What is Branding?
A Brand is that it is a “promise delivered”. You make a promise to customers and colleagues with everything you do, and, you deliver on that promise.
- What are your products/services
- What is your name, and strap line
- Define what your business stands for
- Identify your target audience and what they want
- Say why you are better than (and different from) your competitors
- Create a short statement that describes your brand’s purpose. (A Mission Statement)
Finally a brand is recognised and maintained in people’s mind by repetition of images in a logo, colour scheme, print materials, website and social media, or repetition of sound, with catchphrases, a jingle or a song.
You may need to redefine your brand over time to keep up with market forces.
Things change – sales drop, staff leave or a competitor threatens your patch.
What is Marketing?
Marketing is defined by the Chartered Institute of Marketing as:
“Identifying something that people want and are prepared to pay for, or a problem that they would like solved; Working out the details and making sure you’re charging the right price.
Developing a product or service that meets that need and then promoting it so that the audience is aware of its existence”
Marketing is an integral part of your brand. It helps you to communicate the promise that you want customers and prospects to know about. Marketing typically costs more than the cost of the product.
Your marketing should also be based on your brand positioning, personality, values and tone of voice that have all been defined and communicated among your staff. For instance, a luxury product needs to be promoted in a way that gives a feeling of high class, high end, best of for VIP only.
A Marketing Plan is crucial to build a joined-up approach to promotion to ensure every avenue is covered.
What do we do?
At Black Economics – we examine the branding and marketing of businesses, and create Business plans or Marketing Plans for clients. Email us on info@blackeconomics.co.uk to discuss.