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  • Successful Branding In 8 Simple Steps
 
Tito Philips, Jnr.
Tuesday, 03 August 2010 / Published in Marketing, Thought Bank

Successful Branding In 8 Simple Steps

steps to Branding

Branding

 What does it mean to brand?

To brand simply means to position and present your business, product or services in a unique and attractive way so as to communicate the usefulness or value in your business, product or service.

It is a deliberate attempt of making what your business, product or service is and can do known to the prospective market or buyer. It involves portraying what makes your business, product or service unique and also communicating its inherent usefulness.

Branding is a marketing tool, and thus, it is a deliberate act. It’s not something you stumble upon; it’s a thing that is creatively developed. A brand is a living entity. It has its own lifespan, personality, and characteristics. Therefore, if you know you can’t make a difference (be useful), don’t try to be different (branding). The following are what you should know about branding – being different (uniqueness) and making a difference (usefulness).


What’s the essence of being different?

  • To communicate your difference (uniqueness)
  • To be making a difference (usefulness). That is, to be constantly doing something valuable with the thing or idea that makes you different.

There’s no use being different (branding) if you can’t be making a difference (useful). So here are 8 simple steps to follow in order to ensure your branding makes sense;

8 Simple Steps to Successful Branding

(1) To be different you need to have a message.

Your ability to make a difference lies in how well you are able to communicate that message. This is what branding is all about – finding uniqueness and usefulness in what you do and communicating this to the world or the market as the case may be.

(2) To be different, your message must not only be compelling (emotional) it must also be convincing (logical).

Your ability to strike a balance between these two is what guarantees how much influence your brand will be able to command in the marketplace.

(3) To be different you need to focus only on your strength.

No one ever makes a difference with their weakness; to be different it takes strength. Therefore, while working on being different (branding), don’t focus all your efforts And resources on areas that you are weak – not very good at, rather focus on those areas where you and your organization are naturally gifted and good at. This is because people get things done effectively and efficiently with their strength and not their weaknesses.

(4) To be different, you need to carve a niche for yourself.

Don’t try to do everything by being jack of all trade; you will only end up being the master of none, because you would have succeeded at nothing.

(5) To be different, you have to know yourself well.

You can’t claim to be different when you can’t even point to what makes you different (unique). Being different, like I said earlier is communicating a message; a message of what makes your brand unique and useful to the market. Part of communicating that message entails knowing your product and services well, because this is what the market recognizes as your brand. Product or service knowledge is very crucial in your quest to be different.

(6) To be different, you have to spend money.

Marketing costs money! In order to get the best possible returns on your branding agenda, spend your money where your eyes can see them. Don’t put your money where you can’t easily track it, this is why I said focus majorly on your areas of strength. This is where the brand lies, so this is where you should put your resources and efforts.

(7) To be different, you have to be consistent.

You don’t claim to be different in one area today only to find yourself in another field tomorrow. This will confuse the market you are trying to reach. Let them know what you stand for and be ready to stand there for long. Change when it is absolutely necessary and when you have got enough proof to defend the change.

(8) To be different, pick or choose a ground where you are absolutely sure of winning.

It costs a lot to be different; don’t waste your time, money and effort on an idea that is not likely to sell. Be careful, being different is not the same as being stupid!

While choosing your brand message; that is the message that you will use to make and communicate your difference (brand); don’t pick a message you can’t defend. Be sure to have all it takes to defend that message. Your ability to defend the message consistently is what it means to be a brand.

Ask yourself if you have got the human, financial, material and technical resources needed to successfully enforce that message. Remember, the whole essence of branding (being different) is to make a difference (be useful). So if you can’t or don’t have what it takes to enforce that message (make a difference) don’t bother picking the message (being different); look for another message or wait till when you can defend that message.

Thanks for reading!

Has your business IQ increased as a result of reading this article?

 

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20 Comments to “ Successful Branding In 8 Simple Steps”

  1. Annabel Candy, Get In the Hot Spot says :Log in to Reply
    September 10, 2010 at 10:57 pm

    Hi Tito, thanks for mentioning my post about branding:) Great blog you have here and I love the focus on Nigerian businesses. Have you thought about making the column width a bit narrower for each reading? I have some posts on my blog called Blog Writing Magic which may give you ideas and help make your ideas more readable and spreadable.

    Keep blogging! I know this is very new so looking forward to watching it grow and evolve:) Best wishes, Annabel

    1. Tito Philips, Jnr. says :Log in to Reply
      September 11, 2010 at 11:28 pm

      Annabel,
      Much thanks for taking the pain to check out on my blog. I’m so elated I wasn’t really expecting that you would drop by and your feedback has been tremendously helpful, what do you think of the blog’s layout now?

      Will check out the blog writing tips you suggested right away!

  2. Jess Webb (aka Jessilicious) says :Log in to Reply
    December 19, 2010 at 7:25 pm

    Hi Tito!

    Thanks for mentioning Mar Dorian’s Quirky Entrepreneur post on my blog. I’m honored to be a resource for this article. 🙂

    Really enjoyed your discussion on branding here. I particularly liked #8: “pick or choose a ground where you are absolutely sure of winning”. Very good advice! This is something I have been working on doing better in my own business. Sometimes it’s easy to get carried away and try to do too much – and do it poorly – instead of focusing on just one thing and doing it really well. 😉

    1. Tito Philips, Jnr. says :Log in to Reply
      December 19, 2010 at 7:40 pm

      It’s a pleasure to have connected with you and some other quirky [unusual] entrepreneurs that you are profiling on your blog.

  3. J says :Log in to Reply
    October 15, 2012 at 10:16 am

    Take a look at that awesome infographic about ‘5 steps to a successful brand’ !

    1. J says :Log in to Reply
      October 15, 2012 at 10:19 am

      Sorry, I made a mistake. The right link is http://411brand.com/special-offer/

  4. Rubin says :Log in to Reply
    July 23, 2014 at 6:41 pm

    If you would like to get a good deal from this post then you have to apply these techniques
    to your won website.

You must be logged in to post a comment.

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