The Power of Branding: My Logo is Done … am I Branded Now?

 
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Sorry, conveniently phrased question asker, but a logo is not a brand. In fact, your logo is just one very significant piece of the delicious branding pie. Confused? Don’t despair! Assuming a logo is the end-all-be-all of branding is a common occurrence. In fact, the logic of investing in quality logo design exists because of the way humans have recalled information since the dawn of man. To build a better brand than your competition, you’ll need to put together the best branding ingredients that make up a tasty branding pie. Let’s just you and I put on our toque blanches and review how it’s done…

Here are the ingredients we’ll need (for best results, source locally):

  • Perfect Product

  • Delightful Design

  • Consistent Communication

  • Promotional Prowess

  • Moving Marketing

Perfect Product

Your secret flavors and ingredients that set your product apart.

Let me be extremely clear on this because I find it of the utmost importance. If your product isn’t unique, better tasting, or better priced than other products in its category no amount of communication, design, promotion, or marketing can make your branding pie palatable. Best case scenario, clients will try you once and move on. It is up to you and your team to produce the perfect product, whatever that may be.

Consistent Communication

The golden-brown, flaky crust.

Everything that you say should read as if it is coming from the same person. Who is this person? Can you picture him/her? If so, great! If not, get a group of your best people in a room and literally draw him/her out. Once you are visualizing your business as its own person with a purpose, values, and goals, it can make it really easy to keep your communications clear. At the end of the day, even if you are a B2B business, it’s your P2P communications that set you apart. You must know your customer! Know what their pains are and how you can help them relieve that issue.

Delightful Design

The buttery glaze that gives our pie that fresh shimmer!

Simply put, when a potential client recognizes your logo, packaging, face, product or service, it should be effortless for them to see that you are the right partner who will provide immense value to their lives. Whatever graphics you use should be carefully crafted with a purpose to reinforce your client’s confidence in your product.

Promotional Prowess

Letting the people know your pie is the best.

Every business’ worst enemy is obscurity. Let me pose a question to you … what does it matter if you have the best product in the world or deliver world-class service if nobody knows who you are? What can you do to battle this anonymous fiend? Easy … promote yourself! Get out there! Shake some hands! Kiss some babies! Be of service to the world! Make mistakes and learn!

Moving Marketing

Positioning your perfect pie for proper presentation.

Ok, so you’ve got every other ingredient just right. You have A/B tested your product, the design, have consistently communicated your value and have promoted your pie to the masses. How could your product possibly fall flat if you have all of these nailed down? Easy. Your target demographic doesn’t want just a pie- they can get a pie anywhere. They want a delicious dessert that is, low-carb, is made only using organic ingredients, is under $7, and guess what? … some super-athlete endorses it as the secret to their game-winning success. Marketing isn’t all gimmicks and clever taglines, though. It is an opportunity to position your brand in a targeted manner that your clients can relate to deeper than face-value.

To reiterate:

  • The quality of your product/service is what helps you retain your customers and build loyalty.

  • Their needs to be something special about your pie to make clients choose you from another. It doesn’t even have to be about the pie! Maybe you are the only pie company that donates pie en mass to local food banks.

  • Identify who in the hungry public you are feeding. Create a persona around those individuals and make sure your product caters to them; the better you understand their needs, the better your solutions will be.

  • People need to see your visual and written branding (including logo, packaging, or other physical brand identities) and be confident in your product/service. Make your pie appetizing before they even try it!

  • How does your pie look? Did you glaze it with butter? Did you fan the zesty aroma over the seven seas? Let the world know who you are and what you’re presenting, be Magellan and circumnavigate the world with your pie.

  • Your hard-work will pay off. Fail your way to success.

Don't wait — start building your better brand today!

Connect with Chris:

Chris Coles is the President and CCO of Dreamcapture Design. He loves helping business owners develop effective branding and marketing strategies for their businesses.

Chris Coles is the President and CCO of Dreamcapture Design. He loves helping business owners develop effective branding and marketing strategies for their businesses.

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BrandingChris ColesBranding, Marketing, DesignComment