Who is in control of your brand?

Your brand is defined by everything from answering the phone, store lighting, cost of product, advertising campaign, PR and much much more… Its a load of things that build up a perception in ones mind about a person or an organisation.

When any of these elements are out of whack the brand is damaged to some extent. Your marketing manager, marketing department or YOU may be responsible for managing this challenge.

Think about a person as a brand, and clothing as marketing activities.

What does this person mean to you? And what would you buy from them?

Source: flickr

Each piece of clothing on its own may be great (maybe not), but when considered together they clearly don’t work for the person in building a brand. Uncoordinated fashion = uncoordinated marketing. It’s like having a website and TV commercial that don’t match.

Consider these three very well constructed and considered brands.

Source: istockphoto This guy = professional, approachable

Source: photos.com This chick = funky, music, dance

This dude = travel, semi-alternative

Clearly each element has been considerd in relation to the others, coming together to build a clear and easy to consume brand. Now each of these brands may or may not appeal to you, but that’s not the point.

Having decided what your brand means is one thing, but is every single communication helping or is it fragmented?

It’s your job to:

1. Understand your target

2. Create a brand they’ll want to connect with

3. Establish a coordinated approach where each activity builds on the others

Some simple steps to becoming more coordinated:

1. If you outsource to more than one agency, get them talking to each other

2. Put all elements of your brand up on a wall/table, do they help each other?

3. Uncover hidden touch points, anytime someone interacts with your brand they’re building a perception. (word of mouth, customer service calls, invoicing, your furniture, shop locations, cars your staff drive, what it smells like in your store, twitter, facebook, shop fronts… to name a few)

4. And last but not least, ensure you’re clear about who you’re talking to, what’s important to them and how you intend to build your brand in their mind

PS First ask 10 customers what they want in life, what you mean to them and how you could improve you might learn something.