How do you create a brand? One of the key elements is market positioning. Branding begins by formulating a strategy that differentiates you from your competition. Part this process is creating a one word positioning statement. For example, Volvo’s word is “safety,” Victoria Secret’s is “sexy.” What is yours?
Next, rank your company on a positioning chart relative to your competitors. The vertical and horizontal axes of the positioning chart are up to you, but I like to use cost and quality. Are you low cost/high quality, or high quality/high cost?
When creating your brand it’s important to think about your ideal target market demographic and the service you will provide them. That then becomes the brand archetype for your company.
If you are marketing executive protection services you are trying to reach the top one percent of high net worth individuals or key corporate personnel in the geographic area you serve.
Your company name, logo, tag line, and pictures you use must communicate with your target audience in a way they can relate to. And all your brand representations such as literature or website must be high quality and appropriate for your clients and prospects.
Your brand is not what you think about yourself, it is what clients think about you. It’s not how you want them to perceive you; it’s how they actually perceive you.
For example, World Protection Group conducts security briefing luncheons in Beverly Hills, CA. Where we hold the luncheons is an important statement about our brand. If I choose the high profile restaurant, Spago, in Beverly Hills, then I am creating an impression about my company that is high end and high quality. Alternatively, if I decided to have the event at a restaurant in Compton, California the impact of the low rent location would deteriorate my brand. No high net worth person would even show up.
All of your actions everyday will either lower or raise your brand perception. Remember the brand is not what you think about you, it is what your clients say to other people. So, are you going to be the Neiman-Marcus of executive protection or the Joes’ Bargain Outlet of bodyguards?
Kent Moyer is CEO/President of World Protection Group, Inc. www.wpg.us.com. You can reach him at [email protected]
Image by Stuart Miles at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
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