I wish I had a dollar for every time I’ve heard a business owner say something like, “We don’t care about branding and brand image and all that stuff, we just want to sell products.”
Well, actually I do have a dollar. Because some of these people eventually hired me to create branding programs for them and they were so glad they did.
But I understand the thinking—I really do. When many small business owners think about branding, they are thinking of something that, to their mind, is expensive, impractical, unnecessary, and wasteful.
In other words, to them,
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branding suffers from a poor brand image
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Which is exactly my point. The way people think about your product, your service, your company, even your advertising has a powerful effect on whether they buy from you or not. And the way people think and feel about you—that IS your brand image.
The Brand Image You Already Have
In other words, you’ve already got a brand image whether you know it or not. And that brand image is either helping your sales or hurting your sales.
A simple example. Suppose a college has two history professor and both teach basically the same information, following the same curriculum. One of the professors has a dry, monotone, boring delivery. The other professor has a lot of personality, is very animated in his delivery, tells a lot of stories. It’s clear that he likes kids and loves his subject and wants them to love it.
Same basic information. Two different approaches. Two different “brand images.” As word gets around, which professor will more kids tend to choose? In which class will kids tend to pay attention better and learn more? I’m putting my money on the second professor.
The first professor may not realize that the thing that is hurting his attendance doesn’t have anything to do with the information he delivers or his mastery of the subject (his product). It has to do with his personalty, style, approach (his brand image).
He might even think, “Personality, image, that stuff’s not important.” But he would be wrong. It’s not the only thing that’s important, but it IS important.
And we all know this. In fact, we practice it all the time. Suppose I came to visit your business for a marketing meeting and showed up in a sweat shirt and jeans (the way I’m dressed right now as I write this). How do you think it might affect the way you and your co-workers think about me and my marketing advice? It would be difficult not to be affected by my appearance, right?
We see this everywhere. Have you noticed how most people on motorcycles dress? The majority of them wear black leather. That’s part of the image of a motorcycle enthusiast—just as much as golden arches are part of the McDonalds image!
How Do You Want People to Think About You?
So your business is going to have a “brand image” whether you like it or not and whether you think about it or not. If you don’t think about it, you might find that customers have already developed a brand image for you in their minds, just like those students had a brand image for the monotone history professor. And if you let the marketplace choose your brand image for you, you might not like what they come up with.
But if you’ll create your own branding program, you’ll have an opportunity to affect how people think about your product or service in some very positive, strategic, business-building ways.
And that is the key: branding is about choosing how you want people to perceive your product or service and then communicating with them in a way that triggers and reinforces that perception. It’s about how you want people to think about you.
This leads me to a couple of warnings—a couple of common branding mistakes that it’s easy to fall into.
Branding Mistake #1: A Wart on a Cow’s Butt
Some businesses think they have a brand when they really don’t. They create a logo, maybe add a clever tag line. Maybe they even have a mascot in their advertising.
I hate to tell you this, but that’s not necessarily a brand. It might be a wart on a cow’s butt!
It’s like the cowboy who was showing off his herd of cows to a friend. The friend said, “Where’s your brand?” He pointed to the rear end of one of the cows. “See that wart, that’s how I recognize that one. It’s cheaper than buying a branding iron.”
Crazy? Not any crazier than the half-hearted, penny-pinching low-impact ways that many companies use to try to brand themselves. Just because you have a logo doesn’t mean you have a brand.
Branding is about much more than just a logo and tag line; it is about owning a big idea in the minds of your target audience. It’s about deciding how you want people to think about you and then communicating in a way that get’s them thinking like that. It’s about using marketing and advertising to enhance and expand your reputation.
Branding Mistake #2: The Useless Branding Iron
A brand has to grow out of what you stand for as a business. But then it has to get into the minds of your target audience.
Without that process, your company might end up like the cowboy who finally invested in a branding iron. When his friend came over, looked at the herd, and said, “Where’s your brand?” he proudly held up his branding iron. “Here it is!”
He just forgot one thing: the brand doesn’t mean anything until it’s branded onto the cow’s hide.
And in marketing, your brand doesn’t mean anything until it is branded on the minds of your target audience!
You might have all the branding tools—a logo, website, brochure, etc. But the question is, do you have an actionable plan for getting that thought branded into the minds of your target audience?
And are you staying with that plan, month after month, year after year, until you own the sweet spot in consumers’ minds?
Until then, you don’t have a brand.
Over the next few weeks, we’ll look at some simple branding tools and approaches you can use to create a brand and engrave it on the minds of your target audience.
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