Blog | Redbird Communications

For a new business, the purpose of advertising is to let clients or customers know you exist, and to tell them what you are offering (see ‘Promise me anything’, The Bird’s Eye View #2). For an established business, there are other reasons to advertise: to grow and expand, to drive traffic to your website, to even out seasonal fluctuations in work load and cash flow, to nurture long-term prospects, to make your sales rep’s job easier, and to attract good employees and suppliers. But advertising can be expensive if you don’t do it right.

First, make sure you’re taking advantage of no-cost and low-cost promotional ideas: news releases, electronic bulletins or newsletters, viral marketing, and word of mouth referrals.

Then look at paid advertising, and decide which medium will be most effective in reaching your target audience. Don’t just hand your budget to the first persuasive media rep who walks in the door – there’s a science behind media planning: knowing the ideal reach and frequency of your advertising, the optimum size, colour, and placement of the ad, and the timing and duration of the campaign. A small ad in the right publication can yield much better results than a larger, more expensive ad in the wrong one.

When it comes to the look and feel of your ads, be noticeable, be understandable, and be consistent. When appropriate, use a ‘power’ word in the headline – for example: free, new, now, introducing, presenting, how to, save – to get the reader’s attention. According to research, women are attracted to pictures of women, children, and animals. Men are drawn more strongly to pictures of men, cars, and tools. Make sure the image you use is relevant to the promise you’re making to your target audience. If you use a picture of a scantily clad woman to sell wrenches, the ad will be noticed, but it will not motivate sales. If you use a picture of someone trying to change a tire with a broken wrench, the message is much more likely to have a lasting effect on your reader. Use only one or two font styles in your ad, and treat your logo with respect – not in the headline, but at the bottom of the ad, with a decent amount of space around it.

Above all, make your ads unique – so they will be noticed among the thousands of ad impressions your target audience is bombarded with every day; and uniquely yours – so they continue to build your brand.

The first step in building a strong brand for your business is deciding on your brand promise: what is it, exactly, that you are promising your customers?

Two restaurants might be equally successful in the same market with two very different brand promises: Micky’s Place promises fast and affordable family meals; Chez Pierre promises authentic French cuisine in an intimate setting. The food at Micky’s is kid-friendly, the decor is bright and lively, the service is quick, and the prices are low. There is no duck a l’orange at Micky’s Place. At Chez Pierre, the food is exquisite, the service is leisurely, the decor is elegant, and the prices are high. There are no crayons and paper placemats at Chez Pierre. The brand promise in each case is communicated through the choice of the name, the look of the premises, the attitude of the staff, the nature of the menu, and the look and feel of the advertising. And because the promise is consistently fulfilled in the dining experience, customers go away happy.

Generally, your brand promise should focus on what sets you apart from your competitors: a competitive advantage (for example, faster service, cheaper prices, or better quality products) or a specialization (for example, French cuisine, pizza, or sushi). If there are a dozen French restaurants in your market, that’s not specialized enough; now you must position yourself as the French restaurant that welcomes children, or the French restaurant with the lowest prices, or the French vegan restaurant (perish the thought).

To be effective, your brand promise must meet three criteria. 1. First, it must be relevant to your target audience. Market research – even an informal survey of your own customers – can give you priceless infor- mation about what people want, and what needs you can meet. If your product or service meets a real need, then your promise becomes relevant and meaningful. 2. Second, the brand promise must be believable. If you claim to have the lowest prices and also the highest quality product, no one will believe you. If you claim to do all things well, you’ll be perceived as a jack of all trades, master of none. Identify your strengths, and focus on what you do best. 3. Finally, the brand promise must be deliverable. In every customer experience, in every encounter with the brand that is your business, you must keep the promise you have made to your customers. A kept promise makes for happy customers, good word of mouth, repeat business, and high staff morale.

If you’ve been in business for a while, you’ve heard and read a lot about branding. But how does it apply to your business?

First, let me give you two examples of bad branding. You walk into a furniture store with high-quality furnishings, helpful and professional staff, and tasteful decor – then a few days later you see their cheesy-looking newspaper ad, with tacky clip art and bad type. That’s a great product... but bad branding. Your mind now has two conflicting impressions of the furniture store: exciting and tasteful versus cheap and tacky. In an effort to reconcile these two impressions and reduce ‘cognitive dissonance’, your subconscious mind will tell you that the store couldn’t have been as nice as you remembered. The brand is diminished.

Or you pick up a stunning brochure for a weekend getaway, full of elegant images and sumptuous colours. You arrive to discover a humble country-style bed and breakfast, charming in its own right, but not as grand or luxurious as you had anticipated. That’s a great product and great design... but bad branding. People looking for a charming B&B experience would not respond to the brochure; people looking for upscale luxury would respond and be disappointed. The brand is diminished.

Branding is the ongoing process of establishing, reinforcing, and meeting the expectations of your target audiences. First, you establish expectations with your brand identity – the name of your business, the look of your logo, the sound of your slogan, the personality of your business card. You reinforce those expectations with your external communications – your signage, advertising, public relations, and corporate presence in the community. And then you meet those expectations in the customer/client experience – your product and your customer service.

In essence, you are making a promise to your target audience with everything you do and say. When you consistently meet the expectations you have established, and deliver on the brand promise you have made, you build customer satisfaction, loyalty, and repeat business. The brand thrives.

The fact is, branding is more than just the latest theory in marketing science. It is a process that can add dollar value to your business. The big brand names command a healthy premium over no-name generics, quite apart from the quality inside. People are willing to pay more, and pay more often, for a known and trusted brand, so let that known and trusted brand be yours.