There may be no single buzzword more widely and wildly bandied about in the world of marketing today than branding. There may also be none that is more misused and misunderstood.
For decades, branding meant little more than the creation of a logo and tagline, with consumer advertising that leaned heavily on that logo and tagline, and various knickknacks to go with it. Some people still view branding like that.
But in recent years, marketers have come to understand branding differently and in a more sophisticated way. A brand is ultimately an organization's reputation, although that organization might need some help discovering what its reputation is or ought to be, and even how it should conduct itself to improve the way the public perceives it. This usually involves a good deal of research, at the conclusion of which a corporate identity is developed. Advertising and other forms of marketing communications follow, historically through mass media.
But there are limits to these approaches, especially at time of great economic uncertainty and one in which new media technologies have exploded, rendering many traditional approaches to marketing communications questionable, if not obsolete. These approaches underestimate the impact of technology, which requires from any organization a willingness to experiment, to adjust, and to constantly fine-tune its communications efforts. It also requires of organizations an understanding of their diffuse and segmented audiences.
Fortunately, the same new media technologies that render so many traditional tactics obsolete also make it possible to identify these segmented audiences and to continually refine communications efforts that seek to influence them. And just as segmentation has undermined intrusive advertising in mass media (think “Ring around the collar!”), it has also made it more important that communications efforts possess a subtlety that respects the intelligence and independence of technologically empowered consumers. After all, when annoyed or offended by an ad, technology makes it easier for them to tune it out.
With all this in mind, we approach the challenge of building brands somewhat differently, probably, than do many firms. We believe, for example, that truly great brands are built over decades and, usually, at enormous expense. Recognizing this reality does not mean, however, that we cannot do effective work for organizations that do not have the luxury of decades and millions of dollars to invest in their brands.
In fact, we do our best work, we believe, for clients with limited budgets but with specific needs to reach specific audiences. Maybe that's you.
That pretty well describes Sandler Training, for example. At a time when the economy had weakened severely, we helped this client distinguish itself from countless other sales training consultancies on the strength of its use of reinforcement. And Sandler Training has prospered as a result.
For Marts & Lundy, the nation's oldest philanthropic consultancy, we helped identify and capitalize on its point of differentiation-its application of science to a field built on old-boy networks of person-to-person solicitation. As a result, Marts & Lundy has known great success.
For Martha Jefferson Hospital, in a two-hospital town dominated by a prestigious university medical center, we re-branded our client as no less high tech than its closest competitor, but superior in its reputation for compassionate “community healthcare.” Since we have managed its brand, Martha Jefferson Hospital has achieved its highest market share since such records have been kept.
For Beth Sholom, a senior living center in Richmond, we repositioned three seemingly disconnected facilities as one cohesive "lifecare community," redesigned its logo and its other marketing communications. This branding effort not only solidified the client's position in its market, but also made possible a capital campaign that successfully raised $5 million and added to the facilities 150 new living units.
We can do such powerful work because, over the past 15 years, we have assembled a staff that possesses the diverse and interdisciplinary talents that success in the new media environment requires-and the ability to change as the media environment itself has changed.
And we can do comparably powerful work for you. We can help you identify the audiences unique to you and develop strategies and tactics for establishing, maintaining and enriching interactive relationships with them. We can then deploy the range of options available to you, from traditional advertising to custom publishing, to direct mail, to search-engine marketing.
More than that, we can help you understand how the world of media is changing and how to use it to your fullest advantage. In that way, we can equip you to embrace those changes, adjusting your tactics and strategies to exploit the branding possibilities that the new world of media and marketing presents. Contact Us Today.
