3 Tips for Branding Success

Branding is a very hot topic.  It seems like everywhere you turn, marketing and communications media are talking about the importance of branding for companies and individuals.  Yet with all the emphasis on ways to build a strong, successful brand it’s amazing how a few common mistakes can quickly destroy your brand.  I was reminded of this fact while reading a recent article on Ragan.com, “25 ways to screw up your brand,” by Shanna Mallon.

Reading the many blunders she describes, several common threads emerge. A slip-up in any of these key areas can destroy your brand as easy as 1, 2, 3.  Here are the three major elements of branding success.

Be Distinctive

Branding is the way you define your company or product.  Creating the proper perception is critical, and is affected by everything from the brand’s name to what market segments you pursue.

Be Consistent

Once you’ve identified what makes your brand distinctive, communicate that message consistently to internal and external audiences.

Be Responsive

The rapid growth of social media has made it more important than ever to be responsive to customers.

For more details on how these elements affect your brand, see the Viewpoint article “Brand Destruction is Simple as 1, 2, 3.”

BRANDING -- It's All About the Emotional Business Connection

Entrepreneurs don't always take the time to find out what their customers truly want, which is to simply feel good about the product or service they're purchasing. It's one thing to provide a product that's in demand or a service that gets the job done. But it's an entirely different proposition to make someone feel good about committing to make a purchase.

How Emotional Branding Works

Emotional branding is the public relations art of making your customer feel good about doing business with you. If your business is an online store, for example, do you take the extra time to send a "thank you" email to your customers? Do you make your website easy for your customers to navigate? Is your website easy to follow -- from first hit to "check out?" Take the extra time to do the little things for your customers, and they'll be more likely to feel good about what you're selling to them.

Emotional branding has been around since the beginning of sales. It's about establishing an intimate relationship with your customers where you understand what your customers want and your customers understand you.

Three Questions To Ask Yourself About Branding

To best understand your customers and to best create an intimate emotional connection with them, you should ask yourself three questions about your business.

First, what's important to the people whom you want to attract to your business?

Second, what are the main concerns of the people you want your business to attract? If you sell car tires, your customers are concerned about their quality, how long they'll last, and that you'll install them properly. If you can reassure your customers that you can do these things, you will create an emotional branding connection with them and are more likely to make the sale.

Lastly, what do you do to address the concerns of the people you want your business to attract? Do you make sure you only buy tires from reputable suppliers? Do you only offer new tires? Do you only hire certified mechanics to install the tires on customers' cars? These are all things that you can do to calm customers' fears and create an emotional branding connection with them.

Keep Change In Mind

Customer needs change over time. To maintain an emotional connection with your customers, you must change with your customers' needs. Find out what is important to them, and offer those products and services. Prove you're a company that meets your customers' needs and you will connect intimately with them. Customers will keep your brand in mind and feel confident about buying from you. They'll be there for you as long as you're there for them.

Sports Marketing: Effective Business Branding

One of the most effective branding tools available today is a good sports marketing strategy. Sports marketing is the art of transferring the passion fans have for a sport to your brand name. It's not always easy, but it can work for you if you follow some general rules.

Affiliate Your Company With A Sport Or Team

An effective branding campaign means more than printing t-shirts for your employees to wear at sporting events. And it's not just about buying advertising space on billboards at your local ballpark. An effective campaign is one that truly causes fans to feel passion toward your product or service. Your marketing goal is to trigger something inside consumers to make them feel like they have no choice but to do business with you, because they actually feel passion toward your business.

The best branding efforts are ones that closely link your brand name with a particular sports team or a sport in general. Why? True sports fans passionately love their teams and will do anything to show it. They believe they are part of the team and that they can actually will their team to win.

You want your brand to be mentioned right along side the team every chance you get to grab some of this passion and fan ownership.

Sports Marketing Techniques

Depending on your marketing budget, you can buy your way into having your product or service mentioned along side your local sports teams. Sponsorship costs often depend on the team's popularity. For example, the Chicago Cubs cost more to sponsor than its minor league affiliate in Peoria, Illinois.

The larger the fan base and the more passion the fans have, the more effective a marketing campaign can be. One effective branding strategy is to find the team or sport with the fan base you want to target for potential customers and to invest your company's dollars into advertising with that organization. The goal is to have your company name or brand seen right alongside their name every chance you get-on TV commercials, radio ads, billboards, t-shirts, ball caps and event programs. You want the fans to closely affiliate their passion for their team with their passion for your company. Take note of the Adidas brand name prominently displayed on the uniforms worn by the lady track stars pictured at the 2010 Drake Relays in Des Moines, Iowa.

Post-Game Marketing Opportunities

Another effective branding technique is to convince the fans to shop with your company immediately following a game. Some companies place advertisements on the backside of ticket stubs. For example, if the local team wins or scores a certain number of points, the advertisement encourages fans to come to their store and get something for free or at a sizable discount. However, if you are considering this tactic, just make sure your company can handle an increase of business in the couple hours following a game.

With planning, advertising dollars, and follow-through, sports marketing can be a very effective tool. If you carefully consider the target audience and choose promotions that complement your firm's products and services, you can use sports marketing to capture an untapped, loyal customer base.