Branding

1. Sales and Marketing Training Branding Creating and Managing Your Corporate Brand

2. Session One: Course Overview Learning Objectives (I) • Define what a brand is (particularly a strong brand) and what branding is about • Define various types of brand architecture and brand extension • Identify your brand’s products, the features of those products, and their values • Write a mission, vision, and style statement for a brand • Describe the basics of positioning a brand

3. Session One: Course Overview Learning Objectives (II) • Understand the basics of creating a visual identity, including a brand name, slogan, and logo • Help your employees live the brand by empowering them to be ambassadors and creating strong brand touchpoints • Effectively plan an internal and external brand launch • Monitor and evaluate your brand, and understand how to respond to the results

4. Session Two: Defining Branding Defining Brands and Branding (I) • What comes to mind when we say “brand?” • Simon Middleton says, “Brand is about meaning.” • People use brands to help them navigate today’s marketplace of overflowing choices.

5. Session Two: Defining Branding Defining Brands and Branding (II) What is Branding, Then? • The word branding encompasses the entire process of creating, managing, and evaluating that brand. • It’s how you build relationships with people through the image that the brand gives out. • Your brand should be integrated into all facets of your organization.

6. Session Two: Defining Branding Defining Brands and Branding (III) Your brand can include: • A catchy name • A logo or logotype • Trademark colors • Characters • A particular style, look, feel • An attitude • A set of feelings and values • Anything you want it to!

7. Session Two: Defining Branding Defining Brands and Branding (IV) Why Branding is the Most Important Investment a Company Can Make • Branding doesn’t have to cost a lot of money! • What advantages might come from having a strong brand?

8. Session Two: Defining Branding Characteristics of a Strong Brand • Name a brand that you are familiar with. • What are some characteristics of the brand? • What makes it a strong brand?

9. Session Three: What Are You All About? Identifying Your Products and Features (I) • Before you begin, you must know what you’re branding. • Take a blank sheet of paper. • Write a few short lines about what your product or service is, what it does, and what benefits it brings to customers. • Focus on things that are key to your business.

10. Session Three: What Are You All About? Identifying Your Products and Features (II) Example: Acme Widgets Inc. • We sell four types of widgets and provide widget repair service. • Three of our widgets are for home use. • The base model provides basic cleaning services and saves customers about one hour each day. • The middle model provides better cleaning services as well as laundry duties. It saves customers about two hours each day, plus all maintenance fees are waived for three years. • The top-end model performs all services of a traditional butler. It saves customers at least four hours each day, plus all maintenance fees are waived for its lifetime. • Our industrial widget is custom-built and is designed to integrate with any assembly line. On average, businesses save $1,500 per day in labor costs by using our widgets.

11. Session Three: What Are You All About? Identifying Your Values (I) • Accountability • Achievement • Adventure • Affection • Authority • Change • Commitment • Community • Competence • Cooperation • Creativity • Decisiveness • Democracy • Effectiveness • Ecological awareness • Efficient • Ethical • Excellence • Excitement • Expertise • Fame • Freedom • Friendships • Growth • Honesty • Independence • Influencing • Inner harmony • Integrity • Intellectual • Involvement • Knowledge • Leadership • Meaningful • Merit • Money • Nature • Order • Power • Public service • Purity • Quality • Responsibility • Security • Self-respect • Serenity • Sophistication • Stability • Status • Sustainable • Tranquility • Truth • Variety • Wisdom

12. Session Three: What Are You All About? Identifying Your Values (II) • Narrow it down to a handful of values or just one. • Cross out any values that don’t represent the brand. • Cross out any values that you don’t think that the business could embody. • Cross out anything that won’t compel employees or have meaning for customers. • Cross off any values that won’t help make you unique, or that are not sustainable. • Finally, is this value easy to communicate?

13. Session Three: What Are You All About? Identifying Your Values (III) • Use these values to create a statement. • Example: Wal-Mart • Respect for the individual • Service to our customers • Striving for excellence

14. Session Four: Creating a Mission What a Mission Statement is All About (I) • This is where big ideas live. • Having this bigger sense of purpose will be a big help when creating the public-facing elements of your brand. • So don’t be hesitant, don’t worry if you’ll ever get there – write down your biggest hopes and dreams for your product or service. • The best mission statements are short and simple.

15. Session Four: Creating a Mission What a Mission Statement is All About (II) • 3M: To solve unsolved problems innovatively. • ADM: To unlock the potential of nature to improve the quality of life. • Bristol-Myers Squibb: To discover, develop, and deliver innovative medicines that help patients prevail over serious diseases. • Conoco Phillips: Use our pioneering spirit to responsibly deliver energy to the world. • CSX: To be the safest, most progressive North American railroad, relentless in the pursuit of customer and employee excellence. • CVS: We will be the easiest pharmacy retailer for customers to use.

16. Session Four: Creating a Mission What a Mission Statement is All About (III) • Darden: To nourish and delight everyone we serve. • Dow Chemicals: To constantly improve what is essential to human progress by mastering science and technology. • Erie Insurance: To provide our policyholders with as near perfect protection, as near perfect service as is humanly possible, and to do so at the lowest possible cost. • Ford Motor Company: We are a global family with a proud heritage, passionately committed to providing personal mobility for people around the world. • H&R Block: To help our clients achieve their financial objectives by serving as their tax and financial partner.

17. Session Four: Creating a Mission What a Mission Statement is All About (IV) • Harley-Davidson: Fulfill dreams through the experience of motorcycling. • Levi Strauss: People love our clothes and trust our company. We will market the most appealing and widely worn casual clothing in the world. We will clothe the world. • Microsoft: Help people and businesses throughout the world realize their full potential. • Nike: To bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world. • OmniCare: Our business is pharmaceutical care. Our mission is positive outcomes. • Walt Disney: To be one of the world's leading producers and providers of entertainment and information.

18. Session Four: Creating a Mission Time for Reflection • What is one word that describes your product? • Describe the main purpose of your product in one sentence. • Make a list of verbs that describe what happens when people use your product. • If you’re having trouble getting started, describe what you don’t want your product to be. Then write down the opposite of those words.

19. Session Five: Creating a Vision of the Future (I) • Your vision statement outlines how you want things to look for your product in the short term. • You want to create a positive, optimistic, realistic snapshot of where you want to be.  

20. Session Five: Creating a Vision of the Future (II) Things to Consider • Who will you have as customers, competitors, employees, and shareholders? • What will the product look like? • Where will you be selling it? • How will your brand look? • What reputation will it have?

21. Session Five: Creating a Vision of the Future (III) One Year Our household widgets will be in the top ten of Innovation Magazine’s annual Time-Saving Devices list. Our sales focus will remain in North America, although we will begin expanding to Europe at the end of the year. During this process, we will ensure that the product lives up to its current high standards of efficiency and saving customer’s time.

22. Session Five: Creating a Vision of the Future (IV) Three Years We will expand our industrial widgets line to two standard models, while keeping the custom model option. We will continue to sell three types of household widgets. We will establish a strong market presence in Europe and begin establishing contacts in Asia. During this process, we will ensure that the product lives up to its current high standards of efficiency and saving customers time. We will expand the focus to include money-saving options, such as our lifetime service plan.

23. Session Five: Creating a Vision of the Future (V) Five Years We will focus on improving our product line through customer feedback, industry studies, and intensive research in development. These efforts will support strengthening our global presence and make the anticipated line of four household widgets and three industrial widgets the preferred brand worldwide.

24. Session Six: Positioning Your Brand Identifying Your Ideal Position • Anonymous • Beautiful • Cheap • Conscientious • Comprehensive • Discount • Ecologically aware • Efficient • Ethical • Expensive • Fair trade • Fast • Green • Innovative • Luxury • Modern • Personal • Pioneer • Premium • Professional • Resourceful • Slow • Specialist • Sustainable • Trustworthy • Unique

25. Session Six: Positioning Your Brand Positioning Workout Acme Widgets Examples • Innovative design • Modern approach • Trustworthy service • Financially sound

26. Session Seven: Developing Your Style Writing a Style Statement • Academic • Antique • Captivating • Charismatic • Charming • Chic • Cool • Delightful • Friendly • Fun • Helpful • Independent • Inviting • Professional • Quirky • Reliable • Trendy • Welcoming

27. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan The Forward-Facing Elements (I) Recap: What We’ve Created So Far • Your product or service’s benefits and features • Your product’s values • A mission statement • A vision statement • Your brand’s position • Your brand’s unique style

28. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan The Forward-Facing Elements (II) Elements of a Strong Brand Name/Slogan • True to the product • Recognizable, different, and unique • Sustainable and durable • Flexible • Something that your company can commit to • Something that generates value for the company

29. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan Want In A Name Don’t Want In a Name Something that is boring and not distinctive Something that is hard to pronounce or remember Something that might have negative connotations Inside jokes Developing Your Brand Name (I) • Memorable and noticeable • Speaks about your product or service • Engages customers • Unique • Appropriate and inoffensive

30. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan Developing Your Brand Name (II) • So where do you start? • We suggest brainstorming words and short phrases that describe your product’s purpose. • Try brainstorming a brand name for our widget.

31. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan Developing a Slogan (I) • “Slogan” comes from the Gaelic word sluagh-ghairm, which means “battle cry.” • You might also know a slogan as a motto, tagline, mantra, or strapline. • Not all products have a slogan, but a good one can significantly add to your brand’s value and give your brand bigger exposure.

32. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan Developing a Slogan (II) Can you identify the companies or products associated with these taglines? • Just do it. • Expect more. Pay less. • All the news that’s fit to print. • Drivers wanted. • Save money. Live better.

33. Session Eight: Developing a Brand Name and Slogan Developing a Slogan (II) • A good slogan is short, punchy, appropriate, and true to the product. • To create it, we suggest the same approach that we used for the brand name. • Focus on words and short phrases that describe your product’s purpose. • Try brainstorming a slogan for our widget.

34. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Graphic Design 101 (I)

35. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Graphic Design 101 (II)

36. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Graphic Design 101 (III)

37. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Graphic Design 101 (IV) Serif Fonts Sans-Serif Fonts Specialty Fonts

38. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Types of Visual Identities (I) Simple Pictorial Mark

39. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Types of Visual Identities (II) Letterform

40. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Types of Visual Identities (III) Wordmark

41. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Types of Visual Identities (IV) Emblem

42. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Pop Culture Test (I)

43. Session Nine: Creating a Visual Identity Pop Culture Test (II)

44. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Transforming Your Employees into Ambassadors (I) • Your employees have a unique perspective on your brand. • They are the people who bring your brand to life, yet they still need to be sold on it just as your external customers do. • Branding guru Simon Middleton says, “Getting your staff to believe in your brand […] is about authentic engagement coupled with genuine empowerment.”

45. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Transforming Your Employees into Ambassadors (II) • Keep employees involved at every stage of the branding process. • Focus groups and team meetings with senior executives are an excellent way to help employees feel engaged and listened to. • Share as much information as possible. • Let them know why things are happening the way they are and how their jobs will be affected. • Give employees some freedom in living the brand. • Ask your employees what you can do to make them better ambassadors for the company. • Immerse the employees in the brand.

46. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Understanding Touchpoints (I) • Web site and social media • Traditional media • Direct mail, e-mail, or telephone advertising • Partnership companies or other organizations that you are linked to • How employees answer the phone, handle questions, and respond to complaints • The package that the brand comes in

47. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Understanding Touchpoints (II) • Instructions included with the package • The sales and follow-up process • Systems for making appointments • Post-sales service and support • Appearance, attitude, knowledge, and demeanor of company employees • Appearance of office, sales floor, warehouse, retail store, information kiosks, vehicles, etc.

48. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Creating a Unique Experience at Each Touchpoint (I) Media (Internet and Traditional) • Monitor your social presence. • Always be professional when interacting with the media. • Appoint a media spokesperson. Educate them on the presence that you want to convey. • Remember that actions speak louder than words. • If you are partnered or somehow associated with another organization, their actions will reflect on you, too. Choose your friends wisely.

49. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Creating a Unique Experience at Each Touchpoint (II) Employee Interactions • Be clear on what your brand is about so that employees can share the story with customers in the right way. • Ensure that employees have the proper tools. • Meet with employees and listen to what they have to say about the brand and how they are feeling about being its ambassador. • Follow up with customers.

50. Session Ten: Living Your Brand Creating a Unique Experience at Each Touchpoint (III) Physical Space • First impressions mean everything. • Your reception or storefront area is important. Checklists can help employees know what standards they must meet and keep things looking clean and fresh. • You never know where customers will look!