The No-Cost Way to Brand Your Company

Geoffrey James has written a tongue-in-cheek piece “Brand Your Firm in 2 Minutes or Less” (http://blogs.bnet.com/salesmachine/?p=10876&tag=nl.e808). I invite you to try Mr. James’ “five steps to 2-minute branding” and have a bit of fun. Then you must also do some serious thinking about the importance of a properly implemented corporate brand. Poor corporate branding can be suicidal.

GEOFFREY JAMES’ PATH TO BRANDING A HIGH TECH COMPANY

Mr. James states: Branding is not all that complicated, and I’m going to prove it – by showing you how to brand a high tech company in two minutes or less.”

I have inserted his original five steps – which are a joy in themselves – and added a few comments for the more serious souls among us who really worry about corporate branding.

So we start off with Step 1.

STEP 1: CREATE A NEW PRODUCT NAME

If you’re going to have a great brand, you need a corporate name that’s cool, hip and up-to-date. And nothing fits the bill better than a brand spanking new Web 2.0 name. But why bother to pay a consultant $100,000 (or more) to come up with one? Just go to this website: http://www.dotomator.com/web20.html.

Now, as I hope you have discovered, Dotomaor is fun but basically pretty dumb. On the other hand, the website tab entitled Dot-o-mator Domain Naming Tips is a brilliant guide to building company names.

There are several other sites doing the same thing. Try http://www.company-name-generator.com/advanced-company-name-generator or http://www.2robots.com/2003/06/18/random-business-name-generator/.

They are lots of fun to play with (for about 5 minutes). A much better idea is to go back to Dot-o-mator Domain Naming Tips and give some serious thought to their suggestions. That also doesn’t cost anything.

STEP 2: CREATE A COOL CORPORATE LOGO

Now that you’ve got a Web 2.0 name, you’ll need a cool logo to go on your website. Now, you could pay a graphics design firm $50,000 to create one for your, or you can just create one yourself in less than minute. Here’s the website. Go for it: http://cooltext.com/.

Cool Text is a free logo generator. There are a slew of other sites doing the same thing, such as: http://www.logomaker.com/, http://www.logogenerator.com/, http://www.simwebsol.com/ImageTool/.

I have seen much worse stuff created by “graphic designers”, who charge a fortune.

Keep in mind, your logo contributes to your business's visibility and credibility and is a major element in your company brand. It is your company’s identity.

STEP 3: GENERATE A MISSION STATEMENT

You’re going to have to get investors interested in your firm, so you’ll need a good, solid mission statement that will appeal to people who’ve got big bucks to invest. Now, you could spend a day huddled in a room with your co-workers “group-writing” a mission statement, or you just create one automatically in less than 5 seconds. Here’s the website:

http://www.netinsight.co.uk/portfolio/mission/missgen.asp.

This is the closest thing to nonsense that you are going to see here. There are several other toys like this and they all produce gibberish. An effective mission statement must include critical components that clarify an organization's purpose. It must be a concise statement specifically written for a particular audience.

The Coca-Cola mission statement reads as follows: “The Coca-Cola Company exists to benefit and refresh everyone it touches. The basic proposition of our business is simple, solid, and timeless. When we bring refreshment, value, joy and fun to our stakeholders, then we successfully nurture and protect our brands, particularly Coca-Cola. That is the key to fulfilling our ultimate obligation to provide consistently attractive returns to the owners of our business." By the way, they have another mission statement for the general public.

A well developed, goal-focused mission statement provides focus, direction, and accountability.

STEP 4: GENERATE A MARKETING MESSAGE

Now that you’ve got your name, logo and mission, all you need is a statement from marketing defining what your company is all about. Now, you could hire a marketing group and pay them $1m a year to do this, or you could just go with something created automatically (and then do some judicious editing). Here’s the website:

http://www.andrewdavidson.com/gibberish/

Mr. James comments: Sure, it’s kinda lame. But honestly, folks, is it THAT much worse than some of the corporate brands that you see out there in the real world? And are the mission statement and marketing message THAT much weaker than the ones that get trotted out in all seriousness?

Indeed, many small businesses are confused about their marketing message – a slogan, a vision, a mission statement or whatever. A marketing message is a statement that must catch and hold the attention of your prospective customers. It should convince them that you know how to solve their problem. Marketing messages should be created for a product and not a company.

To be able to do this you must first identify your target audience(s) and design your message accordingly. You must identify the problems with which your target market must content and you must then present your solution to their problems. Identify your solution’s benefits and state very clearly how they will substantially improve the prospect’s positioning. Prove that you are capable by presenting short success stories. This will confirm that your solution works.

Before you put your marketing message in print, test it on a target audience. Make sure that they get the message and immediately understand what you are aiming at.

A FEW COMMENTS ON THE ISSUE OF COMPANY BRANDING

The time for fun is over. Corporate branding is a critical issue to the success of a company. Keep the following right up front:

If your company does not have consistent branding, you will look amateurish: Materials that are not professionally developed make you look unprofessional and might indicate that you cannot perform or meet the standards your customer requires.

If you do not have a professional "look and feel", you will look unpolished. It appears as though your business does not matter to you. Customers might get the impression that you do not care about the way your business presents itself, which might indicate that you would not care about the quality of your work or the way that your work reflects upon their business.

Unprofessional, uncoordinated marketing materials make you look unfocused. A mish-mush of designs, styles, fonts, etc. can make your marketing efforts look clumsy. If you have a business card with one look-and-feel and a website with another, it can cause an identity crisis. Potential clients will think they are looking at two different businesses.