5 Practical Brand Standards You Can Live By

Constructing your brand is liken to making a cake. Like baking you carefully mix together ingredients  to form a cake, your brand is born out of combining several core elements (your story or message) that can be consumed by your audience. 

Products such as Nike and Coke are 2 brands that famously resonate with a wide target market. Of course their logo, merchandising and product placement are keen elements among these house whole  brands. It is important to note that, their long term success was born out of well-placed visual elements, displaying customer interactions as well as the type of information that is shared through their marketing channels one among them  is social media.  When these essential  parts are measured into the brand mix just so, the brand grows and trust and credibility is established. 

 

Brand building is simply claiming head-space in the minds of your targeted audience, artist brands from Alice Smith (Grammy nominated singer, songwriter, and producer) or Paul Andrew (a women’s shoe designer and the 2014 Fashion Fund winner) uniquely defined who they are as artist in the market place.  

 

                                                                          

Two very different mediums, however they both have an identical brand mix, by respectively established their brands -- differentiating and positioning themselves from their competition thus claiming their place in the fashion / musical landscapes.

Five Brand Standards:

1. Provide the very best Product/Service. Word of mouth is often a small businesses greatest lead generator, so having great story or message that people talk about is a critical part of developing your brand.  It’s important that you stay focused of your brand – keep refining it, with new offerings or advancements, and making sure to put the brand out in front.
2. Standing out means being different. If your brand is going to be strong, you need to be able to pinpoint what it is that makes what you do unique. What differentiates you from others in your industry?
3. Formulate a  Distinct Voice. The most effective way to deliver your brand story/message is to be consistent in how you both communicate and interact with your target audience influences, end users, fans – on Facebook and Twitter.  
4. Design a Value Proposition. A successful value prop, aids in two important ways; defines your brand plus distinguishes you from the competition thereby establishing your niche in the market.  
5. What’s in a Name/Logo.It is paramount that you get your name and/or logo right the first time, because this is how your brand is recognized. Your name/logo should appeal to your core audience, it should be recognizable plus it should reflect both the nature and tone of your story and messaging/taglines.  

 

 
 

Brand Digitalization!

It seems like the digital world is ruling our lives – with the insertion of the smart phone as well as the tablet both have become a part of our daily wardrobes. No matter what we do and where we go, we cannot survive without connecting as we are hopelessly obsessed with mobile and on your person tech-gadgets. 

It’s not surprising that more and more product heavy companies are integrating digital and Social Media channels into their marketing plan. When entering a store which is equipped with the newest technology, customers perceive the brand as innovative and luxurious, embracing the sensation of experiencing something new and unprecedented.

 

In fact, if mixing digital channels correctly, brands are distinguishing themselves by cutting through the clutter of the information their customers come face-to-face with at a rapid pace daily. Some brands Mac cosmetics or Marc Jacobs successfully adapt to digitization while managing to stay true to their brand.

As we move further into the future, integrating a digital paradigm into the marketing mix becomes not just a competitive advantage but a necessity with both fashion and cosmetic  brands as these industries  inevitably are first to feel the pressure to keep in touch with their customers.

It is paramount to the survival of your brand to incorporate digital channels as well as social media. So get connected with your tech-savvy customers and enhance your brand through “hot” digitalization!  

 

You’re encouraged to share your thoughts and ideas in the comments section.

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In-Store Tech, Sales Driver or Hype?

Interesting article by Suzanne Bearne  Business of fashion article

Fashion retailers are increasingly integrating slick interactive technology into their physical flagships. But is all this in-store technology actually making the tills ring or merely providing opportunities for short-term PR?

Cool marketing draw and the beginning of an omni-channel era. Unquestionably, brands such as Burberry and Kate Spade are leaders in the matter, but we must shine the spotlight on  the financials to confirm if these efforts are worthy and with generate  sales.

A lot of the technical kicks will need to be ironed out as this innovative display concept is still in its infancy. The only hiccup – comes to where to test, they’ll need to conduct trials in the  store or online. Everyone likes free PR and the media can be good at hyping up the next best thing. There is also an awful lot of VC monies invested so they want to see and hear progress.

I work for marketing, and I have worked on projects with extensive research about the omni-channel in fashion and luxury business (http://fsh.by/kkRwLw), and clearly you can see that these kind of efforts are generating customers for the brick mortar and online markets, innovation is catchy and striking. The key take-away is consumers are interested in an amazing shopping experiences, if you have  happy customers, you have secure sales plus growth.