Identity and Branding
So you’ve got your blog, your site, and it’s optimized. Your analyzing your traffic every day and improving the accessibility of information. It’s a great product it’s a great service. Can people identify what is yours? they know it’s the best, they’ve used it, and know everything they need to know to avoid Joe schmoes best of the best that oops! makes your teeth fall out. Now the question is how does the customer identify in less than a second what is yours? and the answer to this is to build your identity, your branding.
Thinking of a brand and identity makes one think “Of coarse! I need a logo” yes and no. A logo is only one part of what an identity is. Branding is taking the essence of what your product feels like, what it smells like, how people use it, how much they pay for it, how hard you’ve worked to make it the best, and incorporating all that to create a stand alone personality that breaths life into your product or service. Branding is the ability to allow a potential client standing a mile away in Super Duper Mart Express to look down an isle past the junk food, past the clearance, past Tom Cruises new drama story and see your product. “I remember that color from somewhere, I’ve seen that box on the internet.” Sitting…at…HOME. Now your brand has done something quite amazing! it’s taken the impersonal feeling of standing in Quirky Mart and running across something familiar that was seen and read about in the comfort and safety of the HOME, pulling up first impressions experienced in the home and placed them in a two inch by two inch card board box sitting on a shelf lost among hundreds of thousands of products all claiming to be the best, all plastered with “as seen on tv” bright reds and yellows that scream and cry “buy me, buy me” (In fact! don’t ever self proclaim that your the best, let the person using what you have discover that fact by themselves) but there your established brand sits, quiet and still, confident and ready. Identified by consistency and repetition.
How do you acquire a brand? It’s already there, every product has a brand, everything has a personality in the art of business. This is because it all started as a thought that was influenced by perspective. The creator did not just make something, he or she invested a part of themselves into what the customer is looking at. Sometimes that aspect of what we create is not always vibrant enough to create a memorable and uplifting feeling in the client BACKED by the true quality of our hard work. So the question is not how do I acquire a brand?
The correct question is how do I project my brand? First, make sure it is uniform across all marketing collateral such as your web site, your blog, your business card, your store front sign, your packaging, your brochure, your suit, your chosen vocabulary, your motivation, and anything else during business hours.
Second, make sure it is dynamic. This aspect is very important, a brand is a delicate thing. There is a certain amount of admiration that someone should feel when viewing your brand. Admiration is essential because we all like good feelings, do not let your brand be bland and boring, and far exceeding any other thought about your brand…do not let it create feelings of restlessness unless your an angry death metal band, but even then do not let your brand create a feeling of unpleasantness, or in other words do not let it leave a sour taste in the mouths of those who pay for what you have.
Third, let it evolve. Start simple, with one central point to branch out from. This should be your avatar or your logo. You will find two years down the road after consistent re-building and re-evaluation that the theory of evolution is very true in the principles of branding.You will find two years down the road after consistent re-building and re-evaluation that the theory of evolution is very true in the principles of branding.
March 1st, 2010 at 12:25 am
Great post. I will read your posts frequently. Added you to the RSS reader.