Branding Your Business

What is a brand image?

Is it a logo? A slogan? A color scheme? A provided service?

The simple answer is, yes, it's all of the above. But it goes beyond that. A lot of businesses have slick logos or catchy slogans, but go unnoticed. So let's take a look at each individual item and see how it fits with your overall brand image.

Logos.

Having a good, well recognized logo can be the only thing your business needs when it comes to brand recognition and marketing. If you make your logo the central theme of your advertising and marketing materials, people will slowly start to associate your business with that image.

Some logos represent the products they sell like Red Lobster, but most don't. Think of McDonald's, BMW, Old Navy, Nintendo, Fed Ex and so on. But each one of these can be recognized anywhere in the world. My favorite example of this is Pepsi. Imagine going to a country where everything, even soda bottles, is written in a foreign language. Could you find a Pepsi if you wanted one? You bet. And highly recognized logos can be worth more than the product they represent.

I read a story a while back that said that if the Pepsi company lost every truck, building and piece of equipment they owned, they could go to virtually any bank and get a loan to replace it all, just by using their logo as collateral. That's powerful stuff.

Slogans.

Instead of coming up with a cool logo, your business might be better off with a slogan. Unlike a logo, a slogan can say exactly what your business does in just a few words. Think of the Federal Express right-on the-money slogan, "When it absolutely, positively has to be there overnight."

Another great thing about slogans is that they can change as your company changes, while popular logos are best left alone. McDonald's changes their slogans regularly for new, emerging markets.

Colors.

Like powerful logos, many companies rely on certain colors to identify their brand. If you saw a brown delivery truck with no logo, what company would you associate that truck with? Can you imagine UPS without the brown color?

But choosing a color requires more than just throwing a dart at a PMS swatch book. Brown was specifically chosen for UPS because the color represents strength and security. However, most companies shy away from using a specific color for branding purposes because coming up with the perfect choice is difficult, and you can't always rely on color in your marketing materials.

Services.

Focusing on a service you provide that no one else does - or that no one talks about - is another way to create a brand for your business. Think about what it is you do better than anyone else, or what you offer that others don't and use that as your main marketing message. Domino's Pizza did this famously years ago with their 30-minute guarantee.

Lenscrafters is another company that uses its one-hour service as part of their brand. And many times a particular service can be spun into a catchy slogan. Think of Cingular's recent Raising the Bar campaign.

Whether you're marketing your business to a local community or to the world, you should strive to create a brand for yourself. By branding your company, you not only set yourself apart from your competitors, but you make your company easier to identify in the marketplace. Most companies employ all of the techniques described, but many do surprisingly well with only one. Successful branding certainly takes time, money and effort, but the rewards to your business can come back tenfold.

Copyright 2007 Dina Giolitto, Wordfeeder.com Copywriting and Marketing. All rights reserved.

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