This may come as a surprise... to you, but Branding is more than just Logo and Business or Product Name recognition.
Branding is "The total emotional and intellectual involvement your prospects and customers have with your business and products."
This article addresses 5 basic problems and questions about Branding:
How Are Brands Created ?
=> Branding by "Personal Experience"
This creates the strongest bond between your customers and your business and products.
Your customer service, front and back end offers must be of high quality, in order to create exceptional "Personal Experience". This starts a virtuous cycle.
Exceptional "Personal Experiences" lead to general public and market acclaim spread by word of mouth and other publicity. In turn, this feeds into a still stronger Brand, starting the cycle all over again.
However, always remember it is easier to create a negative Brand than it is to create a positive one, by offering low or poor quality and value products, services and customer support.
=> Branding by "Indirect Experience"
For many direct marketers, "Personal Experience" Branding is difficult and not easily achieved because sales that lead to "Personal Experience" are not easily made !
The "Indirect Experience" strategy relies on creating a consistent, repeating association to the product in your prospects mind.
Marketers use a variety of tactics to achieve this aim.
* Jingles in audio visual media
* Using Slogans
* Advertising through classifieds, display, press releases, and give away products and information.
* Sponsorship of media, cultural, sporting and other events
Brand Building On The Internet - The Issues
The Internet has re-defined Branding models of the past because it has levelled the playing field, for both consumers and businesses.
Prospects and customers are more involved with businesses and products than they were in the past.
Research of products and services, before purchase is easier.
Consumers have so much choice now they are no longer easily "taught" loyalty to a particular Brand.
Consumers are less willing to form bonds or create "loyal" associations with products and businesses.
On the other side of the coin, businesses have much more competition and must be more customer focussed than ever before.
Companies that thrive and stay in business recognise building lasting relationships with existing customers is more profitable, than always trying to find new customers.
A World of stronger consumers who by-pass your direct and indirect experiences with a click of the mouse, is difficult for Brand builders.
On the Internet those that succeed make profits, the rest fail.
The Cost And Value Of A Brand.
Brand building has a cost in time, money and effort.
The cost of Brand building is easily quantified in Dollar terms.
The value of a Brand is harder to establish because it involves measuring emotional and intellectual associations that might not necessarily translate into cash sales.
Not understanding the value, but clearly understanding the cost of Branding, some marketers decide to get round this problem by competing solely on price.
This is a short sighted tactic because it invites "price wars", and if you get involved in a "price war" against an opponent with deeper pockets you are bound to loose.
A better strategy is to compete on high product value and build quality Brand recognition over time.
Brands Are Not Eternal
Brand building is an ongoing Business strategy.
The emotional and intellectual associations and recognition that together make up Brand loyalty wear off if not re-energised frequently.
Brands are subject to fashion, fads and change, and understand recognition is not the same as popularity.
Your market may recognise your Brand, but that may not translate into sales if the association is unfashionable.
The temptation, in such circumstances, is to spend less on Branding, cut prices, or , drop the business line altogether.
These are knee jerk reactions to uncontrollable events when taken in the short term. A measured initial response is to re-invent the Brand, freshen it up and market it to a new generation of consumers.
Many businesses re-invent, and re-brand themselves and go on to achieve new consumer acclaim.
Strategies For Brand Building
Here are a few short to medium term tactical measures you can start using today to kick start your Brand building program.
* Get a professional web site with customised headers, footers and logos - Make your "visitor experiences" happy ones.
* Advertise regularly using paid channels where you can. If money is a problem, use f'ree advertising, but advertise regularly !
* Write useful articles and publish regularly. Invite visits to your site through your resource box.
* Syndicate your articles and build personal name recognition using a tool such as Name Branding Syndicator available from http://www.highprofitsoftware.com/syndicator/
Visit http://www.simplyeasier.com/mbd to see how you can get this tool for F'ree as part of a product bundle.
* Brand your business by associating and complimenting other succesful products - Develop a quality reciprocal link and partnership strategy.
Try products like Zeus (http://www.cyber-robotics.com/) and Arelis (http://www.axandra.com/index.htm) for this tactic.
* Use a good autoresponder service and communicate frequently with your customers and prospects giving useful, and personal information.
There are many good tools for this tactic, but try Getresponse (http://www.getresponse.com) or Aweber (http://www.aweber.com) for a start.
* Use Zip Brander available from Russell Brunson of http://www.zipBrander.com/ to put your products, affiliate programs and other offers in front of your purchasers easily and frequently.
Branding your business and products is a key part of your success strategy.
You want people to associate your business name and products with high quality, and high value.
Successful Brands make money - just ask Microsoft, Levi, Ford, Coke.
Start Branding your business and products today, and generate maximum lifetime customer values.
(c) 2004 Charles Kangethe
About The Author
Charles Kangethe of http://www.simplyeasier.com is a leading new wave Netpreneur and a published author from England. The "Simply Easier" brand name is your guarantee of high value, quality Marketing Products, Services and Resources.
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AP - Pounded by a fierce financial crisis, the country is sinking deeper into economic despair and is likely to be in the hole well into next year, forcing more Americans into the ranks of the unemployed.
AP - California's highest court agreed Wednesday to hear several legal challenges to the state's new ban on same-sex marriage but refused to allow gay couples to resume marrying before it rules.
AP - President-elect Barack Obama promised the voters change but has started his Cabinet selection process by naming several Washington insiders to top posts.
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AP - King Herod may have been buried in a crypt with lavish Roman-style wall paintings of a kind previously unseen in the Middle East, Israeli archaeologists said Wednesday. The scientists found such paintings and signs of a regal two-story mausoleum, bolstering their conviction that the ancient Jewish monarch was buried there.
AP - The Dallas Mavericks didn't need Josh Howard as much as the Houston Rockets missed Yao Ming on Wednesday night.
Reuters - A 6 percent fall in Asia pushed world stocks to their lowest in 5- years on Thursday, while oil fell below $53 and safe havens such as the yen gained on fears the global recession and a financial crisis will get uglier.
Reuters - Japan's exports to Asia fell in October for the first time since 2002, showing that the fallout from the credit crisis has spread to neighbors such as China and adding momentum to investors' flight to the safety of cash.
Reuters - Chances dimmed that a last-minute plan being crafted by Republican senators, with White House support, to provide $25 billion to bail out U.S. automakers would receive enough backing from Democrats to pass before the end of this week.
Reuters - The U.S. financial system still needs at least $1 trillion to $1.2 trillion of tangible common equity to restore confidence and improve liquidity in the credit markets, Friedman Billings Ramsey analyst Paul Miller said.
Reuters - U.S. President-elect Barack Obama's top choice to lead the U.S. Department of Homeland Security is Arizona Gov. Janet Napolitano, CNN reported on Wednesday, citing multiple sources.
Reuters - Oil fell for a fifth straight session to approach $50 a barrel on Thursday as the fallout from the credit crisis hits the global economy, crimping demand for fuel.
Reuters - Wall Street's pain is rippling through U.S. small businesses, as bankers who once pulled in million-dollar bonuses lose their jobs and cut back spending on everything from parties to home improvements.
Reuters - California's Supreme Court on Wednesday agreed to hear a legal challenge against the state's voter-approved ban on gay marriage and let the ban stand in the meantime.
AFP - Asian stocks tumbled Thursday as global economic gloom deepened following a plunge in Japanese exports and a warning from the Federal Reserve that the United States could be in recession next year.
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