So you want to brand your company huh? Well the first question most would ask is…where do I start? But truthfully, most don’t ask this question; they just begin to do what they have seen everybody else do. Whether or not if what everyone else is doing is effective or not is besides the point to them, they just want to be doing something. In reality, you hurt your brand moreso by doing things out of tradition instead of being purposeful and strategic in your approach.

Marketing
Branding is more than a logo, color scheme, typography, marketing, or social media presence. YES, all of those play a vital role in great branding, however, branding is the process by which all of those elements come together to create the identity and perception of what the consumer or public views about you.

Here’s some concise definitions of what branding is…first we will see what Webster says and then I will expound on my personal definition of what branding really is.

 a category of products that are all made by a particular company and all have a particular name
a particular kind or type of something
a mark that is burned into the skin of an animal (such as a cow) to show who owns the animal

Now for my definition of what marketing is…

Marketing is the totality of the perception that is encountered by those that have come in contact with you or your company.

Marketing is the management of perception, and management is knowing where you stand today, where your goals lie tomorrow, and making adjustments. Therefore, at the very core of marketing is:

(1) the ability to understand how people perceive you today

(2) to have a vision for how you would like them to perceive you (within their own frame of reference)

(3) to make decisive strides and adjustments in your way of doing and communicating things to ensure that people ultimately learn to perceive you as you desire.

When I think about this core of marketing, 3 things come to mind to deal with when analyzing your marketing campaign and efforts. These are:

  1. Hindsight
  2. Insight
  3. Foresight


Hindsight

Hindsight is nothing more than the ability to look at your past efforts or experiences and learn from those. As it relates to marketing, you should look at what you have done marketing wise in the past and how effective those efforts have been. It could be something as simple as posting a flyer or e-card on Facebook or Twitter. How was the response? How many likes or shares did you get? Did anyone retweet what you had to say or offer? The only this can be accomplished is having a concrete way of tracking each touchable moment with your market. Without clear and concise ways of measurement, any marketing campaign will be destined to fail.

Insight

Insight is just the ability to see into a situation clearly. I consider this our present day checkup where we access our current situations and provide valuable data that can be used to increase the effectiveness of our marketing.

Foresight

Foresight is the ability to be able to see in the future and plan accordingly. In this world, it’s important to understand that things are changing every single day and if we don’t learn to foresee those changes and adjust our businesses accordingly, we could ultimately be left behind. We should always be looking at the best ways to stay relevant and effective in our marketing efforts.

I hope you can see that marketing is more than just having a logo but it’s making sure that the logo is represented well. From the look and feel of your website to how you present yourself, etc. It all plays a part in your marketing. Stay tuned and subscribe to my blog as I will be continuing this discussion on marketing in my next post. Please make sure you share this post with your business associates, friends, and organizations.