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Jed Jones, Ph.D. was born and raised in
Southern California.
His professional and academic interests
include marketing, international business, systems thinking, organizational
design, research and the Japanese language.
Jed holds a B.A. in Japanese Studies from
UCLA, an M.B.A in Marketing from The Paul Merage Business School at UC Irvine,
and a Ph.D. in Psychology from Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center.
He currently lives with his wife and two
children in Austin, Texas.
We
encourage you to visit Jed's website at:
www.jedcjones.com
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5 Key Aspects of Branding a Product
Building a brand for
your product is one of the most important ways to get attention and build sales.
For small businesses and large companies alike, putting time and resources into
building a brand is one of the smartest ways to help you reach your goals.
Here are 5 key aspects of branding a product.
1. Associate
your brand with a key customer promise: Your customers and prospects should
always be made aware of precisely what they can expect when they do business
with your company or buy your product. Do you always provide service with a
smile? Are you the most dependable in the industry? Does your product always
offer the best functionality among your competitors? Is your product the most
attractive or aesthetically pleasing? Whatever it is, make sure that your
customers know it, every time they hear or see the name of your product.
2. Keep in
mind precisely whom you are targeting: In everything you do - your
packaging, the messaging on your Web site, your tagline . . . even the way you
answer the telephone - you need to keep in mind the type of customers you will
be targeting. Where do they live? How much do they have to spend on your
product? Are they looking for the best product available or just the best for
the least amount of money? By being crystal clear about whom you are targeting,
all of the things that you do to directly or indirectly communicate with your
customers go toward communicating to them directly and precisely - and
ultimately motivate them to buy.
3.
Differentiate your brand: As you are forming your brand identity, do some
research about how your competitors are positioning their products in the
marketplace. Choose your top 2 to 3 competitors and figure out how each one
claims to be unique. Using that knowledge, carve out a niche for your product or
service that does not overlap with the claims of the others. Hint: when
conducting research, you can always hire a market research firm to do an
in-depth report. Or, if you have budgetary constraints, a bit of Internet
research or visiting a few stores or Web sites can do wonders for your knowledge
of how your competitors are branding themselves. Find out, and then make your
product unique in the minds of your customers.
4. Keep your
brand focused: Once you start building a successful brand for one of your
products, carefully consider your options before trying to apply some of the
brand equity you earned for one successful product line to other product lines,
especially if they are significantly different in nature. This is a common
mistake made by companies every day. For example, if you make the strongest wood
glue available in the market and have built a strong brand image around that
fact, you might be able to apply some of that brand equity to your new metal
bonding glue as well. However, you would likely be weakening your brand if you
tried to apply your brand equity to your new line of thumb tacks or gift
wrapping tape.
5. Repeat,
repeat, repeat your message: Once you have fine-tuned your brand identity,
it is time to get your message out there and build your brand. The key
ingredient to success is this: repeat, repeat, repeat your message. And, this
repetition means not only frequency, but also being consistent with your
message across different media: your Web site, your packaging, your yellow page
ads, and your radio commercials should all have a consistent look (or sound), a
consistent feel, and consistent messaging. This consistency and frequency will
present a clear, consistent image about your brand in the minds of your clients.
Effectively building a brand for your product
means knowing about what makes it unique relative to your competition. It means
knowing how to associate certain images with your product in the minds of your
customers - and knowing those customers. And, it means being consistent and
frequent with the messaging you get out to prospects and customers. If you do,
you will be on the road to building a winning brand.
Jed C. Jones Ph.D
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Building a brand?
The eBook “The Anatomy of a Winning Brand” takes you through step-by-step how to
develop your brand the right way. Download your FREE copy at:
http://www.jedcjones.com/brandmybusiness.
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