Branding Basics

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CLICK RED ARROW to Hear Rudov’s Branding Axiom

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Strong Brand: Every Company Needs One

 
We appreciate those who get to “the point” quickly, succinctly, and memorably. They are unique standouts, never confused with others. We gravitate to them because they add maximum value, at minimum cost, to our lives. Example: NJ Governor Chris Christie
 

 
Likewise, we gravitate to the vendor that gets to “the point” — Here’s your problem, our unique solution, and why you must act now — quickly, succinctly, memorably. Never do we confuse a unique standout — a strong brand — with its competitors.
 

HINT: You know you have a strong brand when customers, investors, and the media can describe it — in one sentence — without mentioning your product. Can they? Can YOU?

What About Yahoo?  |  What About Cisco?

 

Toyota Unsuccessfully Forces Facebook on Us

 

If customers, investors, and the media can’t describe YOUR brand, you’re stuck in the white noise – indistinguishable from your competitors – where choosing your company is as confounding and random as…

picking a card in a magic trick or catching a unique fish.

 

 

The Epitome of White Noise

 
 

 

Branding Basics

Branding Facts & Fallacies

 

 

  • White Noise: GutShare-killing sound produced by the combination of competing vendors’ indistinguishable brands (metaphor: snow on a TV)

  • What a Brand Is: A unique value proposition that evokes gut reactions from target/actual customers (military, industrial, commercial, consumer) in 15 seconds

  • Brands & Products: Products and services are incidental brand-delivery vehicles — they come and go — and either boost or kill the brand. Customers buy solutions and value, not products … and certainly not technologies

  • Brands & Selling: A unique, strong brand lowers your cost of sales, capital, and media — it’s Teflon for the sales funnel. Continuously sharpening your brand is a necessity, not a luxury, through every economic cycle — especially a recession.

  • What a Brand Ain’t: Technojargon with product photo, vendor-centric tagline, and fancy logo (“Do They Understand Your Brand?”)

  • CEO’s Neck on the Line: If the brand is murky to employees, investors, partners, customers, and suppliers, they’ll redefine it to suit themselves — killing revenues and share value, and putting the CEO’s neck on the line (“NBC’s Brand: Clear as Mud”).

 

Be Unique or Be Ignored™