Mother of Branding Resources

There's a source of much knowledge about branding trends and principals available to all. It's called www.brandchannel.com. It's a product of Interbrand, a well-known and well-respected branding consultancy for major global branders.

But they have established this resource which is a forum and sounding board for any and all people interested in branding.

In fact, I've submitted and had published several articles you can find in their extensive archive. Once you're there just search for "Jelsema".

But besides me, hundreds of people with thoughts about brands and branding have submitted papers with subjects as far-ranging as "Using Music as a Branding Element" to "Branding in and for the China Market". What a valuable resource!

Brandchannel.com also contains a directory of branding resources, features a new debate and a new feature article each week, profiles people and firms involved in branding, and reviews books and of course, publishes Interbrand papers, reports and publicity.

Anyone interested in branding, even branding for smaller companies, should check out www.brandchannel.com.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

Atlas: source of 10,000 names

I wrote about the problem of using local place names to name a business in my last blog. Unless the name defines its specific location (Zuni Street Liquors), a place name becomes a generic name (Denver Liquors) that does not help differentiate the business.

But if you go far afield, i.e., out-of-state or out-of-country to find a business name, you may find very green geographic pastures.

Get a good Atlas and go to the index and scan the town names listed there.

Likely, you'll find name candidates that just roll off the tongue, that set just the right mood, that convey the exact image for your new business. Perhaps you won't find an appropriate name this way. But it only costs you a half hour's time with a $12.00 Atlas (Even less if you buy a used, out-of-date Atlas) to find out.

I'll sometimes use an Atlas just to get the creative juices flowing. Once I've captured a dozen or so relevant candidates from, say Vermont, I often find word parts I can combine with other part sources (i.e. combining Alpha with the last syllable of Piedmont = Alphamont)

The founder of Haverhills, the mail-order business, confessed that his business was named this way. He was not from, nor ever visited, Haverhill, MA, but just liked the sound of it. It's been a successful catalog since the mid-1960's.

When you go to a world Atlas, or an historic Atlas, the candidates just multiply.

As an added incentive, you might find a great place to vacation once your business starts generating cash flow.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

Joining the crowd is no way to stand out.

If you use the name of the city in which you do business in your business name, are you differentiating the business?

Not likely.

Yet how many businesses are named after their location? Just look in your city's telephone directory under your city's name. Out of all those businesses, what business stands out?

Not even one. Because they all begin with the city name, there's no differentiation.

The same problem exists when you name after a larger area in which the business is located (Twin-Cities, Ohio, Ozark, etc.)... or when you name after a local nick-name (Broncos, Queen City, Mile-High - all Denver references)...or when you adopt a local landmark familiar to all (Clear Creek, Pikes Peak, Platte).

However, if your business relies on walk-in traffic, and you plan on having only one location, naming it with a specific location or landmark may be helpful, both as a memorable name and as a location-finder. After all, how many "Pearl Street Deli"s or "Sloan's Lake Nurseriy"s can there be?

But as a rule of thumb, I'd suggest not naming your company with local geographic references. You'll just be joining a crowd.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

Memes color your impressions

In my last blog I wrote about memes as being symbols with universal meaning. And if not universal, at least cultural. They are sort of shorthand expressions that aid in communication at a very basic level.

I got to thinking about how memes can be used in creating a brand. The trouble is, a more vital attribute of a brand is uniqueness. Unique trumps familiar, and a meme usually represents the familiar.

So is there such a thing as a unique meme?Yes, at least in the creative context in which you place that  meme. Making the familiar unique is quite a feat, but it has been done by some of the best brands. Here are a couple that come to mind:

• Chicken Soup for the Soul
  Fast Company
  Gorilla Glue
  Jolly Green Giant

Speaking of "Green Giants", remember that color evokes images and creates impressions. So colors can be memes, both the hue and the name of a color.

A light blue Tiffany box says expensive and elegant. With a name like "Red Bull", how can anyone not link the name with energy? Think of all the product names that utilize color to help define and differentiate: White Diamonds, Jet Blue, Green-Built, Silver Bullet, Mellow Yellow, Purple Cow and many, many more.

So here's a reservoir of potential names, taglines and palettes that can evoke a positive, familiar reaction while still retaining uniqueness.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies

Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

What do you meme by that?

A meme is a universal symbol that immediately conveys meaning no matter the culture or context of the symbol's origin.  It can be an icon, a word or phrase, a tune, a fashion, a color, etc..

It's actually an idea and its associated attributes, crystallized into a symbol that evokes a cultural response.

Several examples:

Red Cross for the organization and it's purpose
the military directive, "charge!"
The eagle representing the USA
Mortar & pestle standing for pharmacy
the circle/slash depicting "no".

The term was first coined by an English geneticist, Richard Dawkins, in the mid-seventies. It wasn't until the 1990's that the concept was adopted by several pioneers in the marketing communications business.

The use of memes, i.e., symbols, have been in use in marketing since the first craftsman carved his or her initials on the bottom of a pot and the trademark was born.

But the definition and study of memes in the marketing arena is recent. Two books, Geoff Ayling's Rapid Response Advertising and Jay Conrad Levinson's Guerrilla Creativity, speak to better marketing through memes. Primarily, they concentrate on messaging and marketing. (Levinson’s book draws heavily from Ayling’s.)

The implications for branding have not been isolated by either, nor by anyone else I'm aware of. So, here goes:

The first thought might be to adapt an existing meme to represent your own business. Lots of entrepreneurs do this, usually with the aid of an advertising media salesperson. They choose a piece of clipart that represents, say "pharmacy". In their directory ads, on their coupons, in their mailings, the RX symbol or the mortar & pestle becomes the dominant visual. This does identify the product category, but it does not differentiate the pharmacy from competitors.

So in general, familiar, frequently-used memes are not effective branding elements.

However, it is possible to adapt an existing meme with favorable attributes and associations that are not thought of in the context of your product category. This utilizes a definition of creativity: the combining of two or more disparate elements to make something new.

An example might be the use of the word "Doctor" in the context of auto repair - The Car Doctor.

You can claim the meme as your own in its new context, but beware of imitators. Once you've created the link between a meme and your product category, others will follow.

So you had better establish your meme-based brand quickly and forcefully.

More on memes in branding in future blogs.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller businesses profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

www.signaturestrategies.com

Role of branding in direct response

I often hear dyed-in-the-wool direct response mavens decry the emphasis most marketers put on brand-building. They are all about the sale. Their only goal is to persuade and entice buyers to TAKE ACTION NOW.

These folks often don't bother with a logo, or even a company name. Their compelling, detailed and benefit-packed copy; together with testimonials, references and endorsements; coupled with powerful offers, discounts, bonuses and coupons, is all that concerns them.

Well, many of them are successfully making money with this strategy.

But I believe it to be short-sighted.

All direct marketers know that converting prospects into a customers is important because of the life value of those new customers.

It's not the first sale that really matters - many willingly take a loss on the first sale. No, it's acquiring a customer that's most meaningful.

Most have figured out how much business an average customer will do with the firm over a number of years. It's probably an order of magnitude larger than the initial sale because these marketers continually ask their customer to buy more stuff. They send catalogs, sales letters, bargain flyers, e-mails. Continually. Religiously. Obsessively.

All this communication develops in the collective mind of customers a position about the company. Low cost, reliable, great guarantees, whatever.

In cases where companies aren't building brand and establishing a positive position consciously and consistently, their customers will do it for them.

My contention is that paying attention to your brand is important to direct marketing long-term success. Perhaps not as important as a powerful offer backed by a no-holds-barred guarantee in the short-run, but every bit as important over time.

Think of the direct marketing companies in which you have established a relationship. I'll bet nine out of ten will have established and promoted their brand along with their offers. I'll bet they are more successful in acquiring and maintaining loyal customers. I'll also bet their life-time value per customer is higher than their competitors who have disregarded branding.

That's my opinion and I'm sticking to it.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

303-242-5975

Positioning a really new product

I received a comment to a recent blog (Customers, not you, position your company) asking how to position an unproven new product or service in a new product category with little competition.

Great question many entrepreneurs will face, but few will realize or take advantage of this very unique and important opportunity.

Usually when there's "no competition" it means there's no one filling a spot in a new category.

There's plenty of competition. People have been devising ways to solve a problem or satisfy a need that this new product will do better. But people have been coping. Now they're offered a better way, a more powerful way, a less expensive way, a faster way, or at least a more novel way to gain the satisfaction they are striving to acheive.

So you position your new offering against the old way of doing things.

Geoffrey A. Moore in the book, Crossing the Chasm, gives us a specific model to position a truly new product. It was written specifically for hi-tech product introductions, but I've used it with modifications as a basis for low-tech launches as well. Incidentally, I recommend this book as a strategy primer for any new product launch even though it was written over 15-years ago. Anyway,

Geoffrey provides the following formula for developing a position for unique products. You just fill in the blanks.

• For (target customers)
  Who are dissatisfied with (current market alternative)
  Our product is a (new product category)
  That provides (key problem-solving capability)
  Unlike (the product alternative)
  We have assembled (key product benefits)

A product category is key to positioning. You compete within one. You position your product to the competitors in your product category. It's important to know your category. And if you're first in a particular category, you have a distinct advantage.

In fact, unless and until you really foul up, you own that category. So if you truly have a unique product that doesn't belong in an existing product category, your position is that you own that category. Act like a leader and customers will follow, provided the product serves a purpose, solves a problem or fulfills a desire.

Martin Jelsema
Signature Strategies
Helping smaller companies profit from the power of branding

www.signaturestrategies.biz