Radio stations tend to ‘get’ the whole notion of branding. In many cases they tend to call it “imaging”, but it is essentially the same thing.

A radio station starts by defining their demographic. They attempt to understand the age group they will be serving. Then they develop a slog or tagline that will be used to brand their station. This can come in the form of custom jingle production and professional liners. If they do this right you will be able to sing along with the jingle in a short period of time and you will be able to say without hesitation what their branding statement is (e.g. The freshest mix of future classics).

A radio station follows through with things like bumper stickers, key chains or Frisbees to help in their branding efforts. These stations do not want to be lumped with all the other stations. They want to be unique and they want to be recognized for their originality.

This is the same premise for branding. You first need to internalize who you are as a business. You need to be very clear about who you are serving, how you will serve them, and what ultimately is important to you as a business owner. Once you answer these questions you can essentially breathe your brand. It will permeate every part of your business presence on and offline.

If you do it right, you will become much like the radio station where site visitors have a very clear idea of who you are.

Branding is not a once-for-all-time event. When you work at branding you are infusing the core values of your business in every aspect of your site and company philosophy. The good news is if your site visitors catch the vision for who you are they may more closely identify with your ‘brand’ and will not only identify with your brand, but will likely champion it.

We’ve all heard radio stations that don’t seem to know who they are or what they do. They may be interesting to listen to for a while, but certainly there’s not much to get too excited about. The same is true of your business storefront or website. If it’s a bit disjointed it may be mildly interesting, but nothing to tell others about.

In a perfect world your site visitors will become fans. In turn, these visitors will take your message to their circle of influence (even if only in passing online conversation). This is an organic benefit of branding that can create significant buzz about your site.

Tuxedo Branding Blog Administrator

When it comes to doing business you are going to have to deal with price shoppers and tire kickers. They are inevitible; so use these tips to deal with them effectively.

When it comes to your business there are three different levels of marketing strategy that result in three different sets of results.

1)      Advertising – This role is primarily designed to elicit short-term results on a specific campaign or site performance goal.

2)      Search Engine Optimization (SEO) – This role is designed for long-term growth by getting search engines to recognize your site and view you as trustworthy and deserving of a high ranking.

3)      Branding – This role is also designed for long-term growth, but may have more to do with customer confidence in your product and less to do with driving new traffic to your site.

Let's focus on the third item; "branding". The strategy of branding is to create and develop a confidence in your product and or service in the minds of your customers. It is the branding that creates customer loyalty and that's what has them returning to you.

In fact it is possible to develop a strong brand and customers' will return even if that means paying more with your site. If you develop sound brand strategies a customer will have no problem returning to use your services or buy your product. Customers will pay the extra if for no other reason than they are confident you can and will deliver on your promises. These customers have seen your track record and they are satisfied you will do what you say you will do.

That's the power of a strong brand. But branding is becoming harder to do, but it’s not impossible.

Web site owners who have taken the time to really understand the core of their business begin to gain a clearer picture of how they can take the uniqueness of the business and leverage that special something into a means of branding their company.

This is important because there are businesses that stop at advertising. Other businesses will add an impressive array of SEO strategies that will eventually get them noticed. While both of these are important strategies the miss the mark in defining the difference between businesses that sells a product and THE source for a product or service.

The end goal is to have customers view you as the only reputable seller of whatever product you specialize in.

There are far too many businesses that are content to simply sell a product without ever really making a name for themselves.

Don't be like them. Stand for something. Define what that is and allow it to propel you and your brand. Now go on and take the steps to make a name for yourself?

Tuxedo Branding Blog Administrator

Do you know what separates your brand from your competition? Well if you don't your customers probably don't either.

With a personality, you’re more memorable than bland competitors.

Stand for something that will set you apart. Stand for something specific (not something vague like "quality") helps your company say “So what?” to all the competition.

Be faster, longer-lasting, more traditional, more fashionable, more child-friendly, organic, more international, etc. When you put this difference front and center in your company name and tag line, you become the best and possibly even the only choice for your target market.

Take a listen to this episode of iPix Brandcast w/Dr. Ande to learn more.

A big part of creating a brand for your business is proving to the customers why your products and services are the best to buy. This is where differentiation takes place. This is where you use those subtle differences between you and your competitors to help you stand out.

Determine what the benefits are with the products and/or services you offer.  Ask yourself, “Why does the customer benefit when they shop or buy from you?”  You will have a very hard time establishing a brand if you cannot determine the benefits or your products or services.

The features of your products and services are also important and they go hand in hand with the benefits.  The features of a specific product should provide a benefit.  Determine the features and the ones that stand out from the rest or provide the biggest benefit may be a target for your brand marketing campaigns.

Now that you’ve explored your brand benefits and features you are in a better position to making your brand successful. But just knowing the benefits and features and telling the customers about them isn’t enough. It’s a start but that’s not going to do the job alone. You need to prove the benefits to the consumers. You must provide them with demonstrations of your brand’s commitment to excellence and that the features are worthwhile.

And that’s not something done overnight; but having them and knowing them is an excellent foundation to build upon over time. This is what your brand will have if you are successful in your branding efforts. You will have time to build.

Happy branding!!!
Tuxedo Branding Blog Admin

When it comes to creating a brand there are several items you must have. Take a listen to this podcast from iPix Brandcasting and grab some tips.

Customers must perceive quality in your brand. If they don’t, you won’t exist very long in business. So the best thing you need to do with a branding campaign is to use it to determine the different qualities that are perceived about your products by the customers.  Do you have a good reputation with the consumer world for providing total quality in your products or are your products considered to be garbage and not worth the money?

The qualities of your business may be many things.  When you think about how customers consider the qualities of your business, make sure you consider the products you offer, the customer support you provide, your image, or anything else that would make a customer think of quality coming from your company. For this knowledge you should be using surveys and questionnaires. You can also ask questions to your social media groups and offer up coupons or discounts to those who will take your survey or answer your question.

It is imperative to know what your customers feel about you, your product or service. You might think customers absolutely love you when they are really bashing you on the quality of your product.  Knowing what the customers think is very important.  Creating a brand based on customer input can be successful, especially if you change the design of something for the customers.  This gives them a sense of ownership and it shows them you really do care.

This goes back to your mission and vision statements. The vision and mission statement are very important for every business no matter how big or small because this is where you have stated what you intended to provide to your customers. You must make every effort to be sure that your brand works well and matches what you say you want to deliver. 

Until next time
Good Luck Branding
Tuxedo Branding Administrator

Branding is about a customer’s perception.  When you want to create a brand you want to create the perception that you are the best; provide quality; or maybe even more in the customer’s mind. This is how you build brand loyalty. 

It is important to have a good idea of what the customers currently think of you when you are building a branding campaign. Do they know you? Do they know what your company provides? Do they understand your services? Have they heard of your products? Today customers may not know that you exist or they may have a negative feel for your business industry because they may have been exposed to a company not practicing proper methods.  In order to combat this you must first have a clear understanding of exactly how and what customers think of you.

If you are unsure what the customers think then you will need to send out surveys and questionnaires.  These types of things can help you get a good idea where you stand in the customers’ mind’s eye. Allow them to be brutally honest, not just about your company but about your industry as a whole. Ask them about their experiences. And don’t just ask your customers put it out there through your social media that you are looking for help from anyone who’s ever thought of using a service or buying a product from your industry. Ask them to take your survey or answer your questionnaire. You might even offer them a discount coupon just for doing it.

You see, not only will you find out items you need to fix but you’ll be establishing yourself in the minds of these customers who may use your coupon to purchase from you. If the feedback is bad, it’s okay.  It will give you something to build on with your branding campaign.

Good luck with your branding.
Tuxedo Branding Blog Administrator

When you are building a brand for your company it must show your mission clearly. Your customers must readily identify your company’s vision in conjunction as the solutions provider to their immediate problems.

So what is the mission and/or vision of your company?

If you are having trouble creating a mission or vision statement, then you will have a problem creating a brand or getting customers. So here are a couple of things to remember about missions and visions.

• The mission and vision of your company should uphold excellence in providing a quality product to customers that you care about.
  
  o   Your mission and vision statements deliver the message about your company’s ultimate goals
  
  o   They give definition to your intent to provide quality products and services and how you will achieve with these endeavors. 
  
  

Many companies focus their vision or mission on their employees while others extend their mission outward to the customers. In all honesty be transparent and create a fine mix with both.

Many customers do not read into a vision or mission statement too often. However, that doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t take it seriously. Your vision and mission are both a part of the branding process because they define what your company is all about. These two statements need to be believed and practiced by employees and all staff of the company.

And even though your customers haven’t read your mission and/or vision statement, when asked about your company, its products or services their response should almost mimic your statements word for word because your brand reflects the statements in all that it does.

Until next time, successful branding
Tuxedo Branding Blog Admin