You
look good, so should your business By
Khaled Iwamura
Branding involves numerous
strategies to influence and build strong relationships
with customers. Key is the impression you make and
often the first impression your customer sees is the
image you put forward.
Dress for success is
a notion that most people understand. If you have
a job interview or plan to attend a business meeting
where you are trying to make a good impression you
don’t wear jeans of your favourite sweatpants.
You judge the audience, the importance of the meeting,
and fluff and puff accordingly.
If you are in business
and on the hunt for new prospects, you wouldn’t
attend a networking function looking like a slob.
Like you, most of the other attendees are dressed
for success and have their networking mojo working.
The 30-second elevator pitch is rehearsed and word
perfect. You have your business cards in your left
pocket, you’ve engaged the prospect with a strong
handshake and you exchange business cards.
The first thing you
notice is the business card is produced on flimsy
stock and likely printed on a bubble jet printer.
There is nothing that distinguishes this business
as professional or even memorable. Sometimes key information
is missing, like a website or an email address.
Successful companies
spend money on first impressions. Business cards are
inexpensive so don’t scrimp on what for many
small businesses is a primary marketing tool.
Moreover, think about
developing a logo, and I don’t mean clip art
provided by Bill Gates’ marketing machine Microsoft.
A logo should be unique to your business, an indispensable
image that will create a memorable impression.
A lot of businesses
make that mistake. Does the Nike swish register with
just about everyone on the planet? Of course. Create
a unique point of differentiation with a logo that
makes a strong first impression. Relative to the money
you hope to make, a logo design, like a business card,
is a relatively inexpensive investment.
Here are a few tips in creating an effective
logo:
1. Look at the logos
of other businesses in your industry
Think about how you want to differentiate your logo
from those of your competition
2. Focus on your message.
Decide what you want to communicate about your company.
Does it have a distinct personality—serious
or lighthearted? What's the nature of your current
target audience? These elements play an important
role in the overall design or redesign of a logo.
3. Make it clean and
functional.
A logo should work just as well on a business card
as on the side of a truck. A good logo should be scalable,
easy to reproduce. Keep it clean and simple.
4. Your business name
will affect your logo design.
If your business is named "D.C. Jewelers,”
the logo will differ from a business named “Mountain
Printing.” You may be able to incorporate your
business name into your logo.
5. Avoid trendy looks.
Design a logo that will remain current. Don’t
be too trendy or out-there or you will be re-designing
another logo in a couple of years.
“There’s
Gold in them thar Brands!” By Jeff Bowman
A word, a thought, an image, a name can strongly
influence a consumer.
Why is it that certain sports team’s jerseys
outsell all others in North American Retail stores?
The Dallas Cowboys, the 76ers, even our beloved Toronto
Maple Leafs outsell home team jerseys in some markets.
Break it down even further, why do certain player’s
names outsell others on the backs of the jerseys?
Does a golf ball endorsed by a certain pro mean that
he knows anything about the manufacturing process
or that you will be able to perform exactly as he
does when you play? Do we really believe that television
and movie stars use the products or services that
they endorse?
We live in an age today where the brand means everything.
School kids can tell you the names on the clothes
they wear, and will refuse to wear something that
doesn’t have a designer label attached to it.
Many adults are the same.
What does all this mean to you as a provider of products
or services in an open market? The simple answer is
that the more well known you are, the better chance
there is that someone will choose your brand. The
underlying answer is that branding is a meticulous
planning exercise, choosing the right name, the right
brand image and creating the right point of differentiation
with your competitors.
Anything can be branded – a product like Coke,
a service such as CAA or the United Way, a team like
the Raptors or an event like The Super Bowl. Branding
is about creating top of mind awareness with a consumer.
I’m sure that the impression many people get
when they think of an “all for a dollar store”
is cheap, low quality and mass produced. For some
of us who are older, what does the name Edsel say
to you?
New Coke? When I see “new and improved”
I wonder why I was buying the crappy old one.
Big brands spend millions to establish supremacy
over their competitors. Creative marketing can make
a difference. Ikea, for instance, with its humorous
commercials and build it yourself concept, increased
its brand value by 15 per cent last year to more than
$10 billion in 2007 according to Business Week.
An advertisement on The Super Bowl last year cost
an astounding $2.6 million for 30 seconds, but the
big brands understand the value of reaching such a
massive audience, even if it’s only for 30 seconds.
Google has a brand is worth a staggering $17 billion.
Coffee giant Starbucks brand is worth $3.6 billion.
What do you think would have happened if Google had
decided to brand their search engine as something
like “Giant Search” or “Search Sensation”
or “The Listing Emporium”?
Well if you check a search engine the word “Emporium”
alone brings up 18, 550,000 results. “Sensation”
shows 76,180,000 results. I say those are not great
odds that someone will find you. The owners of Google
had a vision and a plan when they chose that name,
and it has paid huge dividends.
Not all of us will reach the brand image enjoyed
worldwide by some famous companies. The vast majority
of us will linger in the shadows, trying to make an
impact in small geographical or vertical markets.
Eat the elephant one bite at
a time and become a leader in smaller, then progressively
larger markets. The marketing expertise that you employ
in developing your own brand will determine whether
you are mining the gold or simply sifting endlessly
through riverbeds hoping to see a glint in the sand.
