How Often Do You Think About Your Branding?
Your Branding Should be a Complete Part of All Your Marketing Activities for Maximum Effectiveness
Austin, Texas: Most of my clients are marketing managers and brand managers- and I am amazed that I still get at least a dozen calls per week for promotional swag where the client does not care, or does not know, about their Pantone (PMS) color- and just tells me to match it as closely as possible.
If you are in marketing– every single aspect of your brand matters.
Your PMS colors should be known. Every color is recorded within the Pantone Matching System– so each time you get something printed with your logo on it, it will be a perfect color match.
We like to save the PMS colors as part of the file extension so it is always handy whenever you reference it–like XYZcorp-342. If you have Pantone 342 Forest Green as part of your logo color and you authorize a PMS 347 Kelly Green instead, your clients will notice.
Every single aspect of your branding matters to create an overall image of your business.
This holds true for the quality of the paper you use in your collateral pieces, business cards and other handouts.
If you are looking to be known as the cheapest vendor out there–then perhaps showing you know how to save a few pennies here and there will correctly match your brand and persona.
But if you are a law firm or financial management firm – and you are giving away a low end promotional speaker instead of ordering fewer of a better one- then your branding is speaking for you–just not very favorably.
I often advise my clients to maximize their promotional or marketing budgets by ordering fewer of an item, but going for a much higher quality promotional gift–as it will be remembered–one way or the other.
Trinkets and trash are for the other guy–not for you! You need to brand yourself only with high quality remembrance items that will be used over and over again.
Each time your clients’ use your promotional gifts, your are making a branding impact…however subtle.
Match your entire branding experience with the image you want to convey to your clients.
Think low budget and your clients will often get that same vibe from you.
What image are you trying to portray for your brand?
Try to visualize a few faces of your actual clients for a second — and think about how they think of your brand. Then think about some of your competitor’s clients, and visualize the same thing.
Are you best positioning your brand and image to fit these clients?
Are there places you might need to reconsider and revamp? Do so immediately.
You only have milliseconds to convey your image.
Are you doing it correctly at all client touch points?
If not, start with the most obvious branding flaws — then work on the next.
Your branding should be a continuous and constant thought. It is certainly not a one-and-done project.
How will you improve your branding over the next 6 months?
Happy Promoting!
