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What are brands?
If you think that only Fortune 500 companies, like
Coca Cola and Microsoft have brands, think again.
Every company has a brand image - be it the dentist
next door or your local pizza parlour. The difference
lies in whether the brand image is good or bad.
Branding is the process of creating an association
between a perception and a product, service or company.
For example, through product packaging and advertising,
Coca Cola has created an association between many
different objects and its brands. The hourglass shaped
bottle, the red and white colors, and even the font
of its logo together make Coca Cola distinctive from
competitors. (Assael, 1998).
Why is Branding important to you?
Simple. Good Brands make selling easier.
A good brand builds trust and brings credibility
to your company. When you want to create a good brand,
you have to develop brand assets. Brand assets are
any form of marketing and include slogans, logos,
advertisements, brochures, and other types of promotional
material. These tools create a meaningful identity
and persuade your audience to take action.
Seeing is believing
Brands need to evoke the right emotive response. That
is why most brand experiences are visual.
A brand's identity helps shape brand image and supports
integration. Therefore you need to adopt a distinctive,
common and standardised brand language across all
your marketing strategies. This language must include
logo, typography, colors, textures, tone of voice,
etc.
Visual integrity is achieved through balanced layout,
formatting, creative photography and imaging. Electronic
templates and guidelines provide a uniform look that
ensures the integrity and clarity of your message.
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