Branding: Your questions answered
Having a strong, easily recognisable brand can make all the difference in raising your business' profile and setting you apart from your competitors. Stefan Morrison, creative project manager at Xpress Image Communications, gives advice on effective branding.
Q: I'd like to know why branding is so important and what the benefits are to my business, can you explain?
A: Successful branding is all about promoting your strengths as a company, and has a number of tangible benefits. Every business wants to be the customer's first choice. Therefore, developing a strong brand and building a positive image of your company can be the key to attracting customers to your products or services and differentiating your business from your competitors.
Customers tend to trust strong brands and stick with them, developing a relationship with a brand they have had a positive experience with. Having established a brand it is crucial that the business consistently lives up to its values, so for example if the brand is positioned as sophisticated, cutting edge and modern but the company website is out of date and very basic, this can have a detrimental effect on the brand and diminish customer loyalty. A brand projects a particular image to potential customers, as well as the quality of products or services it offers. Therefore it is essential that all aspects of the business have to be consistent with the brand values.
Q: I don't feel my company has as strong a brand as it could. How can I improve its status and manage the brand successfully?
A: A company's brand can only be successful if it is continually managed. Look for opportunities for improvements and pay attention to customer needs. Change is inevitable within the fluctuating and growing world of business and companies shouldn't be afraid to move with trends in the market. It is important to actively seek regular feedback from customers to find out how your brand is perceived and whether they feel your business delivers on its brand promises.
A complicated and contradictory brand will only confuse customers so it is imperative that you keep your brand simple and consistent, focusing on a small number of key values. Furthermore, make sure that you are communicating your brand. The message you convey in all advertising, brochures and stationery should constantly reinforce the same message. All branding should have the same 'feel' through its impression, be it the same colour, layout, positioning or style. Therefore once the brand is created it is necessary to devise a list of brand guidelines. These standards can include pantone references for the colour scheme, outlines for the brand position on the page or layouts on various mediums.
Q: My company has just expanded its client services significantly. Is this a good time to rebrand?
A: Acquisitions, changing markets or new products can provide good opportunities for rebranding. During changes within the company it can be necessary to reposition the business in its market and rebranding is an effective way to do this.
Rebranding is not a straightforward process and may involve creating a whole new identity for a company. It isn't just about changing a name, creating a new logo, devising a snappy slogan or altering the corporate colours - it's about challenging the very values of an organisation.
It is important to bear in mind that through rebranding you should be aiming to strengthen the personality of your brand and its individuality. If a company has just expanded it services, it can be a good idea to rebrand so that its full capacity is reflected in the identity.
As well as an efficient design package based on your business ethos, it is also vital that you focus on what your customers want and how you can deliver it. During the rebrand it is important to seek feedback from existing clients to ensure that the new brand continues to reflect those values that attracted them in the first place. Ask clients why they like doing business with you and what their main reasons are for working with you – are customer decisions based on price or is it company efficiency and high quality? Asking customers these sorts of questions is a good way to ascertain how the brand is currently viewed by the outsider. This information will be invaluable to help the company retain the key values in the new brand.
Q: My company is a well established business with a traditional image and well recognised brand. What can I do to bring it into the 21st century without losing its original identity?
A: Brands have a natural lifecycle and appealing to a new, younger market is important to the success of both growing businesses and well established companies. A firm's value can erode as a result of new or more aggressive competition and can also become 'locked in time' as what may have been cutting edge fifteen years ago may look dated today. However, you cannot alienate your customer base so it is important to maintain a constant level of trust with your current customers to avoid damaging the existing business, whilst developing a brand that embraces current thinking about corporate identity.
Rebranding can bring vital new energy to the business, so it is important to work closely with a design team to ensure that they encompass your company's principles and personality in the new brand.
Rebranding also does not mean a complete overhaul of company image and corporate identity but more a modernisation of existing characteristics. For example, this evolutionary approach may keep the company colours but alter the shape of your logo's design. Changing the style of the font used will help maintain the brand's original identity but bring it up to date.
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BusinessZONE - 14-Dec-2007
Categories: Marketing/PR
Story read: 5075
