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Barking dogs
This question was central to a presentation given by Steve Fuller recently at the Creative Bath event, ‘Brand and Deliver’.
If too many brands run with the pack and take a clichéd approach to their promotional messages, website images and advertising, you end up with a noisy yet generic group of barking dogs. There are three ways to make sure you stay ahead of the rest.
Be Different
Understanding your companies’ raison d’etre and effectively communicating this to your customers is a vital component to successful branding.
Standing out from the crowd is easier when you understand what inspires your business and why this is relevant to others. Honda’s motto, The Power of Dreams, has been elegantly applied to successful advertising campaigns for decades, where the central product is often missed out entirely.
Be Relevant
Understanding your audience and giving them what they want is just as relevant.
The recently launched Metrobank does just this, by providing a customer focussed banking service that aims to “remove all stupid bank rules from day to day services to offer simpler and more convenient banking.” Their opening hours are longer than traditional banks; they put extra staff on at lunch times and other busy periods and don’t insist on anyone making an appointment to open an account or discuss financial issues.
Be Trusted
Brands who stay true to their word and close to the needs of their customers become trusted household names.
Amazon’s efficient service made it the number 1 online marketplace worldwide. The reliability of IBM machines made them ubiquitous in the hardware marketplace.
Breaking away from clichés is essential when positioning your business. Ultimately, branding must be different, relevant and trusted to stand out from the crowd and deliver real business benefit.