PART 2 of three blog posts
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore
Plan from start to finish
Make sure right from the start that you are clear on the scope of the brand building project. Work with the branding consultant to plan the stages and establish the likely budget you will require to build the brand, market it, communicate it and manage it. This can vary significantly depending on the type and size of the business, and its objectives, products, services and locations. Work out a realistic and achievable schedule and determine performance criteria by which you will measure success once the brand is established and working for you.
Ensure you are very clear on the values and vision that underpin your brand
Discover who you want to be and how to get there
Working with the branding consultant you will be challenged with some fundamental questions relating to the objectives you have for the brand. Basically they need to discover the real you and determine whether your future plans are sound and achievable. Questions such as “What activities will the new business engage in now and in the foreseeable future?” “Have you researched the market to determine whether there is a need for your products and services?” “How different is your offer to those of your competitors?” “What perceptions do you believe customers will have of the business?” “What values and vision will drive the business?” “Do you have a name for the business – one that is distinctive and won’t infringe a competitor’s trade mark?”
Create your vision for the future
Without a bulletproof vision for the future, one that is achievable and sustainable, you will falter all the way to insolvency. All the great companies have a powerful, unique and passionate vision that permeates their entire organisation. Without one there are no clear objectives for the brand to work towards and no identifiable goals to achieve. It only achieves success when it is embraced by all employees and becomes inextricably linked to the brand.
The name is the most important element of the new brand
Everyone with whom you interact will refer to you by name. It is the one element you hope never to change. It must appeal to target audiences and be relevant to the nature of your business. The name you choose for a new fashion house for example, will be very different to that you would choose for a new accountancy firm. Remember that new names are very difficult to register, either as a company or as a URL for your website – there aren’t that many words left in the English language! Consider whether you will need to extend the name in the future. Can the name be extended to accommodate a complementary line of business? Can it be registered in another country in which you may want to operate?
Defining the brand
This is the process of determining the essence of your brand – identifying those characteristics that make it unique, attractive and able to generate positive perceptions in your customers that it is the only one that can satisfy their needs. These include personality, values, differentiators and more. To be successful, a new brand must be differentiated from all others and be easily recognised. The objective is to build a high level of brand awareness by creating an emotional attachment with customers and positioning in their minds that drives incontestable loyalty and sales success.
Creating a powerful ‘look & feel’
Your new brand must look unique and distinctive. Key elements of the brand must be created – logo, positioning statement, colours, imagery and brand language for later application into product packaging, marketing, communications and branded environments. First impressions are important but so is consistent application of the brand. Having a ‘look & feel’ for marketing material that bears little resemblance to the ‘look & feel’ of your website will get you nowhere. Audiences are increasingly looking for interactive experiences underpinned by compelling messages that bring them closer – physically and emotionally.
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant, founder of Heywood Innovation in Australia, United Kingdom and India, and joint founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Share on Facebook
Friday, January 30, 2009
Friday, January 16, 2009
HI POD - Are you a brand fanatic?
Click here to listen to HI POD - Are you a brand fanatic?Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Share on Facebook
Tuesday, January 06, 2009
Creating a new brand in trying times – embrace the fundamentals PART 1
PART 1 of three blog posts
Sitting here writing this in balmy 30 degree sunshine and blue skies overlooking the most beautiful harbour in the world, I seem momentarily a million miles away from the economic trauma impacting on businesses all around the globe. Connecting to the internet on my laptop, the BBC News website however brings reality into play with graphic depictions of terrorist strikes in Mumbai, Woolworths in the UK looking for a bailout; and GM, Chrysler and Ford in dire straits in the US. We are being assaulted by endless bad news on the business and political scene.
It seems that countless television news articles, media sites and business blogs are only too keen to update us on the bad news. Distinguished captains of industry, business analysts and academics at leading universities are revelling in the opportunity to lecture us on how recessions happen and the financial, psychological, historical, political, scientific and geographical implications, and the impact it is having on the price of petrol we put in our tank… that this is the recession we had to have, driven by greed and flawed governance of global financial systems.
Get it right on the inside first before you unleash it on the outside
The reaction from many companies affected by the downturn is to go on the defensive and either batten down the hatches and hide below decks until the storm passes, or slash and burn marketing budgets, delay business building initiatives and identify the poor performers in the workforce who are most expendable.
The last thing you would expect someone to be attempting in these trying conditions is to kick start a new business venture and crank up the brand building process. Yet for the more astute entrepreneurs this is probably the most opportunistic time in the last twenty or more years to be planning and building a new business. Why do I say this?
> You are likely to have fewer competitors now than you would have had this time last year.
> Established competitors need to reposition their brands and educate customers in line with the new market conditions
> Businesses are averse to change – those that can adapt to change are the new leaders of tomorrow
> It is a lot easier to catch the attention of customers in a market experiencing low levels of marketing activity
> History tells us that downturns breed innovation, and innovation breeds success
> The present market conditions are changing consumer loyalties – they are re-considering their choices, opening up the opportunity for new brands to steal market share
> Consumers will become more demanding and want more value and reward from the brands they associate with
> Brands with the strongest proposition will be the new winners
Make sure it is uniquely different from those of your competitors
Yes people are cautious, but the world doesn’t stop even for a recession. After the initial slashing and burning of marketing budgets, companies will begin to realise that to maintain their hard won position in the marketplace, they will have to start marketing with strong conviction.
Entrepreneurs will be naturally cautious to start up a new business, particularly in the first half of 2009. Market analysts are suggesting that consumers deprived of their natural spending habits will start to feel the retail itch and the need to satisfy their cravings for new products and new experiences, spurred on by the potential for some of the biggest January/February sales in history.
So how do you go about establishing a new brand and priming it for success in these trying times? You must focus much more on getting the basics right. After more than 20 years in the branding business, I have come to recognise the essential considerations that ensure a brand gives of its best. Here’s a sobering thought – if you don’t get all of these right, there is every chance you will never gain maximum benefit from your brand, which in this economic climate may just make the difference between success and early failure. Here are several of the more important ones:
Invest in advice from an experienced branding consultant
Select an experienced branding consultant
Always work with, and gain advice from, people who are specialists in their field. At this critical juncture, don’t rely on ‘gut feel’. Establishing and building an effective brand is critical to your future success. Select carefully, as there are plenty of ‘creatives’ disguised as branding experts who will be only too keen to take your money and design for you a new logo, brochure and some stationery – which won’t get you very far. An experienced branding consultant goes much further by helping you to define your business, differentiate it, market it and prepare you for success. Ensure they are attuned to the changing market conditions.
Part two of this blog post to follow shortly…
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Share on Facebook
Sitting here writing this in balmy 30 degree sunshine and blue skies overlooking the most beautiful harbour in the world, I seem momentarily a million miles away from the economic trauma impacting on businesses all around the globe. Connecting to the internet on my laptop, the BBC News website however brings reality into play with graphic depictions of terrorist strikes in Mumbai, Woolworths in the UK looking for a bailout; and GM, Chrysler and Ford in dire straits in the US. We are being assaulted by endless bad news on the business and political scene.
It seems that countless television news articles, media sites and business blogs are only too keen to update us on the bad news. Distinguished captains of industry, business analysts and academics at leading universities are revelling in the opportunity to lecture us on how recessions happen and the financial, psychological, historical, political, scientific and geographical implications, and the impact it is having on the price of petrol we put in our tank… that this is the recession we had to have, driven by greed and flawed governance of global financial systems.
Get it right on the inside first before you unleash it on the outside
The reaction from many companies affected by the downturn is to go on the defensive and either batten down the hatches and hide below decks until the storm passes, or slash and burn marketing budgets, delay business building initiatives and identify the poor performers in the workforce who are most expendable.
The last thing you would expect someone to be attempting in these trying conditions is to kick start a new business venture and crank up the brand building process. Yet for the more astute entrepreneurs this is probably the most opportunistic time in the last twenty or more years to be planning and building a new business. Why do I say this?
> You are likely to have fewer competitors now than you would have had this time last year.
> Established competitors need to reposition their brands and educate customers in line with the new market conditions
> Businesses are averse to change – those that can adapt to change are the new leaders of tomorrow
> It is a lot easier to catch the attention of customers in a market experiencing low levels of marketing activity
> History tells us that downturns breed innovation, and innovation breeds success
> The present market conditions are changing consumer loyalties – they are re-considering their choices, opening up the opportunity for new brands to steal market share
> Consumers will become more demanding and want more value and reward from the brands they associate with
> Brands with the strongest proposition will be the new winners
Make sure it is uniquely different from those of your competitors
Yes people are cautious, but the world doesn’t stop even for a recession. After the initial slashing and burning of marketing budgets, companies will begin to realise that to maintain their hard won position in the marketplace, they will have to start marketing with strong conviction.
Entrepreneurs will be naturally cautious to start up a new business, particularly in the first half of 2009. Market analysts are suggesting that consumers deprived of their natural spending habits will start to feel the retail itch and the need to satisfy their cravings for new products and new experiences, spurred on by the potential for some of the biggest January/February sales in history.
So how do you go about establishing a new brand and priming it for success in these trying times? You must focus much more on getting the basics right. After more than 20 years in the branding business, I have come to recognise the essential considerations that ensure a brand gives of its best. Here’s a sobering thought – if you don’t get all of these right, there is every chance you will never gain maximum benefit from your brand, which in this economic climate may just make the difference between success and early failure. Here are several of the more important ones:
Invest in advice from an experienced branding consultant
Select an experienced branding consultant
Always work with, and gain advice from, people who are specialists in their field. At this critical juncture, don’t rely on ‘gut feel’. Establishing and building an effective brand is critical to your future success. Select carefully, as there are plenty of ‘creatives’ disguised as branding experts who will be only too keen to take your money and design for you a new logo, brochure and some stationery – which won’t get you very far. An experienced branding consultant goes much further by helping you to define your business, differentiate it, market it and prepare you for success. Ensure they are attuned to the changing market conditions.
Part two of this blog post to follow shortly…
Tony Heywood is an international branding consultant and founder of Heywood Innovation in Sydney and co-founder of BrandSynergy in Singapore.
View some of Heywood’s work on www.heywood.com.au
Share on Facebook
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
