Steal From The Market Leader

Category benefits are a poor substitute for brand meaning and brand definition. It is one of the major pratfalls in brand development and a trap into which many brands fall victim. Defining your brand by such benign promises is a sure fire bet to promote the market leader — not exactly what you have in mind when your goal is to grab market share and outsmart your competition.

Do You Deliver On Your Brand Promise?

The 3 mistakes businesses make that affect long term success No matter how great your logo or strategy, if you don't deliver on your brand's promise your business will flounder or die. Neither is what you want.

The 7C’s of Branding

Follow these clear principles to building a strong Brand and your business WILL expand!

Top 5 Reasons You Need a Logo

The Nike Swoosh, the McDonald's arches, the Apple. When you see these logos, instantly you identify the business behind them. You associate all of the feelings, attitudes, and experiences you have with these companies to whatever product carries the logo.

Branding Strength...Oh, So You Want Me To Ship It To the Manufacturer?

Is your brand strong enough to overcome the foibles of one of your employees. If your customers are strongly engaged with your brand, you can survive the unexpected. This will tell you why training at all levels of your organization is important.

McDonalds and Brand Development - Where Next?

Where to brand next? Where should mega-brands go? Example for McDonalds.

Supermarket Brands Are In Real Trouble

What makes Wegmans so formidable? They learned their brand lessons well and are playing brand hardball. Borrowing on the specialty marketers like Whole Foods, Fresh Market and Bread & Circus, and the upscale brands of Four Seasons and Ritz Carleton, they recognized that brands that differentiated the customer enabled these brands to become destinations. They became a magnet for those seeking specialness, specialty, high quality foods, and experience - within a geographic area. When the shopper believed they were a more discriminating shopper (what we call a Brandface), these shoppers were willing to inconvenience themselves by traveling a greater distance to satiate that self-identifying need. They would also be willing to pay higher costs for that same self-identification.

Branding Strategies Using the Franchise Model

Franchising is one of the easiest ways to increase brand name recognition. A strong brand name will absolutely help the success of the franchising company including both the franchisor and the franchised outlets or franchisees. Brands and franchising are nearly synonymous and often companies that are not franchises or do not use a franchising structure are still called franchises.

Brand Promise - Enhance Customer Experience

Building a brand requires the same four questions necessary when planning a trip: When do I want to go? What do I want to do? Where do I want to go? How will I get there? It's always a great time to plan a vacation, and it’s always a great time to build your brand.

Product Differentiation? Hardly

Product differentiation is more than a fancy title or a nickname of an accepted process. True product differentiation is doing something better or providing greater quality, but some companies obviously believe nicknames are enough to create differentation.

Sponsorship and Sports – The ING Example: Running & Formula One

Sponsoring is one of the ways to build and fortalice a brand. And sport is always a good target. ING has chosen both Running and (only recently) Formula One - an interesting choice given the fact that ING is Both Bank and Insurer...

Can a Small Business Be A Big Brand?

Do you think of your business as a brand? Because it is one, whether you view it that way or not. Even if it's just you, a solo-professional, working out of your home. Here are some tips for making a small company a big brand.

3 Keys To Creating Your Brand

You will automatically create a brand for your business whether you mean to or not. The trick is to mindfully create your brand, and let your unique self shine through!

How a Nonprofit Name Change Generated Attention & Momentum: A Case Study in Branding

Does your nonprofit's name say everything it could? NOW Legal Defense & Education Fund had a 34-year history of positive action, but their target audiences were still confused by their name. In response, the organization’s leadership focused on a name change as the communications strategy most likely to boost its ongoing evolution and outreach to broader audiences. Vice President of Communications, Maureen McFadden details the process that led to the organization’s ultimate success and provides proven tips for any nonprofit considering a name change.

10 Benefits of Branding

A short list of clear benefits for building a platform of Branding.