Thread Intelligence Article

Many companies underestimate the worth of their brand. Some even believe that branding is only a concern for large corporations. That couldn’t be further from the truth. The Hewlett Packard and Dyson brands were both born in their owner’s personal garage as a small brand with big vision. Your brand (personally and/or professionally) is everything. Just take a look at any celebrity, politician, athletic apparel or golf company. They live and die by their brand because they know their brand is what makes the cash register ring.

With the constant and ever-increasing marketing messaging that each of us is assaulted with every day, the importance (e.g., value) of a strong brand continues to be one of the most critical business challenges facing companies today. Regardless of industry - there’s Google, Coca Cola, Oprah, Coach, and Cadillac - a strong and consistent brand makes the difference between a mediocre company and a powerhouse. Dedicating resources to define and communicate your brand in a consistent manner can be the single factor that literally transforms your business and your profits.

So why don’t more companies pay attention to this critical need? Because many companies believe that branding is merely a component of marketing. But that’s not the reality. Branding is not marketing. Branding is about much more than merely a marketing strategy – it’s about business strategy and it’s about people.

Your brand represents the point of truth between what your company really is, what it wants to become, and how people perceive you. Branding is how you create a company that successfully executes a strong vision, winning strategy, and powerful tactics in order to provide reliable solutions to critical business challenges. Marketing is how you then share your brand (company) with the world.

Every interaction that people – inside and outside – have with or about your company has an impact on your brand.

Branding is that involved. And that is why it is so critically important for you to carefully design it and control it. Companies must truthfully know who and what they are and how to clearly and consistently communicate that message to their customers.

Branding begins on the inside as a core function of operations. It begins with your internal staff and then permeates out to external audiences. Any creative graphics company can put a slick look on the face of a company, but if you can’t pay off on that marketing promise – if your marketing pieces don’t accurately reflect who you really are and what you can deliver – then your brand will be weak and your marketing efforts wasted.

While brand development isn’t difficult, it does take a dedication of time and resources to make it work. Branding involves:

• Understanding the goals and core values of your company.
• Identifying the value you bring to the market, your customers and to your employees.
• The execution of integrated communications through a number of tactical tools (media) – things like company name, logo, signage, website, sales collateral – to both your internal and external audiences

More simplistically, it comes down to three basic questions...

• Who are you?
• What do you do?
• How are you different?

Too many times, companies don’t truthfully answer these questions and, as a result, their brand becomes diluted. Worse yet, it becomes completely unreflective of who/what the company really represents. That’s why properly defining and then communicating your brand in a manner people can understand or associate with is so important. It’s a two-step process – define it and communicate it – with an overarching dedication to constantly controlling it. After all, even the best brand in the world, if not properly communicated, will fail if it’s not understood by your audience.

Your brand is a unique and indelible image that makes your company – the place, the name, and the experience - unforgettable. Your brand has to remain in the mind, emotion and will of the consumer to retain their business. Ultimately, the power of a strong brand is in its ability to influence purchasing behavior and that is accomplished by appealing to both the emotional and intellectual reasoning of people. If we can help people to understand the value of your company while making them feel good – making a connection with them – your brand will resonate.

Understanding how people process your brand message is just as critical as the core message itself. We all process information differently so it’s important that our brand message bridges the gap between left and right brain thinkers. Left brain people, for example, take an analytical view. They prefer straight forward information - black and white text - with graphic treatment being neither necessary nor appealing. At times, left brain people don’t process the graphic component of a brand. Right brain people, on the other hand, prefer a more creative representation – one that illustrates the written word through the use of appropriate graphic elements and color that embellish the message. A well designed brand (name, icon and message) will appeal to both sides of the brain, to all people. It will make that all important intellectual and emotional connection.

Organizations benefit when they understand that branding is very tribal in nature. People (employees and customers) want to be associated with something positive, with winners, with companies and/or products that are popular. This is an inherent piece of the human makeup. From the beginning of time, people have wanted to associate with a group or particular set of standards. And that is just as true today as it has always been. That’s why your brand is critical to your business success. If you create, communicate and control your brand, there won’t be any surprises. People will naturally be drawn to you. It comes down to a very simple formula:

Brand Definition + Brand Awareness + Brand Experience = Brand Loyalty

Whether your customers are internal or external, left or right brain thinkers, a strong brand will keep them engaged. A strong brand moves the market to select your products and services over your competitors’. A strong brand improves employee morale and performance, effectively decreasing costs and increasing productivity. The value of a strong brand cannot be underestimated. So don’t leave your brand to chance or allow others to define it for you. Employ the help of an expert who understands the art of branding and who will become your company’s best ally. The ongoing savings will provide returns far greater than the initial investment. Simply put, branding is an investment and not an expense. Build it and they will come!

About Thread Information Design: Thread Information Design is an integrated agency with proven expertise in strategy, marketing and technology. Thread uses a mix of best tactics and innovative thinking from each of these three areas to improve clients' business success.
Learn more at www.experiencethread.com.

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