The Beauty of a Brand

Lindsey Walters

Do you ever use or hear a word so much, that you actually forget what it means? I don’t mean the spelling (don’t even get me started on spelling), but what the actual definition of the word is. For me that word is “brand.”

That word gets tossed around a lot in day-to-day conversations, but when you take a step back, you see that while everyone might be using the word, the meaning is almost lost. To many, a brand is a figment of an idea of marketing. People know it’s important and that it should be utilized, but because everyone has their own definition of branding and what a brand is, the true meaning really gets lost in translation.

Brand. Brand. Brand. Brand. Brand. Are you lost yet?

Let’s start with what a brand is. A brand should essentially tell people who you are and what you do. Think of it as your signature stamp or trademark that your customers, consumers, clients, and/or prospects grow to recognize and relate to. Brands are not just logos or advertisements; they are actually made up of many things, like your name, attitude, your overall story, etc.

The beauty of branding is that it really and truly can make your business. However, it can also break it if not used or implemented correctly.

Once you have your brand developed, you now need to raise awareness of your brand, get customers to recognize your brand, and then stay relevant in your customers’ or prospects’ minds. This is done through marketing your brand – or sometimes what people refer to as branding. A recap: brands are who you are and what you do, but marketing is the efforts you take or the acts you do to thrust your brand onto customers or prospects.  By marketing your brand, you are able to translate your brand to your target reach.

A popular avenue people use to market their brand is advertising. Hopefully you have learned our six steps to a successful ad campaign, but here are a few more tips you should keep in mind when specifically advertising your brand:

• Your brand cannot speak to everyone, just like your product/service cannot be used by everyone. Identify your target market and narrow in on it so you are sure to not waste money, time, and marketing efforts on people who do not fit your target audience. You want to deepen your focus on actual potential customers as to strengthen the success of your actual ad campaign.
• A great thing to recognize when advertising your brand is that your logo cannot necessarily do all the work for you. Sure people need to know who you are and your logo definitely goes into that, but an ad with your logo on it will surely not convert. You need to give context to your brand. What are you offering along with your logo or brand? Why should people care? How are you different from what else is out there? Your ads should answer these questions and more.
• Strategic sponsorships are something you should definitely get involved in. With a focus on the word “strategic.” You need to advertise or take part in sponsorships that truly make sense for your brand. Say part of who you are as a company is an industry thought leader, who stays ahead of the norm and contributes in making a difference in the industry by shaping the conversations. A perfect strategic sponsorship would ideally encompass the same goals you have of thought leadership and innovativeness, much like insideARM’s first ever Compliance & Operations Training Seminar – ARM-U.
• Take your advertising a step further to tailor your ads to your media outlet. Say your company offers a platform that meets the needs for HR professionals, and you find an advertising outlet geared towards HR professionals. It is a no-brainer that advertising in this publication makes perfect sense as you are providing a service that directly meets the needs of the readers, but the consumers/readers may need a little more help connecting the dots. If your company is known for many services and platforms, your brand might not stick out as the premiere HR platform, but rather something more general. Tailor your ads to show your demonstration in the HR world, highlight the service you are providing, and then use your branding to help readers identify you.

ARM-U is the debt industry’s first ever training seminar that strives to bring together Compliance and Operations professionals to network, train and learn together. Do you want to learn from thought leaders and peers how to optimize compliance and operations functions in perfect harmony? Do you want to build on your collection industry knowledge with tools and workbooks that will strengthen your skill set? Learn more about ARM-U here.