The most Common Marketing Myth… (and how to avoid it)

There’s a myth out there that is growing like a cancer.  Even more viral than the "Bill Gates wants to send you money, just send this email to 30 people" chain email….. however, unlike other "harmless" urban myths, this one can KILL your business if left unchecked.

The term "branding" is thrown around like it’s an ACTION VERB.    By "branding" your marketing or advertising messages, the thinking goes that these messages will do a better job of conveying what you do in your business to the casual observer. Frequently it’s portrayed as the act of applying the same graphics/color scheme to your marketing materials. The thinking goes that if you effectively  "brand" your messages, that consumers will be better able to recognize your ads as belonging to you and will then be more likely to do business with you.

Oh, if only it were that easy!

It’s easy to see WHY business owners would want to think that branding is an action verb.  After all, branding is very, very important in the success of your company.  But if you think for a moment that the consistent use of a color scheme is all there is to "creating a brand" for your business…. think again!!!

Branding is not something you choose to do to your business.  It’s something that your CUSTOMERS do to you.  It’s the compilation of ALL the activities that go on inside your business. Just as the unsuspecting calf is branded by searing metal pressed into it’s flesh, so is your business branded by your customers.

That’s right.  Branding is a lot more than a consistent use of graphic design elements.  Instead, it is a process that begins deep within your company.   Branding is the process through which you imprint what it is your company is about upon the minds of your target audience.

Because branding is an ongoing activity, it occurs constantly.  Every interaction between your business and your customer (or potential customer) is building your brand, whether you like it or not.   With that perspective on branding, it’s easy to see that the task at hand is to control your customer’s perceptions of your company as much as is possible.

With this perspective, you may suddenly realize that the angst ridden teen who is running your cash register after school is helping to building your brand. Nancy, in accounts receivable is also building your brand as are your technicians who go out into the field.

Some "experts" want you to believe that branding is something you can buy.  Can you blame them?  It’s much easier to say, "Run your ads here and be sure to use use the right colors and font faces in those ads," than to look beyond the ads at the business behind the ads.

Advertisements are simply invitations to your business. Think of them as invitations to strangers asking them to do business with you.  Implementing a methodical identity program (a.k.a. branding program) will allow you to determine exactly how you want to portray your company or product to the outside world.  However, what happens once those customers do business with you will, in the end, determine your company’s "brand."

In the end, your brand is merely the way you are perceived by your customers.  Branding is merely identifying the image you want to portray to outsiders.  Your goal should be to make certain that brand accurately reflects what your business does.  Once you’ve done that, then you can determine what promises you should make for your business to deliver.

In the end, your attention to the graphic design elements of your campaign will indeed help to link your "identity" with the graphic design elements.  Coca Cola’s distinctive red/white color scheme and logo font all help to build the connection between the bubbly brown beverage and the company that makes it.  However, when Coca Cola made that infamous mis-step with "new Coke"…. no amount of "graphic design unity" could save that horrendously poor choice of direction.