Why Should You Build Your Brand?

You may have heard something about ‘branding’ in respect to advertising and marketing, but perhaps you’ve wondered what that means exactly.  At times it is better to explain something in relation to something else. That’s what I am going to do – so first I will start with positioning. You also may have heard that term, but also did not really know what it implied. Positioning is a marketing term that means to take a product or service and “position” it in the mind of your prospects/clients by comparing it with or against something already familiar in their minds.

To give you an idea of positioning, take Avis. Hertz car rental currently had first place in the market. By being first place, they preempted that position. Everyone knew that they were #1. So, Avis, to get any type of recognition at all, had to position themselves with Hertz, but actually couldn’t take their spot. Do you recall what they did? You got it – “Avis. We try harder.” By positioning themselves as the next best second runner up, they were able to capitalize on a larger portion of that market. Some people think branding is like positioning, but it is a little different. The main difference is that positioning is a fluid concept, but branding is more set in stone- it’s a hard-core recognition factor.

Branding is more about the following of rules because if you don’t follow those rules, things don’t look the same and people won’t remember you. When you put out your marketing pieces, you want to create a comparable look and feel so that people know you. And you want that similar look and feel on everything you put out.

Branding in your target marketing has to make you feel something. A tech company can’t have an old style font – you might not think they were very far advanced. Take a dry cleaner for example. His postcards, packaging, hangers, etc. need to have his logo, colors and font all the time all the same – on everything. That way when people get his postcards in the mail, they look for what specials that he has because they already like him and have him identified in their mind as something they are familiar with. If he is constantly changing what he looks like, when they get his postcard they don’t know whether they are looking at his specials or what some dry cleaner in general is providing. If they are already familiar with him, they are most likely going to pause and look at what he has to say.

Think about what message you want to portray. What do you want readers of your promotion to think about you? What specific image of your company do you want to put out there? That is your brand. When individuals see you continually as one thing, they begin to expect the same from you and they get used to you.

Branding in advertising and marketing is recognition

If you can get them to remember what it is you are offering, the more likely they will come in and get it…if not, you are depending on drive by traffic and are wasting your money in marketing. And don’t forget this very significant marketing truth – if you’re only planning to advertise merely one time then branding is not going to help you. Branding is only for marketers that already understand the idea of repetition.