Developing your brand and making it stand out in the marketplace

Identifying and creating the right brand for your product or service is critical to the life of the brand. “Have it Your Way”…”Have a Coke and a Smile”…”Be a Pepper, Drink Dr. Pepper”…”Like a Rock”. All of these slogans lead back to the companies that drove them into your head-Burger King, Coca-Cola, Dr. Pepper, and Chevy Trucks. These companies did their homework to build better brands and create stronger value around each respective brand than they already had.

Know your Market
The most critical beginning to developing a strong brand strategy is to understand the market in which you are trying to reach. Take a look at the brand you are creating and see if it matches with your market. If not, you will need to tweak it through the Creative Development stage in order to ensure it meets market needs.

Creative Development
As truck sales started declining in the late 90’s due to sloppy manufacturing, Chevy knew they would have to take immediate action. They developed the “Like a Rock” slogan to drive home the message to their target consumers that they needed a strong, well-built truck. Likewise, as your marketing department begins the creative process, you need to take a look at how your brand is currently perceived in the marketplace, and begin the creative aspects to building an effective branding campaign for your product or service.

Advertising
Well placed, well-written advertising is critical to driving home the message you are creating with your brand. If you are trying to target individuals overloaded with debt, you will want to run TV ads either during or at the end of prime time TV. With radio, you want to hit them on their way to and from work. This energizes them at both ends of the work day to both go to work and to return to work the next day. Select advertising in trade magazines or journals is also critical to the success of your brand strategy. Ensure that either your company or another similar to yours has had success and long-term growth through their advertising campaigns, and create an ad campaign guaranteed to make even the weariest business traveler take notice.

PR
When launching a new brand, effective public relations is critical. When Andersen Consulting switched its name to Accenture several years ago, they exercised a massive PR and Advertising campaign to ensure that the public knew that there were no longer any ties to Arthur Andersen, and that Andersen Consulting was a dead company. They still provided the same types of services initially, but as their new brand image grew through massive PR efforts, so did their ability to partner with like companies and build a product/service offering mix that is second to none in the industry.

Establish your Identity
Know what your brand will stand for, and stick by it. Allow your brand to drive new ideas to consumers or businesses, and continue to reinforce your message through PR, Advertising, and other forms of media. The key to strong brand identity and ongoing brand management is to ensure your product or service is one which you know is needed by your target marketplace, and one that has longevity that will enable the brand to continue on long after you’ve launched the product.