Home | Marketing eCourse | Online Marketing Kit | Web Hosting | Links | ClickBank Portal
Advertising Information | Blogging & RSS | Branding Information | Copywriting
Home | Marketing eCourse | Online Marketing Kit | Web Hosting | Links | ClickBank Portal Advertising Information | Blogging & RSS | Branding Information | Copywriting | |
| |
| Branding Information | |
|
|
|
Shattering the Branding Myths
If you've been online long, you're sure to have seen many "gurus" give their ideas about branding. However, much of what you read simply isn't true. Over the years, many myths about branding have taken hold in the online world and spread like wildfire. The fact is: They are doing you more harm than good. Branding is not one aspect of your marketing campaign. It is the combination of everything your business stands for. Branding is not created with a single, stand-alone event -- rather it is created over time through a series of strategically thought-out actions. Let's take a few minutes to shatter a few common myths about branding and to introduce constructive, proactive branding principles that you can build on. Branding Myth #1 - Your USP Is Your Brand Absolutely not. While your USP (Unique Selling Position) might be used to help convey your brand, it is not - in and of itself - your complete branding strategy. Branding Principle #1 - Your Brand Is All Encompassing Your brand is built, and conveyed, with every action you take, with every product/service you offer, with every piece of communication you send, and with every contact you make with your customers. Branding Myth #2 - To Be Remembered, You Must Have A Logo Also not true. Look at companies like Marlboro (cigarettes), Puffs (tissue), and Ziploc (plastic bags). They simply use a specialized font with the product name. No swirls, no images, no "logo." While logos certainly are not "bad," they are also not mandatory. Branding Principle #2 - Customers Remember You Primarily By How They Are Treated The most innovative logo, the most attractive colors, and the world's best logo designer will do you no good if you don't offer excellent service. Customers remember you and your company by the way they are treated. Was their shopping experience good? Were all their questions answered? Were their problems solved to their satisfaction? These things go way further to help customers remember you than any logo could ever hope to. Branding Myth #3 - Once Your Branding Strategy Is In Place, You Need Do Nothing More This is probably the biggest myth of them all! So many online businesses are led to believe that once they have an amazing USP, and a snappy logo they have accomplished everything in the realm of branding. However, just the opposite is true. Your branding strategy is an ongoing process, not a one-time event. Defining your strategy is just one part of that process. Here are some basic tips to help you define and implement your brand. Successful brands are those who are well defined and that have the support of the entire organization. Brands based on myths are those that simply have a spiffy logo, a "killer" USP, and the hope that the customer will "get it." Would you rather base your brand on sound principles or myths? That's what I thought! Copyright 2004 Diane Hughes About The Author Diane C. Hughes * ProBizTips.com FREE Report: Amazingly Simple (Yet Super Powerful) Ways To Skyrocket Your Sales And Build Your Business Into A Tower of Profits! ==>> http://madmarketer.com/diane
MORE RESOURCES:
Branding - Google News |
|
|
|
RELATED ARTICLES
FTC Reviews The Franchise Rule After more than a decade since the last attempt to update the 1970's Franchise Rule The Federal Trade Commission is at it again. May I ask why we are looking at reviewing these rules for franchising, where no problems exist? Why we are looking to tighten up ambiguities, which over time have occurred in this sector, when we should be dismantling the over regulations choking the industry? Why we are trying make rules upon rules, where no rules are needed since no problem really exits? Why can't we use the red magic marker approach and start drawing lines thru massive amount meaningless dribble required in these disclosure documents?Let me explain this philosophical thought for a moment. Trademark Your Business - Lessons Learned Small business owners learn many lessons the hard way - through the school of hard knocks. I recently experienced my own tough lesson concerning the importance trademarking my business name. Value Proposition Writing - Brand Identity Guru Your Value Proposition, or as I usually call it, your Core Marketing Message, is still misunderstood by most professionals. It's not just a tagline, sound bite or even an "Audio Logo. Your Brand is Your Promise! (So What Are You Promising?) When people mention the word "brand" they usually mean a well known, well defined company. That's why consumers frequently mention names such as Target, Rolex, Apple, BMW and others who have done an excellent job in crafting an image and sticking with it. Light Up Necklaces Help Promote Red Doors Movie at the 2005 Tribeca Film Festival Awards June 13, 2005 -- Jane Chen (Producer) of the Red Doors Movie stated, "The necklaces have been a huge hit. Several people have offered to buy them. Brand Identity - Corporate Identity and Brand Value Companies work hard building the strength of their brands - it is critical to the ongoing brand management process to have meaningful and actionable data-driven measures of these efforts.Building a brand, cultivating its strengths, pruning its weaknesses, and making it more valuable to its owners is the bottom line job of marketing. Brand Value - Brand Identity Guru Successful Guru marketers have a secret weapon that they use every single time they communicate about their businesses. It's one of those intangibles that are easily misunderstood. Blonds Have More Fun! In the book, The Blond Knight of Germany, American authors Toliver and Constable detail the life of the greatest fighter pilot to ever fly, Germany's Erich Hartmann. During WWII, Hartmann recorded 352 confirmed in-flight victories. Tips for Creating Brilliant Business Names Imagine if Yahoo! had been named TheInternetDirectoy. Or StarBucks was christened "Premier Coffees". The Art of Successful Branding Branding: it's a term that carries great weight in the world of advertising. Successful branding is best illustrated by the world's most prominent corporations, but it's no less important to the small business owner. Brand Name Identity in the Oil Business I submit to you that Brand Name Identity in the Oil Business is just a important today as it was when Mobil Oil and McDonalds were building their brands. Perhaps in the future it may even be more so. Are You Brand Worthy? Branding is one hot topic, although it is wildly misunderstood. To make things even more confusing, branding is often tossed in the same basket as marketing which makes its application to an entrepreneur or sole-practioner even more unclear. Build Brand Value BIG Time Ask your self this question, In which business are we really in? And stay far from the dark world of commodities.. The Brand Called You The best brands always try to do the right thing, so that their reputations will remain unsullied. But beyond that they grow, evolve and get better with time, while maintaining their special qualities from the past. Hummer is an Excellent Brand What size is your Hummer? Hummers Come in All Sizes; Tiny, small, medium and large and of course the most popular of all; The Oh My God Size. They make matchbox size Hummers, Tonka Toy size and adult size. Choosing the Right Color Palette Color is a highly personal experience - everyone has favorite colors, and other colors that they absolutely don't like. So, how do you determine which colors that will work for your business identity, and that will send the right message to?We have developed several methods and approaches for determining successful color palettes. Branding Article: Pepsis Missed Brand Opportunity I love Pepsi. It's that slightly sweeter taste and the all-American logo combined with the non-conformist statement that, well, it's not Coke. Branding On The Web Is Like Mining For Fools Gold I am sick and tired of marketing geeks touting the beauty of branding, brand building and just spouting branding in any context, especially when the term is used with "internet" or "web" or "digital!" You can't have a conversation today for more than five minutes without some marketing type throwing in a line about brand building!Branding doesn't work with the net's warp speed - look at some of the leading online brand builders, including a certain big three TV network here in the states and a book seller in Seattle trying to do classic brand extension, from books to barbecues.We tell our B2B clients to build a revenue-producing online brand by developing a campaign that sells the value of their goods or services! Forget the esoteric, very expensive brand building campaigns that have no measurable impact! Here are my ten "cliff notes" to building an effective B2B Brand Online, B2C coming next article. Jan Verhoeff: Brand Your Market Marketing potential of any product is based on recognition and quality. Name based recognition happens with a variety of products. Corporate Branding and Professional Logo Design Any business with the minimum interest to be successful should concentrate on developing their corporate image and when I say "any business", I mean it, absolutely any business-even if it's a mom-n-pop shop. "Corporate image" might be a big word for such small ventures, however, what I meant by that is how the business wants themselves to be perceived by their customers.
|
|
Home | Marketing eCourse | Online Marketing Kit | Web Hosting | Links | ClickBank Portal Advertising Information | Blogging & RSS | Branding Information | Copywriting |
| Copywrite © 2006 www.AdAdvantageSuccess.com All Rights Reserved. |
