Every day we are bombarded by millions of messages. They’re everywhere, from print media to highway billboards, local supermarkets, public phone booths, our mailboxes, radios and television sets.
Add to that the explosive growth of the internet and the new communication opportunities this medium presents, and today’s business owner or manager has a near-impossible task at hand; making his or her message stand out among the noise generated by others.
Corporate giants long ago figured that the first and most important step in accomplishing this goal is maintaining a continuity of corporate look and message in all their communications. Practically everyone is familiar with not only the names, but also the visual identities of well-established companies such as Citibank, Lancôme, and Mercedes-Benz, as well as the newer web-based businesses like America Online and About.com.
While all of these companies operate in drastically different industries and have entirely dissimilar agendas, they have one crucial thing in common. In a nutshell, this “thing” is what marketers refer to as “branding” one’s business. Why, you ask, should a smaller and perhaps privately held business worry about such complicated matters?
The answer is simple. Clearly, a smaller business doesn’t need to aspire to the level of global recognition achieved by the aforementioned firms. However, there is no reason why it cannot become a household name in its primary geographic area or a narrowly defined industry segment. And that can only lead to one thing—growth and continuity of business, despite the economic situation at any given time.
While it is impossible to cover a topic as broad as branding fully within the body of one article, there are some recommendations that can be made for businesses that have not had previous experience in this area.
Visual identity
The first of two crucial components of branding is visual identity, the core of which is the business or product logo. The most common mistake made by smaller businesses is either neglecting this aspect of promotion entirely, or taking a very simplistic, do-it-yourself approach. A good example of the latter would be to consider an acronym of the business name, set in all caps in a “nice” typeface, an adequate solution to the logo problem. It isn’t. Without getting into an in-depth discussion of design, an effective logo should:
Be unique. For instance, if you are based in Texas, it is not a very good solution to use a star as a key element of your logo—first, because that in itself doesn’t say anything special about the business, and second, because hundreds of other Texas-based companies have done the same;
Instantly communicate the nature of the business, product, or service. This can be interpreted in two ways—literal or abstract. An example of the former is the well-known Burger King logo, a burger. Enough said. On the other hand, Citibank’s “blinking eye” symbol (used prior to Citicorp’s recent merger with Travelers Group) was more abstract, having nothing directly to do with banking, but representative of the company’s tagline ‘The Citi Never Sleeps’;
Be appealing to the target audience. A good case in point here is use of color. If you are selling a sophisticated service such as banking, for example, using hot pink as a corporate color is probably not a good idea. The consumer is never going to take you seriously. On the other hand, if you are a florist, bright colors are definitely the way to go;
Be able to withstand the test of time. Remember the popular culture “punk” style of the ’80s, when everything from hair color to fashion, art and movies was very colorful, eclectic and somewhat light-hearted? The movement lasted for a decade, to be gradually replaced by a more serious, streamlined and minimalist style of the ’90s, forcing us all to buy new clothes. Well, when considering a logo design, you don’t want to go shopping for a new one every couple of years. Thus, it is never a good idea to stylize the design to such a point that it will become unusable once the current fad goes out of fashion. Classic and timeless are the words to keep in mind;
Be able to work in context of all potential communications’ media. For instance, if your logo only looks good in color and you advertise your product mainly in local newspapers, this will present a production problem. The symbol will become distorted, if not unreadable. Another good example is the use of type in logos created for web-based businesses. Typefaces that look good on paper, such as those that are elaborate, illustrative, and fancy, do not translate well to the screen at low resolutions. In those cases, one should stick to the less complex fonts.
The most important advice to be given to a business that needs a new logo is: don’t do it yourself. You hire an attorney to represent you in court; you hire an accountant to do your books. Hire a professional designer, preferably one with a specialty in identity development, to design your logo.
Finally, visual identity only begins with a logo. A business truly needs an entire identity system, which takes into account the fonts, colors, and many other parameters to be adhered to when creating varied promotional materials. Consistency is at the very core of successful branding, and this is yet another reason to hire a professional designer to do the job from start to finish—from initial logo design to its applications to advertising, packaging, corporate literature, web sites, and whatever other promotional materials a business may need.
Positioning
The second and equally important component of branding is a verbal one. It is often referred to as a tagline or a positioning statement. Other examples of well-known taglines include ‘Built Ford Tough’, ‘Maybe she’s born with it. Maybe it’s Maybelline’, and ‘The right relationship is everything’ (the latter of the Chase Manhattan Bank).
 Â
The tagline is usually used in conjunction with the logo and business name in all promotional materials, from business cards to web sites. This, once again, ensures consistency and continuity of both visual and verbal image the company presents to its customers. An effective positioning statement should:
Be as unique as the company logo. However, in this context, the meaning of ‘unique’ is slightly different. The positioning statement is usually based on something marketers call a Unique Selling Proposition (USP), i.e. the quality of the product or service that is unlike any other, especially competing, product or service. Simply stated, this means that a business owner or manager has to be able to definitively identify that one quality which makes his or her product different from the rest. Incidentally, this often proves very difficult. A lot of smaller businesses tend to lean toward generic statements such as ‘Your neighborhood _____’ (fill in the blank with ‘grocer’, ‘florist’, or anything, really). Clearly, such a statement cannot possibly be effective, as it is not unique enough to be remembered. Further, any other business in the same neighborhood could claim the same. Examples of effective taglines from two competing companies have already been given above: Citibank is the bank that never sleeps, whereas Chase is the one that places high emphasis on personal relationships. These two companies, while being in the same industry and providing essentially the same services, have managed to set themselves apart from one another by describing the one thing that makes them unique;
Be brief and memorable. A tagline should never be a paragraph long, and even a sentence is often too much for a time-constrained consumer to remember. As such, a business owner should attempt to word his or her message as a short, catchy, memorable phrase;
Be honest. This has as much to do with being able to come through on your promises as it does with potential false advertising claims. Whatever you decide your unique quality is, be prepared to deliver on that promise. An interesting example of a tagline that flopped is presented by Domino’s Pizza, with its short-lived guarantee to deliver take-out orders in less than 30 minutes. That marketing tactic, while very appealing to the franchise’s consumers, didn’t last for very long.
According to the Association of Trial Lawyers of America, hundreds of claims had been filed against the pizza maker by motorists and others who alleged that their injuries were caused by company delivery drivers who, in an attempt to fulfill the company’s promise to its customers, were said to speed and drive negligently or recklessly. This did not stop with allegations; a St Louis, Mo. Circuit Court jury returned a US$78 million punitive damages award against Domino’s Pizza, and the company dropped its fast-delivery policy. Without addressing the potential financial implications, something like this happening to a small business could be a disaster from a public relations perspective—it can forever ruin its credibility.
In addition to the above, some of the criteria used when deciding on a logo, such as target audience appeal and the ability to withstand the test of time, are also applicable here. Finally, although a business owner may be able to determine what the positioning statement would be, he or she may not be able to articulate it in a manner of a professional copywriter or marketing consultant. As such, it is also beneficial to consider bringing in outside help when working on this aspect of branding—and this person can further collaborate on development of future promotions, thus ensuring the continuity of message and tone that is the main goal of branding.
Some words of Caution
Just as all good things in life, successfully branding a business costs money and takes time. Money tends to be the reason why many small business owners choose the do-it-yourself approach; however, bear in mind that the professional help suggested above doesn’t have to come at ad agency prices. In today’s environment, technological advancements have enabled many communications specialists to establish freelance consulting practices which offer the same high level of service at a much lower cost. So, when looking for a designer or copywriter to help with your logo and tagline, not to mention many other promotional materials your business may need, don’t forget to consider the freelance alternative.
No comments yet.