Posts Tagged brand identity platform
A Brand Vision Statement You Can Live With
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity on August 16, 2010
As a new parent many years ago, I remember gazing into my newborn’s scrunched eyes and painting a detailed picture in my mind of where he’d be many years later. What he’d look like. How he’d act. The kind of education he’d have. What he’d be doing for a living. How he’d live.
Some parents even write this out and create a plan to follow in raising their children. For better or worse, I wasn’t that disciplined, but I did resolve to do my best to ensure he’d be happy with his life.
If you have kids, you probably visualized their future like this as well.
In many ways, this is what a brand identity is all about: how you want your brand to grow up in the real world. And the starting point for any effective brand identity platform is a brand vision statement.
A brand vision statement is simply this: how you see your brand down the road — five years, ten years, twenty years, whatever. It’s the destination for your planned cross-country trip. It’s what you envision for your grown child. It’s your goal.
And, while flexibility in today’s business world is a necessity — particularly for small- to mid-sized companies – keeping an unchanging brand vision statement in sight at all times will become the path to keep you from getting lost in a maze of distractions. It provides the standard for operations, the litmus test for future opportunities and temptations. It’s a valuable component of your brand identity. And, ultimately, it will guide the formation of a business-generating brand image in the marketplace.
So. What do you see?
How to Compete Against A Goliath Competitor
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Touchpoints on August 13, 2010
Most of us in small business are looking up at a Goliath competitor. That big, dominant player which seems to effortlessly steal away our rightful market share, or keep us pent up as an ankle biter. Damn them.
The reasons they’re so dominant could be many:
- They were the first
- They listened to the wants and needs of the market and then addressed them better
- They have better, differentiated products or services
- They have a broader selection, better quality, better pricing, and/or better distribution
- They have better customer service
- They have a better warranty or guarantee
- They spend more on marketing and are more aggressive and sophisticated
- They have higher market awareness and preference
- They have deeper pockets
- They’re bigger
- Their breath smells better . . . or many more reasons depending on your perspective
If you’re faced with this kind of competitive dominance, you are a “challenger” brand. Being a ”challenger” suggests action. And, as a challenger brand, there’s plenty of opportunity for action on your part.
Keep this in mind as you plot your competitive course: as a challenger brand, what do you really have to lose by taking measured risks? The pressure’s on Goliath not to do anything that would jeopardize their market advantage, right?
So, what exactly do you do?
You may remember the classic challenger campaign waged years ago in the rental car market. The industry Goliath back then was Hertz. One ankle-biter challenger brand was Avis, and Avis set their sights on going toe-to-toe with the Hertz Goliath. Their branding campaign was simple: as the #2 player, we have to try harder to earn customers’ business. Avis committed themselves to offering the best cars, keeping them extra clean, ensuring the gas tank was full for pick up, and more. They also were able to promote their shorter lines — a result of being a less popular rental car brand. It was a great campaign which leveled the competitive battle field.
Like Avis, the key to successfully battling nose-to-nose with your Goliath lies in developing an effective brand identity platform that’s destinctive to your brand.
The process of developing this forces structured thinking about your brand strengths and weaknesses and those of your Goliath. It results in the formation of uncompromising brand mission and values statements that fuels the right business attitude. It enables your defining a clear and laser-focused brand positioning platform where you tell customers why they should do business with you rather than Goliath. It details your brand value proposition, the multi-level benefits users of your product or service will derive. And it defines the standards of performance when develivering the various brand touchpoints.
Dell, Virgin, Southwest Airlines, Apple, Hyundai, any popular musician or group — they were/are challenger brands. And each found just the right stone to throw at just the right place to knock down their Goliath. It wasn’t luck, it was considered planning and effort fueled by a challenger mindset.
You can do this.
Brand Identity & Brand Image
Posted by Mike Paffenback in Brand Identity, Brand Image on July 27, 2010
It’s not what you say, it’s what you do.
That timeless chestnut sums up the difference in the oft-confused branding jargon of “identity” and “image.”
Brand identity is how the business defines what the brand is all about. It’s what the company defines and says itself about the brand.
The brand image is formed out in the real world marketplace by customers, prospects, and influencers based on their various experiences and interactions with the brand on varioius levels.
Developing the brand identity platform is a considered process, often involving many — and sometimes all — managenment functions behind the brand: R&D, operations, marketing, sales, finance, etc. It’s where the brand vision and values are carefully defined. Where the competitive positioning and value propositions are crafted relative to targeted audiences and their wants and needs. Where the messaging points for the brand are laid out. And where the graphic system is developed. All of this is the “say” part equation. And, it’s all vital because it helps to ensure consistency in the way the brand is presented.
The brand identity is brought to life — and the brand image formed — through the various brand interactions — touchpoints — which should also be methodically considered, prioritized relative to their ultimate role in driving the sale (new or repeat), and proactively managed to ensure delivery that is aligned with the brand identity. Delivery of these brand touchpoints is the “doing” part of the equation.
And it’s this doing that will provide the interactions that will lead your audiences to form their image of the brand and determine whether they ever buy from you (again) or move on to a competitive solution.
If sales are not what they should be, maybe it’s time to take a long look at your brand identity and actual brand image.
Is the brand identity in sync with your audiences’ wants and needs? If not, rethink the identity platform and make the changes needed.
Is there a disconnect between the brand identity and the actual image? If so, look closely at the various brand touchpoints to see where the problem is.
Brand identity is what you say. Brand image is formed as a result of what you do. Master both, and you’ll master success.