The Power of Branding

If you think only big corporate names need to think about things like brand names and logos, think again. Your brand says a lot about you and your business, and that’s as true for a one-person operation as it is for a multinational conglomerate. In this article we look at how creating a strong brand for your business can help set yourself apart from your competitors and lay the right foundation for the future marketing and growth of your business.

What is a brand?

Your brand is more than just the logo on your letterhead and business cards or your business name although this is a starting point. Your brand is your whole corporate identity. An effective brand tells the world who you are, what you do and how you do it, while at the same time establishing your relevance to and credibility with your preferred target customers (your patients!).

Your brand is also something more ethereal. It is how your business is perceived by its customers. If your brand has a high perceived value, you enjoy many advantages over your competition, especially when it comes to pricing. Why do you think people are prepared to pay more money for ordinary items of clothing with the initials "CK" on them? Perceived value. Perceived value as a result of a very effective brand promotion resulting in very high brand awareness.

You do not need to rush out and start creating brands that are going to be recognised the world over. Most of us simply don’t have the time or other resources necessary. What we are suggesting, however, is that it is possible for your brand to dominate your niche or local area.

Examples of effective branding

Rachel’s Organic Butter chose black for its packaging design so it would stand out from the typical yellow, gold and green colours (representing sunshine and fields) used by competitor products. The result is that the brand appears more premium, distinctive and perhaps even more ‘daring’ than its competitors. Black may not be the obvious choice for butter - but it works. The lesson here is be bold.

Tesco began life as an economy supermarket and now sells a wide range of products, from furniture to insurance. But a consistent application of the Tesco brand attributes, such as ease of access and low price, has allowed the business to move into new market sectors without changing its core brand identity. It has also developed the 'everyday value' and 'finest' grocery brands which have achieved instant recognition with customers as two brands at the opposite end of the price spectrum, whilst also still retaining the Tesco identity.

Creating a connection with people is important for all organisations and a brand can embody attributes which consumers will feel drawn to. A brand can create an emotional resonance in the minds of consumers as they choose products and services using both emotional and pragmatic judgements.

Take Apple as another example. Twenty years ago, Apple was known mainly to computer techie types and graphic designers who first starting using Apple Macintosh computers (or Macs as we call them) to produce artwork for print in the early 90s. Apple launched the iMac in 1998 and this led to a range of i-products. The original launch of the iPod catapulted the company from computer business to mass-market entertainment brand, with iPod marketing drawing heavily on people’s emotional relationship with their music. By moving into music, mobile phones and tablet computers, Apple has redefined what the company does (and indeed what other companies do in terms of the design of their products) and shifted its brand association to something that connects with larger numbers of people outside computing or the creative community.

What do you think of when you think of Apple products? Whiteness, clean lines, funkyness, simplicity of use...this is all part of the branding, as is the invention of the names of the i-products. If you have visited an Apple store you will be well aware of how different they are in layout, appearance and presentation of the products compared to any other store selling only one brand. The stores reinforce the brand, ethos and image of the company, and succeed in communicating user friendliness, the cool factor and above all, fun.