Brand your business: What is branding and how do I use it in marketing?Joe Niewierskipositioning, recognition, different markets, certain feeling
You may have heard something about branding in regards to
marketing, but perhaps you've wondered what that means exactly.
Sometimes, it is better to explain something in relation to
something else, so I will start by explaining positioning. You also
may have heard that term, but also did not really know what it
means. "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. Al Reis and Howard Geltzer first published
a book about it in the 1970s. To give you an idea of positioning,
take Avis. Hertz already had first place in
the market. By being first place, they pre-empted that position.
Everyone knew that they were number one. So to get any recognition
at all, Avis had to position themselves with Hertz, but couldn't
actually take their spot. Do you recall what they did? You got
it—"Avis. We try harder." By positioning themselves as the
best second runner up, they were able to capitalize on a larger
portion of that market.
Some people think that branding is like positioning, but it is
different. The main difference is that positioning is a fluid
concept. In other words, you can position yourself at different
times in different markets as different things. Branding is more
set in stone—it's a hardcore recognition factor. To give you
a better idea, the other day one of my subordinates saw a cup of
mine with red circles on it. He said it looked like a Target cup. That is branding. That
red Target logo is branded in that person's mind. He saw it and
immediately thought of the chain store. However, Target is
positioned differently; it's a discount chain with good style. Some
people even refer to it as "Targé"—that's positioning.
It positions the store with some hoity-toity posh boutique, but
everyone knows it is right there with Wal-Mart price wise. Good
position.
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. What if you changed your body periodically? I
mean, really changed your body. Today, you're Asian, but yesterday
you were Caucasian—how do you expect people to remember who
you are when they see you on the street? It is kind of the same.
When you put out your marketing pieces, you want to create a
similar look and feel so that people remember you. And, you want
that similar look and feel on everything you put out. The good
thing is that you get to make the rules—colors the same,
style of lettering the same, logo the same, etc. And there is some
flexibility as long as you follow the rules. You can't go too far
out of bounds, but you can change some things within the frame of
what others can still recognize. There was an actual study done by
General Electric (GE). They found
out that only 20 percent of their logo needs to be seen before
people recognize it. So, it is sort of like the Western concept of
branding your cattle—making sure people recognize what is
yours.
Remember, I said, "similar look and feel"? Well, the other side
of branding is how it makes you feel about it. Chevrolet used to say it was
America's vehicle—baseball, hotdogs, apple pie and Chevrolet.
Now, it's "like a rock." That makes you feel a certain way about
it. It still is in line with the old idea about Chevrolet:
Americanism = Loyalty = Dependability = Chevrolet. That song that
comes on is their brand. Being America's vehicle is their position.
Both give you a certain feeling. Branding in your marketing has to
make you feel something. A technology company can't have an old
style font—you might not think that they were very
advanced.
Let's use a dry cleaner for example. His postcards, packaging,
hangers, etc. need to have his logo, colors and font all appear the
same on everything all the time. That way, when people receive his
postcards in the mail, they look for what specials he has because
they already like him and have him identified in their minds as
something that they are familiar with. If he is constantly changing
what he looks like, when they get his postcard, they won't know
whether they are looking at his specials or something another dry
cleaner is offering.
Branding is just like the old coat of arms that families used to
have connected with their name. It would instill respect, fear and
wealth. Likewise, a country's flag gets people to feel a certain
way about their country. Heck, Stalin even used branding! He used
the same picture to portray who he was to his people—I am
this, I am this, I am this! He wanted them to think a certain thing
about him. It's really not a new idea. I'm trying to get you to see
that it has been around for quite some time. At PostcardMania, we want
people to recognize that we know how to get their
attention—bright colors, loud type—it shows that we
know what we're talking about in terms of marketing. But "Postcard
Marketing Experts" is our positioning. Does that make sense? You
can see how the two tie in together. One is our position and one is
our brand. We're hoping to create a feeling of being experts, the
best in the business, but that we are also friendly and easy to
confront.
Think about what message you want to portray. What do you want
recipients of your promotion to think about you? What image of your
company do you want to put out there? That is your brand. When
people see you continually as one thing, they begin to expect the
same from you and they get used to you. Remember when Pepsi came out with clear Pepsi?
People freaked out. They didn't want to drink it. It was a flop. It
wasn't what they were used to, so it didn't even taste the same to
them. Branding in marketing is recognition—color, font and
logo—keep it the same. If you can get them to remember what
it is you are selling, they will be more likely to buy it. If not,
you are depending on drive-by traffic and are wasting your money on
marketing. And don't forget this very important marketing
truth—if you're only planning to promote merely one time,
then branding is not going to help you. Branding is only for
marketers that already understand the concept of repetition (for
more information on repetition and how this works in marketing,
read "What the Heck is a Campaign and Why do I Need One?" by Joy
Gendusa at www.postcardmania.com).
Joe Niewierski is vice president of marketing at PostcardMania. He can be
reached at
[email protected] or
visit www.postcardmania.com.
