What’s In A Name?
What comes to mind when people hear your name?
Chances are, they may think about what you look like, your occupation, your sense of humor, where you live, or the church you attend.
Maybe they know you as a good cook or an experienced hunter or a talented athlete or a trustworthy friend.
Truth is, all of us have brands that identify and differentiate us from others.
It’s the same for corporations or institutions that battle daily for loyalty and new business. To succeed in branding, we must understand the needs and wants of customers and prospects while delivering and integrating our brand strategies at every point of contact.
When we define brand, we often start with what it is not, because brand and brand building happen to be among the most misused and abused words in the marketing lexicon.
A brand is not a logo, a company or product name, a tagline or motto, a catchy jingle, or an advertising campaign. It’s not any one thing you can name or point to.
Instead, a brand is the sum total of all that is known, thought, felt and perceived about an organization, service or product. It’s a mental construct that exists only in our minds.
But just because we can’t touch or hold it doesn’t mean we can’t take action to thoughtfully and deliberately influence the experiences and perceptions that constitute a brand.
Actually, the ways we can shape a brand are limitless. Since a brand is the sum of all experiences with your organization — including its products, services, and people — every interaction has an incremental impact on it.
Ultimately, branding is a wise investment because branding works. For starters, it’s a phenomenal recruiting tool. Great employees want to work for companies with great brands, and great employees make great brands even better.
Also, brands are a shorthand for customers. They understand you more readily, accept you more easily and stay with you more happily if they know and like your brand. In an age when we’re bombarded every day with endless messages and choices about the products we buy and the companies we do business with, we need help cutting through the clutter.
A great brand simplifies things for customers. In fact, your customers need a great brand as much as you do.
Most organizations will spend significant resources this year marketing and advertising their services and products. Why not do it in a way that it creates an indelible, irresistible brand?