An Idiosyncrasy of a brand or unique value proposition?
To achieve success in branding equals following a simple guidepost of four steps, where after defining how we want to be perceived by future customers, followed by structuring our business according to the promise we want our prospects to focus on, the next steps look to efficiently communicate that promise while being consistent to form a solid reputation, followed by trust and continuum called loyalty.
It might appear trivial this simple outline of 5 steps as it does not introduce anything extraordinarily sophisticated or incredibly unique, however, it lays the foundations for any further undertakings that have the potential to become part of a bigger success picture where our brand plays the leading part.
A brand to be successful needs consistency, community, content and sustainability, all of which shall be aligned with an overall business strategy drafted upon the full understanding of target clients’ dynamics and unique characteristics that represent the ideal customer. This not only adds value to getting familiar with the wants and needs of target personas so a draft of future communication campaigns or other content variants will be highly efficient in reaching the minds and souls of customers and ultimately contributing to further understanding of the marketplace but also allows forming con-society with customers, partners and prospective supporters.
What are the components of a successful brand?
Is a successful brand a manufactured reality to serve the needs of customers or is it an artefact based on a primary material that has been identified as an essential for human existence or an enhancer of his/her being?
Beginning by defining what an artefact is shall magnify or reduce the potential of linking this term to a brand in an unconventional manner.
Artefacts are simply man-made or man-altered objects that usually have been produced by nature or somehow discovered by humans such as stone tools or stone jewellery found in a backyard garden. These archaeological rarities play a significant part in the history of humankind but what is the link to this modern phenomenon of business entities, branding? Brands, similarly to archaeological artefacts, are the creations of human thought, the expressions of ideas, desires that are meant to convey either a message or a point of view that not only expresses the idiosyncrasy of the brand creator him/herself but moreover are the expressions of collective thought that as by its definition relates to a group, an aggregate, or simplistically speaking a tribe or a fan club characterised by sharing a common set of beliefs. The direct relationship between brands and artefacts is based on an equal contribution of human thought to express either own believes, personal emotions, mark significant events or enlighten a phenomenon that is in the mind of the creator.
Brands just like artefacts, whether communication or documentary focus on articulating thoughts and facts or emotions, events that matter to either a collective or an individual. In both examples, the presence of idiosyncrasy and unique value transpires as a blueprint of the creation by a human mind.
Branding for some is just another term for marketing or playing with consumers; mind to take advantage by influencing them. In this understanding, is branding a bad thing? Not, it is the prerequisite to functioning while being a part of the entrepreneurship arena, it is the highlight of commercialisation, the choice businesses give to consumers, the helping vehicle that allows filtering the good from the bad ones.
A brand is the set of expectations, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another.
– Seth Godin
It is also the outcome of the mind’s creation that is built upon a story, it has its soul, voice, personality.
A brand is the unique and idiosyncratic representation of true essence, drive, character, grit, and
“the single most important investment you can make in business” citing Steve Forbes.
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