Ten Branding Methods For Branding a Company
1. Identity Design – logos, layouts, look must match your brand
While you may be a fashion plate, your business doesn’t have to be. Are your customers conservative? Then go with a strong, yet neutral image. If you’re confused about your look, your prospects will pick up on that. Interview a few graphic designers and don’t think about cost – at least at first. Investing thousands in an image pays off as your look becomes well-known. Or, you can outsource your image project to a company like CrowdSpring who has 45,000 designers ready to work on your project.
2. Virtual – Search results, Social Networking Sites
What’s your virtual branding profile? It’s easy to find out. Search for your name or company in several search engines. Click on news and images to see what’s out there. If you’re on LinkedIn , Facebook or flickr, your crowd is your brand.
3. Multimedia – videos, audios, podcasts, radio shows
If you’re a speaker or want to be interviewed as an expert, you need at least one video. Recording audios is less intimidating than shooting a video, but seeing is believing. Podcast short interview or tips to build up an audio library. Offering multimedia products positions you as being ahead of the game.
4. Word of Mouth – what’s your reputation?
What do people say about you or your company? If you ask your best customers, they’ll tell you what you want to hear. Search in forums to see who’s talking about you. Set up a survey to get anonymous feedback.
5. Awareness – do people know about you?
Some businesses and organizations think everybody knows who they are and what they do. Probably not. Employees may not even have the story straight. Think about how much awareness you need versus what you want.
6. Personality – what are your traits?
Do you tolerate change or fight it? What do you champion? Realize that your personality won’t click with everyone. That’s good. You want to attract people who like you. The ones who don’t will naturally go away and find someone who suits them.
7. People- who represents you – board members, staff, partners?
Cloning the perfect employee won’t work, but you can teach everyone who represents you to model the same public image with messaging, language and ethics training so that anyone who comes in contact with one of your representatives will recognize your company right away.
8. Experience – what is your customer experience, could it be better, different, more impactful?
Everyone’s customer experience is part of their brand. Don’t be fabulous one day and mediocre the next. Aim for a level experience that’s set to high standards and be ready to react right away if something goes awry.
Grow your own community and communicate with them frequently. If you do it right, you’ll know what’s on their mind and how you can better serve them.
The trickiest to manage and the most powerful branding of all, word of mouth is how your customers and prospects talk about you to their own community. Strategic public relations campaigns can fuel word of mouth and energize a company.
http://wiredprworks.com/2009/11/12/best-branding-methods-entrepreneurs-business/#
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