So many people are concerned with how to brand, what branding means to their business, whether they should brand at all, and more. Friends of mine are branding experts, have written books about the topic. I’ve written on it before, mostly from the perspective of personal branding. I was thinking about this today and wanted to share a perspective: your brand is meant to answer a question.
What Do You Do For Me?
Apple means what to you? Elegance? Design? What does it do for you? Most people like Apple because it “just works.” What car did you choose? What does it say about you? What does it do for you?
The question of branding isn’t all that complicated. Answer it however you believe you can best serve the people of your community. But it’s the next part that’s difficult.
How Do You Deliver on the Promise of Your Brand?
But the DELIVERY of the PROMISE of your brand is everything. Which airline do you like? Any of them? I like Virgin American, and I like JetBlue. I like Porter. That’s about it. Why? Because the other brands failed to deliver on the basics, let alone their promise. I can think of brands that I love because they are 100% tied to their promise. My Chevy Camaro is a powerful muscle car. That’s the promise. It delivers. My Moto X phone is geeky Android goodness and has a long battery life. (The promise with the Moto X is that you can customize it to be all about you. Fine by me, but I don’t care about that.)
So first, you have to answer the question. Then, you have to deliver on whatever you answered.
The promise of Owner magazine is that we improve your business by growing your capabilities and connections. Said simpler, “Business is personal.” That’s what I’ve created to be the promise behind that brand. To deliver on it, I will work every day to find ways to empower and enrich the community who gathers around the magazine.
So turn this on you and your business: what do you do for your buyers? And do you deliver on that promise? That’s the work of branding, in my not at all humble opinion. What say you?