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While the concept of personal branding has taken off, corporate branding seems to go in and out of favor. Economic cycles may
have a lot to do with that. With the growth of the Internet and social
technology tools, personal branding opportunities and activity have
exploded. On the other hand, in some ways, the arc of Web 1.0 to 2.0+ (not
to mention this current economy) has seduced many marketers into being focused on tactics at the expense of strategy including branding. Hot
media tactics often substitute for the "strategy."

If you are skeptical that brands still matter in the age of 1-1,
millennials and social media, or if you are just trying to run a business
and make numbers and don't have the patience for brand consultant-speak
or theories, here is a quick, simple refresher on good old-fashioned
branding that works today, that can help you frame your marketing and operational tactics…to drive business results.

Your
business enterprise and marketing programs will be more successful if
they are guided by a cohesive strategy that meets the B.R.A.N.D.
criteria.

Your brand strategy must be:

B–Believable (about Belief & Behavior too)

Your brand positioning needs to be credible both with your customers and
employees. Would a Volvo strategy around the idea of "sporty" be
believable? (they seem to own "safety" for life). In addition, your
organization's belief in a brand vision and values and execution on
that is critical. Many marketers and even some of my clients all too
often equate the brand strategy with a logo. The brand is so much
bigger. The brand strategy is about what your business stands for. It
should be championed by the CEO, internalized by all employees and
behaved and delivered, employee-to-employee, employee-to-customer. Just
ask Zappos.
And building this brand foundation internally has to take place before
an external launch (ads, trade shows, Web site, social media…),
otherwise you risk doing more harm to the brand (if your company is not
prepared deliver on its promise).

R–Relevant

You and your colleagues should be close enough to your customers to
develop products and services that truly meet their needs including
interacting with them in a meaningful way, through the most relevant
media. (see "Nuts About Southwest" blog)

A–Adaptable

While
your brand strategy should be relevant for today and for specific markets,
it also needs to be flexible, broad and viable over the long haul. GE's
"trust in good things" (1970s-80s) and "imagination & innovation"
(this decade) brand positionings
are enduring platforms from which diverse, effective concepts,
campaigns and media strategies develop.

N–Numerically based

How
you arrive at the brand strategy as well as measure your business'
alignment with it and marketing effectiveness must be based on
objective data and customer and market inputs versus gut. In addition, your brand
opportunity should map to business objectives such as market share and
profits (numbers!). If a niche positioning results in being a second
tier player it is likely not viable.

D–Differentiated

One
of the toughest challenges is to create a brand strategy that is truly unique. Solutions? Quality? Laundry list of commodity features? Zzzzzzzz. Apple's brand positioning around playful, innovative
simplicity has not been duplicated and is seamlessly expressed across
media too numerous to name.

So
even if you think the B-word is a bad word, and the SM-word (Social
Media) is a good word, you might agree that tying your SM programs to
an organizing principle, anchoring tactics in an underlying
organizational and market strategy (or B-R-A-N-D strategy) is a good
thing.

By the way, the Five-Letter Word can also guide your personal branding efforts.

Read more of Kevin Randall's blog

Kevin Randall is Director of Brand Strategy & Research at Movéo Integrated Branding (krandall@moveo.com). Kevin consults on brand matters to Fortune 500 companies and specialized health care and business-to-business organizations. His expertise is understanding, integrating and applying research and brand strategy to create business and customer value. Kevin has been invited to speak on brand topics by Google, Harvard Business School, Wharton and Kellogg, and his articles have been published on six continents. His clients at Movéo include Siemens, CareerBuilder, Cardinal Health, Molex, GOJO/Purell and Cancer Treatment Centers of America. Prior to joining Movéo, Kevin worked for Interbrand where he developed brand strategies for companies such as Abbott, Alcatel, Cricket Communications, Ford, GE, McDonald's, Motorola, Nationwide, Roche, Smucker's and 3M.

[neuromarketing image by Antaya, wikimedia commons]

Source: https://www.fastcompany.com/1358738/five-letter-word-key-marketing-success-b-r-n-d

Posted by: lifewess.blogspot.com