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This is a small business that makes custom suits for the sports industry.
NBAZ is a local Arizona mid sized bank with a small bank feel.
In an ever-crowded market where consumers are constantly being stimulated with brands and their brand promises. It is vital to “get it right.” Consumers are much savvier and can see thru the fake brand messaging that doesn’t build value in the product or service.
I feel that the words Brand and Branding have lost its value in certain levels of business. I say this because so many different people and businesses use the word branding as a catchword or buzz word without truly knowing what branding is. Most smaller businesses do not know what proper brand development entails.
There is no one defined system for going about developing a brand. There are 5 major gated stages of proper brand development. The process is adaptive to each client. I always outline the stages of brand development with my clients so they have an expectancy of objectives, budget, and deliverables.
In a nutshell. Branding is an adaptive process of identifying and creating a satisfaction level of a product or service. A brand doesn’t necessarily need to be a product of service. A brand can be a place or an organization, or an object. People even brand themselves and their name.
A strong identity starts at the top. The CEO should have a clear vision for the company and be able to prioritize its meaning and communication. This identity should be distinctive and help manage the brands’ position in the market.
I am sure that the idea of having a bunch of different designers working on your logo mark is appealing. It’s not whats best for your brand. Most the designers on the crowdsourcing websites are designers, not brand professionals. They are only interested in adding your logo to their portfolio. Crafting a memorable mark that encompasses your brand’s voice takes a bunch of understanding on how shapes, colors, and fonts play a vital roll in brand awareness and recognition. 99.9% of the time a crowdsourced designer does not invest the time to know if what he is designing is right for the brand. All he is doing is pumping out ideas that the things will look cool and in hopes, his idea will get picked. If you post your needs on a crowdsourced site for 200 dollars, you will get what you paid for.
This is important because you learn more about who your direct and indirect competitors are and how you are positioned against them. You learn about your current brand if you have one and how you are currently perceived by your customers. You can map your product or service to the market. Competitive research will identify who your customers are. WHat your price point will be
Print shops and sign shops are not branding experts. I feel that these types of businesses have bastardized the word brand. The general public that knows nothing about branding see some advertisement by a print shop that says “we also do your branding” REALLY? NOOOO you don’t do the branding, you just print the material that comes from developing brand assets and the brand identity. Print shops that specialize in beating the prices of the other printer in town are not the person who you want to do your branding. Ask any print shop what is a brand. and if the first thing that comes out of their mouth is “logo” just say “no thanks” and give me a call.
This just in… your logo is NOT your brand. Your logo is just a visual representation your brand that consumers connect to the most and the fastest. humans are stimulated by shape first then color and then language. makes sense right. I will say these keywords, and what comes to mind, green square, red star, blue oval.
Your brand is the perception that your consumers have of you. you don’t own your brand you develop a brand to create your spot in the marketplace. One that is heavily saturated and vying for your attention at all times. Branding is a combination of many parts.
