Brand

I define it in the experiential sense as: The perception of your company in the minds of the individuals of your market place.

The simple yet power full distinction I learned a few years back is that your Brand is not what you say it is, it’s what they say it is. They being the consumers.

When most small businesses try to define their brand and communicate it to their market the 2 questions they often answer first are:

Who are we? What do we do?

While those are great fun and make for semantically interesting white boarding sessions, the real meat of a brand come from these 2 questions.

What do we want you to do? Why should you do it?

I have seen site after site that don’t even have phone numbers on them let alone clear calls to action and strong incentive. After all, who you are and what you do amount to jack - s–t if I don’t know how that applies to me or why I should care.

I would argue that the latter set are actually the most important questions to ask. If you don’t tell your market place what you expect of them and why they want to take that action, how can you possibly fathom that they will know what to do when presented with your company or your products. This is even more important in the online space where interaction is the name of the game and you have a very short period of time to identify need and provide solutions.

Those 2 questions should be infused into the very essence of your company. They should be the driving force and top message in all of your marketing across all channels. They are more important than even your name and your logo. If you can figure out those 2 questions first and build a brand around them, the rest will fall into place.

To illustrate my point, answer in your head the following question about the American Red Cross.

What does The American Red Cross want me to do? Why do they want me to do it?

If you thought to your self - give blood or money so you can help them to help people in need - you are the product of truly effective, action centric brand communication.

So, the next time you sit down for a srtategy session for your or your client’s business, be sure to ask the following questions of your target audience:

What do we want you to do?

Why should you do it?