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Rules of Branding #5

Make Enemies, Not Friends

To build a strong brand, you need to supply a reason for its existence and justify why it deserves to live. That is why you need to make enemies.

When you have a common enemy to fight, people who believes in your vision will support your brand. The biggest brands in the world have a common enemy to fight; they are here to remove problems and thats why they are so well accepted by many people.

Examples:

Apple - Enemy: PC and its users Ikea - Enemy: Ready made furnitures FedEx - Enemy: Next day delivery Levi's - Enemy: Jeans that are easily torn Dell - Enemy: PC Retail Channels

As you can see from the examples, your enemy need not be another brand. It can be anything that you feel is a problem to our everyday life.

Rules of Branding #4

Be Absolutely Consistent

It is hard for people to relate to you if you have multiple personalities. In order for a brand to gain loyal followers, it MUST exhibit a consistent image and personality. In the case of the Japanese car brand, Nissan. It is known for its affordable and reliable cars. However, its tagline says, "Innovation That Excites" Yes, there maybe be a model (GTR) that really excites but however the 80 percent of the cars it has doesn't portray a innovative image. Thus, it is very hard for people to relate to them. In such instances, customers will be confused and Nissan's brand identity will gradually be diluted.

Rules of Branding #3

Use Public Relations For Brand Building, Advertising For Maintenance

When you are building your brand, focusing on public relations will be a more effective strategy than advertising. Public relations is what the public says about you and thus it is more credible. On the other hand, advertising is what you tell the public about yourself and people will tend to think that you will only tell good things about yourself. Thus, it is not as credible as public relations although it has a wider outreach.

Rules of Branding #2

Differentiate or Sell Cheap

Imagine yourself walking into a supermarket, wanting to to buy a shampoo for yourself. You have no idea about shampoo products because you usually don't buy it yourself. Faced with more than 10 brands of shampoos on just a single shelf, you are confused. Which shampoo will you choose? You will probably choose the cheapest one.

When consumers don't understand what your brand is about and how your product is different from your competitors, they will buy from whomever is cheaper, and that may not be you. If you don't differentiate yourself, you will find yourself competing on price and this will affect your margins. Furthermore, it is also hard to sustain that price advantage in the long run and there will always be another competitor who enters the market with EVEN cheaper products.

NO DIFFERENTIATION = NO STRONG BRAND

Rules of Branding #1

In the next few posts, i will be sharing 5 rules about branding to help you to transform whatever you want in a BRAND. You can use it as a guideline when you are thinking of building a brand for your company or even for yourself.

Rule #1

Perception is reality

Branding is all about perception. It is about how your target audiences/customers perceive you as. Branding takes place not in the real world but in the minds of customers. Thus, it is about creating images, stories, and personalities that your target audiences love and connect with. Only with better perception, you can then win the hearts of your target audiences.

Why Branding?

To grow your business over a year, build your sales. To grow your business over a few years, build your channels. To grow your business over decades, build your brand.

Connecting with your customers

Some companies and brands like to claim that they are the best in country, best in the region, best in the world. But i think that is equivalent to saying nothing. Best in the world? But best in what? Best in terms of what? Companies really have to be more specific, if not it's not going to help them connect their brands to the customers.

#leanbranding

Soft Innovation

The key to staying ahead is 'soft innovation'. Not everyone can come up up with major technical breakthroughs/innovation but everyone can come up with little changes that make your products, services and organization better.

#brandstrategies

What is the purpose for marketing?

Many companies always talk about they need a marketing strategy, they need a marketing plan but what's the real purpose for a marketing campaign?

To me, there are only two reasons.

1) To get new leads/customers for your business.

2) To make it easier for your customers to buy your products or services.

These are the only two reasons. If these are not your reasons, you don't need a marketing plan.

How to develop your brand?

If you don't differentiate yourself, you can only sell cheap.

When are you ready for branding?

Many companies talk about going through a rebranding project to improve themselves and ultimately increase their revenue, their P&L.

However, how do you know if you are ready for a branding/rebranding?

There are 3 conditions you must meet if you are want to undergo a branding project.

1) Systems - Your systems and processes must be in place, stable and able to deliver what you promise to customers.

2) Quality - Your quality must be at least as good as that of your competitors as you can't build a brand on smoke-and-mirrors.

3) Ceiling - You have hit a growth ceiling and no matter how much you spend on marketing or what you do, you are not growing.

If you meet all these 3 conditions, then you are ready for an exciting branding project to bring your company to the next level.

Cheers!

What is Branding?

As a business term, branding is the reason for the existence of your business. It is all about differentiating your business from your competitors. Not only businesses need to brand themselves, individuals need to brand themselves too.

As I entered the University, I was full of hope and felt really proud of my own achievement. I actually believed that I could well become the best student in my cohort if I just put in the effort required. But what defines the best? Best grades? Best CAP (Cumulative Aggregate Points) There’s more to that. It’s only in the end of my first year I realized the sickening reality of the situation. Hard work doesn’t always lead to good grades and even if you have a good grade, it doesn’t mean that you are the best. People are looking for something more than just the grade. That’s the reality.

There are many people with pretty decent grades, and unless you got a perfect CAP, you are never going to stand out. But even the most illogical person will understand the logic of how many students in the University can achieve that kind of results – almost none. Thus, I realised that it is more important than ever that we should try to differentiate ourselves from our peers.

From that personal experience, I understand the importance of branding. Branding is all about differentiating yourself and be so good in something that no one can ignore you. And in this blog, I will share about tips on how to differentiate and brand yourself, your business, so that you make yourself stand out from the rest.

So, sit back, relax and enjoy the ride.

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