can anyone explailn the basics of branding ? and how you would apply it to a big retail store like ours...
thanks

Ann - branding is more than creating a logo, letterhead, and some sales literature. (That would be considered corporate identity.) It starts with things like how you are currently perceived in the marketplace and how you want to be perceived. For example, I used to work for a company that produces large-format computer-painted graphics for outdoor advertising. Before there was such a thing as large format printers, they invented these huge machines to output large images on vinyl. By holding focus groups, we discovered that our technology was perceived as being "old." Part of changing this image was to redesign our corporate identity. (Our logo didn't help; it looked very old-fashioned.) But that came only as a result of deciding how we wanted to be perceived.

Everything your company does "brands" you, whether you intend it to or not. For example, there is a page layout software used in the design industry and the company that created it has the reputation in my industry of being extremely difficult to work with. They've "branded" themselves as not caring about their customers, so much that, when their major competitor released a competing product, many designers couldn't wait to jump ship, not because the product was better (in fact, it wasn't), but because they hated the company so much.

Branding is really a business plan that is "customer-centric" rather than "product-centric". Companies that want to brand or re-brand themselves must look at every point of customer contact and evaluate what message they want to convey. So everything from your logo to how you treat your customers needs to be taken into account.

The most powerful branding is emotional -- it's based on desires, not needs. McDonald's excels at this, IMO. There was a commercial a while back where a five-year-old boy becomes sad over all the attention lavished on his new baby sister the day she comes home from the hospital. So Dad takes him to McDonald's for some "Father-Son" time and tells him that his little sister is going to need someone to "show her the ropes." The moment they share at McDonald's is the focal point of the commercial. Nowhere do they talk about hamburgers, fries or milk shakes. But the message they're trying to convey is crystal clear.

Hope that helps.

I would have trouble adding to that. It amazes me how people miss this, even big companies that ought to know these things.

I have to admit, in between my busy schedule and getting my workflow done, I am fine tuning this for my own company. I use technical expertise to make my web design and graphic design stand out. I offer computer consulting as it relates to the jobs I do for my clients. It's an extra value service, not a stand alone service. I find it challenging to communicate this. I do well with the "older" crowd because it helps bridge the gap, but the younger people with shorter attention spans want to instantly know whether my company does web design, graphics, or computer consulting.

On the web, you have 3 seconds to brand yourself. Pick your target carefully so you can get 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or even several minutes. Target audience means a lot. No branding can reach all people, but good branding can reach the people you need to reach.

Quote:Originally Posted by cbscreative
It amazes me how people miss this, even big companies that ought to know these things.


I can attest to that. The aforementioned company I used to work for discovered via these focus groups that they had tremendous brand equity in the three-letter acronym of the company name. In spite of this, the CEO set out to re-brand the company under a different name, which emphasized a new line of services we were offering. All this did was create brand confusion, not only in the eyes of our clients, but internally as well. They eventually dumped the brand and reverted back to the original name. (And we threw 1000's of dollars of letterhead and envelopes into the dumpster.)

Quote:Originally Posted by cbscreative
I have to admit, in between my busy schedule and getting my workflow done, I am fine tuning this for my own company. I use technical expertise to make my web design and graphic design stand out. I offer computer consulting as it relates to the jobs I do for my clients. It's an extra value service, not a stand alone service. I find it challenging to communicate this. I do well with the "older" crowd because it helps bridge the gap, but the younger people with shorter attention spans want to instantly know whether my company does web design, graphics, or computer consulting.


Trying to brand yourself is like trying to read the label from the inside of the bottle. For companies truly serious about this, a brand consultant is essential. For you and I, that's probably out of the question, but you still need outside help, even if it's just input from trusted business associates.

Steve, keep in mind that no one buys web design or computer consulting. They buy the outcome or result that these things produce. If you can get your market to associate the emotion this outcome produces with your company, you have a powerful emotional brand. That's why this type of branding works so well for fashion and fragrances, because appealing to the opposite sex is highly emotionally-charged. It's a tad bit more difficult to do this with web consulting, in my experience.

What I've chosen to do is avoid even trying to brand my company and instead build a person brand. Doing so forces me to ask, what do I want to be known for, personally, by the people I come into contact with? What are my values, and how do they align with those of my target market? (This is really no different from what a company would do.)

Part of my brand identity is that I'm not simply someone who builds websites, but because of my business background and experience, I take my clients' big picture objectives into account to produce the results they want. So branding boils down to both saying and doing what you want to be known for. If I were Apple, I'd be "saying" that using media like television, radio, etc. Since I'm not, I say it at networking functions and face-to-face encounters every chance I get.

The other part of that is the "doing." No amount of "saying" will overcome not delivering on what you've said you will. Of course, with intangibles like sex appeal, advertisers rely on the perception of their customers, which is not necessarily based on reality. With you and I, we have something tangible to deliver and can't rely on that.

Quote:Originally Posted by cbscreative
On the web, you have 3 seconds to brand yourself. Pick your target carefully so you can get 5 seconds, 30 seconds, or even several minutes. Target audience means a lot. No branding can reach all people, but good branding can reach the people you need to reach.


The same is true of, say, billboard advertising. Yes, you may have precious few seconds to get your message across, but those 3 seconds do not brand you. It's a repetition of those 3 seconds repeated over and over that does. It goes back to "saying " what you want to be known for, over and over again.

So to tie this back into what Ann was asking, the first step is discovering what her customers value most. WalMart, for example, figures that most people value low prices, so that's become their "brand." What do antique furniture buyers value? Is it the process of hunting or shopping for just the "right" piece? Is it having their friends "ooh" and "ahh" over it? Learning that is the easy part. Figuring out how to build a brand around it is a bit more challenging.

thanks!...i was hoping for some practical plot to work on.........
i kind of see what you mean, i try to listen to the customers ...we come here because------or one longtime customer who said it seemed like a greenoak kind of day.....but its kind of hard to see yourself as others see you...and you might not hear the bad comments....they just dont return....seems like a lot of guesswork...so normal!!!!!
im taking it that if i figure out some of the good things we do then do more of them to reinforce the idea.......or maybe apply the idea to alll the marketing things....like we still arent dusted perfecly but come see the latest truckload...including 50 cent fruitjars and a beautiful walnut victorian desk at only 1500$...

the thing i hear most is about the big variety , the big inventory,and mainly the fun of being suprised by something we got in, and the good values...
good points on reputation....it really does matter what their perception is.. you cant really fool people...imho

so maybe this isnt something to really manipulate....but rather just try and stick to our roots????

Ann, you got it! You can't fool people, but yes, you do need to find your strengths, find a message not being used by your competition, and effectively communicate that in your branding. John, you mentioned focus groups. I'm glad you brought that into the discussion, it can reveal a lot of valuiable insights.

why dont you work off the points you just mentioned:

"the big variety , the big inventory,and mainly the fun of being suprised by something we got in"

The fun of being surprised by something you got in could work for branding..

Branding is a trust issue. Why do can your visitors trust you? And how you make these impressions are vital.

Branding, reBranding, market position, positioning your competitors are all important, but it has to come from the core of you business. Stay true to what you do best, and strengthen your weaknesses.

Show your prospects that you own what you say, and follow through.

Quote:Originally Posted by greenoak
the thing i hear most is about the big variety , the big inventory,and mainly the fun of being suprised by something we got in, and the good values...


Earlier I asked whether the shopping experience is something your customers value, and apparently some of them do. Now, how unique is this "fun of being suprised" to Green Oak Antiques? Is this experience something only you are providing? Or can they drive down the street to another antique store for the same experience?

Putting together a focus group doesn't have to be highly technical nor expensive. It can be as simple as inviting a handful of customers to your facility for lunch/dinner and engaging in seemingly informal talk. The tricky part is asking the right questions. Here's where you might want to bring in a consultant to at least develop the questionnaire. If you were to conduct a handful of these, you'd have a very good idea of the direction to take, brandwise.

It would also be wise to look up those that didn't come back and find out why. An informal phone survey might even suffice. It's important to discover if they felt dissatisfied or mistreated, or just not particularly satisified or impressed, and why.

One "focus group" we conducted was to invite a particularly dissatisfied ex-customer to talk to us. Beyond just the marketing people, all of the sales people, customer service reps, etc. were also in attendance. This woman was not shy about sharing the reasons for her dissatisfaction with the company, and we all got to hear it. But the top management really did want to hear the reasons why she was unhappy.

Quote:Originally Posted by greenoak
good points on reputation....it really does matter what their perception is.. you cant really fool people...imho

so maybe this isnt something to really manipulate....but rather just try and stick to our roots????


Well, a lot of advertising is manipulation, IMO, but I don't think it needs to be. As I said before, if branding is examining how your own values align with those of your customers, then if by "sticking to our roots" means your core values, then I'd have to agree. What do you value, Ann? That's a good place to start. How do you want those values to be reflected throughout your store? Once you have a brand build around your core values and those of your customer, the next step is to communicate those core values to your employees, so that it translates down to every customer touch-point.

thanks again...im really working on this because.....

our store is in a huge transition here in our 27th year.... we are facing a new generation of buyers and its really different...now we arent even all antiques we are half new stufff, including the furniture we contract out to have made,and garden iron from mexico and a pretty big line of gifts.... our inventory is big......and the economy in our area is pretty bad, and our business supports us , 2 families,including 4 grandkids, and all the insurance etc etc.plus several employees.....so we are working hard to keep making it work, as our insurance and other fixed costs go up and our buyers shrink in numbers and money..... dh says how many times can we reinvent ourselves.....
we have a big reputation in antiques,but have lost so many of those customers,,,,talk about a recession, probably over half of our antique wholesale customers are out of business... and the new young homeowners are not very interested ... ....so we are kind of new at a lot of things...antique dealers can judge things on a dirt floor, and retail needs it displayed etc etc...my roots are really big dealers in trucks who have lots of money to spend,,and all i had to do was get it and show it to them and give them a good deal,and thats pretty well gone....

this discussion is aiming me at focussing on our best things, we have so much marketing all the time......and our core thing should be in all of it.....
so now i need to work on lots of new ways to bring in business....we are a destination store, pulling from about 100 miles, sometimes more...
sorry, too long....home tired..



p.s. this is so much better than ever working for anyone....its like a big experiment....