< back

A simple answer to branding

Throw away the fancy marketing speak and you’ll arrive at a better answer.

A few years ago I had the misfortune to be in a meeting with the marketing director of a major financial services company, who stated: “Our endgame solution lies in synergising our channels of distribution, thereby upping the priority for brand sanitation when it comes to populating our marketing collateral.” She was deadly serious. If you have ever wondered why marketing confuses the hell out of most business people, well, there you have it! Over recent years the vocabulary of marketing has evolved from the simple and straightforward to the pretentious and confusing. I believe this actually harms business.

The most misunderstood marketing term of all is “brand”, which seems to mean different things to many people. One wordy definition offered by online encyclopaedia Wikipedia is:

“The symbolic embodiment of all the information connected with a product or service. A brand typically includes a name, logo, and other visual elements such as images or symbols. It also encompasses the set of expectations associated with a product or service which typically arise in the minds of people. Such people include employees of the brand owner, people involved with distribution, sale or supply of the product or service, and ultimate consumers.”
Well, that’s clear then. But if you’re still confused (and I certainly was), here’s the straightforward Real Business definition:

Brand = Reputation.

Now I fully accept that this isn’t the whole picture. But I prefer to keep things simple. I believe that what people mean by brand is everything that leads to the formation and development of a reputation. Certainly, in my experience, business people will more readily recognise the importance of building and enhancing their“reputation” than their “brand”.

Whichever word they choose, some business people may not realise that a company’s reputation is affected by just about everything they think, do and say. It’s also influenced by many things outside their immediate control. For example, perceptions of Great Britain – good or bad – will have an impact on the reputation of all British companies.

So which aspects of your reputation can you manage and how?

First you should identify the reputation you desire for your company. State it as clearly as possible. Next make each of your employees (particularly those individuals who deal with customers) understand that you expect them to help create and reinforce this reputation. Re-examine your marketing. Every single communication, be it your press advertising, website, company brochure, office decor or even your “on hold” music, should help to underpin the reputation you want.

My experience is that it’s often the little things, the extras if you like, that add much more to a reputation then any advertising claim or brochure statement. For example, I was staying at The Four Seasons Hotel in San Francisco recently and one lunch time was surprised when my napkin was removed from my lap a few moments after I’d placed it there - my waitress had noticed that I was wearing dark trousers and changed the linen from white to black – a small detail but one that gets people talking, (and writing and reading) and adds yet another story to the Four Seasons roster (doesn’t everyone have a Four Seasons story?) And that’s my point; the best companies’ reputations are made by anecdotes of legendary service or product detail. Tesco state in their advertising, “every little helps”, and here’s a company that consistently innovates with both big initiatives such as the loyalty card and smaller ones such as opening extra tills if they see more than three people queuing, and my sense is that they truly understand how it’s the delivery of their advertising strap line that builds their reputation as opposed to the statement itself.

I suppose I should explain that the marketing director I referred to at the start of this article wasn’t entirely wrong. My understanding is that she wanted all her company’s brochures, mailers, point-of-sale posters and sales team’s presentations to look the same – as if from one “brand stable”. I applaud her intentions. But I think that she would have been much more successful by keeping things simple. In fact, I’m prepared to stake my reputation on it.

Peter Knight is chairman of Phoenix. His best-selling book, ‘HEMP: Highly Effective Marketing Plans’ is available in 11 languages, including plain English. If you’re a real business and you’ve come up with a stunning marketing plan, or you want help to create one, Peter would love to hear from you. Contact pk@phoenixplc.com