Reading: Brandsimple

I did a presentation years ago at the Michigan Credit Union League's Annual Convention on how to use your web site to drive growth. One of the things I talked about in that presentation was positioning v. branding, which I described as:

Positioning is...

• the process of conveying your value to your members
• the mental space that you can "own" with an idea that has compelling meaning to your members and how you help them with their most important needs

Branding is…

• a reason to care
• the promises you keep
• how your members experience what you do

To me, it boils down to positioning is the promises you make and branding are the ones you keep surrounded by the other things (good and bad) you do and convey.

These ideas were certainly influenced by many others, including a blog post (that I can't find anymore) from ProductMarketing.com.

Brandsimple, by Allen P. Adamson, picks up the concept of brand and carries it ten steps further. Adamson defines a brand as:

something that lives in your head...a promise that links a product or service to consumers...you feel something...you react in someway...positively or negatively

One of the many things I learned about from the book was about Young and Rubicam's (Y&R) BrandAsset Valuator (BAV) that measures brand based on:

• differentiation-what makes your brand unique
• relevance-how appropriate is this difference to the market you want to reach
• esteem-how well regarded is your brand in the marketplace
  
• knowledge-how well customers know and understand your brand
  

It is used to figure out how well your brand is performing-the health of it-in comparison to all other brands, inside and outside your vertical. The "pillars" above are listed in priority order with intention of building on one, then the next and so on.

Other key point include the stepped process of building successful brands:

1. Establish your brand idea - your simple and meaningful point of difference (know who you are talking to, who you want to beat and how you want them)
   
2. Capture the essence of your idea - a single sentence that captures the core meaning of your brand idea
   
3. Get your employees engaged-understanding and buy in
   
4. Consider your brand's name-the label for your brand idea, which can be abstract, associative or descriptive.
   
5. Create branding signals beyond the name-other things that convey what you stand for and why they should care about it.

Last thought on and from the book:

brand building is a marathon event