4 Lessons for Developing a Brand

Developing a brand is more than just creating an attractive logo and applying it to everything you produce.   Branding encompasses creating a reputation that forms the foundation of your entire business.  Things like establishing guidelines for who can use your brand, rules to follow in representing your brand, identifying the exact colors or style used to display your brand to the world, and the overall intention of how your brand should be perceived when referenced.

To help you understand both the importance of branding and why protecting your reputation is essential, let me tell you a story.

Not too long ago, we worked with a client who had created an online app.  The App itself was a well-developed product with the potential to reach a niche audience for several target groups. So why were they struggling?

Long story short – they were making a series of mistakes that were sabotaging their every effort.  This article contains a few “Lessons” where this company, as well as a few others, were making branding mistakes.  They also include simple solutions that can be applied to all industries and markets.

So, let’s dig in.

Lesson #1:  Before You Create a Logo (or anything else) – Make Sure Your Business Name Chosen Is Legally Available For You To Use

Identifying a name for your business is a big thing.  Now imagine having created a logo, website, marketing materials, and even company uniforms, only to discover that the name you chose is trademarked by someone else. You either have to pay their royalties to use it or change everything to a new name.

Well, this has happened before.  A company I once worked for had a lawyer on retainer to track down every company that used the term “Service XXXXX” in their name (LOL – keeping myself from the lawyer’s list).  At first, I felt this was a harsh marketing strategy. Still, the company’s owner had trademarked the name “Service XXXXX” and, therefore, obtained the legal right to use it exclusively as their business name.  Additionally, the trademark gave him the legal right to ask anyone using the name to change it so as not to create confusion for the general population about which company was his business.

So, how do you know if your business name is safe to use?

Working with a lawyer when starting your company is helpful in this situation.  While there are attorneys who specifically work in trademark law, general business attorneys should also have some knowledge about intellectual property and can check both state and federal directories to ensure you are in the clear.  If you need more advice on Trademarks, I recommend visiting the United States Patent and Trademark Office.  If you need help finding a local attorney, I recommend reaching out to the American Bar Association for assistance.

If you are in the St. Louis area, my go-to intellectual property attorney is Morris Turek, Your Trademark Attorney. Morris focuses explicitly on intellectual property, trademarks, and patents.  He is excellent to work with, and his pricing is friendly.

Lesson #2:  Create Boundaries For How Someone Can Use Your Brand

It’s important to consider working with an attorney to get recommendations for protecting your brand. However, from a marketing standpoint, you must be clear and comfortable setting boundaries for how others can refer to your brand.

For instance, we had a client who wanted to collaborate with “brand ambassadors” or “social media influencers” to promote their company. That sounds great, right? Well, not so fast.

I asked them, “What agreements do you have in place to protect how these influencers use or promote your brand?” The response was troubling—there were none. It turned out they were already engaging someone they knew who was planning to rebrand the product as their own. Essentially, the client was so focused on making a sale that they overlooked the risks of allowing someone else the freedom to market their product without any written guidelines.

There were two steps to a solution implemented here:

1) Establish Expectations: We recommend outlining the expectations of the relationship between the company and any potential brand ambassadors or affiliate marketers.  We recommended that it include specific clauses that protected the brand from unauthorized use and further defined what was considered appropriate.

2) Create a Brand Kit: We developed a written Branding Guide that outlined how approved partners could utilize their brand.  It covered topics such as the appropriate use of logos, the exact colors and fonts used to represent their logo (i.e., a style sheet), and even acceptable hashtags.  Finally, it included information on whom to contact should any questions arise.

Lesson #3:   Establish A Clear Focus On Your Product Or Service Offering And Make It Simple For Your Audience To Understand

In this situation, our client was using a printed card to distribute the activation code required to create an end-user account to access their premium mobile App.  Everything they were doing to promote the App showed a card instead of a mobile device.  The result is that it created confusion for their market to understand precisely what they were selling – a card or an online app.

Now, you might be asking – why a card?  For this particular product, they had a strategy to promote it to businesses for use as a value-added marketing tool. Therefore, they thought it would be a great idea to distribute a printed card with their logo on it.  Well, yes, but essentially, it required an entirely different conversation to help the buyer understand the purpose and benefit of use.  Using a single image of a tangible card to brand their digital product limited the audience’s ability to grasp the concept quickly.

The solution in this situation was changing the image of a card to a Mobile Device with the App on it.  This simple visual connection identified its product at its core as being a mobile app.  Any other applications for its use were then better communicated more directly to that audience with images that supported that specific conversation.

Lesson #4:   Give Your Brand Personality To Help It Stand Out

When creating an identity for your company, the name is essential, but so is the character your brand represents.  Let me explain.

There are a few brands that excel in this area.  Geico Insurance has the Gecko, Martin; Toyota has Jan; Progressive Insurance has Flow, Jamie, Alan, Mara, and Rodney; and State Farm has Jake.  While these characters have developed over the years, they bring something to the brand that helps them become consistently recognizable by consumers and build a relationship with the brand through storytelling.  These stories can feature themselves or other personalities. Still, consistency allows them to establish trust with consumers, give them a glimpse into what it’s like to work with that brand, and something to look forward to as their stories continue to unfold.  These personalities have helped give these brands alternative ways to discuss their products and services without being too straightforward or overpromotional with sales.

By sharing these real-life lessons on developing a brand, your business can establish a solid foundation that helps minimize risks and fosters behavior that supports the reputation your brand can grow.  If you have questions about branding and would like some helpful advice, please don’t hesitate to reach out.