'Branding' is a term, in my opinion, much overused and abused, particularly in the small business and lower SME sector. When people talk about branding, what they really mean is Corporate Identity, vehicle livery, letterheads etc. Although Corporate ID can be an important part of the overall branding process, the two terms are not synonymous.
Wally Olins (of Wolff-Olins fame) calls branding (and marketing) a 'seduction skill'. It's just one function (and maybe the most important!) of a successful company along with technical skill and financial know-how. Although it may be quite apt, I don't like the word 'seduction' (and in our job words are important); it has negative connotations of subterfuge and lust. At cloudspotting we like to equate branding with trust.
Whatever service we provide - from customer insight, website design and build, to a marketing campaign - it is built to strengthen that bond of trust and reliability between the organisation and its customer and that takes some know-how: understanding the market, the customer and the company, and then knowing the best way to communicate that understanding. Branding, therefore, deals with a bit more than a company's logo.
So how is this trust gained? There are a number of factors why any company is successful depending on the nature of its operation and each should be treated on its own merit but we have come up with ten guiding principles (just common sense really) we believe contribute to a happy and successful enterprise/customer relationship:
- Brand value means company value
- Brand = Trust
- Manage your enterprise around the brand
- Lead from the top
- Listen to your customers
- Listen to your staff
- You are what you do (or perceived to be doing)
- Be consistent and coherent
- Be visible, be active
- Strive for continuous improvement
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