• Align the personality, education, and experience of an organization’s management team with the promise of the brand.
• Properly position the business strategy to attract capital
• Present a realistic and thorough business plan

CEO Branding
A critical attribute of the brand that interests those investing money into a firm is the CEO and executive management team. A CEO is always linked to the organization they represent. What a CEO and management team says or does has a huge impact on the brand. However, for the brand to be successful, it must be bigger than the CEO. The CEO is the leader and steward of the brand. Be careful the brand is not only the CEO.

Positioning
Compelling brands attract and sustain both consumers and investors. A sound positioning strategy is crucial to managing the brand underlying all consumer and investor communications. An organization’s positioning is what makes them stand out from all others in the marketplace. By clarifying the brand, strong positioning helps raise awareness and strengthen the presentation of the organization’s pitch.

Business plan
The business plan represents the strategic vision of an enterprise. A sound business plan is well-researched, practical, and precise. Investors must read hundreds of business plans to choose the best new venture. Create a plan that is not only strategically sound but also readable, engaging, memorable, and accurately communicates the brand and resultant positioning.

The brand that supports communication with customers and potential customers—the one that makes consumers want to buy from you—is the same brand presented to the investment community when seeking funds. Shareholder communications and brand management are critical to expand and enhance a relationship with the investment community and raise brand awareness amongst consumers.

Consider consumers and investors when developing and implementing branding strategy–logically positioning the enterprise and senior management; strategically positioning the brand; and effectively communicating business strategies. Successful execution of these elements is critical to developing a compelling branding strategy for both consumers and investors—leading to a more visible, credible, and profitable brand.

Positioning research begins with asking;

Who is the audience? Define the audience and talk to them. Interview current and potential clients, survey the marketplace, and segment them to learn more about their needs and wants.

What market gap will the brand fill? Identifying market gaps is an extremely important aspect of positioning research. Brands that fill important market gaps enjoy more success than those who replicate the services of others.

How will the product be delivered? Sometimes the way the product is delivered is more important than the product itself. Research the way the competition interacts with their customers and potential customers. Perhaps a different style of service will set the brand above the competition.

Why buy this brand? What does this brand have to offer that no other brand has? Define the most significant aspect of the brand that sets it apart from the competition. Why a consumer choses to purchase this brand should be the most important of its position.

Positioning research is an extremely important part of the branding process. Properly positioned brands, products, and services enjoy the visibility, credibility, and profitability their competition envies.

When selling products and services, especially commodities, how the brand is positioned within the marketplace will often be the deciding factor of whether a consumer decides to buy from you. Most of the successful positioning strategies have to do with added value to the customer. Though the brand may be a little more expensive, there can be a perception of higher value—whether it be customer service, slightly better product, desirable product feature, or extra convenience.

How do you make a commodity brand stand above its competitors?

Credibility. How do you measure up to the competition? Whether your brand is the oldest or the newest, ways to build credibility include; third party endorsements; a strong web presence; and regular communication with the audience.

Awareness. If consumers are not aware of the brand, it has little chance of success. An easy-to-find and informative website, advertisements, and customer contact are ways to raise awareness.

Added value. How can you add value to a commodity without slashing costs. Depending on the product or service; added value can come as customer service; desirable product features; rebates; or coupons.

Commodities are necessary to the economy but are often difficult to market and brand. Developing a sound market position and backing it up with effective branding strategy will help bring the product or service to the next level, making it a desired brand instead of a necessary commodity.

For those businesses that have weathered the storm, there is a huge opportunity to capitalize on the evolved marketplace. There are vacancies created by brands going out of business or cutting their offerings. There is always a reason to strive for the top and right now, the timing could not be better.

How does a brand emerge from this recession as a leader?

A strong position. A shifting marketplace makes it a great time to revisit your position. Review the competition, collect information from past, current, and potential customers, and revisit your business strategy. You may find it is necessary to evolve your position to meet the changing needs of your constituents and the marketplace.

A strong branding strategy. Strong branding strategy leads to a strong brand. Review your branding strategy to see if it still fits within the market position you fill. Close communication gaps  and review the visual brand; now is a great time to get noticed.

A strong plan. A strong communications plan provides a guide for the upcoming months. Creating a realistic communications plan and budget will help build brand awareness.

Strong branding strategy and market position lends itself to a more credible, visible, and profitable brand. Emerge from this recession as a leader, become a player in your marketplace, and enjoy the value of an effective brand.

Consider the audience and how the product or service will serve its marketplace. In addition, the following tactics can also help define a product or service’s position, ensuring it will adhere to the branding strategy and have an impact on its target audience.

Product Attributes: Sometimes specific product attribute can define a product or service in the marketplace. For instance, the iPhone was introduced as the first smartphone that did not have a number pad.

Benefits: How will the product or service enhance the life of the end user?Keeping with the iPhone example—does it have a longer battery life, is it sleeker or smaller than other phones?

Usage: Every product or service is created to enhance the life of the user. Specifically; how, when, and why is the product to be used. The iPhone combines an mp3 player with a smart phone which can be used for business and recreation.

Users: Identifying the targeted users not only contributes to a product or service’s position, it also helps distinguish the audiences to which the product will be marketed. The iPhone could be marketed to business people, college kids, or anyone who has a mobile lifestyle.

Against a Competitor: Positioning directly against a competitor makes users compare your product to another similar product or market leader. Because of its exclusivity deal with iPhone, AT&T was able to position itself against other wireless carriers.

Away from a Competitor: Though a product or service might be similar to the competition, positioning it away from a competitor distinguishes its features.

Product Classes: Labeling a product or service within a category of other similar ones helps the target audience understand the product by association. The iPhone conveniently fit into many product classes—smart phone, mp3 player, and innovative being a few.

A thorough understanding of the brand, the target audience, and the marketplace combined with strategic use of one or more of the tactics above will lead to more effective results.

The Obama administration has insisted GM remake itself into a company of fuel efficiency, a friend of the environment, and a producer of quality products. Now in bankruptcy, they’ll eventually emerge with new financing and equity structures, new union contracts and government guarantees, less workers, less dealers, and less models. That could be the easy work.

Now, GM will have to convince the American consumer that they really are a new and different company. Not the company of trucks, SUVs, and large cars.

America has evolved and will continue to evolve.

The made in America label only goes so far. With new generations it carries less and less weight. Americans enjoy the right to buy what they want. Loyalty to a mismanaged colossus producing products misaligned with consumer demand will take a long time to develop.

Though they are in the midst of a predicament, GM’s senior management needs to get to work on the new brand. What will they promise to their marketplace? Will they be able to deliver it? This time there won’t be a second chance. Call it cultural or attitude, the new brand needs to be established and the employees have to buy into it with fervor. Then the consumer needs to come around and buy GM vehicles. Only then will GM have a chance of making it.

Repositioning. A solar energy firm announced it was repositioning itself. Does that mean they have decided their claim of distinction within their market place is no longer effective and they have found a new and better place to drive their stake? The language on their home page had not changed. It turns out, they were bringing forth a new tag line and ad campaign. Perhaps they were changing how they communicate their position.

We see the terms “branding” and “positioning” used with little regard for their true definition. Unless used correctly to announce a paradigm shift, rebranding/repositioning announcements often send confusing messages to constituents because these organizations are not making the transformative changes of a true rebranding. They are simply exploring new tactics to communicate their brand to the evolving marketplace and gain renewed interest.

To truly reposition your company would be akin to Volvo abandoning their claim of safety and staking a claim to manufacture sleek, fast cars. Or IKEA selling high-end, overpriced home furnishings. Repositioning is much bigger than a campaign—it’s a brand shift. Perhaps its the inherent trait of marketers to make things appear bigger than they are, but it is certainly not something to be taken lightly.

Articulating the message
A brand’s unique selling proposition is what makes it rise above it’s competition. It should be superlative, memorable, tangible, important, and timeless. A unique selling proposition is constructed to stand the test of time. Unless the organization’s core offering changes, the unique selling proposition stays the same and should be consistently conveyed across all communication.

Crafting an effective delivery
The delivery is where, when, why and to whom the brand puts its stake in the ground. Delivery depends on;

• Medium—Print, web, radio, and word of mouth are all mediums through which a message can be delivered. Communications written for the Web are very different from communications written for a radio spot, which are both very different from a formal business letter.
• Timing—Some communications are planned, others are spontaneous. Some are proactive while others are reactive, but whatever the circumstance—message must align with the brand.
• Reason—Reason for communication can be positive, negative, or neutral, but whether communicating to avert or alleviate a crisis, announce an increase in earnings, or inform about a new product, the message must reinforce the unique selling proposition.
• Audience—Audiences can include customers, potential customers, vendors, investors, and employees. The brand reaches out to each of these audiences for different reasons and through different mediums but each audience member must receive a consistent message.

A brand’s delivery will vary but the it must always effectively communicate the unique selling proposition. If the message changes with the delivery method, it will be diluted, the audience will be confused, and the brand will suffer.

It takes months and years for organizations to develop products and services that go to market. Employees often get so attached to a working name that it becomes its consumer name. The name makes complete sense for those who have seen it grow but may have little relevance to the audience it is meant to serve.

This is a common and it is not hard to see why. Company culture is often so strong that it finds it way into external communications. As part of an organization, employees become so immersed in the way a company speaks to itself that it becomes hard to think in the terms of the consumer. Nomenclature and phrases that seem ubiquitous are a communications pitfall to the public.

It is important to review the working and marketing names of products and services in various stages of their development. Test them with consumers and find the way to speak to the end user in a way that is relevant, important, memorable, and tangible.

But with this heightened awareness, a counter intuitive trend has been developing over the past five years. In a study conducted in 2003, Brand Keys, a New York marketing consultancy, found that 69% of goods and services across both consumer and business marketing had fallen into the category of a commodity in the mind of the consumer. The same study conducted last year found that 79% now fall into the category of a commodity.

There appear to be several forces leading to the decline in differentiation:

• Marketers are focusing on the deal rather than the value
• Ad agencies are allowing entertainment to overshadow the message
• Designers are failing to understanding the mind of the consumer
• CEOs are overlooking the value of the brand

In our current economic state, marketers have been focusing on the deal rather than the value. Perhaps due to the general business slowdown or contracting consumer spending, marketers feel the need to cut deals rather than to focus on the distinctive idea that separates the product or service. Unfortunately, this leads to brand erosion. The more you focus on the deal, the greater the distraction from the brand.

Ad agencies have become obsessed with keeping you from the TV clicker by providing immediately entertaining spots. This meets their goal of greater viewership and viewer recall, but fails to provide a message to help consumers tell one brand from another.

Designers and consultants are also not taking the time to understand the mind of the consumer. This is clearly illustrated by Tropicana’s new package design and branding revealed earlier this year. After spending millions of dollars on design and production, sales fell over 20% because consumers couldn’t find their trusted container of Tropicana. Wouldn’t you think a firm as bright and savvy as Pepsi would have realized the need to test the design first?

Perhaps most significant is a lack of leadership from the top. Branding isn’t taught in business school and isn’t a line item on a balance sheet. CEOs frequently overlook the fact that the brand is their most precious asset. Once they realize that without clear differentiation, all you have to compete on is price, the CEOs will become the lead evangelists of the brand. Until then, brand distinction will continue to slip.