Branding? Say What?!

Let’s be realistic about branding – what it is and what it isn’t. A brand is a product or service with highly recognizable qualities and associations surrounding it. We all know the common brand names that actually define entire product categories – Kleenex (facial tissues), Xerox (copy machines), A-1 (steak sauce), etc. A true brand influences consumer buying behavior, because it is perceived to be the first, or the best, of its category. Its imitators and wannabes fall in line behind it.

A product or service doesn’t become a brand without applying true innovation in a particular category or adding a compelling differentiation to propel it into the consumer conscience. A brand doesn’t become a brand name without great publicity and millions of dollars of aggressive advertising behind it. Even then, it may take years.

So, if you’re a small or even a mid-size business in a small to mid-size market, the best you can do for yourself in terms of branding is to employ some savvy branding principles to your business. And keep in mind that customers or clients don’t care as much about the companies behind the products and services they offer (the “brands”), as they do about the product or service itself. There are some exceptions to this rule, but basically, people buy brands, not the companies that create them.

With all that said, how can a small company brand its products? For instance, if you’re a paper manufacturer can you create a true brand for a new line of paper towels by giving them a clever name and slapping on a bright new logo on the package? No. Not unless you come up with some amazing new performance feature for paper towels in general that no one before has ever thought of. Then you must ante up millions of dollars to communicate that innovative idea to consumers. If not a performance feature for your towels, perhaps you can come up with an idea about the product that consumers can relate to or feel good about. (Maybe your line of towels were biodegradable and first used by Apollo astronauts, or they were made from some exotic fiber found only in Outer Mongolia.) Well, you get the picture. It takes a lot to brand something. A lot of innovation, time, and money.

Branding is a powerful marketing endeavor, and in its purest state, the results can’t be underestimated. Hearing it attached to every function of advertising and marketing for every company, big or small; every non-profit organization; every school; every church; every individual, and every product or service imaginable, is getting tiresome. And not realistic for most.

Instead, ask the professionals you deal with (hope that’s HHB!) to propose a traditional media campaign that employs some well-considered branding principles AND a social media plan.