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Branding Concepts

Guest post by: Mash Bonigala

Article Overview: Branding is one of the most important aspects of a business. It is the identity of the company and as such needs a great deal of respect and work put forth for every aspect of a company. This identity is transferred to each product or service a company puts forth, creating a strong image or brand.

Branding Concepts

Branding is one of the most important aspects of a business. It is the identity of the company and as such needs a great deal of respect and work put forth for every aspect of a company. This identity is transferred to each product or service a company puts forth, creating a strong image or brand.

One of the primary aspects of a brand is the brand promise. This is a commitment a company makes to prospective customers or clients. This sets the necessary expectations for a company and addresses issues. This is basically setting expectations both for the company and the customer. For the company, the brand promise can be considered the quality of work which is being put forth in each department. For the customer this is what they are paying for, the quality of the product, as well as the amount of fulfillment they should expect.

Branding can have a personality as well. These are the human characteristics a brand takes on and customers or clients experience when they choose to do business with your or your company. Attributes can include your view of quality, or what they might expect of your company. The personality of the brand may also include your feelings of how customer service should be performed as well.

Another way to think about the personality of the brand is to make it an ideal person. What attributes would this person have? How would they deal with any given situation? How would this ideal person address the public? What would this person exemplify? Questions like that can help a new company decide what type of face it would like.

Consider what attributes the brand will have as well. This would include any unique ways you want to deliver your brand promise to customers and clients. Imagine the ways you could reach a target market, those means in and of them-selves speak a great deal of the type of company which is being portrayed. For instance a company who feels it is highly reputable is unlikely to use trickery in advertising to gain customers, preferring something more straight forward so people understand up front what they are getting into before signing up.

Within a brand, it is important to differentiate between your brand and other similar brands. This is important for two reasons. The first of which is to differentiate yourself from competition. Facebook, for instance does not try to look the same as Myspace, feeling it has a different set of core values and business strategy. Facebook has become the leading social networking site for its respect of the people within the community, not blasting them with advertisements. Second is to follow a similar direction to the rest of the industry. This may seem strange, but there is a reason the industry leaders do what they do. The trick is to differentiate yourself enough to get noticed, while not deviating so much as to alienate prospective clients.

Branding can be a balancing act, between your company and other companies. All of you are vying for what is essentially the same target market, so creating the most trusted face out of a sea of names is important, and what branding does for a company.

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Article Tags: branding, brands, logo design



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Re: Mission & Vision Statements - [quote="BuzzAroundBooks":18511jx0]Oops my bad. A mission statement is for employees as well. Author of "Strategic Management: Concepts and Cases", Fred R. David says "The mission statement answers the question 'What is our business,'" while "the vision statement answers the question 'What do we want to become?'" (60). Furthermore, "A good mission statement reveals an organization's customers; products or services; markets; technology; concern for survival, growth, profitability; philosophy; self-concept; concern for public image; and concern for employees" (73).[/quote:18511jx0] Often when I'm researching a company, I'll look for their mission statement. Its a great way for an outsider or a potential employee to find out more about the business, to learn their goals and what they offer. As a potential employee, this is an interesting way to see if its a company that you would like to be involved with. Shri
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