Marketing: A Simple Definition Of Brand
Marketing: A Simple Definition Of Brand
There’s been a lot of talk about what a brand is lately. We’ve had a description at Ad Cetera, Inc. since this business started. Your brand is the experience you deliver to your customers. A logo and design style may define your company’s ads, but your brand is what you sell and what your customers buy. If you promise quality and don’t give it, your brand is an albatross. If you say you have the best cup of coffee in the world and deliver something that tastes like burnt shampoo, your brand is probably your biggest impediment to growth and success.
On the other hand, if you promise the first, best, or newest anything and you deliver that 100% of the time, you’ve figured out how to unleash the power of your brand. If you’ve done your homework and your systems are thoroughly documented, you’re becoming unstoppable.
Face it. We’re all in the people business and we’re all in the customer service business. Some of us plan and execute marketing strategies. Some of us sell shirts with which Goth teens immediately identify. Others fly business travelers a million or more miles a day. Regardless, we’re delivering products and services to people. Just like in baseball, if there’s no follow through, there are no home runs. Or you can look at it like the golden rule. Treat people the way you’d love to be treated and you’ll build a positive attractive brand with momentum.
Another way to look at it is that your brand is a combination of what you promise and what you deliver. If you’re promising an exceptional customer experience, you’d better be treating your customers the way Nordstrom treats theirs. If not, change your business model.
Your logo helps customers and potential customers identify your products, your services, your trucks, your stores, your ads. How well your customers are treated, how well your products and services perform relative to what you’ve said about them, and how good, positive, exciting, and rewarding the customer experience you deliver is, all result from a well-defined and expressed brand. A great product sold with lots of noise and attitude may be just what you want from a New York style pizza place in Dallas, Tx. It may not work in a tourist town gift shop or a funeral home.
I’ve had clients ask for something like the Nike swoosh. I then ask them if they have $2 billion for a five year media blitz and the creative corporate culture to make that happen. No one’s gone for it yet. Why? Because the swoosh is worthless without the millions of hours of work, sweat, fear, risk, failure, and success that have gone into making Nike the fantastic brand it is today.
I’m assuming you’ve already defined your brand and it’s purpose. If not, we need to talk. To be successful in business the brand definition process needs to be taken very seriously. It deserves a lot of respect, research, time, and effort.
Do you want help with your brand? That’s why we’re here. We help businesses define and express their brands in ways that attract, engage, and motivate their best customers. Give us a call. We’d be happy to sit down with you to help unleash the hidden power of your brand.
