Know-How Exchange : Branding

Branding is something that happens kind of naturally. Branding is what people think of when they hear the name of your product and/or company. They can associate good quality, good product, edgy, new, old, stodgy....many things. The key to good branding is to control that impression to be what you want it to be and to make sure that the "brand" agrees with your position statement - what you want the company and product to be.

If the product is good and the price is right, you can make decisions on promotion - advertise, don't advertise and get word out via word of mouth - whatever your choice. This is a separate decision from branding decisions. You can chose to promote the brand, the company, or not. What is important is to decide up front your position (in the form of a position statement):

• Placement within a market segment
• Placement of the product relative to other products categories and application
• Placement versus competitors' products
• Placement of the product in terms of features and benefits

And then, if you want to promote the brand or not, establish the brand parameters so that they follow the position statement up front. If you don't do this and sometime down the road you decide to promote a brand, you will have to work harder, spend more money, and it will take longer to put it together. Below I have listed branding pieces that are key and I put optional by ones that can be added later:

• Name (unique product name or the company name - choose which to use)
  
• Logo (optional)


• Product characteristics - colors, features, quality


• packaging and packaging characteristics (colors, font styling, logo and logo placement)


• Collateral material (brochures, corporate newsletter, website, etc - decide how your product will be portrayed)


• Tag lines (optional)