We love brands. And the ultimate stage of a brand is the love mark, a brand you are capable of making a tattoo of. Who wouldn’t love that? Apple, Harley-Davidson, and Ferrari are love marks, but they had a long way to go to become today’s legacy.
Brand comes from the Dutch language, brandmerk, and it defines the hot iron tool used to stamp cows from a herd of cattle. Extensively, branding implies marking everything related to your business.
A brand has a name, a visual identity and a slogan, but it is more than that. Beyond profit, an organization that wants to be a brand must have a story, a mission and vision exposed and embraced by employees, some values that it is led by, a redline in every action it makes.
Branding is in every activity of your organization: from the e-mail signature to signages, business cards, backlit logo, packaging etc., yet they are not enough to have a brand.
A brand is a promise to keep, it is finding the differentiator and communicating it consistently in every contact point with your customers and potential customers. Also, the tone of voice your organization is using, influencers with whom it is associated. All of these aspects must converge and contribute to something bigger: the brand!
Finding your brand persona, the unique selling proposition, the extended marketing mix, and defining your customer avatar, your strategy and the most suited communication channels is not easy.
Naming is probably the most difficult task in branding because it reduces your whole organization to one or two words. It has to sound well, be easy to pronounce and remember and give a hint to your brand positioning. It might be too general, or too specific, too complicated to utter, misleading or confusing. The name establishes everything and it must be carefully chosen. The brand name has to pass the radio test: pronounce your brand's name and over the phone and check what people understood from it. If they did not get it from the first pronunciation, you have to think twice.
The slogan is not just good-sounding wording, it is the essence of your brand positioning. The slogan must be specific, highlighting your competitive advantage, whether your products are cheaper or more delicious than your competitor's. If the slogan is too generic, too long, or might be used by any of your competitors, you should think twice.
The logo, font, with serifs or without, the colour scheme, the shapes and pattern you are using, all have to be in line with your brand strategy. If you have a law office, and your brand is too playful, using handwritten-looking fonts, bright colours and too many drawings, it might not inspire the seriousness your potential customers are expecting from your brand.
After you have everything set, you should make your brand feel alive. And that requires consistency. SUSTENOBIL PR/ODUCTION offers brand strategy services: naming, slogan, visual identity and brand archetypes definition, that will help to engage your customers in meaningful conversations. Opt-in for brand strategy, including:
Naming, slogan, brand archetypes samples
logo, pattern, colour scheme
Business cards, brochures, flyers, in/outdoor signage
Yearly communication contexts in line with the brand
SUSTENOBIL PR/ODUCTION is a full-service communication agency focused on sustainability and technology, that provides
Public Relations and brand strategy in 9 countries in Central and Northern Europe.
Romania, Hungary, Czech Republic, Poland, Slovakia.
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, Finland.