Brand Series, Part Two: Growing Your Brand
Do you smell French fries and crave McDonald’s®, or see a bull’s eye and think Target®? In today’s brand-oriented society, a recognizable brand is everything. Last month we told you how to create a brand; now we’ll tell you how to grow it into a recognizable brand.
The steps taken immediately after a new visual brand is launched are critical. By controlling how, when, and where the audience sees your brand, you set the stage for feeding and nurturing your brand. Simple in concept, brand management is the tipping point that can make or break the success of a new visual image.
- Give your brand sun by being consistent. To build a brand and make your visual identity recognizable and meaningful, your brand must be used everywhere and on everything: websites, newsletters, emails, patient brochures, trade journal advertisements, tradeshow booth displays, multimedia, and so forth. How often your brand is used directly affects whether or not it is recognizable to your audience.
- Keep it fresh. Update the design and layout of communications materials but stay within the parameters of the brand image and style guide. These updates create fresh-looking marketing materials and, in turn, a fresh image.
- Feed it using brand ambassadors. A successful brand is first understood and embraced by the organization. Distribute a style guide to key employees that explains when and where the visual brand should be used, both internally and outside the organization. Keep in mind that different roles within the organization use the brand differently. For example, some team members deal directly with clients and therefore are themselves representatives of the brand. Give employees a tailored brand crash course, teach the message and promise behind the brand, and tell them how to use it.
- Nurture it by being patient. Building a recognizable brand takes time and effort. As soon as you begin to grow tired of your brand, your audience will be just starting to recognize it. If you present your brand continuously and consistently, only then will the brand be remembered.
Ready to grow a new visual brand? For more information about how AllOut Marketing creates successful visual brands, contact us.
About AllOut Marketing
AllOut Marketing exclusively serves the medical device, bioscience and pharmaceutical markets, offering specialized medical marketing consulting, graphic design, web site marketing strategy, event management, public relations and market research. From pre-product development through product launch and commercialization, AllOut Marketing has over ten years of worldwide experience in delivering effective and successful integrated marketing and creative communications campaigns. For more information about AllOut Marketing and medical product marketing, visit our site.
— Posted 10/08/2007