31 Aug What Makes a Great Brand?
Fast Company has a brilliant article reminding business that, despite new media, internet, social networking, a company’s brand remains important to your businesses results. Here’s a summary for those of you tempted to ignore or downplay the importance of this business basic
Your brand needs to be believable and your team needs to buy into what it stands for to promote it accurately and with enthusiasm. Though a well thought out logo is important, this is not your brand! Your brand is about your culture and what your products/services stand for or what you want them to mean for consumers.
Your brand should be relevant. The only way to maintain relevance is with ongoing and in-depth customer engagement.
Things change fast in the marketplace. Thus, your brand better be adaptable. As the market and consumer needs change, you need to review your brand strategy to make sure it still fits with the image you hope to convey.
You need to be able to gauge your brand’s return on investment (ROI). In other words, it’s effectiveness needs to be based on solid numbers like market share and revenue.
One of the most challenging requirements of an effective brand is that it should be unique (differentiated). Your brand should be about consumer solutions, not features. Design and creativity are key components of effective branding that stands out from a saturated market. Your graphics firm should understand this and help you build or change your brand into something that captures attention and conveys what you want your company to stand for!