Newsflash: That Thing You Just Created Already Has a Brand

By Ann Grove, Logical's President

Note from Ann: I wrote a draft of this article in 2012 and just stumbled across it today. Still true!
 
Whatever you are bringing to the market, you really don’t need to create a brand … because whatever you want to brand, even if it is brand new, already has some brand attributes.
 
A brand is simply the feelings or themes associated with an item or experience. When people think of you, your company, or your products or services, they probably already have some adjectives in mind. That is a brand.
 
What can have a brand? Practically any noun has a brand. Your dog, cockroaches, a bridge you travel, your mother-in-law, the governor, and Homeland Security, to name a few. Each evokes a certain connotation when mentioned. Even some experiences such as sky diving have a brand.
 
Examples:

• An employee says, “That team is difficult to work with.” That team’s brand includes the theme “not helpful.”


• A user says, “Rather than improve my efficiency, this piece of software is making me less productive.” That software product’s brand includes the theme “not intuitive” or “buggy.”


• An employee who has a great reputation for getting things done. That person’s brand includes the theme “productive.”

So what about a completely new company, product, or service? Surely that doesn’t have a brand, right? Well, brand attributes are transferable. For instance, customers could hear about a new offering and say: “I am not going to buy that because once you sign a contract with that type of offering or company, you don’t get the promised support.” A new company takes on additional attributes from its founders.
 
So really your goal in a branding exercise is to better manage or even change your brand’s themes and messages and also to differentiate your brand so that it is distinguishable from other brands. You want to influence the picture that pop’s into people’s heads when they think of your brand. That’s not always as simple as adjusting your messaging; in fact often, especially with mature brands, upleveling brand perception requires a dedicated effort to deliver that delightful customer experience the brand already aspires to.
 
Yes, it can be hard work. But since the market consistently moves to commoditize every product and service to create a race to the bottom for costs and fees, brand management and brand differentiation are absolutely necessary for brand success.
 
Other thoughts
 
Here are some related topics I might hit in future articles:

• Branding is about perception, not reality.
• Be willing to hear about negative things people say about your brand, so you can address them.
• Brand magic: Be who you say you are.
• Why do some brands succeed in the short-term and fail in the long-term?

About Ann
 
Ann has been writing about branding since at least 2007 when she created a job hunter boot camp, titled “Personal Marketing 101: The Brand Called You.” She would love to work with you on your next white paper project or any other compliance or security documentation you need.  Reach Ann using the Contact page.