Never before has there been such a proliferation of product choices or service providers as there are today, we are living in a saturated market place & all businesses are operating in a fiercely competitive environment.  Businesses that wish to succeed & prosper will have to find a way in which to differentiate their business or will be forced to operate as a mere price driven commodity these businesses are at risk of being highly susceptible to economic down turns and at best may be able to exist on a day to day or week to week basis though at worst will become insolvent.  

The most sustainable path to long term success and longevity is via the creation and management of a strong brand, without a brand, a product or service is a mere commodity. A commodity has little or no perceived difference against other competitive offerings, commodities are lowly differentiated products or services that are easily substituted for alternative products or services. 

Consumers who purchase commodity based products or services tend to do so based upon low priced solutions and as such will continue to shop around until they find the lowest cost provider.

As commodities are perceived by the client to have little or no perceived difference, clients that purchase a ‘mere’ product or service are not inclined to become a loyal client.  There is no better way to differentiate your product or service in the minds of your current and future clientele than through the ‘creation of a brand’.   

What is a brand?So that we can explain exactly what constitutes a brand and to clarify the precise definition of a brand we will firstly need to touch upon what a brand is not.  A brand is not a logo, name, symbol, typography, and unique palette of colours, packaging or any other set of identity collateral and as such cannot be created for you by a Graphic Design Agency.  A brand is not an identity system such as those utilised to control the usage of trademarks or trade dress elements for items such as: business publications, external signage – vehicle signage; advertisements; website or branded business stationery and a brand is certainly not a product. 

Then what exactly is a brand? ….  A brand is a set of interactive elements that individually, in their own right are critical to the success of a business, and collectively are critical to the long term growth & success of your business.

Waltor Landor from Landor Associates one of the World’s first branding consultancies, defines a brand as a promise, a promise that links a product or service to a consumer.  It is a collection of words, images & emotions that identify and authenticate a product or service in the minds of the consumer it delivers a pledge of satisfaction and quality to a customer.

The importance of a brand is undeniable even for a small business, the need for differentiation has never been greater.  In a market which is fast reaching critical mass, it is a business who creates a brand that will ultimately survive and prosper.   

The creation of a brand is a small financial commitment that can help to achieve lasting results for a business; the business that chooses to create, build and manage a brand is going to create value for their business and will instill greater confidence, support & commitment for their clients.  Creating a brand will provide your business with a distinct advantage over your competitors. 

The only way to create a unique point of difference and to establish a solid foothold in the market place with a set of loyal clients who also refer business to you is via the development of a brand.We are still in an era where the vast majority of SME’s either do not realise  what a brand really is or they do not realise the potential benefits for their business in creating a brand.  This leaves the astute small business owner with a distinct opportunity, whether you are a single one person business, a multi service business or a business that is looking at expanding across various geographical locations the need to create a brand is paramount.   

Benefits of a creating a Brand:The benefits of creating a brand are numerous and almost unquantifiable, the main benefits are as follows:
l  Unifying core business disciplines into one defining objective with distinct measurable outcomes.
l  Enables you to release yourself from a commodity market where price is the only defining factor, in other words it will enable you to charge more for your services (by decreasing price sensitivity).
l  Differentiate yourself from your competitors
l  Create a quality benchmark
l  Greater customer loyalty
l  Creates emotional engagement from your clients
l  Directed communications strategy
l  Identification & implementation of core messages(s)
l  Greater understanding of your business’s overall offering & strategic direction -increased clarity of vision (clear objectives & goals).
l  Increased profitability (increased profit margins)
l  Vastly improved client experience
l  Provides clarity and focus for all internal partners, employees
l  Solid foundation for future growth and your business’s long term flexibility & subsequent viability. 

Brand creation results in value creation for your business and for your clients, it will in fact make your business more profitable and give you a solid platform with which to build and measure all your business’s growth strategies.  Working within the parameters of your brand, you will find yourself making decisions that are not ad hoc in nature but are tightly aligned to your brand and your business’s core objectives.  Your advertising will align to your brand promise, your target audience, your market positioning, your underlying differentiating factor; your brand will become the key single defining element that will tie in all the components and elements of your business.   

There are various processes and levels of development in the brand creation process, some of which are imperative whatever the situation, some of which can be utilised dependent upon the level of depth required for the given project, the industry, as well as the target market.  An example of some of the essential elements required during the creation of a brand is the design and development of a unique brand identity (logo & stationery) and a well crafted name as these will serve as a distinctive memory tag for storing and triggering memory recall.  A logo is the top level identifier which along with your name is often the first point of interaction between your business and your prospective clientele and as such needs to unique create the correct impact & reinforce the appropriate emotions.  Although these two elements of a brand are important and require your attention and investment they are the last piece of the jigsaw and without some of the other important proceeding pieces are by all intents and purposes meaningless.  Many businesses do indeed create the name and visual representation (their logo) for their business without defining or creating a brand, this results in weak or even meaningless identity.

The art of creating a brand in its entirety is a complex and intricate process and as such spans across many areas namely: brand strategy and brand marketing.  

Brand Strategy: is utilised to create, refresh or strengthen a brand and addresses the design & development of a brand including brand research, brand audit (to examine the brands strengths weaknesses, opportunities & threats) brand architecture defining the brands promise, essence and values right through to clarifying the brands touch points (the core areas that a client or potential client may interact with your brand for example via your website, or via your receptionist).   

Brand Marketing: to ensure that you brand is being marketed & promoted in a cohesive manner to ensure that your marketing & communication plan are aligned to your brand promise a suitable communication strategy is implemented and executed.  Brand marketing also incorporates the creation of all brand design identity such as logo design right through to other areas of design such as stationery design & marketing collateral. 

There is no better way to unlock the key to the future success of your business than through the creation or reinforcement of your brand.  Strong powerful brands have carefully forged a following of loyal fans, these brands have cleverly crafted a place within the hearts and minds of their committed consumers, not only are these consumers loyal with regards to their continued usage of the brand(s), they are also extremely passionate about the brand and as such have become brand advocates whereby they are always looking at ways in which they themselves can help to promote and further build brand awareness for the brand.  

According to Waltor Landor from Landor & Associates “Products are made in the factory, brands are made in the mind” and as such products or services can easily be replaced or imitated by competitors, whereas strong powerful brands cannot.   

Brand Art, a branding & marketing agency that provide comprehensive brand strategy & brand marketing solutions Australia wide.  ©2008