How to Get Started in Social Media for Art League City
Branding strategy for business
1. Branding Strategy for Business
By Vibrant Internet Marketing
June 5, 2012
All rights reserved. No portion of this presentation
may be duplicated without permission of the author.
Vibrant Internet Marketing is available to provide
customized presentations to your organization.
Contact us at vibrantinternetmarketing@comcast.net.
2. Branding Strategy for Business
• Brand strategy is how, what, when and to whom
you will be communicating your services.
• Having a clear and concise brand strategy leads to
stronger overall brand equity
• How people feel about or perceive your product
will dictate how much they are willing to pay for
it.
• Even though it seems intangible, it’s that “hard-
to-pin-down” feeling that separates powerhouse
and mediocre brands from one another.
3. Branding Strategy for Business
1. Your brand’s strategy should be based on your
company’s goals.
2. Your brand is not the services you offer, your
logo, your website, your name or your tagline.
Your brand is:
• What your customers perceive about you.
• How you make them feel.
• Describing what your business does best beyond
what you sell.
4. Branding Strategy for Business
3. Solve specific problems.
What problem(s) does your business solve for
your customers?
4. Play the word game.
• Volvo = safe
• Coke = refreshing
• Disney = entertainment
• Your Company = ?
5. Branding Strategy for Business
5. Decide which aspect is the most important
about your service and make it a part of every
aspect of your brand communication.
What is the most important aspect of Your
Company?
6. It is best to have one, clear “benefit” that you
are promoting to avoid confusion and
frustration on the part of the customer.
6. Branding Strategy for Business
7. Be consistent. Make sure the attributes of
your brand are clear and understood
throughout all of your communications.
8. Talk about things that relate to your brand.
For example, if you add a new photo to
Facebook, explain what it means to your
company.
7. Branding Strategy for Business
9. Connect emotionally.
Customers can either think rationally about your
product or they can think emotionally about
it. Consider Harley Davidson as an example.
8. Branding Strategy for Business
10. Reward and Cultivate
Reward your customers who are your brand
ambassadors. Cultivating loyalty from these
people early on will yield more returning
customers – and more profit for your
business.
9. Branding Strategy for Business
11. Stay Flexible and Creative
Marketing online is a fast-changing world. This
frees you to be creative. If your tactics aren’t
working, don’t be afraid to change them.
10. Branding Strategy for Business
11. Watch Out for Competitors
Pay attention to what is
happening online. You never
know who else your customers
are listening to. Your
competitors are a challenge to
improve your own strategy
and create greater value in
your overall brand.
11. Build Your Buyer Persona
Start with your TARGET MARKET GROUPS
Example Target Group #1: Baby Boomers (born
1946 – 1964) who are now age 66 – 48.
Example Target Group #2: Business Partners
12. What are their biggest concerns?
Example: What are Baby Boomers biggest concerns?
– Health – Community Service
• Health Care – Giving to Charity
• Eating Right
– Church
• Exercise
– Money – Family
• Personal Finance • Grandparenting
• Investment • Older kids
• Saving Money • Empty Nest
– Politics – Entertainment
• Social Security • Music
– Travel / Vacations • Books
– Work • Movies
– Retirement • Events
– Home Improvement – Shopping
• Do It Yourself • Coupons, discounts, etc.
• Hiring Contractors • Reviews by Baby Boomers
• Smart Home Technology
13. What are their biggest concerns?
Example, what are Business Partners biggest concerns?
• Getting Started in Business
• Running Their Business
• Funding Their Business
• Marketing Their Business
14. What problems will you solve for
them?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
– Information – Marketing
– Connection to other baby
boomers
– Reviews
– Entertainment
15. What do they need the most?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
16. What information are they typically
searching for?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
17. What trends are influencing their
personal or business success?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
18. What kinds of content do they prefer?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
19. What do they do online?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
20. What service do they spend the most
time reading?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
21. Where are they most likely to be when
they become aware of Your Company?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
22. Where are they most likely to be when they
research / educate themselves about BBG?
Baby Boomers Business Alliance Partners
23. Where are they most likely to be when they
compare your services with other services?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
24. Where are they most likely to be when they
decide to purchase your services?
Baby Boomers Business Partners
– Website – Website
25. Branding Strategy for Business
Food for Thought:
How will your measure the effectiveness of
your brand strategy?
We will discuss this in our next presentation,
“How to Measure Online Return on
Investment (ROI)”
Editor's Notes
Brand strategy is the how, what, when, and to whom you plan on communicating your product or service. Having a clear and concise brand strategy leads to stronger overall brand equity -- how people feel about or perceive your product, and how much they are willing to pay for it.It's the stuff that feels intangible, but it's that hard-to-pin-down feeling that separates powerhouse and mediocre brands from one another. So to help you rein in what many marketers consider more of an art and less of a science, we've broken down seven components of a comprehensive brand strategy that will help keep your company around for ages. So is your company's brand strategy smooth like Bond? Or will it leave your company shaken harder than Bond's martini?
Your brand’s strategy should be based on company goals. And just like James Bond wouldn't have gotten too far without a plan, your business will eventually hit a wall without a cohesive brand strategy. Sure, maybe you can finagle a big sale or trick a Russian spy or two, but one day you'll wake up and have no idea how your company got from A-to-Q -- it’s supposed to go from A-to-B, remember? And skipping steps is not how a great company that stands the test of time is built.
6. Be consistent. Make sure the attributes of your brand are clear and understood throughout all of your communications.7. Talk about things that relate to your brand.For example, if you add a new photo to Facebook, explain what it means to your company.
Customers can either think rationally about your product or they can think emotionally about it. Consider Harley Davidson as an example. Customers pay thousands of dollars more for a Harley than they would for another, equally well-made bike. Why? The emotional connection to being a Harley-owner. Harley owners feel they belong to a larger, tight-knit group. (HOG = Harley Owner’s Group)
Reward and Cultivate.Sometimes, just a thank you is all that's needed, but great brands also tend to give more than that. Write them a personalized letter. Do you have some extra special swag? Sent it to them. Ask them to write a review, and feature them prominently on your website. For example, Porsche reached 1 million Facebook fans quicker than any other automotive brand, so to thank its fans, Porsche made a wraparound for its GT3 Hybrid that included all 1 million names. No doubt the car company also received an extra bit of buzz for it. And showing how happy your current customers are with your product certainly helps your sales organization, too, because it shows the positive end result of becoming a customer.
So if your old tactics aren’t working anymore, don’t be afraid to change them just because it worked in the past. Take the opportunity to engage your followers in fresh, new ways. Are there some out-of-the-box partnerships your brand can make? Are there attributes about your product you never highlighted? Use those to connect with new customers and remind your old ones why they love you.
Take the competition as a challenge to improve your own strategy and create greater value in your overall brand. You are in the same business and going after the same customers, right? So watch what they do. Do some of their tactics succeed? Do some fail? Tailor your tactics based on their experience to better your brand and company. For too many years, American car companies ignored their foreign competitors. But they finally realized they needed to change their model for the changing times and tout a more fuel-efficient agenda to keep pace with foreign competitors.
