Branding is one of the most important aspects of any

business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand

strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly
competitive markets. But what exactly does "branding"
mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?

Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It

tells them what they can expect from your products and
services, and it differentiates your offering from your
competitors'. Your brand is derived from who you are, who
you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the

experienced, reliable one? Is your product the high-cost,
high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You
can't be both, and you can't be all things to all people.
Who you are should be based to some extent on who your
target customers want and need you to be.

The foundation of your brand is your logo. Your website,

packaging and promotional materials--all of which should
integrate your logo--communicate your brand.

Brand Strategy & Equity

Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to
whom you plan on communicating and delivering on your
brand messages. Where you advertise is part of your
brand strategy. Your distribution channels are also part of
your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually
and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too.
 Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand
equity, which means the added value brought to your
company's products or services that allows you to charge
more for your brand than what identical, unbranded
products command. The most obvious example of this is
Coke vs. a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built a
powerful brand equity, it can charge more for its product--
and customers will pay that higher price.

The added value intrinsic to brand equity frequently comes

in the form of perceived quality or emotional attachment.
For example, Nike associates its products with star
athletes, hoping customers will transfer their emotional
attachment from the athlete to the product. For Nike, it's
not just the shoe's features that sell the shoe.

Defining Your Brand

Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-
discovery. It can be difficult, time-consuming and
uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you
answer the questions below:

What is your company's mission?

What are the benefits and features of your products or
services?
What do your customers and prospects already think
of your company?
What qualities do you want them to associate with
your company?
 Do your research. Learn the needs, habits and desires of
your current and prospective customers. And don't rely on
what you think they think. Know what they think.

Because defining your brand and developing a brand

strategy can be complex, consider leveraging the
expertise of a nonprofit small-business advisory group or
a Small Business Development Center .

Once you've defined your brand, how do you get the word
out? Here are a few simple, time-tested tips:

Get a great logo. Place it everywhere.

Write down your brand messaging. What are the
key messages you want to communicate about your
brand? Every employee should be aware of your brand
attributes.
Integrate your brand. Branding extends to every
aspect of your business--how you answer your phones,
what you or your salespeople wear on sales calls, your e-
mail signature, everything.
Create a "voice" for your company that reflects
your brand. This voice should be applied to all written
communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of
all materials, online and off. Is your brand friendly? Be
conversational. Is it ritzy? Be more formal. You get the
gist.
Develop a tagline. Write a memorable, meaningful
and concise statement that captures the essence of your
brand.
 Design templates and create brand standards for
your marketing materials. Use the same color scheme,
logo placement, look and feel throughout. You don't need
to be fancy, just consistent.
Be true to your brand. Customers won't return to
you--or refer you to someone else--if you don't deliver on
your brand promise.
Be consistent. I placed this point last only because it
involves all of the above and is the most important tip I can
give you. If you can't do this, your attempts at establishing
a brand will fail.
Product Branding Strategy Across Multiple Platforms

What is product branding? Simply put, it is how a product interacts with its consumer audience
through design, logo, and messaging. It is difficult to settle on one product branding definition
because branding triggers an emotional connection in consumers. If done well, product
branding can be maintained and produce a solid, well-connected connection throughout the life
of the product. The challenge, however, lies in new media, licensing and social media, where
the message might be communicated via the audience and not the expert branding
professionals.

Branding a product was much easier when there were no websites, smart phones, interactive
games or social media. Today, creative teams are required to seamlessly brand products across
multiple media, using the same voice, design and messaging, often with different creative teams
and designers creating separate brand extensions. Product Branding Strategies Across Multiple
Platforms looks at three top companies Sesame Workshop, Activision and Coca-Cola and
how their creative teams worked together in branding a product so that its messages were clear
and its design interconnected via numerous platforms.

Although the product branding definition hasnt changed, the process of connecting consumers
with products has. Product branding has challenged creative teams over the past decade as they
work to deal with website content, package design, television shows, commercials, events,
sponsorships and more. How do top companies like Coca-Cola, Activision and Sesame Workshop
allow hundreds of licensees to produce products and still maintain the same concise product
branding? Product Branding Strategies Across Multiple Platforms give insight into this issues,
offering tips on how strong, accessible brands are maintained in the marketplace and consistent
messaging even is realized even with hundreds of licensees and multiple brand extensions that
can dilute messaging and continuity.

The HOW Brand is synonymous with design, inspiration, creativity and lifelong learning. The
printed publication offers how-to columns on ways to build a freelance career, expand
marketing efforts and generate more leads and inquiries. The community is made up of top
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your experience in the design world.

Branding a Product: Sesame

Workshops Sesame Street

Sesame Workshop, the parent

company of Sesame Street, is a 40+
year-old company with over 700
consumer product licensees
worldwide, a television show, website
and more. How does has this company
manage their product brand with as
many as 18,000 consumer products
going through the approval process
each year? Well tell you how.

Product Branding Strategy:

Activisions Guitar Hero

As Guitar Hero launched new titles,

branding products followed Guitar
Hero World Tour, Guitar Hero Smash
Hits, and Guitar Hero Metallica.
Eachtime an ad campaign launched,
new micro sites were created as well,
until the brand became so
fragmented, a redesign was needed.
Integrating social media into the new
 Guitar Hero portal catapulted the
brands traffic and increased online
sales by over 300 percent.

How to Brand a Product: Coca-Colas

Happiness Factory 3

When one asks the question, What is

product branding, many would look
to the best marketing and branding
company in the world Coca-Cola. The
company built began with one soda.
Today it is one of the worlds most
valuable brands and theyve done it by
integrating different components into
the marketing mix, including
animation. When the companys
Happiness Factory moved into phase
3, designers spent hours with the
characters, getting to know them and
how they worked within the Factory
where Coca-Cola is created.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or
design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or
group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

The American Marketing Association (AMA) defines a brand as a "name, term, sign, symbol or
design, or a combination of them intended to identify the goods and services of one seller or
group of sellers and to differentiate them from those of other sellers.

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An
effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what
exactly does "branding" mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?

Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect
from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors'. Your
brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.

Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Is your
product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can't be
both, and you can't be all things to all people. Who you are should be based to some extent on
who your target customers want and need you to be.

The foundation of your brand is your logo. Your website, packaging and promotional materials--
all of which should integrate your logo--communicate your brand.

Brand Strategy & Equity

Your brand strategy is how, what, where, when and to whom you plan on communicating and
delivering on your brand messages. Where you advertise is part of your brand strategy. Your
distribution channels are also part of your brand strategy. And what you communicate visually
and verbally are part of your brand strategy, too.

Consistent, strategic branding leads to a strong brand equity, which means the added value
brought to your company's products or services that allows you to charge more for your brand
than what identical, unbranded products command. The most obvious example of this is Coke
vs. a generic soda. Because Coca-Cola has built a powerful brand equity, it can charge more for
its product--and customers will pay that higher price.

The added value intrinsic to brand equity frequently comes in the form of perceived quality or
emotional attachment. For example, Nike associates its products with star athletes, hoping
customers will transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product. For Nike,
it's not just the shoe's features that sell the shoe.

Defining Your Brand

Defining your brand is like a journey of business self-discovery. It can be difficult, time-
consuming and uncomfortable. It requires, at the very least, that you answer the questions
below:

What is your company's mission?

What are the benefits and features of your products or services?

What do your customers and prospects already think of your company?

What qualities do you want them to associate with your company?

Do your research. Learn the needs, habits and desires of your current and prospective
customers. And don't rely on what you think they think. Know what they think.
Because defining your brand and developing a brand strategy can be complex, consider
leveraging the expertise of a nonprofit small-business advisory group or a Small Business
Development Center .

Once you've defined your brand, how do you get the word out? Here are a few simple, time-
tested tips:

Get a great logo. Place it everywhere.

Write down your brand messaging. What are the key messages you want to
communicate about your brand? Every employee should be aware of your brand
attributes.

Integrate your brand. Branding extends to every aspect of your business--how you
answer your phones, what you or your salespeople wear on sales calls, your e-mail
signature, everything.

Create a "voice" for your company that reflects your brand.This voice should be applied
to all written communication and incorporated in the visual imagery of all materials,
online and off. Is your brand friendly? Be conversational. Is it ritzy? Be more formal. You
get the gist.

Develop a tagline. Write a memorable, meaningful and concise statement that captures
the essence of your brand.

Design templates and create brand standards for your marketing materials. Use the
same color scheme, logo placement, look and feel throughout. You don't need to be
fancy, just consistent.

Be true to your brand. Customers won't return to you--or refer you to someone else--if
you don't deliver on your brand promise.

Be consistent. I placed this point last only because it involves all of the above and is the
most important tip I can give you. If you can't do this, your attempts at establishing a
brand will fail.

5 min read

You Don't Create Your Company's Brand -- You Discover It.

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Over $500 billion is spent on advertising each year. The average American is exposed to an
estimated 3,000 ads per day. Fifteen minutes out of every hour of television programming is
devoted to commercials.

Branding: 2 Key Lessons in Brand Building

Thats a lot of marketing. And a lot of marketers. With six million companies in the United States
alone, that's a lot of people competing to get their message out. How do you stand out from the
crowd? How do you get noticed?

This is where branding comes in.

What is branding?

Branding is the art of distinguishing a product or service from its competitors. Its the term for
creating a recognizable personality which people will remember and react to.

A company with poor branding is throwing away marketing dollars. Why? Because without a
focused message, companies weak in branding are invisible. Nobody remembers them and they
blend in. They become just another leaf swirling in the wind, amid all those marketing messages
consumers see each day.

In marketing, the point is to actually reach someone, to connect. The way to do this is by
focusing attention, not dispersing it.

Discovering your brand

Too often, people try to dream up a brand for their company. However, a brand isnt
something you dream up -- its something you discover. Specifically, its something you have to
discover about yourself.
True branding must be based solely on the mission and culture of the organization. When
people try to create branding separate from the company itself, the result may be pretentious,
clichd or ambiguous marketing. It waters down the company's message.

Instead, a brand should reflect the companys business plan, its mission and values. It has to be
authentic. Therefore, when you brand a company (or anything else for that matter), youre
trying to capture its core identity. You have to look past the clutter and opinion and distill its
true essence. This is what you convey to consumers -- your brand. And your fonts, your design,
your writing -- all aspects of your marketing -- should all align with that central concept. Now,
you have focus. Now, you have penetration, because you've conveyed your company's identity
by first discovering yourself.

Related: The Basics of Branding

The ingredients of a brand

While there is probably no foolproof formula for discovering a companys brand, there are
pathways to accomplish that. Consider the following points the ingredients that go into
making an authentic brand:

Company mission. This is the most important element of branding. Your mission is the
spirit of your company, its the beating heart of what you do. In fact, your brand can be
thought of as the outward expression of your companys internal mission. Think of it this
way: Why does your organization exist? What is it there for? You have assets, employees,
vendors, relationships and internal systems. . . but why?

Values. Whats important to your company? What do you stand for? Every company has
certain ideals that define what it is and does. These ideals could be environmental, social
or ethical or could be standards of quality Whatever your companys values are, theyre
the very center of why youre unique and are a crucial part of your brand.

Culture. Each company in the world has its own ethos -- a particular style or panache.
Whatever you call yours, embrace it. There may be a million competitors in your market
space, but theres only one you. Your companys group culture is part of the fabric of
who you are.

History. Your history tells a lot about you. Look to the companys founders to help define
your identity today. What were their values? What were they trying to accomplish?
Every company came from somewhere. Your roots are an integral part of your
companys brand.
 Plans. When you look at your next 10 years, where do you see yourself going? Your
business plan and marketing strategy both influence how you present yourself and
should be included in your branding. If youre going after an entry-level market segment,
dont position yourself as a luxury brand. Your brand must encompass your real-world
objectives.

Consumers. This is really what its all about. Your customers are the reason you exist.
What are their needs? What do they think? Understanding your customers is a vital part
of branding. Because if you dont know whom youre talking to, why bother to say
anything at all?

It might take a bit of soul-searching to get at the essence of what makes your company special.
The trick is to take a clear-eyed look and see whats actually there. Because every brand is
beautiful, every brand is inspiring.

Ten ways to build a brand for your small business

Branding is just as important for small businesses as it is

for big names. Indeed, many corporate brands try to look more like small firms in order to
appeal to consumers that prefer to support independent brands. Dan Einzg of agency Mystery
explains how to develop your own brand identity

Many small business owners I talk to already understand that branding is essential to their
business, but a surprisingly high number of them don't really know why.

They recognise the link between successful businesses and strong branding and aspire to build a
brand that emulates similar success for themselves. And they understand that branding is not
just a logo or how their business is perceived externally. But too few realise that successful
brands have this branding at the heart of the business. So much so that in many ways you could
almost substitute the word brand for business.

Branding is a way of defining your business to yourself, your team and your external audiences.
It could be called the business identity, but only on the understanding that it embodies the
core of what the business is and its values, not just what it looks and sounds like. Customers of
all sorts of businesses are so savvy today that they can see through most attempts by
companies to gloss, spin or charm their way to sales.

The benefits that a strategically defined brand can bring are the same as when people fall in
love with each other. When customers connect emotively because they share the same
values and beliefs of a brand it leads to higher sales and better brand differentiation. It also
leads to loyalty, advocacy and can even protect your price in times when competitors rely on
promotional discounts to drive sales. It can also give you the ideal platform from which to
extend your offering or range.

Here are ten tips on how to successfully implement branding for your business.

1. Start by defining your brand.

Review the product or service your business offers, pinpoint the space in the market it occupies
and research the emotive and rational needs and concerns of your customers. Your brand
character should promote your business, connect with your customer base and differentiate
you in the market.

2. When building your brand, think of it as a person.

Every one of us is an individual whose character is made up of beliefs, values and purposes that
define who we are and who we connect with. Our personality determines how we behave in
different situations, how we dress and what we say. Of course for people it's intuitive and it's
rare that you even consider what your own character is, but when you're building a brand it's
vital to have that understanding.

3. Consider what is driving your business.

What does it believe in, what is its purpose and who are its brand heroes. These things can help
establish your emotive brand positioning and inform the identity and character for brand
communications.

4. Aim to build long-term relationships with your customers.

Dont dress up your offering and raise expectations that result in broken promises, create trust
with honest branding be clear who your company is and be true to the values that drive it
every day.

5. Speak to your customers with a consistent tone of voice.

It will help reinforce the businesss character and clarify its offering so customers are aware
exactly what to expect from the product or service.
6. Don't repeat the same message in the same way over and over again.

Alternatively, aim to make your key messages work together to build a coherent identity.

7. Dont try to mimic the look of chains or big brands.

Try and carve out your own distinctive identity. There is a big consumer trend towards
independent establishments, and several chains are in fact trying to mimic an independent feel
to capture some of that market. Truly independent operators can leverage their status to attract
customers who are looking for something more original and authentic, that aligns with how feel
about themselves.

8. Be innovative, bold and daring stand for something you believe in.

Big brands are encumbered by large layers of bureaucracy, preventing them from being flexible
and reacting to the ever-changing needs of their customers. Those layers of decision-makers can
make it hard for them to be daring with their branding.

9. Always consider your branding when communicating with customers.

Don't lose your pride or dilute your brand positioning with indiscriminate discounting. Try
offering more, rather than slashing prices. Promotions are an opportunity to reinforce your
brand mission.

10. The old way of stamping your logo on everything won't cut it.

The future of branding is fluid and engaging respect your customers' intelligence by not
giving everything away up front. Generate some intrigue and allow them to unearth more about
your brand for themselves. This is the way to foster ambassadors who revel in telling other
people what they have discovered.

Building the Total Product

A major responsibility of marketing is to transform a basic product concept
into a total
product. Even when an idea for a unique new pen has been developed into
physical reality
in the form of the basic product, it is still not ready for the marketplace. The
total product
offering must be more than the materials molded into the shape of the new
pen. To be
marketable, the basic product must be named, have a package, perhaps
have a warranty,
and be supported by other product features. Lets examine a few of the
components of a
total product offering.
Branding
An essential element of a total product offering is a brand. A brand is a
means of identifying
the productverbally and/or symbolically. Small fi rms are involved in
branding,
whether they realize it or not. An entrepreneur may neither know nor care,
but his
or her company has a brand identity. Exhibit 14-4 depicts the components of
a fi rms
brand identity. The intangible brand image componentpeoples overall
perception of a
brandmay be even more important to acceptance of a fi rms bundle of
satisfaction than
the tangible brand mark and brand name elements. For example, prior to
2003, Martha
Stewart had arguably one of the strongest brand images in the marketplace.
However,
her personal legal troubles tarnished the Martha Stewart brand and even
resulted in a
temporary suspension of her popular home design/cooking show on national
television.
More recently, though, the Martha Stewart brand has recovered much of its
former glory
in the marketplace.

verbal and/or symbolic

means of identifying a
product
brand image
Peoples overall perception
of a brand

The tangible components of brand identity are brand names and brand
marks. A
brand name is a brand that can be spokenlike the name Dell. A brand mark
is a brand
that cannot be verbalizedlike the golden arches of McDonalds.
Since a products brand name is so important to the image of the business
and its
products, careful attention should be given to the selection of a name. In
general, fi ve
rules apply in naming a product:
1. Select a name that is easy to pronounce and remember. You want
customers to
remember your product. Help them do so with a name that can be spoken
easily
for example, TWO MEN & A TRUCK (a moving service) or Water Water
Everywhere
(a lawn irrigation business). Before choosing to use your own family name
to identify a product, evaluate it carefully to ensure its acceptability.
2. Choose a descriptive name. A name that is suggestive of the major benefi
t of the
product can be extremely helpful. As a name for a sign shop, Sign Language
correctly
suggests a desirable benefi t. Blind Doctor is a creative name for a window
blind repair business. The Happy Company is a great name for a small fi rm
producing
bath toys for young children. However, Rocky Road would be a poor name
for a business selling mattresses!
3. Use a name that is eligible for legal protection. Be careful to select a name
that
can be defended successfully. Do not risk litigation by copying someone
elses
brand name. A new soft drink named Doc Pepper would likely be contested
by the
Dr Pepper company.
4. Select a name with promotional possibilities. Exceedingly long names are
not, for
example, compatible with good copy design on billboards, where space is at
a
premium. A competitor of the McDonalds hamburger chain is called Bobs, a
name that will easily fi t on any billboard. Radar Ball is a good name for a
golf ball
implanted with a homing chip that sends a signal to a hand-held device,
allowing
the ball to be found when it is lost.
5. Select a name that can be used on several product lines of a similar
nature. Customer
goodwill is often lost when a name doesnt fi t a new line. The name Just
Brakes is excellent for an auto service shop that repairs brakesunless the
shop
plans to expand later into muffl er repair and other car repair services.
brand name
A brand that can be
spoken
brand mark
A brand that cannot be
spoken
How They See It: Intellectual Property
Winston Wolfe
I have frequently told my attorney friends that if I were a
lawyer, I would be in the fi eld of intellectual property. It is a
fascinating subject and can be critical for a new business.
It almost goes without saying that any entrepreneur
should be respectful of the patents and trademarks, etc. of
others. You should likewise demand that others respect your
intellectual property.
If your business is based on a product or process that is
unique, pursue a patent as quickly as possible! Keep in mind
that protecting intellectual property rights can make or break
a business. It is suggested that you work with an attorney
whose specialty is intellectual property.
You should strongly consider licensing a brand name if
you have a product for which there is an appropriate available
name. It cant be emphasized too strongly that the name
must be appropriate for the product and the market. Smith
and Wesson, for example, is a great brand name for shooting
glasses, but not for baby diapers.
Licensing the right name can be magic. It can separate you
from the crowd and give you a great sales advantage. It can
also allow you greater profi t margins, since most consumers are
willing to pay more for a brand name they know. Be prepared
for scrutiny from the licensor company. Part of being a successful
entrepreneur is having a good basic understanding of the
laws governing intellectual property and the opportunities that

marks widely associated with their owners. A small fi rms special

signature, or
logo, should symbolize positive images of the fi rm and its products. And if
you dont
get it right initially, consider a new design. This is what Penny Pritzker did a
few years
after launching the Parking Spot, an off-airport parking service, in 1998. The
original
logo on the companys shuttle buses and other sites refl ected a ho-hum
image. In
2000, the Parking Spot unveiled a new design sporting black spots of
different sizes
dancing against a vibrant yellow background.17 The company now operates
11 sites in
6 cities.
Another example of a successful logo change is provided by the privately
held shoe
manufacturer White Mountain Footwear, based in Lisbon, New Hampshire. Its
black-andwhite
logo in block lettering was judged to be dated and unrepresentative of the
fashionforward
image it was marketing. A new logo was designeda stylized W that refl ects
the letter M, like a mountains mirror image in a lake.18(Take a look at the
logo on the
companys website at http://www.whitemt.com.) According to Elinor Selame,
president of
BrandEquity, who designed the logo, The logo can be your companys
hardest-working
employee.19
Michael Bierut, a partner at the design fi rm Pentagram, offers the following
tips
about logo design:20
1. Be simple. Some of the best logos are the simplest. Target has made a red
circle
with a red dot in the middle seem the very essence of affordable, hip
practicality.
H&R Block uses a green square in association with its name. Simple things
are
easy to remember and tend not to become outdated quickly.
2. Leave it open to interpretation. Dont try to design a logo that will explain
at a
glance the complete nature of your company. A logo that raises a question
and is
open to interpretation is better than one that attempts to offer all the
answers.
3. Be relentlessly consistent. Companies with strong graphic identities have
built
those identities through years of use. Pick a typeface. Pick a color. Use them
over
and over again, on everything. Before long, youll fi nd yourself with an
identifi able
look and feel. Thats more valuable than a logo, and anyone can afford it.
4. Dont be embarrassed about design. Things like logos and colors are
considered
cosmetic, and businesspeople sometimes avoid focusing on them. But
most
design-driven companies got to be that way thanks to a highly placed
advocate,
such as Thomas Watson at IBM or Steve Jobs at Apple. For a design program
to
work, it needs to be seen to be championed by important people.
5. Get good advice. You can go pretty far with common sense. But sooner or
later,
youll need to hire a professional graphic designer. The website of the
American
Institute of Graphic Arts (http://www.aiga.org), the largest professional
organization
for graphic designers, offers information about how to fi nd and work with
experienced professionals.
6. Dont expect miracles. Your companys image is the sum total of many
factors.
Make sure that your company looks, sounds, and feels smart in every way,
every
time it goes out in public. That is actually much better than a logo.
Trademark and service mark are legal terms indicating the exclusive right to
use
a brand. Once an entrepreneur has found a name or symbol that is unique,
easy to
remember, and related to the product or service, an attorney who specializes
in trademarks
and service marks should be hired to run a name or symbol search and then
to
register the trade name or symbol. The protection of trademarks is discussed
later in
this chapter.
Packaging
Packaging is another important part of the total product offering. In addition
to protecting
the basic product, packaging is a signifi cant tool for increasing the value of
the total
product.

trademark
A legal term identifying a
fi rms exclusive right to
use a brand
service mark
A brand that a company
has the exclusive right to
use to identify a service
Consider for a moment some of the products you purchase. How many do
you buy
mainly because of a preference for package design and/or color? Innovative
packaging is
frequently the deciding factor for consumers. If products are otherwise
similar to competitive
products, their packaging may create the distinctive impression that makes
the
sale. For example, biodegradable packaging materials may distinguish a
product from its
competition. The original Leggs packaging designthe shape of an egg
containing ladies
stockingsis an example of creative packaging that sells well.
Labeling
Another part of the total product is its label. Labeling serves several
important purposes
for manufacturers, which apply most labels. One purpose is to display the
brand, particularly
when branding the basic product would be undesirable. For example, a
furniture
brand is typically shown on a label and not on the basic product. On some
products,