If you are the owner or founder of an SME (Small and Medium Enterprise) or are the person responsible for sales or business development in any size organization then your reputation – your personal brand is paramount in your personal success and the success of your organization.
‘Brands are like people’ is an analogy often used to describe the companies they represent.
Virgin is the brand built by Richard Branson and the two are hard to separate. Consumers buy into the personality of the founder and what it represents and promises.
In many cases however ‘brands are people’ – every celebrity is a brand, from Oprah to Dr.Phil, to rock stars and actors to sports people like Beckham.
Business brands take on or communicate the values of their founders. This is especially true for start-ups and new businesses, professional services firms where the names of the founding partners make up the brand names. Although this is not the best way to brand your services business this is still the dominant reality for many.
So the brands are designed and communicated by people. People, especially in services industry is who we all buy from! So it makes sense that ‘these people’ have an optimal representation of who they are and what makes them special in the place where it matters most, the place where positive perceptions are formed – online!
Your online identity and representation is made of your online assets:
LinkedIn
Twitter
Facebook
Blog / Website
YouTube Channel, etc
The most important of these in the SME (B2B & Professional Services) is LinkedIn, and we’ll cover this next.
For a Free and No Obligation Discussion about your specific needs contact us today.
Having a brand personality is important because brands are an emotional connection between your products and services and your target audience, and we now know that this emotional connection is critical in attracting and retaining customers.
Having a brand with a personality allows marketers to deliver communication that stands out from the “sameness” of their category and connect much faster and on a deeper level with prospects and customers. People can relate to things they feel have a personality, especially one which they can identify with. From the cars we drive to the pets we choose, we are subconsciously guided by our reflection in them.
Brand personality is usually a function of the following: 1. Personality and values of the founder 2. Personality and values of the current leader 3. Personality and values of the company’s most loyal customers.
Brand Personality is a critical input into the design of the overall brand, especially the: – Brand Name, – Brand Story, and – Positioning Statement. Brand Personality should flow right through the company and be positively reflected in the customer brand experience.
To work out your brand personality, you can engage the help of your best customers, colleagues, employees, suppliers and even friends, asking them to describe firstly your personality in 5-8 adjectives and then do the same for your company or organisation. In most cases you will find that they align. Alternatively there maybe a good reasons why you do not want them to align. What ever the outcome it will assist you greatly in projecting the right perceptions for you business to its target market.
The brand personality is the BRAND! Here are a few famous examples: Virgin, Body Shop, Walmart, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Beckham Paul Newman’s Own, and most fashion designer label brands are all intrinsically linked to the personalities of the founders.
Although this has worked tremendously well for these and other businesses naming your brand new “baby” after yourself has many drawbacks, especially if you don’t have the name recognition of a super star athlete and in general naming the brand has a number of criteria that you need to consider a strategic process you should follow.
Here are a number of brand personality examples that have been created through focusing on a specific niche; great brand naming that reflects these personality traits: – Geek Squad is both a consumer as well a USA SME technology company owned by the giant Best Buy retail group, assisting customers with everything from installing in home theatres to computer networking in their businesses. It’s great name and personality that permeates the company has now been copied in various formats all over the world yet none of the copycats can dream of the same success.
– Mr. Mutual Fund – Vern Hayden is one of the top financial planners in the USA specialising in mutual funds (superannuation). He got to be where he is by focusing and being the greatest expert on his area of expertise – mutual funds! However he chose a more traditional name for his company http://www.haydenwealth.com/ and decided not to link it directly to his personal brand of Mr. Mutual Fund.
– Ms. Megabyte and Gadget Guy are 2 independent Australian technology experts who entertain and inform Australians by providing reviews and demystifying technology. Everyone knows who they are, yet few would know of Yvonne Adele and Peter Blasina. This illustrates the power of correctly branding your business.
– Bounce Back Fast is a consultancy and training organisation that focuses on building resilience to pressure and stress. – The Productivity Queen needs no explanation, – Powerful Points is a leading Powerpoint training organisation that counts some of Australia’s top companies and their C-suite executives as it’s clients
When we look at most of the examples above, it quickly becomes apparent that these sometimes “one man bands” have a number of things in common: 1. They are specialists, they are “the only” in their market 2. They are easy to remember 3. They are easy to promote because they have a great name, a personality and a STORY to tell 4. They are famous amongst their intended target audience.
The next entry will cover the importance of telling your brand story!
Having a brand personality is important because brands are an emotional connection between your products and services and your target audience, and we now know that this emotional connection is critical in attracting and retaining customers.
Having a brand with a personality allows marketers to deliver communication that stands out from the “sameness” of their category and connect much faster and on a deeper level with prospects and customers. People can relate to things they feel have a personality, especially one which they can identify with. From the cars we drive to the pets we choose, we are subconsciously guided by our reflection in them.
Brand personality is usually a function of the following:
1. Personality and values of the founder
2. Personality and values of the current leader
3. Personality and values of the company’s most loyal customers.
Brand Personality is a critical input into the design of the overall brand, especially the:
– Brand Name,
– Brand Story, and
– Positioning Statement.
Brand Personality should flow right through the company and be positively reflected in the customer brand experience.
To work out your brand personality, you can engage the help of your best customers, colleagues, employees, suppliers and even friends, asking them to describe firstly your personality in 5-8 adjectives and then do the same for your company or organisation. In most cases you will find that they align. Alternatively there maybe a good reasons why you do not want them to align. What ever the outcome it will assist you greatly in projecting the right perceptions for you business to its target market.
The brand personality is the BRAND!
Here are a few famous examples: Virgin, Body Shop, Walmart, Oprah, Dr. Phil, Beckham Paul Newman’s Own, and most fashion designer label brands are all intrinsically linked to the personalities of the founders.
Although this has worked tremendously well for these and other businesses naming your brand new “baby” after yourself has many drawbacks, especially if you don’t have the name recognition of a super star athlete and in general naming the brand has a number of criteria that you need to consider a strategic process you should follow.
Here are a number of brand personality examples that have been created through focusing on a specific niche; great brand naming that reflects these personality traits:
– Geek Squad is both a consumer as well a USA SME technology company owned by the giant Best Buy retail group, assisting customers with everything from installing in home theatres to computer networking in their businesses. It’s great name and personality that permeates the company has now been copied in various formats all over the world yet none of the copycats can dream of the same success.
– Mr. Mutual Fund – Vern Hayden is one of the top financial planners in the USA specialising in mutual funds (superannuation). He got to be where he is by focusing and being the greatest expert on his area of expertise – mutual funds! However he chose a more traditional name for his company http://www.haydenwealth.com/ and decided not to link it directly to his personal brand of Mr. Mutual Fund.
– Ms. Megabyte and Gadget Guy are 2 independent Australian technology experts who entertain and inform Australians by providing reviews and demystifying technology. Everyone knows who they are, yet few would know of Yvonne Adele and Peter Blasina. This illustrates the power of correctly branding your business.
– Bounce Back Fast is a consultancy and training organisation that focuses on building resilience to pressure and stress.
– The Productivity Queen needs no explanation,
– Powerful Points is a leading Powerpoint training organisation that counts some of Australia’s top companies and their C-suite executives as it’s clients
When we look at most of the examples above, it quickly becomes apparent that these sometimes “one man bands” have a number of things in common:
1. They are specialists, they are “the only” in their market
2. They are easy to remember
3. They are easy to promote because they have a great name, a personality and a STORY to tell
4. They are famous amongst their intended target audience.
The next entry will cover the importance of telling your brand story!
Delivering on your Brand Promise is all about staying true to yourself.
We have already discussed Understanding the Customer and Developing the Optimal Offer, both of which also examine your Competition.
Now it is time to design or redesign your brand for success; create positive perceptions for your clients and prospects through communication – to find, attract and retain customers.
In the next section we will be covering:
Brand Names and Brand Naming
Brand Personality
Brand Story
Brand Promise
Brand Positioning and
Brand Positioning Statement
We will also examine:
Customer Brand Experience and of course, the fun part;
The development of the Creative Strategy for Effective Communication.
Recently a member of Linked In Group, posted an excellent blog on why “A Logo Should not Cost $100”. http://ronnielebow.blogspot.com/
Although a number of readers agreed fully with the thinking and issues raised by the author, they pointed out the cold hard facts of the free market…demand and supply will inevitably have their way.
From our perspective, it is not a case of what something should cost or how much effort goes into supplying a product or service, it is a case of “you get what you pay for” and the business owners who commission this sort of design service “from the crowd” will not get the result they deserve! Here is why:
The $99 logo is designed by those and for those who have no idea a about strategic design and its contribution to the value of marketing communication! Which is a reflection of their general attitude to business. I’d love to know how many of the companies that paid $99 for a logo are actually successful, compared to those that had the good sense to not corners when designing their brand, not just one of the visual interpretations of their brand being the logo!
Trying to design (or redesign) a logo before completing a comprehensive strategic brand review is a little like asking an artist to draw you a picture of a person!
No matter how talented the artist, the patron (in our case the client) is unlikely to get something truly remarkable or moving for their target audience. How can they, if the artist does not know whether: to paint a man or woman?
• Is the person young or old?
•Thin or fat?
•Attractive or not?
•Are they fun or serious?
•Caring or tough?
And this is just the brand personality without taking into account the brand’s core message and positioning, the brand’s immediate competition, etc.
Ultimately the brand owners are at fault for not having a decent brief and the designers are foolish enough to waste their time in trying to satisfy this market segment that should not be giving up their day jobs!
If you have heard or experienced this humorous situation:
then enjoy the laugh or cry, which ever comes first. If you are about to unleash such horrors onto a designer – don’t!
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