Category: Brand Development

What Is a Branding Strategy?

Branding strategy (or brand development) is how you plan to build and define your business’s brand in a consistent manner. Your brand envelops more than just the visual aspects such as a logo, color palette, product, etc. It includes your reputation, how your clients feel about you, what your message is, and much more.

While the sheer number of factors can seem daunting, this simply means the possibilities are endless when coming up with your very own marketing and branding strategies.

Does Your Business Need a Brand Marketing Strategy?

Creating a brand strategy is a big commitment. How do you decide if it’s worth the time and effort?

Curating a brand that grows stronger over time is something a business can possess indefinitely. It can become one of the most powerful assets if your brand is able to immediately evoke strong feelings of emotion or familiarity. However, this doesn’t happen overnight- a good market branding strategy eschews short-term goals with long-term goals in mind.

Taking the time to develop your brand is essential if you want to reach as many potential clients as possible. Even if your products and services are stellar, your competitor with a superior brand development strategy is tapping into your potential audience and earning their loyalty before they’re even aware you exist.

If you’re still looking for the right branding agency in Austin or Houston, contact MARION for a free consultation today.

How to Develop Your Brand Strategy?

The brand development process is different for each business, but there are core things that you can begin with.

Here’s a general brand strategy template to help you get started on brainstorming. Let’s go over each box with some brand development examples.

Brand Values

Your brand values consist of what makes your company relevant and unique to your desired customers. Think about what they are drawn to and how your company can offer that value better than your competitors.

JPMorgan Chase provides their values on their corporate website on a page labeled “Business Principles.” Each of the four values has their own page with even more sub-values to explain each principle in-depth. There is also a handy document link on the right side where you can view it all on one concise page.

By doing this, JPMorgan Chase is showcasing their values in order to exude professionalism, business expertise, and efficiency. Their core values are built out extensively and guide the way their business is run and how their customers perceive them.

JPMorgan Chase

Brand Mission

Your brand mission is the reason your company exists or the thing it is working towards to achieve. A compelling enough mission will resound with people immediately and attract them towards your business.

Patagonia is an excellent example of a well-executed brand mission. Their bold statement that “we’re in business to save our home planet” resonates deeply with their target consumers and a wider range of people, as well. All of their business practices reflect this mission.

One of the most successful endeavors to prove their mission is Worn Wear, a program where customers can trade in used Patagonia clothing or buy refurbished items in an effort to promote sustainability and lessen consumption. This is an example of how you can use your mission to build your company.

Patagonia

Brand Promises

Brand promises are what your company vows to do for its customers. Keeping your promises lends a sense of trust to your audience, which creates a long-lasting bond.

For help with this facet of branding in Houston or Austin, feel free to contact MARION today.

The Honest Company has an entire page dedicated to their “standard”, where they go through each guarantee and how they plan to deliver each promise.

The Honest Company

Brand Identity

Brand identity is all the visual elements of your brand that convey who or what your business is. Use the template to start thinking about how you want your brand to be perceived through its website, graphic design, logo, advertisements, products, etc.

Apple’s identity is one of the best examples of all time when it comes to branding strategy. Their advertisements aren’t bogged down with technical details or a long list of features. Apple went the opposite way and created an identity where their brand evokes creativity, innovation, rebellion, and a modern lifestyle. Their sleek products and simple but artistic messaging have created one of the most loyal groups of consumers.

Think Different

Brand Taglines

A brand tagline is a concise and powerful phrase that effectively communicates the essence of your brand. A tagline is more long-lasting than a slogan and defines the entire company. You want your tagline to be catchy, short, believable, and unique. When done right, these factors will help evoke emotion in just a few words.

Here are some examples of iconic and memorable taglines:

• Apple: “Think Different”
• Nike: “Just Do It”
• McDonald’s: “I’m Lovin’ It”
• DeBeers: “A Diamond Is Forever”
• KFC: “Finger-Lickin’ Good”
• Skittles: “Taste the Rainbow”
• Disneyland: “The Happiest Place on Earth”

Here are examples of newer, but creative taglines:

• Casper: “The Best Bed for Better Sleep”
• Travelocity: “Wander Wisely”
• Dollar Shave Club: “Shave Time. Shave Money.”
• Spotify: “Music for Everyone”
• Wayfair: “A Zillion Things Home”

Brands are constantly evolving, so don’t feel like your choices are set in stone. You can reevaluate your brand building strategy whenever your goals shift by tweaking a little bit of each of these factors. As your company grows, so will your audience so it’s a good idea to stay flexible, anyway.

Need a Brand Development Firm?

You don’t have to navigate the brand strategy development process alone. MARION is a top marketing agency that has been helping Houston and Austin businesses for over 30 years. Our branding agency in Houston can help craft a unique and effective brand development strategy for your business.

Contact us today to schedule a consultation about building and growing your brand.

Most companies benefit when a strong and reliable face can represent their business. In most cases, this is a good thing. However, at other times the face of the company can come under scrutiny that negatively positions the organization in the eyes of the public.

These issues can be amplified when the company face is one of the founders or the sole founder of the company. Since the founder of the company is often tied to the history of the company, potential problems can arise depending on the actions of the said founder.

Following are some of the problems that can arise when an organization’s founder is the face of the company.

Three Issues with Founders Being the Face of an Organization

When the founder is the face of a company, it generally means that the company came about with the founder’s name as the cornerstone. Some examples of such companies would be the Musk Foundation and Papa John’s pizza chain. This does not mean that it is inherently bad to have a founder as the face of a company.

These companies were built in part on the name, history, and charisma of their founders. As such, their names and individual actions are intrinsically tied to the success and failures of the company.

1. Founders Can Cause a Marketing Headache

Having a personable face when dealing with a small company can be useful. For small businesses, having the business tied to a name can help with repeat business because of a more personal relationship. But, if the company gets too large, there can be roadblocks and growing pains that impact this relationship.

One of the biggest issues is when the founder decides to resign or is forced out of the company they helped start. This may go unnoticed for other companies that are managed as a group and headed as such. For instance, if Google were to lay off their CEO, it may be a decent blow to the company, but it wouldn’t put the company in danger because there is no single representative.

For companies that use their founder as a figurehead, there can be significant harm when the founder resigns or is forcibly removed. This is because the public perceives that the person running the show is gone, and the company will be less effective as a result.

Stakeholders wonder how the company can stay afloat without their founder. Even though this isn’t usually true, and almost all large-scale companies have large teams of advisors, management, and other such groups, some don’t see anything except the founder.

In turn, this can hurt the marketing value. People that see a founder step down when they were the face of the company will be less willing to invest in new ideas set forth. They may see it as too much of a risk because they know relatively little about the other members of the teams in the company. It can take substantial time to regain the advertising strength a company had after a founder leaves.

2. Things Get Personal

Statements and actions of a company’s founder reflect on the entire company. Because the market value of the company is reliant on the company front man, the founder is put under a microscope. A simple remark at a holiday party or an exposé of a high school prank could cause significant damage to the company’s financial health.

For instance, Papa John’s recently went through a huge controversy involving the company’s founder and figurehead, John Schnatter. A racially charged remark from Schnatter during a May 2018 media-training conference was leaked to the press.

Although this by no means reflects on the entire company, because of his actions and how Schnatter’s name is at the forefront of the Papa John’s, the entire company experienced a negative impact from the media, and in their stock value. The company was quick to quell this disturbance by publicly rebuking Schnatter’s actions.

Similarly, Tesla share prices took a hit when Elon Musk reportedly smoked marijuana with Joe Rogan during a podcast interview. Musk also had his Twitter privileges taken away and received a $20 million fine and other sanctions from the SEC over a tweet that impacted the market-value of the company’s stock shares.

Because Musk is the sole face of the company, any of his actions can reflect onto his company. These can be personal actions and statements, or company moves that aren’t entirely under his control.

3. The Founder May Not Be the Best for the Job

From production lines to business management or advertising, a company front man will generally be seen as someone that influences all operations. However, sometimes a founder might not be the right person for the job.

According to the team at Emyth, a founder usually has three business personalities. These are the:

1. Entrepreneur
2. Manager
3. Technician

In many cases, founders are stronger entrepreneurs and technicians than managers. Having a great idea and having advanced knowledge of a company’s product or service doesn’t always position a founder to lead a team. Allowing them to do so can lead to mismanagement and low company morale that holds the organization back.

MARION is an Austin and Houston marketing agency that can help you create a holistic strategy that won’t leave your company vulnerable. We offer company branding services that can steadily improve the return on your marketing investment.

Contact our team today for a consultation that will identify how we can help your business grow!

When it comes to creating a brand name for your company you have to be very picky. Frankly, if you go with the first choice that pops up during a brainstorming session, you’re probably asking for trouble. Your brand name is an extension of your business. That means the name you choose needs to properly represent the value you’re providing with your product and/or service.

How to choose a brand name

Let’s look at a few tips on how to create a brand name for your business and the most common mistakes you should avoid.

Figuring out whether you need to hire outside help

Creating a brand name for your company takes a lot of creativity. With so much competition out there, branding a business name is harder than ever before.

If you have the creative firepower and strategy in place when it comes to creating a brand name, you certainly don’t need outside help. However, hiring a qualified and well-experienced agency that understands the importance of a brand name will ensure that you make a well thought out and relevant decision.

There are no guarantees that the ideas of an agency will be better than yours, but if you find an agency that has a track record of offering effective branding consultancy services, you can rest assured they have a process that works.

Create numerous potential names

It doesn’t matter how good you think your first choice is, you should generate numerous potential names for your brand. Nothing is more disappointing than finding a brand name you love only to find that the URL has already been purchased by someone else. Gather a group of people and brainstorm until you’ve spent all of your creative energy. Then you can begin to sort through your choices objectively.

Throw away names that don’t reflect your brand

A name may sound clever, but you must ask yourself if it reflects your brand. Choosing a brand name for your company requires that you take a long, hard, objective look at your mission statement. Does your brand name reflect your goals? It’s crucial that you remain objective when naming your brand.

Testing your business’s brand name

Just because you’ve chosen a name that sounds great to you and your team doesn’t mean it’s a home run. Just like anything worth doing in the business world, you’re going to have to put it through a rigorous testing phase.

Here are the questions you need to answer when testing your brand name:

• Is your name easy to remember?
• How well does it sound when spoken aloud?
• Is your name confusing?
• How easy is it to spell?
• Does it reflect your brand?
• Is there a URL available for your name?

If your brand name fails your testing phase, you should seriously reevaluate going back to the drawing board. You should never grow too attached to any single name during the testing phase because it will be that much harder to throw it out if it doesn’t fit.

Here are a few more tips you should incorporate when creating your brand name:

• Avoid inside jokes or puns that only you and a few friends understand. If it can’t be understood by everyone, don’t use it.
• Avoid appending “Inc.” to the end of your name unless you’re actually incorporated.
• Pick a name that customers can emotionally connect with, such as a name that invokes a pleasant experience or memory.
• Try to avoid a ridiculously long name.

Creativity is your best friend

The most daunting aspect of choosing a brand name is making a choice that hasn’t been taken already. There are millions of businesses out there that have claimed the rights to every niche word that you can think of. Therefore, creativity is going to have to be your best friend as you figure out how to pick a brand name.

During the brainstorming process try to look for a brand name that communicates the message of your business in a clever way. For example, the shoe company “Reebok” is simply an alternate spelling of rhebok, an antelope found in Africa. As we all know, antelopes are known for being swift, which is precisely the message Reebok wishes to communicate to its audience.

Another great example is “Lego” which originates from the Danish phrase leg godt, a term that means “play well.” Clearly, Lego’s brand name does a great job of communicating their mission statement.

Mistakes to avoid while picking a brand name

We’ve already glossed over a few mistakes to avoid while choosing a brand name, but we have yet to talk about the major mistakes that could get you into trouble if you make the wrong choice. Let’s look at some of the most common mistakes that businesses make when figuring out how to choose a brand name.

Taking on a local name

It’s quite common for new businesses to take on the name of the city, state or region where they’re located. For example: “Inland Empire Air Conditioning.”

The Inland Empire is a region located in Southern California, about an hour away from Los Angeles. That name might work while the company is small and contained within the Inland Empire, but what will they do when they wish to expand into other regions and counties? Their name will become a hindrance because customers will assume they only serve one area.

Choosing an obscure name

Reebok and Lego are great examples of companies that were successful at transforming ambiguous words and phrases into a successful brand name. However, “Reebok” and “Lego” are easy to spell, comfortable to say, and memorable to say the very least.

Naming your company “we’re the best” in ancient Greek may sound great on paper, but does the actual word or phrase sound intuitive when spoken out loud, or does it cause confusion? Most people won’t waste their time trying to figure out your “special message” and will simply move on to another business.

Picking a boring name

You certainly don’t want to be too obscure, but you’re still going to have to be creative. There’s too much competition out there to go for a flat, boring name. Keep in mind that if you’re the leader in your niche, you can be as plain and flat as you like.

Take Bank of America for example. That’s a straightforward name, but they’re at the top of the pack in the banking industry so they can get away with it. You will have to be more creative.

Not willing to change a name that doesn’t work

We’re all human and we make mistakes, but you must be willing to accept the fact that you might choose a name that simply doesn’t work for your business. Are you willing to change that name even if you’ve grown attached to it? If not, your stubbornness will hurt you in the long run.

It all comes down to removing your emotions from the equation. Pick the name that will effectively communicate your company’s message and be willing to change what doesn’t work. Otherwise, you’ll have to live with your mistakes which would likely be to the detriment of your business.

Knowing how to choose your brand name is just the first part of the equation. If you’re ready to build a lasting brand to represent you across all mediums, you’ll need a qualified full-service marketing agency that has a long track record of developing successful brands.

MARION has a qualified team with years of accumulated experience dedicated to creating successful marketing campaigns and developing brand names that effectively communicate the message of your business. We offer marketing strategy, logo design, SEO services and other key elements to take your business to the next level.

To learn more about how MARION can help you accomplish your business goals, contact us today!

Everybody loves a good story. From fairy tales to legends, a story told well captures the imagination, compels us to learn more and most importantly, is etched on our minds for a long time after we hear it.

It should come as no surprise that brands large and small have started to take advantage of storytelling in their marketing strategies. From telling tales of their heritage, to building stories around their products, brand stories are a great way to connect with your target audience emotionally.

In this post, you’ll discover why and how you should incorporate a brand story into your marketing strategy.

What is a brand story?

Before we dive into why and how you should develop and integrate a brand story into your marketing plan, let’s cover what we mean by a brand story.

In marketing our goal is not only to shape the way a potential customer finds and evaluates your business but how they continue to see your business after engaging with you for products or services.

Your brand story is the way people feel about your company, the emotions that they associate with your company, the values that they feel your company promotes, and the quality they associate with your products or services.

While a compelling origin story is a great building block for a brand story, don’t get hamstrung by the idea that it is an essential element to every brand story.  Instead, consider your brand story as an ongoing narrative that dictates how people will feel about your business and your brand.

Why focus on your brand story?

Whether you believe it or not, you’re currently writing your business’s brand story.  You cannot avoid it.  You can, however, decide to make shaping it a priority.

The brand story you paint will color the lens through which your target audience, potential customers, customers, and brand champions view you.  It is important that at each stage in their customer lifecycle they are presented with the same consistent narrative to maintain your cohesive brand development strategy.

Just for a moment, think of your brand story as a literal tinted lens through which people see your company.  Let’s say that you own a consulting firm and trust is your key value proposition.  Now let’s say that the color blue represents this trust.  Every time your customer or potential customer interacts with your brand, that lens needs to be tinted further blue to maintain your brand equity.  But what if they deal with a poorly trained sales person who comes off as greedy?  That interaction effects how they see your company, it will tint your brand story lens.  Your greedy salesperson has just tinted your blue lens with green, and the color that they see your company through is now browner as we add in greedy green to the trustworthy blue tint. You will have to work harder now to turn that lens back to its original blue tint.

No matter how your brand started out or where it is heading, your brand story is unique. No two brands are the same. Even if you sell the same products as another company, operate from the same geographical location or share the same target audience, there are ways you can make your story and brand stand out as one of a kind.

A brand story will not only give your audience a narrative that encourages trust and an understanding of what you do, but it will also bring heart to your brand, helping you to make truly meaningful connections. Whether you tell your story through your marketing and advertising, or through the personal interactions you are having, these connections can help you to build brand loyalty and advocacy for many years to come.

Shaping your brand story

The first story to focus on is your own.  Start by addressing the core questions.  What is your purpose?  What is your vision?  What kind of people do you hire?  What kind of values matter to your organization?

The most important thing at this stage of the process is honesty.  If your focus is on hiring the most talented people, then don’t say that you focus on hiring the most caring individuals.  Nothing is worse than loosely held core values.

Once you have established a true sense of who you are as a company, focus on communicating your vision.  Start internally.  Ensure that at every level of your company your core values are represented.  Start communicating in terms of your values and your mission and your employees will internalize those values and better deliver on your mission.

In addition to the internalization of your brand story, take your brand story to your audience in your marketing.  Make sure that your content and copy, your design, your pricing strategy, and most importantly your actions reinforce the story you want to tell.

The storytelling never truly ends as you continue to grow. From launching new products to offering discounts, each marketing campaign and offer should reach people on the most emotional level possible, reinforcing your brand story along the way.

The Take-Away

You could sell products, talk about features and explain your business all day long, but when many purchasing decisions are based on emotion, it’s important to factor this into your marketing wherever possible. A business that deals in facts and figures may fail to connect with its target audience because the emotional component is simply not there. A business like this is nothing more than a commodity, able to compete on features and price only.

Once you understand your customer journey and your own brand story, you can replace the hard sell with captivating and compelling stories that illustrate what you do and the problem you aim to solve. Brands that tell their story well can engage their target audience and build meaningful relationships that last for years. In other words, a fairy-tale ending.

If you need help from a top branding agency in Houston, the experts at MARION can help. Our Houston marketing agency has over 30 years of experience with business branding.

Contact us today for help with your branding efforts!