marketing+sales: Your Brand of Communications

Successful organizations recognize the power of branding and work hard to develop their brand through effective communications. This process includes establishing valuable brand equity as well as a recognizable brand name. So, what does this mean to you?

Think about our instant recognition of Nike's "Just Do It" or Apple's "there's an app for that" campaigns. These messages are effective in connecting a customer with the brand. The goal is to make a brand experience personal. For example, are you a McDonalds or Burger King person? A Coke or Pepsi person? You get the idea.

Successful communication of your brand is both the present and the future of marketing. It is not about you. It is not about what you offer. It never was. However, it is about customers. It always has been and always will be.

This means that the way in which a communications, marketing or promotional company communicates its message is of utmost importance. Always remember that building a strong, recognizable, reliable and consistent brand takes time, effort and commitment. It requires a deliberate, purposeful and intentional strategy. This hard work pays off by creating brand loyalty—one of the most valuable assets any organization can have. Quite frankly, brand loyalty is why customers will pay more for goods and services.

A brand is the sum total of key ideas, emotions and perceptions that are communicated to your audience and associated with your organization's work. A brand is like the "shorthand" for the identifying characteristics retained and recalled when your stakeholders reflect upon their experiences with your organization.

I have developed an acronym that is useful in helping us better understand and examine the subject of a brand. A BRAND can be considered the Barometer reading of one's Reputation, Attributes, Name and Distinctiveness. This means it is the "barometer" or measurement of your "reputation" (what your organization stands for); your "attributes" (the characteristics others use when describing you); your "name" (which suggests something good, bad or indifferent when a person hears it); and your "distinctiveness" (what makes you different/unique?).