Your Brand Matters:What Does Your Brand Say About You?

© 2011 ClearEdge Marketing

May 10, 2011

Presented by:

Leslie Vickrey, President & Founder

ClearEdge Marketing

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Our Agenda

What is a Brand?

What Does a Brand Involve?

Why is a Brand so Important?

The Reach of Your Brand in Today‟s Business Market

Measuring the Success of Your Brand

Lessons Learned

Lively Discussion!

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Poll Question 1

Which of the following would you say is the most

effective branding tool for businesses today?

Company website

Social media (Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, blogs, video)

Collateral (brochures, case studies, white papers)

People (testimonials, referrals, networking events)

Analyst relations (Gartner, Forrester, Aberdeen)

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We Asked Your Buyers!

“When I am in the market to solicit a service, the first place I

typically turn to are trusted colleagues and professional

organizations that have experience with the vendor… followed

by research into websites, blogs and social media.”

We asked and they responded!

CIO and VP of IT speak out…

“First would be sites that evaluate and report on products

and services – Gartner, Forrester, service specific user

groups… Second would be company website, third would be

colleagues.”

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What is a Brand?

It’s so much more

that just a logo…

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What is a Brand?

Simply stated…

A brand is the identity of a specific

product, service, business or person

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What is a Brand?

It is the personality that identifies a product, service, company or

person (name, term, sign, symbol, or design, or combination of them)

AND how it relates to key constituencies: customers, staff,

partners, investors, etc. -Wikipedia

The real power in branding today

lies in creating dynamic, meaningful

relationships with customers that

evolve over time.

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Poll Question 2

How would you rate your current brand?

Excellent: Our logo is recognizable, our message is consistent and we

have a great reputation in the marketplace

Average: People don‟t always recognize our name and logo and we have

to explain our value

Poor: The logo is outdated, we have no collateral that represents our

current positioning, employees are inconsistent with their messaging

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What Does a Brand Involve?

BRAND

STRATEGY

BRAND

IDENTITY

BRAND

MANAGEMENT

BRAND

EXPERIENCECompany

Customers

Market

Offerings &

Architecture

Category &

Position

Messaging

Name

Personality

Logo

Tagline

Design

System

Assets

Planning

Tools

Training &

Adoption

Monitoring &

Assessment

Personal

Interactions

Products &

Services

Environments

Print &

Online

PR & Events

Social Media

Evolution

Promise &

Experience

A brand is part of everything…

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Your Brand DNA

What is Your Brand DNA?

Style: What does your brand look like?

(logos, tagline, symbols, designs, ads,

etc.)

Differentiators: What makes your brand

unique and stand out from your

competitors?

Values: What does your brand stand for?

What do you support? What is your

culture?

Standards: Is your company consistently

delivering the same message and are you

delivering on your promises?

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Why is Your Brand Important?

Your brand is your essence… It creates a feeling, an

opinion that influences buyers‟ decisions

“Buyers make most decisions by relying on their two-second first

impressions based on stored memories, images and feelings…”

*Source: Malcolm Gladwell, Blink: The Power of Thinking without Thinking

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Why is Your Brand Important?

It touches every „driver of

choice‟ in strategic buying

decisions for businesses:

o Price

o Products / Services

o Experience

o Quality

Because we all have emotions,

no matter how disciplined the

buying process is, we use those

feelings in decision-making

Even in B2B… people make decisions based on emotions

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Love making a difference in the

world, living a great life

From her philanthropic efforts to the

inspirational and educational nature of

her shows to her book club and her

Live Your Best Life program, Oprah has

made of living through love and giving

back

Creating Your Essence

Creating the essence of a brand is no easy task…

It must permeate everything an organization strategically does

and supports and must be able to evolve over time

Happiness, friendly

From their tagline of “the real

thing” to the bubbles and the swoosh

of their logo to the images of Santa

Clause, polar bears, baseball and

family outings in ads, Coca-Cola plays

to the world's youth and young at

heart

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Your Brand is Your Reputation

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Why Apple?

Today is the Mac generation

Apple consistently increases its

broad appeal

It controls its messages very

carefully, which creates enormous

buzz and anticipation.

The company admits to making

mistakes, but is generally forgiven by

its customers

Examples of Brand Reputation

Apple vs. Microsoft

Source: Interbrands 2010 top 100 list of brands

Why NOT Microsoft?

Microsoft lacks the loyalty of it‟s

rivals…

Brand equity is missing and its

customers don't feel pride or

affection toward their PCs

Limited

Internal loyalty is somewhat

lacking

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Examples of Brand Reputation

How you react influences your brand image as well…

Source: Lightspeed survey and Consumer Reports, Dec 2009 and February 2010

Toyota: defective product was bad, BUT it was the failure to promptly

notify car owners that quickly tarnished the reputation

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Poll Question 3

How important are customer testimonials and

recommendations to you when making a strategic

purchasing decision?

Very Important: I do not make purchases unless others have reassured me it is

a high-quality product.

Somewhat Important: I am more likely to purchase if colleagues and friends

have given a good review.

Not very Important: I listen to what others have to say, but it rarely influences

my decision to purchase.

Not at all Important: I don‟t care about the name or how well the solution /

product has worked for others, it‟s about our personal needs.

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People are instrumental in making your brand a success…

Everyone is a potential brand ambassador

Employees

Recruiters

Consultants

Partners

Vendors

Friends & Family

Customers

But…if you don‟t have a defined, consistent and reliable brand,

you can create confusion among your ambassadors… AND

confusion becomes a brand liability

The Reach of Your Brand

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Brand Ambassadors

Raving fans can be your brand‟s biggest asset

If you‟ve created a strong brand, then your fans will promote

your brand:

Give your business great referrals

Spread positive word of mouth

Provide marketing legitimacy (back up your claims)

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Do You have Customers or Fans?

QUESTIONS?

Do they refer their contacts to your company?

Do they participate in testimonials and case studies that

demonstrate your company‟s value and capabilities?

Do they speak positively of your brand and become an

indirect yet highly effective component of your sales and

marketing strategy?

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Increasing Brand Awareness

With Social Media, your brand visibility has greater potential than

ever before

New tools for getting in front of more prospects and clients

Alternatives to traditional advertising routes

New ways to measure brand impact

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Social Media for Branding

LISTENING & LEARNING: To hear indirect, personal and uncensored

language what clients, consultants and candidates want and need from

your organization.

SHARING: To give subject matter experts ways to provide valuable

insights through creative mediums (video, blogs, photos, etc.) that

capture the attention of clients, consultants and candidates.

BOOSTING BRAND KNOWLEDGE: To positively influence brand

positioning by responding to questions and frustrations shared across

social media sites. www.hootsuite.com

EXPANDING: To dramatically increase business network of ambassadors.

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Assess

Define

EmbedReinforce

Measure

Building Your Brand

Put a Plan in

Place…

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Assess Your Brand

Assess Your BrandWhere are we?

Where do we want to be?

How do we get there?

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Assess Your Brand

• What emotions are behind customer purchases of your

products/services?

• Are there any negative aspects of your brand, if so, how can you fix

them?

• How is your brand positioned against the competition?

• What demographic is your brand appealing to?

• Which personality characteristics of this demographic do you

embrace?

• Does your branding effort take into account different cultural

aspects?

• Are you investing in your ongoing branding efforts through both

time and money?

Start with some questions…

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Define Your Brand

Interview employees at all levels as well as customers and prospects

and conduct a competitive analysis to ensure the message is aligned

and on target:

• What is your brand‟s vision?

• What are the good attributes of your brand (or company, or product,

or service)?

• What is unique about your company?

• What are the strength‟s of your company / employees?

• What makes your company stand out?

• What are the practical benefits associated with your brand?

• What feelings does your brand produce in customers?

Gather Information and Feedback

Internally and Externally…

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Embed Your Brand

Put Your Best Foot Forward Do your logo, go-to-market

message and outreach reflect

what you have defined?

Are your employees on board?

Does your culture reflect what

you have defined?

Is your collateral consistent in

design and message?

Are you leveraging social media

and other outlets to get the word

out?

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Reinforce Your Brand

Reinforce Your Brand Are your employees able to

deliver on what you defined?

Do you have raving fans?

Do all elements of your branding

strategy integrate with one

another?

Are these elements delivered

consistently?

Are you communicating

effectively and responding to the

marketplace quickly?

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Measure Your Brand

Measure Define metrics upfront, but be open to new

metrics

Set metrics that are qualitative and quantitative

Build a dashboard, not just a single ROI

calculation to see the in-process metrics

Design the dashboard to be relevant to your

business

Track what‟s valuable to you, not just what‟s

measurable

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We Asked Your Buyers!

“A company‟s brand is of high importance. A strong

„brand‟ gives a company leverage because it is associated

with highly effective key business outcomes – financial and

customer satisfaction.”

We asked and they responded!

CIO and VP of IT speak out!

“A great brand is about creating a great customer experience,

creating balance relative to service “hurdles” such as price or wait

time, but yet the outcome is what you expect or better than you

expect. The downside of course being when the value of the outcome

does not match expectations. If the customer goes away dissatisfied

too many times, this will dilute the brand.”

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We Asked Your Buyers!

“A 'brand name' is quite important to almost all decisions made by

the CIO. When we purchase a product or solicit a service, our goal

is to make correct decisions - a positive brand helps to give us the

confidence that we are making the right choice.”

We asked and they responded!

CIO and VP of IT speak out!

“Brand is why CIOs network and why vendors want to get close to

CIOs - it's so hard to get our attention. Having a brand validated by

others respected in the community is one major key to success.”

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We Asked Your Buyers!

“If we are not familiar with a brand, I think you will find the

decision process may be delayed until the due-diligence is

completed or the decision may be delayed to avoid a wrong

decision. Questions related to justifying the decision or even the

need for the product or service may arise.”

We asked and they responded!

CIO and VP of IT speak out!

“I think your 'brand' conversation is an interesting one - especially

since it can be traced all the way to the CIO him/herself. We all

have a 'brand' whether we realize it or not - it's our reputation.”

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TalonStrategic Brand Overhaul

From confusion in the marketplace to an award-winning

identity that supports continued expansion by:

Uniting the firm under one brand (from 3 to 1)

Directing attention to strengths, performance, talent and results

Modernizing their identity, image, name and logo

Simplifying their structure

Better reflecting who they were and where they were going

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TalonStrategic Brand Overhaul

As our expertise, capabilities and solutions continued to grow, we needed

a name that would speak to our strength, talent and solid performance in

the marketplace...” Dan Reynolds, Founder & CEO, Talon Professional Services

Website Business cards

Award

Winning

Brand

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CorptaxRefreshed Brand

From an outdated look and feel, conflicting messaging,

and inconsistent collateral to a forward-thinking and

innovative brand

A logo that is more representative of a software company

And icon that represents core solution

Messaging and branding standards that allow them to expand

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CorptaxRefreshed Brand

Refreshed Logo… Updated Collateral… New Website… Thought Leadership,

Targeted Communications… Electronic and Print Stationary… and more… All

enabling the client to: close the gap on communication, become a thought

leader in their industry and continue to grow and capture market share.

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Lessons Learned

Assess Your Brand: Are you happy with what your brand says

about you?

Define Your Brand: What value is your brand providing?

Embed Your Brand: Is your brand infused throughout all you do?

Reinforce Your Brand: Are you delivering what you promise?

Establish Goals and Metrics: Are you measuring what is valuable

to your organization?

Your BRAND is much more than a logo…

it’s your company’s REPUTATION

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Let’s Talk

Your Questions, Experiences & Thoughts.

Let’s Share & Learn.

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Thank You!

For More Insights, Contact Me AnytimeLeslie Vickrey, President of ClearEdge Marketing

Tel: 312.731.3149

E-mail: lvickrey@clearedgemarketing.com

www.clearedgemarketing.com

www.twitter.com/lvickrey

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