Every company has a reputation. Everyone you meet will
form an opinion about your company, even if they have not
done business with you yet. The challenge is to manage your
reputation so that the opinion that people have of you is
positive. This is what creates a brand.
Brands have a number of strategic functions, enabling you
to:
For small businesses, branding is not about slick advertisements.
Small-business branding is about getting your target market
to see you as the preferred choice. Building a slightly
famous brand is not just about what you do; it's about what
you do differently from everyone else.
Building Your Brand
A brand is a promise of the value your clients will receive.
In an amazingly complex and competing world--where itís
increasingly hard to know whatís real and whatís
not--having your customers not only acknowledge but support
the promise of your brand is the key to building a thriving
business.
To become a brand, you've got to become relentlessly focused
on what you do that adds value. Do you deliver your work
on time, every time? Do you anticipate and solve problems
before they become crises? Do your clients save money and
headaches just by having you on the team? Do you complete
projects within the allotted budget?
Branding integrates customer service, sales promotion, public
relations, direct mail, newsletters, discounts, event sponsorship,
word of mouth and other communications tactics to present
a unified message about the company, its products or services.
Your brand will integrate all your marketing around a core
idea and vision. As a result, you will find it easier to
sell yourself, because your message will be uniform and
powerful. Every business needs to evaluate its brand identity
against the following criteria:
Relevance to the Market
A brand must stand for something that is meaningful to members
of a target market. Your brand encompasses the total experience
of doing business with you.
Consistency of Behavior
Customers must be able to depend on the brand to deliver
the same experience every time. Because your market experiences
your values through your brand, the only way they will truly
become loyal to your brand is through your dedication and
consistency.
Relationship-Building
A brand is not a logo or an advertising strategy. "The
strength of any brand is in the relationship it has between
a company and its customers. The stronger the relationship,
the more business they will do, and the more likely it is
that customers will refer them to their friends and business
associates.
Loyalty to the Customer Is Returned
The test of a brand is, in fact, the strength of loyalty
it generates. If you have a strong relationship with your
target audience, then you have a strong brand and a strong
business.
Reputation Is Priceless
The only way to be successful in business is by establishing
a good reputation, and a brand can help you do that. Your
reputation works as your strongest marketer by communicating
the relationship you have with people who've done business
with you, and your target market in general.
Good brands stand the test of time. To develop a brand that
will last a lifetime, go beyond what you do right now. Think
long term. Look at Coke, Ford and General Electric. No matter
what they sell or how they change over time, they can rely
on their brand equity build on a foundation of customer
trust to take them deep into their customerís trust
quotient and keep them there.
If you establish a place of trust and relevance in prospects'
minds, you're already in the door. The more people believe
in your brand, the more it will spread throughout your niche
market without your pushing. If your brand is clear, distinctive,
and easily understood, and expresses a unique, compelling
benefit that people believe in, it will bring you all the
business you can handle.
