For any business to become truly successful, it needs to
create positive brand recognition for its product.
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This is especially true in small businesses, where there may
be thousands of similar companies vying for the customer's
attention. The easiest and most fruitful way to think of a
brand is as an IMAGE that the audience remembers.
This means that successful branding of a service or product
is a matter of creating an image that is Positive, Relevant,
and Memorable.
First and foremost, you want to create an image of your
product or service (or company, for that matter) that is
positive.
You want to create an emotional association (such as
happiness or fun) with the product. According to
researchers, there are two basic ways that you can create
these associations.
The first way is through direct experience. In this
approach, a customer's experience with the product or
service impacts on the way that they see it -- i.e. a
positive experience means a positive association. This can
be very important if you are trying to reach repeat
customers.
It is usually hard to use direct experience to brand a
product or service using just a web site. However, remember
that a person will often judge your company based on their
experiences with your web site. Therefore, it is very
important that you make their experience a favorable one --
one where they can get their information quickly and easily.
A second approach to branding that can be used more easily
in a web environment is to create indirect associations.
This can be done in a number of ways. The words you choose
to describe your products, the name you give them, and the
graphics/pictures that you use on your web site can help to
create an emotional association.
The first step is to determine what qualities you wish to
project -- do you want to focus on the reliability of the
product, or the speed, or the money possibilities?
Once you have made this basic, vital decision, then you need
to look for words, descriptions, and graphics that will
project these same qualities. If you look at the naming of
car models, you can see some good examples of this -- A
Dakota, for instance, creates an association of wild
ruggedness, while a Mustang projects the image of spirit and
speed.
Remember that there are also many other factors that will
also indirectly affect how your company and product are
branded.
The way that you interact with your customers is one of the
most important of these. Make sure that your company
reflects the same qualities that you want to have associated
with your product or service.
Otherwise, you may be sending your customers conflicting
messages. For instance, the name of your product might be
CHEETAH, but if it takes three weeks for you to respond to
emails, your brand will probably NOT be associated with
speed!
Branding your product or service can be a difficult process.
Often, it will take many repetitions of a message before a
brand becomes recognized. It is therefore very important
that you put thought into the process before you start
selling your image.
