Business Branding - Tying it into your Name

Business Branding – Tying it into your Name

Posted 29 Jun 2009

Do you brand your business or your name?

Well, personally I think that the name will come first, but this is because it is a logical step into the organizational planning and business branding process. Most people have the product or concept first and this tends to drive the actual business planning and will drive the business name usually before the branding kicks in.

A good example is authors and book writing. Most of the time the Title comes much later in the writing process, as the book and its chapters, plot and magic are getting woven. Business is the same, you have a lot of things happening and suddenly the process starts to crystalize and everything appears to be falling into place.

The more the business is planned, then the easier it is to make intelligent logical decisions about the business name. This will happen as your business name will develop to meet your product, your client market and other items that drive your business.

The previous blogs referred to choosing your business name and some things to consider. You will quickly become aware that the name will become less relevant than the image created to people and what they associate it with. i.e. business branding. When large companies like Dell and Nike etc started out, most people didn’t associate anything with the name. They were just another supplier of goods. As time goes on and companies provide that service, their name becomes the branding of the that industry’s quality product or service. Just think now of how suicidal it would be for those companies to “rebrand” their name.

A few years ago major insurance companies went through the rebranding phase (I would like to have scored some of the great dollars dumped into the bucket there), but for some it destroyed consumer confidence in over 200 years of business branding.

Moving on, you need to ensure that everything you say, do and project is about your brand. Not about your individual people, your individual product (unless business branded as well) and not about blowing your own trumpet. It is about people associating your brand with a certain industry, products/services and a definite quality service experience.

Branding insures your name appears consistently in the same colors and formats that link you with a great feeling and product.

More later.

John Burkhardt – Amplio Business Solutions

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