Brand 101: 6 Critical Q’s & A’s You Need to Know to Create Competitive Advantage

Q: How do you define a brand? Let’s first understand that your logo is not your brand. Your logo is a symbol that represents your brand. So the question becomes what is YOUR brand? Or what does your logo represent? A brand, in our point of view is merely a PERCEPTION. This perception lives, at the external level, in the minds of the market, and at the internal level within every employee. The perception is defined over and over again by an experience with you, your products and services. So, again, ask yourself the question, what is the perception you want your brand to have? And how are you reinforcing that perception at every customer and employee touchpoint?

Q: Why is brand definition and positioning vital to businesses who want to reach their next level of growth? Because when a business takes the time to consciously define what their brand is (represents) through a strategic brand-defining process, then and only then are they able to build employee behaviors, systems and processes and growth goals around that brand structure. Once their brand is clearly defined, they can begin ‘walking their own talk’ and become more consistent, relevant, and distinctive in their market place. Being more consistent is one of the primary elements of a long-term, successful brand.

Q: What do you find is the most difficult thing for small/medium sized business when it comes to promoting their brands? Being consistent in the delivery of the brand’s desired perception through all facets of the organization is the most difficult, hands down! We also find that most businesses struggle with maintaining a clear, consistent message for a long period of time within their marketplace. They have a tendency to ‘try out’ a marketing message for only a short period of time, and then change it, try the new message for a short period, then change that message! This action is futile and is the result of the brand not fully understanding who they are and then being committed to maintaining congruency. We often tout the following phrase from Martin Lindstrom’s book, Brand Sense, in our workshops: Consistency builds trust; trust creates history; history forms traditions and traditions become rituals. How can your brand become a ritual with your clients?

Q: What is the one common oversight for small to medium sized-businesses in their efforts to grow? Not doing the ‘due-diligence’ in thoroughly defining who they are as a brand and then as a result are unable to build their culture, leadership and systems to support and affirm the brand experience long-term. We believe that ‘Your Brand IS Your Business™.’ The brand-defining process helps set the rules for doing business internally and externally and becomes a ‘roadmap’ to building phenomenal customer loyalty. Most businesses have a high degree of focus on external marketing efforts. This can be a hard habit to break because the belief is that is how they bring more customers in the door. Actually, it is the experience that will bring customers in the door, over and over and over again and help build a no-cost sales force out of your own customer base!

Q: What key criteria should businesses know about to ensure the development of a successful brand? There are three extremely critical characteristics of a powerful brand: Consistency, Relevancy, and Distinctiveness.

So what about Consistency?
How do your processes and systems reflect your brand promise? What standards have you established to show up CONSISTENTLY in every customer interaction? What are the characteristics of your brand
that demonstrate CONSISTENCY? What do your customers see, hear, touch, taste, smell and intuit that create a CONSISTENT experience with your brand? What behaviors do you demonstrate to consistently capture the hearts and minds of your customers?  Brand CONSISTENCY is showing up the same way every time, talking the talk and walking the walk, being true to your brand promise.

Why focus on Relevance?
Brand RELEVANCE is matching and satisfying YOUR internal and external messages and values congruent to YOUR brand promise…which leads to attracting relevant customers to your brand.

What values do you espouse to live up to that reflect your brand promise? Do all your employees understand the values and behaviors needed to live up to your brand promise? How do your values show up in a RELEVANT way in delivering on the promise you commit to internally within the business and how you want to show up externally to your customers? What do customers see, hear, touch, taste, smell and intuit that is RELEVANT to your brand?

Brand Distinctiveness
What products or services do you provide to create DISTINCTION in the minds of your customers? What sets you apart from others offering similar services? What is the one word you ‘own’ in the minds of your market that distinguishes your brand from others? What do your customers see, hear, touch, taste, smell and intuit that creates and affirms that DISTINCTION in their minds eye? Ask yourself, how I do show up distinctively in ways that create the desired emotional connection with my customers?

Brand DISTINCTIVENESS is all about standing out uniquely and unequivocally different than your competition both internally (within the day to day inside operations) and externally (how your outside messages are leveraged), and being congruent with your Brand Promise.

Q: Why do small businesses need to focus on internal brand definition before they go to market? The world is flooded with all kinds of strategic external marketing techniques and strategies for the business owner to test – but nothing was available to help the business owner and their employee teams define and develop the brand internally (until now) – where branding truly begins, at the foundation. We all know that cash is king when it comes to building a business. If the entrepreneur is spending thousands on marketing, (granted they might be brining people in the door), but has not spent any time creating the behaviors that keep the customer coming back, then what is the REAL ROI?

When a brand does its due diligence and prepares itself to walk their own brand talk – the result is in the delight and pure satisfaction of the expectation of the customer. This new way of building a business is innovative and fun, and creates brand consciousness. It helps all stakeholders connect and bond with the brand at a deeper level, creating a paradigm shift in the focus of the success of the brand.

Suzanne Tulien is Principal and co-Founder of The Brand Ascension Group, a multi-faceted consulting and training firm specializing brand perception. She is author of The 6 Myths of Small Business Branding, and co-author of Brand DNA. She is also on the Expert Panel of YoungEntrepreneur.com.  View her full profile here.

Suzanne Tulien

Suzanne Tulien is Principal and co-Founder of The Brand Ascension Group, a multi-faceted consulting and training firm specializing brand perception. BA Group partners with organizations in getting them laser-focused on defining their brand DNA and achieving sustainable brand success from the INSIDE OUT. They do this by guiding them to define, create, and build powerful brand experiences that engage, captivate and inspire customers, employees and all stakeholders. She is author of The 6 Myths of Small Business Branding, and co-author of Brand DNA. She is also on the Expert Panel of YoungEntrepreneur.com.