Branding For Dummies

by Bill Chiaravalle, Barbara Findlay Schenck

Overview

Build positive impressions of your product or business

Build a powerful brand and pave the way for marketing success

Need to create — or improve — a brand? This practical, plain-English guide gives you proven techniques for branding everything from products to services to individuals. You get step-by-step advice on assembling a top-notch branding team, positioning your brand, handling advertising and promotion, avoiding branding blunders, and keeping your brand viable, visible, and healthy.

Discover how to

• Define your company's identity
• Develop your logo and tagline
• Launch your brand marketing plan
• Manage and protect your brand
• Fix a broken brand
• Make customers loyal brand champions

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780471771593
Publisher:	Wiley
Publication date:	12/06/2006
Series:	For Dummies Books
Pages:	384
Product dimensions:	7.40(w) x 9.30(h) x 0.72(d)

About the Author

Bill Chiaravalle served as Creative Director with world-renowned brand strategy and design firm Landor Associates before founding Brand Navigation, which has been honored with numerous branding, design, and industry awards. Barbara Findlay Schenck is a nationally recognized marketing specialist and the author of several books, including Small Business Marketing Kit For Dummies.

Read an Excerpt

Click to read or download

Table of Contents

Introduction     1
About This Book     1
Conventions Used in This Book     2
What You're Not to Read     3
Foolish Assumptions     3
How This Book Is Organized     4
Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Branding     4
Building a Brand, Step-by-Step     4
Launching Your New Brand     5
The Care and Feeding of Your Brand     5
Protecting Your Brand     5
The Part of Tens     6
Icons Used in This Book     6
Where to Go from Here     6
Everything you Ever Wanted to Know About Branding     7
Branding ABCs     9
What Are Brands, Anyway?     9
What brands do     10
Why brands are a big deal     13
Seeing the Big Branding Picture     14
What's involved?     15
Who's involved?     16
Gulp! How much does it cost?     18
Pop Quiz: Are You Ready to Rev Up Your Branding Engine?     19
When and How to Brand     21
Branding Demystified     21
Translating branding lingo     22
Branding's essential ingredient     23
To Brand or Notto Brand     23
Products     24
Service businesses     26
Business brands     26
Individuals (namely, yourself)     28
A Bird's-eye View of the Branding Process     30
Decide what you're going to brand     30
Do your research     32
Position your product or service     33
Write your brand definition     34
Develop your name, logo, and tagline     35
Launch your brand     36
Manage, leverage, and protect your brand     36
Realign your brand to keep it current     37
When to Brand     38
Opening a new business     38
Introducing a new product     39
Fundraising for a nonprofit     40
Taking your business public     40
Going global     40
Raising venture capital     41
Merging with another business     42
Heating Up Your Branding Iron     43
Gearing Up to Brand, Rebrand, or Refine Your Brand     43
Getting real about your current brand identity     44
Taking stock of your brand assets and using them to your advantage     45
In your dreams! Defining your desired brand identity      46
What's Your Goal? Prioritizing Your Brand's To-Do List     49
Build awareness     49
Create an emotional connection     50
Differentiate your product     51
Create credibility and trust     52
Motivate purchasing     52
Crunching the Numbers: Budgeting for Your Brand Building Program     54
Making Brand Development Part of Your Business Plan     56
Knowing the relationship between your mission, vision, and brand identity     56
Committing to the branding process     57
Who's on First? Recruiting Your Branding Team     57
Getting buy-in from the top down     58
Engaging all employees in the process     58
Building a Brand, Step-by-Step     59
Finding a Niche You Can Fill: Researching Your Market     61
Defining Who Buys What You're Selling - and Why     62
Your customer profile     62
What your customers want and value     64
What sets your most ideal customers apart     65
Why customers buy from you     66
Digging Up the Info You Need     67
Know thyself: Conducting a self-assessment of your offering     67
Tuning in to customer insights      68
Conducting customer research     69
When to do it yourself and when to get research help     73
Where else to turn for facts and figures     74
Putting It All in Perspective     75
Seizing Marketplace Opportunities     75
Filling Your Niche: Positioning Your Brand     77
The Marketing Muscle of Positioning     78
Finding a Position of Your Own: The Birthplace of Your Brand     78
Fulfill an unfilled need     78
Specialize to create a new market niche     79
Transform an established solution     79
Discover an all-new solution     80
Figuring Out What You Do Better Than Anyone Else     80
Deciding Which Customers You Serve the Best     82
Finding Your Place in the Competitive Landscape     84
Putting your brand on the positioning map     84
Determining your point of difference     85
No copycats! Avoiding the fate of a me-too brand     87
Testing and Protecting Your Position     87
Putting Your Brand into Words     91
Dusting Off Your Business Vision, Mission, and Values     91
Refocusing your vision     92
Building your brand on the strong back of your business mission      94
Polishing your business promise     96
Defining your brand character     98
Mission Possible: Defining Your Brand     100
What to incorporate     100
The anatomy of a brand identity statement     101
Grading your statement     101
Putting your brand identity statement to the test     101
Naming Your Brand     103
What's In a Name?     103
What the right name does     104
When naming happens     108
Types of names     109
Naming advice to follow     110
Picking (or Inventing) Your Brand Name     111
Rounding up good ideas     112
The hard part: Narrowing your list to the best options     114
Putting your top contenders through a preliminary test     115
Building consensus around your top-choice name     116
Grabbing a Domain Name, If You Can     117
Fitting Your Name into Your Brand Architecture     118
Catch It If You Can: Protecting Your Name     119
Screening to see if the name you want is already taken     119
Treading the trademark ropes     121
Designing Your Logo and Tagline     123
Planning Your Logo: The Face of Your Brand     124
Matching your logo to your brand and business     125
Choosing your logo approach     126
Developing Your Logo Design     129
Design ingredients     131
Preparing your logo artwork     134
Putting Your Logo to Work     135
Saving Face: Giving an Existing Logo a Makeover     137
Managing Your Logo     138
Creating logo tools, standards, and usage rules     138
Naming a brand cop     140
Creating a Tagline     140
Discovering what makes a great tagline     140
Deciding whether you need a tagline (and you probably do)     141
Tag(line), you're it! Coming up with your slogan     142
Launching Your New Brand     143
Countdown to Takeoff: Planning Your Brand Launch     145
Committing to Internal and External Brand Launches - In That Order     146
Preparing for Your Brand Launch     146
Knowing your story, chapter and verse     146
Putting your brand launch into context     147
Producing prototypes to introduce your brand     150
Checking your internal readiness     151
Previewing your brand story with priority audiences      152
Ten, Nine, Eight...Writing Your Brand Launch Marketing Plan     154
Benchmarking your pre-launch situation     155
Setting your goal and objectives     155
Defining your target market     157
Setting your strategies     157
Selecting your brand introduction tactics     158
Establishing your budget     160
Takeoff! Launching Your Brand     161
Launching internally     161
Launching externally     163
Getting the Word Out with Public Relations     165
Creating Your Brand Launch PR Plan     166
Covering all the bases     166
Writing your public relations game plan     169
Introducing Your Brand with Publicity     171
Matching publicity efforts to your brand launch objectives     172
Targeting media outlets     173
Prioritizing editorial contacts     174
Pitching your story     175
Preparing and distributing news releases     176
Creating a media kit     180
Building an online pressroom     181
Extra! Extra! Making News     182
Staging news conferences     183
You're on! Shining in media interviews      183
There's No Such Thing as Bad Publicity, Right? Wrong!     184
Advertising and Promoting Your Brand     185
Getting Singular with One Brand Message and Tone     186
The power of consistency for you and your brand     186
How to present a consistent brand image     186
A Clear Purpose: Don't Get Creative without One!     187
Gaining Awareness and Getting Some Action     189
Making an Ad Schedule     190
Matching media vehicles to your communication needs     190
Scheduling your ads     193
Creating Ads That Work     194
Print ads     195
Broadcast ads     199
Hiring professional creative help     199
Measuring Your Ad's Effectiveness     201
Packaging Your Product to Convey Your Brand     202
Staging Promotions to Build Business and Brand Awareness     203
Sending Your Brand into Cyberspace     205
Creating Your Online ID     206
Naming your site     206
Registering your name     208
Building a Site That Reinforces Your Brand     209
Settling on the right type of site     210
Considering content     210
Mapping out easy navigation     211
Integrating your brand image online and offline     212
Getting People to Your Site     214
Register with search engines     215
Help search engines find your site     215
Build incoming links to your site     216
Promote, promote, promote     217
Using Blast E-Mail to Reach Your Market     218
Building permission marketing networks     218
Getting your e-mail opened and read     219
Blogging and Podcasting     220
Blogging basics     220
Podcasts     221
The Care and Feeding of Your Brand     223
Suiting Up a Team of Brand Champions     225
Branding from the Top Down     226
Writing your branding playbook     226
Becoming your brand's MVP     227
Training Your Team     229
Developing brand champions     230
Gaining team buy-in     231
Prepping Your Sales Force     234
Arming your sales force with testimonials and product endorsements     234
Intercepting objections     237
Getting Customers to Pledge Allegiance to Your Brand     239
Kindling Customer Loyalty      239
Turning sales transactions into customer relationships     240
Why customer relationships matter     241
Delivering a Great Brand Experience     242
Putting your brand experience to a personal test     242
Auditing your brand experience     243
Making Sure You're Exceeding Customer Expectations     246
Igniting Customer Passion     248
Generating buzz     249
Recipe for a cult brand     252
Valuing Your Brand     253
The Brand Value-Brand Equity Connection     254
Revving up the economic engine     254
Gaining a competitive advantage     255
Estimating Your Brand's Equity     256
Brand equity measuring sticks     256
Calculating your brand equity     260
When you need a pro: Identifying evaluation experts     262
Protecting Your Brand Equity     264
Leveraging Brand Value with Brand Extensions and Licensing     265
Planning for Product Innovations     266
Tiptoeing into the Brand Extension Arena     267
Avoiding line extension traps     268
Look before leaping into brand extensions     270
Cobranding: Brand Value x 2     276
Uniting brands with like visions, values, and budgets     276
Cobranding checklist     277
Brand Licensing     278
Understanding licensing lingo     278
Benefits of licensing     279
Licensing steps to follow     279
Revitalizing Your Brand     281
Brands Grow Old, Too     282
Spotting brand aging signs     282
Brand change-of-life warning signals     283
Examining Your Brand's Health     288
Conducting a brand review     289
Making the diagnosis: Retool or retire?     292
Fixing a Broken Brand     293
Protecting your valuables     294
Making the change     295
Protecting Your Brand     297
Defending Your Brand     299
Immunizing Your Brand with Government Filings and Trademarks     300
Filing your name with local government offices     300
Obtaining a trademark     302
Maintaining your trademark registration     304
Shielding Your Brand from Misuse     307
Laying down the law with brand usage guidelines     307
Enforcing the rules     308
Naming and empowering a brand cop     309
Taking Action When Bad Things Happen to Good Brands     311
Handle with Care: Avoiding Brand Equity Landmines     311
Identifying potential threats     313
Taking preemptive strikes against brand threats     315
Be Prepared: Reacting to Brand Threats     316
Compiling a list of who's who     317
Knowing who to call     318
Working out what to do and say     319
Following crisis communications dos and don'ts     322
The Part of Tens     325
Ten Truths about Branding     327
Branding Starts with Positioning     327
A Brand Is a Promise Well Kept     328
Branding Happens from the Inside Out     328
Consistency Builds Brands     329
People Power Brands     329
Brands Live in Consumers' Minds     330
Brand Names Unlock Brand Images     330
Brand Experiences Trump Brand Messages     331
Brands Need to Start and Stay Relevant     331
Brands Are Valuable Assets     332
Ten Branding Mistakes and How to Avoid Them     333
Thinking of Branding as a Quick Fix     333
Starting with a Weak Identity     334
Forgetting the Rule of One      335
Failing to Differentiate     335
Failing to Launch     336
Failing to Protect and Defend     336
Believing That What You Say Is More Important Than What You Do     337
Underestimating the Value of Consistency     338
Asking Your Brand to Stretch Too Far     338
Ignoring Brand Aging Signs     339
Ten Traits of the World's Most Valuable Brands     341
Simple, Powerful Differentiation     342
A Clear and Compelling Vision     342
A Promise Consumers Want and Believe     342
Distinctive, Reliable, Superior Products and Services     343
A Strong, Memorable Brand Identity     343
A Single, Consistently Presented Brand Message     343
An Amazing Brand Experience     343
Brand Allegiance from the Top Down     344
Adaptability to Changing Times     344
Focus, Passion, and Persistence     344
Resources for Brand Managers     345
Browsing Great Branding Web Sites     345
Allaboutbranding.com     345
Brandchannel.com     345
MarketingProfs.com     346
Rebrand.com     346
Adding to Your Branding Library      346
Flipping through Branding Magazines     347
Brandweek     347
BusinessWeek/Interbrand Annual Global Brand Report     347
Checking Out a Trademark Information Center     348
Index     349