Three Branding Tools that will make your life easier

By HeyNow! Media

Branding is all about how people interact with your company. It’s a culmination of the experience they have, the messaging they receive, and how they perceive their interaction. The strength of your brand can often make or break that interaction. Fortunately, you have a large amount of control over your brand. When crafting your brand experience, use these three helpful tools for better results.

Positioning

Before you start, it’s important to know where you stand in the market. Positioning allows you to create a unique space in the market for your company. It includes your promise to consumers and the key differentiators. This free, online market positioning tool from eCornell can help you put each piece of your positioning statement together. https://www.ecornell.com/market-positioning-tool/ First, determine your

Target market, or what group of consumers you choose to serve
Differentiators, or what makes you different from your competitors
Reasons to believe, or proof that your brand delivers on the value it promises
Frame of reference, or category in which your product competes
Brand promise, or the assurance to the customer that value will be delivered through interacting with your product

Then, simply plug it all into the positioning tool and voila! You have a strong positioning statement. Here’s an entirely fictional example we created for a soft drink product: For active, cool kids ages 11-17, DrinkMore Cola will deliver a crisp, refreshing, and bubbly citrus taste with a lower sugar level. DrinkMore Cola has perfected a recipe for success featuring natural sugar alternatives with proven youth health benefits combined with a delicious, orange-soda taste kids love. Our delicious and healthier soft drink promises to offer a unique source of citrus-flavored energy without the awful sugar-crash later.

Messaging

How can you possible fit everything your company does into a short, clear message? How long can your messaging be and where do you start? Enter the message map, the most valuable tool for structuring your messaging and neatly fitting what your company does into clear buckets or categories. This video from Forbes is one of our all-time favorites. In it, Carmine Gallo explains exactly how to use a message map and perfect your external communication in three-different time limits: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=phyU2BThK4Q Cool, right? A message map is a great tool for organizing your thoughts and clearly communicating to your target audience.

Voice

Your voice is how your brand’s messaging is delivered to your audience. Does your brand sound more like Barack Obama on the 2008 campaign trail? Or Mike Rowe talking straight to the camera on an episode of Dirty Jobs? To help you find your brand’s voice, let’s go to a party! No, really. Let’s pretend your brand is a person and they’re going to a party. Then consider the following:

What do you wear?
What do you bring as a gift?
What do you eat?
What do you talk about?
Who is your best friend that is with you?
What did you drive?
Why are you at the party?
How many people were at the party?
Where are the people that were invited that chose not to come?

What do you think? Did your brand go to a giant high school party like out of a movie? Or was it at a small get together with some friends? Use these insights to create a voice for your brand based off the personality you have created. Once you understand who you are as a brand, everything you do in the marketplace should reflect this personality. Remember, keeping things consistent and streamlined within this personality and voice will help resonate with your target demographic and ultimately help your brand grow.