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Building and Maintaining Your Brand

Branding is a fairly ambiguous topic to most people. The concept is typically associated with logos and slogans but when it comes down to determining an actual definition, things tend to get a little hazy. So what is a brand? A brand is the sum of all the experiences and associations that are attributed to a company, product or service. For the sake of this discussion we will be referring to brand within the context of your company, so in this case, a brand encompasses all the information and interactions that the population at large has ever had with your organization. It reflects your customers’ experience and is an indicator of your reputation within the community. It is what you’re selling to customers above and beyond a product and a service, and it is what will make you stand out from a crowd if it is well defined.

This article will discuss the process of creating and building a brand. It will focus on managing a brand and assist you in the process of reviewing your brand strategy as the market evolves.

Creating a brand

First and foremost, when you are looking at creating a brand you need to assess your strengths. Consider what you’re good at and what your “company” values are. Do you possess particular skills, knowledge or value-added pieces that you believe are competitive advantages? A competitive advantage is an asset or attribute (or combination of them) that is unique to your company and gives you an edge over your rivals in the eyes of the consumer. Come up with a list of promises you make to your customers, based on your competitive strengths. These will become your brand values. It is important to remember two things when coming up with brand values: firstly, that you must always be able to deliver them to your customers and secondly, that your brand values must align with your customer’s requirements. Assess things like your customers’ motivations, why are they buying? and what benefits can you offer them? Odds are it goes beyond something as simple as price.

If you can, try and make contact with your customers and ask them what their looking for in a retailer; this information is useful because it will assist you in further aligning your business to their needs. It will also help you determine if the values you’re trying to promote match their requirements. If they do, great! You’re on your way to developing a useful brand. If not, reassess the situation; consider whether you’re accurately promoting the benefits you provide or whether you’re targeting the appropriate customer segment.

If you can’t easily contact your customers, research the situation, what types of values do your successful competitors promote? Is there anything there that you can capitalize on? Also consider your needs as a consumer. Try putting yourself in your customers’ shoes and realistically assessing what you would expect from a retailer. Keep that in mind when you’re building your brand values.

Building your brand

One of the most important steps in building a brand is consistently communicating your brand values. Every point of contact with a customer or potential customer should support the message your brand is conveying. Areas you need to focus on include: Your business’ name, all slogans and logos, your website, your eBay listings, your pricing strategies and your advertising messages. These are just a few key examples, but fact of the matter is, any time you communicate to the general population the message has to be inline with your brand values. If this holds true, then your brand will be strengthened. However, should a brand make promises and fail to deliver, a customer will be less likely to engage your services and buy your product in the future; something that can seriously damage the success of your business.

Managing your brand

Properly managing your brand involves getting feedback from time to time. Check in with your customers (or assess your e-Bay detailed seller ratings) to ensure that you’re consistently adhering to your brand values. Ask for constructive feedback from both satisfied and dissatisfied customers on ways to improve your service offerings. Check in with what competitors are doing and compare and contrast your offering to see if you can find any areas for improvement. Brand management is a process of continuous evaluation and improvement. All these tips will help you stay in tune with your customers and ensure that you deliver what your customers require.

An important point to note is that customers evolve and change; regular feedback will help ensure that you keep your brand relevant within the scope of their needs and wants. Keep in mind that a good brand requires consistent monitoring and management; even well-established brands have to work hard to stay that way.

Reviewing your brand

As your customer evolves and changes, or new trends or shifts in the market occur it may be necessary to review your brand values and promises and make changes where necessary.

Several things to keep in mind are firstly, that your customers may have built up an emotional attachment to your brand; any changes you are considering should take this into consideration as they can do a world of damage if you’re not careful. Coca Cola discovered how devastating this could be when they tried to introduce a product called New-Coke in 1985. Taste tests performed well across the market (significantly better that both “old” Coke and Pepsi), however when they tried to launch the new product and phase out the old one, they were unprepared for the emotional attachment the public had formed to the old brand. The ensuing backlash caused the company to return to the old formula and rename it Coca-Cola Classic.

Secondly, as tempting as it may seem to change a logo or slogan if you are experiencing troubles with your customers’ experiences, it is highly inadvisable. A minor change will not solve the underlying problem and it will persist even under the new name, logo or slogan. A far better idea would be to assess your apparent areas of weakness and make a concerted effort to change your service plan where needed as soon as the issues are brought to light. Again, regular customer feedback will emphasize any areas that need improvement or do not align with your brand promise.

A final note to consider is that the review process can also shine light on future areas of growth (new product lines) as well as allowing you to critically assess whether your brand can manage that. In some cases, if customers associate a brand particularly strongly with one product, a new product offering may require a different brand altogether.

Branding is a very powerful tool if used correctly; the image it creates in the consumer’s mind can move beyond specific product features, and colour schemes. It can defy logic and become highly emotional. It extends beyond logos and slogans and encompasses the full gamut of a customer’s interaction with a company. Managed properly it can make your business stand-out from the competition. If managed negatively or not at all, you may not survive the experience. Every business owner wants to be their customer’s first-choice; the proper branding will play an important role in helping you gain that.