When I travel abroad, I love to do research by looking through guidebooks, travel magazines, and the Internet in search of popular as well as off-the-beaten-track sights, good locally owned hotels that reflect the country's culture, and charming restaurants serving well-prepared regional specialties. So I develop an expectation about the experience I’ll have before I arrive at my destination.

That’s what branding does. You must understand the needs and wants of your prospects and customers if you expect to succeed in your branding efforts. Every exposure to your company—a TV commercial, a letter, a print ad, a phone call, a visit to your Website—creates either a positive or a negative brand image.

Delivering Your Messages to the Right Audience

Who’s your target audience? It’s important to understand not everyone is a prospect for your products and services. So why waste money trying to reach people who aren’t in a position to buy?

Focus your messages on those who are truly potential customers or who can refer you to prospects. Then clarify your message by focusing on the benefits that customers receive from your products or services.

Now decide how you’re going to communicate your brand strategy to your target audiences. And use ongoing communication to maintain brand awareness.

Brand Promise

Your brand is your promise to your customers about the value you provide. It communicates the benefits they can expect from your company and what differentiates your product or services from those of your competition. It demonstrates that you’re an expert at what you do…so your prospects should consider your company first and foremost.

It’s also critical your employees respect your brand promise. Your employees are valuable assets—and they must be well trained so they support your brand promise or they’ll diminish your brand identity. That means you need to be sure your sales force and customer service representatives know how to enhance your brand identity through effective personal, phone, and e-mail communications.

Brand Standards

By taking the time to establish brand standards and to consistently evaluate your processes, you’ll be able to maintain brand integrity. A good brand achieves these objectives:

·        Delivers a clear and consistent message.

·        Validates your credibility.

·        Creates an emotional connection with your target prospects.

·        Motivates the prospect to buy.

·        Creates customer loyalty.

It’s crucial when developing your brand that you determine your visual elements and your brand message and integrate them across all communication channels…both online and offline…consistently, so you reinforce your messages throughout all your marketing efforts.

Ensure your brand guidelines communicate your brand identity. That means logo, color palette, design, key messages, and tone should be consistent to be memorable.

Holistic Approach

Branding is more than marketing. It’s not just a logo, a tagline, or a brochure. What and how you communicate—both visually and verbally—affect your brand identity. So be sure you integrate every touch point with your prospects and customers so your brand experience matches the image you’ve created.

If you'd like help with your branding efforts, please contact Legato Marketing and Communications at 920-544-4068.