classifies a business or brand internally. This internal wiring is the definitive feeling at the interaction point with your product/service. The last thing you want as a start-up organization is to be known as “Oh you do the same thing as say… Facebook”. Much thought needs to be put into how you want the customer to perceive your brand. How is it distinctive, what are the common associations with your business model and how can you use them to your advantage? To learn more about positioning your brand correctly please click here.

4. Selecting a Name: Once you have a good understanding of the steps mentioned above, sit down and brainstorm possible names for your business. I find it useful to follow basic guidelines of keeping them simple, avoid generic terms, the name should be easy to pronounce and spell and, should be unique. Apart from that, formulate a list of questions highlighting word associations, emotional associations and other factors which help formulate a right name. After this process, shortlist and get feedback from friends, family or even stake holders. Take your time with this step, do not force a name just because you cannot think of anything else. This is something you are going to have to live with for a long time. To learn more about selecting a name please click here. 

5. Key Brand Elements: The devil is always in the details. The final step in the process focuses our attention to key brand elements which include, logos and word marks, tag-lines, colors and typography selection. These elements need to reflect your brand personality and positioning. These factors are integral for instigating a connection with your target customer. It also helps to establish consistency in how we communicate with our customers and stakeholders at every touch point. Without this consistency we will not be able to establish a level of trust which results in brand loyalty. To learn more about different key brand elements please click here.

As you can see, the brand development process is a lot more than selecting a name and creating a logo or word-mark. It requires us to think deeply about the business we are establishing, the message we want to communicate and how we want to communicate it. There needs to be a story behind your brand and what it stands for. When you look at world class brands today, each one of them means something different to each and everyone one of us. Why are some individuals fanatical about drinking Coke and not Pepsi or selecting a PC compared to a Mac? When did the brand become more than a symbol, to being an integral part of who we are? I hope we all get the opportunity to create such a brand one day. Best of luck!

Related Presentation:

This is a very well developed presentation on branding. I hope you all enjoy it.

[slideshare id=28886&doc=the-brand-gap-14630&w=425]

“The stronger the dialog, the stronger the brand; the weaker the dialog, the weaker the brand.” Larry Webber

I used to think, when you have a reasonable story to tell, along with a catchy, smart name, one was doing quite well in the branding process. However, there are many other smaller elements which need attention to develop a consistent and strong dialog between your customer and business. The key word to summarize today’s post is consistency. Without it, one could pour millions of dollars into brand development and yield very small returns. Consistency builds trust, which inevitably takes your business to the next level. Looking or saying something different every day confuses your target audience. We need to think through the finer details with a fine tooth comb to ensure that our projections in the workplace as well as the market place are aligned.

A couple of key brand elements are:

1. Logos & Word-Marks: In today’s information rich world, we are constantly bombarded with advertising messages. I prefer word-marks over logos. The reason being, I would rather a potential customer remember our name, rather than a logo. In some cases however, logos work well. My first company had a very interesting logo of intertwined rings, signifying the bond between our agency and our customers. A lot of our customers remembered the logo, and forgot the name of our company which was more complicated. I learnt my lesson the hard way.

2. Tag-Lines: Often, well crafted tag-lines can convey a business philosophy or company focus in a most succinct manner. Let’s take Mercedez and BMW for example. To differentiate themselves from the prestige appeal of Mercedez, BMW chose the tag “Defining Innovation”. That one tag line has the ability to tell potential customers about their positioning strategy, competitive edge and key differentiating factor when deciding between the two. I am not a fan of long winded tag lines. Keep them short, focused and to the point. They need to be consistent with the image you want to portray.

3. Colors: In the past, if someone had talked about the importance of colors, in relationship to the persona  a company wanted to portray, chances are, I would not have paid too much attention to it. It is only recently that I have been paying greater attention to the importance of something as simple as color selection. Another lesson I learned the hard way, stay away from gradient based colors when you are designing logos or word-marks. These create a lot of problems when printing on different colored backgrounds. Choose a color you feel reflects your business’ persona. Research how different colors put us in different emotional states, and decide what state you would like your customer to be in. Another piece of advice, don’t choose Red or Blue, choose a pantone color whose shade will always be consistent.

4. Typography: In order to maintain consistency, decide from the very beginning, which font to use for the website, marketing material, emails, invoices, newsletters and any other communication that you may have with customers and internally. Avoid changing font styles on a whim, this is not recommended! Pay attention to minor details and make sure that everything has some baseline logic, and is in accordance to your brand personality & identity.

I would recommend getting help from a creative design firm, if this skill set is not available in the team. I believe these are necessary expenses and need to be incurred to ensure that the brand is built on solid foundations. It helps to remain consistent, and to understand why a certain color or font was selected. All of these elements, along with the factors discussed in earlier posts, provide a basic structure and help start the thinking process about the importance of brand building.

Related Video:

Since we were talking about BMW and their “Defining Innovation” tag line I thought this video will help get across, how all the elements come together to create something truly memorable.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a7Ny5BYc-Fs]