Branding - More Than Just a Statement - A Memory Scar

Conjure up in your mind broad rolling meadows with runs of cattle or stock of some type, all discriminate by virtue of a registered brand. That's a most common and accepted understanding of branding.You have just now used your mind to develop a picture that promises easy recall. You may not yet be aware but there's always a new secret marketing aid being developed and made available ... nearly every day of the week. I'd be one of many that could point out who the target group is for all of these hidden treasures and industrious salespeople. But if you're reading this, then take a bow and a large step forward! You are in fact the "demand" component of the supply that's being generated. Now what happens when you also join the ranks of the industrious? It doesn't take a whole deal of thinking to recognize that you can easily get lost in the traffic, especially if you are starting up a business of your own. Being known as an absolute is a very real way of defeating some of that traffic; not the only way but a very effective one.Your general copy writing and headline creation tactics certainly help the cause but in a saturated market environment you need to embrace every advantage.Exactly what then, can you do, to be noticed? Question well asked and the answer ..... consider branding yourself. The reason branding works is that it gives individuality to the value you provide to those that come to your site. If they don't come to your site then its through your e-mails, e-zines, blogs and advertisements. It makes folk recall your Site and perhaps even prompts them to bookmark. Do it right and they might even opt to scan for forthcoming product that carries your brand name. You'll be far more noticeable if you can create something that settles on someone's mind. Catch the imagination of your readers, use unique or quirky themes and make that difference that magnetizes your audience. By way of example, let me relate a branding experience using a quick story.... tangent if you will.There's a huge red rock located in the middle of Australia that was at one time known as Ayers Rock. More recently it has adopted the term Uluru. The rock and the country around it belong to a group of Aboriginal people called Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjara. So, the people also have been renamed and are now referred to as "Anangu" because it's easier. These people have a history rich in story and in this case they identify the various faces of the rock using that approach. One saga goes something like this..... A long, long time ago, in the time of the Tjukurpa, which the Aborigines call the dreamtime, the animals gave shape to a rock. There was a young woma python, or Kuniya, that was passing by and was surprised by a group of Liru, which are venomous snakes. Kuniya, not being from that area, was affronted by the Liru who threw spears at the python and killed him. So hard did they throw their spears that the points made holes in the rock. The Pythons ancestor, also a Kuniya, was so angered by this that he killed one of the Liru with a stick. So, on the west face of the rock there are holes that are said to be from the points of the Lirus' spears and on the south face of the rock, Kuniya the woma python can still be seen as a dark wavy line on Uluru. Now the story in itself doesn't mean a whole lot but if you are ever able to visit Uluru, you will happen to find a south and a west side of the rock that now has individuality because it's been branded. To any one else this is simply a rock but to you, you now know there exists Western and Southern rock walls that hold special understandings. These are unique and remembered even if not in the original light. Get yourself branded and stand out from the rocks that exist in your niche marketplace. Start with your ads, an article or two and build from that into your website. Regardless of what appearance might do to enhance any efforts, it's generally how you stick in a customer's mind that produces results.
About the Author
Dave Jones is a business promoter hoping to encourage new starters into improving their financial futures Sponsored By Williams Money Group

©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Internet marketing and keyword search - why with branding?

by: Angelique van Engelen / Williams Money Group

Online marketers are busy mapping that magical space where the overlap between real life and the internet is at its most poignant. Where else would they be looking than where real people are actually s p e l l i n g out what they are planning to buy - searches on the web? Every online marketer does it. Buying keywords like crazy. But that is just about how much you hear when you try to focus on this area of internet marketing. It's a wild goose chase and it's unlikely a method will materialize in any recognizable form until the dust has settled. If it ever will. The keyword business is about the most competitive business transacted over the web, so -as with most of the information on web related business- it's unlikely you will come across any lengthy piece with a comprehensive overview of what's going on where. It's somewhat ironic that it's live and learn because in theory, the marketing community should be in its walhalla with the arrival of the internet. Hasn't it been the marketing dream for centuries to get to the stage where a potential customer takes an action? At the end of a marketing ploy, in offline terms it's called the hit, the transaction, the sale, closing the deal. The specifics of keyword buying may be intransparent, but slowly more information is being gathered about the process of online buying. It is striking that this is not exactly a reversal, from the offline process, but slightly. From the beginning onward, the marketer can count on a lot more commitment from his potential customer simply because targeting is so much more specific if the process kicks off with the customer's action. Keyword marketing is much more powerful compared to the offline marketing techniques, simply because it is the customer's actions that set off the spiral. To forego the keyword search as a marketer means you miss out one vital element in the communication cycle your client goes through before purchasing a product. Inefficient marketing was mainly the issue leading to the demise of the dotcom sector earlier on and, having learnt their lesson the hard way, marketers are now finding out more about what customers really want before launching campaigns. From the customer's own words. Sounds great in theory. In practice, the landscape is bewildering to say the least. Having the rights to certain keywords means you are dominating the results that search engines will present to people who type in those words. What is so great about this is that unlike in the real world, online marketers have way more insight into what makes people buy. Because they have access to what actions customers take even before they would be onto them had they been in the offline world. Mountains of gold on the horizon. But the sector is still showing a lot of vulnerability and online marketing is in dire need of improvement simply because the phenomenon is so new. The big advantage to customers is that people can find what they are looking for faster and more efficiently than on any other medium. But still the gap between what customers are specifically looking on the web for and what they are offered is considerable. Customers are too often puzzled, searching a product on the web and finding lists of items with brands totally alien to them. If an online campaign is not backed by offline action, its chance of survival will drop dramatically. Many product campaigns are faltering because adverts are simply being thrown in a surfer's face in irrelevant contexts, they are annoying or ill timed. ONE big area where online marketers are not taking enough heed of the expertise of their offline peers and where they might lose the battle, is branding. Too much direct mail-type marketing means that credible, trustworthy branding is unlikely to occur. Type in a generic search term for a product and find yourself amazed at the outcome. Reading the results, you'd think you'd landed on Mars. Branding the old fashioned way is a lot more time consuming than any internet marketer will naturally be inclined to think. Branding is an exercise of timing, planning, researching and optimised launches. It takes time before people are used to new products. Psychological studies confirm time and again that we buy what we think is safe, comfy, familiar, nice, soft, handy, easy, whatever the word to indicate a certain comfort zone that creates an entry for marketers. It's a known fact that you first need to see a product about umpteen times before it has become a part of your reference frame. If you don't believe this, move to a foreign country, visit a supermarket and try not to feel totally lost. It's impossible. Only if we are familiar with a product brand, we think that purchasing it will better us. If we don't have at least a vague positive idea when we purchase a product, no brand building has been done or not enough or it has not connected with us. Although branding of products offered online is something quite new, it is quite amazing that outright stupid mistakes are made here. Where online marketers are often wrong is where they are measuring search engine advertising the way they would direct marketing. True, much of search engine advertising resembles direct marketing, but realistic measurement of people's attitude towards the products advertised, should include more than only whether or not they buy it. Brand measurement takes place when all the responses are analysed, even why a product is not purchased or not immediately or not at a specific platform. In forgetting to measure any customer behavior outside the conversion rate, they completely forego the power of branding. They don't realize how much greater click through and conversion rates would be if their brands were recognized and trusted by that same audience. Here is an example of just how effective a campaign can be when branding's taken seriously. The marketers have got it so right, that their campaigns themselves have become an overnight brand known for controversy. Called Gatoring, after the company that made the software enabling it, this advertising has come under scrutiny of the courts. What people are upset with is that popup ads are thrown on competitors' sites. If are looking for a particular brand of car for instance, a popup of a competing brand would pop up. Despite its dubiousness, gatoring shows just how effective online marketing can be - when marketers do their homework. About the Author Angelique van Engelen is a writer at a Netherlands based content writing agency. Email her at AngeliquevanEngelen@contentclix.com Sponsored by Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Think Beyond Today and Start Branding Your Future by: Raymond Johnston Jr/ Williams Money Group

One of the subjects that has been thrown around
a lot lately is branding. I guess it is something
that I have done for years without realizing it.
Yet once I really started thinking about it, I
realized that it is something too many people
spend no time or money doing.

The large companies spend millions doing nothing
but getting their name in front of customers.
I have not had a television in years but the
normal routine of people has probably not changed.
A commercial comes and people are off doing the
dishes, off to the bathroom or finish filling
out your list of things to do for tomorrow.

Even though the mind set of people is to other
things while the commercials are on, advertisers
still spend huge money to get their name mentioned
in a 30 second spot. Why? Even though a lot of
people are doing other things, they still hear
Drink Pepsi or Coke is the one.

Sure these people want you to watch the commercial
and by running it over and over, they hope to
accomplish this. But the real branding here is
for you to hear or see their name. The more you
see it, the more likely you are to remember it
when you are making a decision on what to spend
your money on.

When banner ads stopped producing the kind of
response they once were, prices for them started
dropping. If you need to pay bills this week, it
is not the method of advertising that you would
want to choose but for branding it is great.

A few hundred thousand banner impressions can
do wonders for your name recognition. And today,
with a little shopping around, you can get them
very cheap.

I keep a constant watch on Ebay for banner
impressions. Watch a few auctions and get a
feel for what kind of prices they are going
for. Then start watching for some good deals.

There are a lot of places that will put your
banner on their site with unlimited impressions
for a month, two months or even more.

There have been a few companies lately offering
unlimited banners for the life of their site.
Banners may not be the road to getting rich if
you are trying to sell them but they sure can
be a nice way to get a little name recognition
for the advertiser.

A little word of caution here. Check out the
person who is auctioning off the product. Ebay
allows feedback on every transaction and you
can get a pretty good picture of what kind of
person you are dealing with. Make sure you
check before bidding.

Here is a link to the section that has banner
auctions.

http://listings.ebay.com/aw/plistings/list/category11763/index.html

So many people think they have to get a return
on their advertising investment today. You will
find those who are very successful are always
looking towards tomorrow.

Start thinking about the long term when spending
money on advertising. A little money on branding
yourself each month will go a long ways towards
assuring your business success in the future.
Think beyond today and start branding your future.

About the Author

Raymond Johnston Jr is the publisher of Money For Hire Ezine. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Branding, Sloganizing and Search Engine Marketing by: Ralph Tegtmeier / Williams Money Group

The descriptions search engines offer when displaying
search results are generally retrieved from two
sources:

a) the displayed page's title tag;

b) the displayed page's description meta tag or, in
default of same, the first characters of the page's
body text; the number of characters displayed is
limited, with some engines picking up a maximum of
150 characters, other offering slightly more;

c) the displayed page's keywords meta tag - while this
meta tag's content will not be excerpted for the
displayed text's description proper, it is one of
several factors determining which search results
are displayed at all and in which order (ranking).
(Note that this is a generalization - some, though
few, search engines refuse to take into account any
meta tags. Obviously, different rules apply in
their case.)

Both a), b) and c) should relate to the specific
page's content, not the web site's or its corporate
owner's overall theme! That is why they are placed
individually in each page's header in the first
place.

There is a popular misconception amongst web
marketeers regarding search engine positioning
mechanics, namely that web page meta tags and titles
are to be employed as instruments of branding.
However, if true at all, this would typically apply
exclusively to a web site's main or index page.
One of the metaphors commonly used in propagating this
erroneous marketing policy is that of the "business
card".

While it is true that a search result functions as a
site's public representation it must also be noted
that this should always relate to the specific page
displayed: anything else may legitimately be deemed
diversionary tactics, meaning that the page could be
penalized for "spamming". (Yes, the respective search
engines' definition of "spam" varies widely and is all
but consistent. Also, in several cases it notably
lacks a consistent logical basis, but that is not the
topic at discussion here.)

This aside, it should be remembered that it will be
both, a page's title and its description which will
induce a searcher to actually click on the link and
visit the site.

Hence, a page's description as displayed in search
results is more akin to a product precis or summary
than a general corporate business card and should be
construed that way.

A unified approach, presenting one and the same
promotional text on each and every page displayed
by the search engines, while seemingly making sense
from the corporate image point of view, actually
constitutes a severe and unnecessary self-restriction,
effectively hampering the overall online marketing
efforts.

A practical example
-------------------

Let's assume that you are running a used car
dealership with an online presence (web site).
Your company's name is "Honest John Autos Inc."
and your main corporate marketing slogan which made
you famous all over your home town is "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"

You offer a fairly extensive variety of used cars
in your products palette, ranging from farmers pickup
trucks to vintage American autos, foreign luxury and
sports cars, etc.

Your web site has some 150 pages, all of which you
will submit to the search engines for indexing.
The pages are well focused and carry specific titles, e.g.:

- "50s Chevvy Beauties"
- "As good as new - Oldsmobile special offers"
- "Luxury finally made affordable - the Porsche
Paradise"
- "Agro Cars - the Pickup Center"
etc.

Now if you insist on putting your "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"
slogan in every page's description tag, all you will
be able to rely on to pull visitors to your site is
your page title. But while it may appear to you that
the slogan is a nice marketing reinforcement of the
page title "Agro Cars - the Pickup Center", fact is
that you might as well qualify the title message with
a specific description which is a lot more to the
point in relation to the title - and to the surfer's
original request.

Hence, you might wish to describe your Agro Cars page
in a more focused manner, e.g.:

-----------------------------------------------------
"California's largest selection of second hand
agricultural pickup trucks - excellent condition, and
no-questions asked 30 days full refund guarantee!"
-----------------------------------------------------
(150 chars.), or similar.

This will usually be a far stronger incitement to
visit your page if the web surfer is actually a
serious buyer-to-be. It will also help pre-qualify
your web site traffic by eliminating visitors not
resident in California or perhaps not interested in
buying a pickup in another state than their own.

And there are even more advantages: the page will be
highly topical from the search engines' point of view,
which will normally improve its ranking considerably.

Since the page description will be indexed along with
the keywords meta tag and the body text, you will
increase your overall search engine coverage and
enhance the possibility of your page being found under
search phrase combinations you may not specifically
have optimized it for. (You can't do them all, and
some phrases and keyword combinations are so unlikely
or even contorted, it's highly probable you won't be
able to think of every possibility in advance.)

Thus, while you may be targeting the keywords or
search phrases "used cars", "second hand cars" and
"pickups", the example above may also give your page
a good ranking for combinations such as "+used
+pickups +guarantee" or "pickups California", etc.
Compare this to the limited scope of your "Used Cars
Galore: The Fairest - The Squarest - The Best!(TM)"
slogan!

So what about branding and sloganizing, then?
---------------------------------------------

Don't confuse the media you are working with!
And, of course, determine what your web site is
really about: do you actually want to sell products
and services online or, at the very least, draw
buyers to your brick-and-mortar sales rooms? In that
case you should proceed as suggested above, leveraging
the possibilities offered by keeping your page tags
flexible and focused.

But even if branding (without actually targeting
online sales) is all you care about, your web site
will still require some enticement to motivate people
to visit it.

You might offer some regular sports or betting
results, feature some online games, organize a
sweepstake, etc. These, too, will require focused and
well described web pages, else no one will come and
check them out. (Nobody will visit CocaCola's web site
merely for the heck of it or to imbibe their online
promo, unless they offer some entertainment and a prize
of sorts to do so.)

So there are some generic limits to conventional
branding on the web, and you will be well advised to
heed them. Search engines aren't the best medium to
try for it: you may sink a lot of money into the wrong
corner of the marketplace that way.

You may, however, push your branding considerably by
other activities than search engine optimization:
press releases, newsgroup participation, banner ads,
reciprocal links, online reviews, free trial
downloads, client testimonials, etc.

If you're interested in a professional, high quality
marketing package tailor made to your specific
requirements, we suggest you check out our strategic
partners at California based Wolfblast Interactive
Inc., <> - you won't get
better value for your money anywhere!

Remember that search engines are supposed to be user
tools, not mere brain dead corporate billboards! If
you want to make your mark and increase your
(preferably pre-qualified) search engine traffic, make
sure to service the user first: this will in fact turn
out to be the best investment in your search engine
focused online marketing.

Users will appreciate it if your search engine
rankings prove to be relevant, informative and
truthful. Just like you, they don't like wasting
their time on confusing, misleading or nondescript
search results.
And lots of studies have shown that search engine
optimization is actually the most cost-effective
marketing activity of all. It is bound to give you a
much bigger bang per buck for the simple reason that
it's a fairly lasting effect (at least, by internet
standards it is): Many of our clients are still
profiting today from search engine positioning work we
did for them 10+ months ago - no banner ad campaign can
beat that, not in absolute terms and certainly not for
that sort of money.

Search engines:
"Play them right, and they will feed you.
Play them wrong, and they will eat you."

About the Author

Ralph Tegtmeier is the co-founder and principal of
fantomaster Ltd. (UK) and fantomaster GmbH
(Belgium), a company specializing in webmasters
software development, industrial-strength cloaking and
search engine positioning services. Sponsored By Williams Money Group

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©2008Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Small Business And Branding – Why And How? by: Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury / Williams Money Group

Small Business And Branding – Why And How?

by: Saptarshi Roy Chaudhury / Williams Money Group

When we speak of branding most of the time people try to relate it to big business house, however, the fact is that every business needs to establish their brand in order to survive the competition. This is nothing new; experts and management gurus had been preaching the same sermon for years now but what they have not told is why you need to brand your small business? How is branding going to help you to establish your business? How can you establish your brand without spending a fortune on it? You might be having a very small business but would you like your client to perceive your business as a small time entrepreneurial effort? Definitely not, and your business cards, letterheads and other marketing collaterals does just that. They create an impression to your clients that you are an established business house of considerable strength and not just a mom-n-pop shop. While you have read till this much, you might have started to plan to get a few home printed business cards or visit the website where you saw the preformatted business cards being sold for peanuts. Beware! The quality of your business card is an indication of the status of your business and your clients are intelligent enough to understand the difference between a standard designed perforated business card and a professionally designed business card printed on good quality card stock. Most of us, including you, would prefer to consider the stability of a company before making a purchase decision. Once you have established your brand with a professionally designed logo, business card and other marketing efforts it becomes much easier for you to build your credibility among the customers. Getting a professionally designed custom logo is one of the very important elements of branding a business. A logo is not just a symbol or a piece of graphics; it is actually your corporate identity. A properly designed logo can leave long lasting impression on your clients and will never let your business slip out of their minds. It also makes your business easily recognizable. Just think, wherever you see the Golden M of McDonald’s do you really need to think twice, what company is that referring to? A good logo should ideally exude the nature and attitude of the business. Once you have got a logo for yourself it becomes easier for you to establish your brand. You can use that logo in your business cards, letterheads and other accessories. Don’t you think it is going to make a difference if the pack that you use to deliver your products to your customer has the logo of your company on it? And if you are using a reusable pack, your customer might just use the same pack to pass on some other goods to one of his friends- what happens then? Yes! Your logo gets noticed by one other person, you add one more name to the list of your potential customers. You are on your way to establish your own brand. Similarly with business cards, as they get passed on from one person to the other, more and more people knows about your business and the potential customer base increases. Having a business card or professionally designed logo also shows your commitment towards your business. A short, easy to remember punch line is another useful tool for branding. Getting a tag line printed on your business cards or your business stationery makes it easier for people to understand the nature of your business. Ideally, your tag line should not only say about what you do but also speak about your USP. Having said all that, the ultimate question that most of the small business people would have is, how much does it cost to get all these things done? I’d say, “not much”. Money is always a problem for most of the small businesses (that’s why they are small, otherwise most of us would like to open a Microsoft and be as rich as Bill Gates) but if you know where to look for, you really don’t need to spend a fortune to get a professionally designed logo or a business card. There are loads of websites that offer them really cheap and some even allow you to decide the price that you want to pay. (Check out this twin sites, http://www.mycorporatelogo.com and http://www.mycorporateidentity.com ). So, if you think you are tired of being a “small business” and its time to grow up, take the first step; establish your brand! About the Author: Ray Smith is a marketing expert with years of experience in different industries and specialized knowledge on branding and internet marketing.http://www.mycorporatelogo.com Source: www.isnare.com Sponsored by Williams Money Group

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Google Immere Branding Guide VOL 2 by: Brent Nolan / Williams Money Group BRANDING ACROSS MULTIP

The consistent delivery of a brand message is vital to the long term success of any brand, but with so many possible delivery mediums how do companies ensure this is maintained? Print, television, internet, multimedia, cinema, radio, dvd, the potential is endless, without taking into consideration the possibilities of emerging technologies such as pda's and mobile technology.

Immere are often asked to make recommendations on various delivery mediums and how companies should apply their branding. Although it is fantastic to see companies considering the endless branding opportunities, they are often neglecting the most important aspect that ensures brand success. This is where we encourage our clients to take a large step back and before they focus on the delivery medium, evaluate what are they actually trying to deliver.

Companies are delivering what Immere refer to as a 'brand Idea'. A brand idea should be a single idea of your company or product, with the aim being to have the company brand idea equal the consumer brand perception. It is vital that companies establish a strong brand idea as it is your lifeline within a competitive marketplace and your point of difference from your competition.

Once a company brand idea is defined, choose a medium, or mediums that allow you to speak directly to your customers. Consider the way in which customers interact with the delivery medium, taking into consideration how this will effect the experience and ultimately, the perception of your brand. For example, consider the difference between branding online or via television, one encourages you to sit forward and interact, the other to recline and relax.

Often through lack of understanding, companies replicate their brand across various mediums with the same visual treatment. Wrongly they assume that if it looks the same, people will receive the same message. Consider this, there are two images of the same car, one is static online and the other is in motion on the cinema screen. They are the same images, but different in delivery, will this communicate the same brand idea?

Consumers have high expectations of how your brand should be delivered, a dynamic television commercial cannot be replicated across to an internet site and convey a consistent brand message, nor should it be expected that a great website will also work as a television commercial. The impact of motion, sound, texture, interactivity and visual style are the foundations of your brand message and act uniquely to each delivery medium. Brand delivery is as much about the texture of the paper you choose, as the colour you print on it. The interpretation of colour has different meaning across various mediums, a flat olive green may look refined and contemporary in print, but online can look flat and lifeless.

In most instances it may be beneficial to have simultaneous delivery of your brand message across multiple mediums, reinforcing the brand idea with larger market exposure. The repetition of your brand idea will re-enforce the company values, ensuring that you are 'front of mind' when it comes to making a purchase decision.

The perception of you brand will also be effected directly by the consistency of your branded message. Undefined, inconsistent brand messages only confuse the consumer, making it difficult to build a lasting impression of your company or products. Below are 3 simple Immere rules to ensure brand success:

1. QUALITY Quality product or services, quality time to develop the brand idea, quality application of the brand message.Invest time in developing a quality brand idea. Make sure you evaluate the message your customers are receiving, the standard of visual application and how your brand will compete in the marketplace. Always insist on quality!

2. APPLICATION Choose a delivery medium that allows you to speak directly to your customers, innovate in the application of your brand message and consider simultaneous delivery across multiple mediums for greater impact.

3. CONSISTENCY Vital to the long term success of any brand, think repetition to re-enforce your company brand idea and ensure that all branding is always consistent to the company brand idea.

For further information on branding across multiplemediums, speak to an Immere director. Sponsored By Williams Money Group
About the Author

Brent Nolan is the Senior Designer at Immere, an Australian advertising, branding and design company. Immere's clients include Ansearch, an Australian search engine and directory.

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©2008 Williams Money Group - All Rights Reserved

Immere Branding Guide VOL 1 by: Brent Nolan / Williams Money Group

Good branding is vital to the long-term success and growth of your company, however, branding concepts are often poorly understood. For this reason Immere have put together a few simple ideas for consideration when branding is on your company agenda.

BRANDING ..... WHAT IS IT? Branding is much more than the creation of a logo or a name. A brand reflects the customers perception of your company and the quality of products and services you provide.

A 'brand idea' is the message that companies communicate to the marketplace about their products and services. Companies control the message they deliver, but have little or no control over its perception by the marketplace.

Immere's goal is to ensure that: Company Brand Idea = Consumer Brand Perception

REMAINING FOCUSED One of the biggest challenges that companies face is maintaining a constant brand idea, that is, communicating the brand consistently and effectively across multiple mediums such as television, print, internet etc.

It is important to focus on a single brand idea that can be reinforced by repetition. This allows customers to not only develop a firm understanding of your brand, but more importantly to remember your company or product when it comes time to make a purchase decision.

Confusion is a brand's worst enemy.

A brand idea must remain focused to deliver a single message to ensure the meaning is never lost. Sometimes it is best to keep things simple!

BRAND DELIVERY Ineffective brand delivery leads to miscommunication of your company's core message and values, eroding any goodwill you may have in the minds of existing and potential clients.

Focus on the quality of your branded message as it may be more effective than the quantity. With so many potential delivery mediums, it has become increasingly vital for companies to establish a consistent brand idea. Poor execution in one medium effects the perception of the brand as a whole.

Traditional avenues of delivering the brand idea are becoming ineffective and costly. This is due to consumer awareness of competing products and the over stimulation of advertising in the market, especially on television. It is necessary for companies to be innovative in the way they place their brand in the market place, ensuring a strong point of difference from competition.

BRAND LOYALTY Good branding is an investment that when executed correctly, ensures your company is 'top of mind' when an existing or prospective client is considering a purchase in your chosen market.

This attracts and maintains customer loyalty, and works as your best defence against competitors and those targeting your clients.

REBRANDING & BRAND DEVELOPMENT Establish a 'brand plan' for your company and/or product that outlines future brand directions with the potential to cater for change in the market place. It is important to continually revisit the brand to revitalize and strengthen it, but remember, too much change can be threatening or confusing to the consumer.

It may take years to establish a brand but it can take seconds for the meaning to be lost. To quote Jack Trout (author of Big Brands Big Trouble):

"Remember the Titanic!"

It is imperative that companies evolve their brand position, differentiate themselves from their competitors and invest quality time on being innovative.

LEVERAGING BRAND RELATIONSHIPS Establish working relationships with complementary companies for brand leverage. Associations with other credible brands can assist in reinforcing your brand idea.

An example of this is when Immere assisted New Idea with point of sale branding for a joint promotion with Bosch and Channel Seven's The Auction Squad. Each brand offered something unique and complementary, building on the credibility of each brand's history to ensure the success of the promotion.

It is important when considering working with other brands that a careful eye is kept on maintaining the individual brand ideas. Leveraging other brands is a fantastic way to enter new markets or gain further exposure for your brand, but it is pointless if it confuses or conflicts with individual company brand ideas. Sponsored By Williams Money Group
About the Author

Brent Nolan is the Senior Designer at Immere, an Australian advertising, branding and design company. Immere's clients include Ansearch, an Australian search engine and directory.

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