Bill Chiaravalle

Article / Updated 07-18-2022

In the same way that your brand name is the key that unlocks your brand image in the mind of consumers, your domain name (the string of characters web users type into a browser to reach your site, such as www.yourbrandname.com), and your social-media handles or monikers are the keys that unlock your brand online. Ideally, your domain name is comprised of your brand name plus .com or .org, depending on whether your brand represents a commercial business or a nonprofit organization. The Internet is populated with millions of websites accessed by domain names that tie up most of the words in the English language. Beyond that, cyber-squatters camp on attractive unclaimed domain names, registering and tying them up until someone pays what can feel like a ransom to free them for use. Landing on your website’s domain name By a mile, making your brand name the centerpiece of your domain name is the quickest route to establishing your online identity, and here’s why: A good portion of web traffic takes the form of type-in traffic, a term that describes users who bypass search engines and simply type the name of the company they’re looking for, followed by .com, in the address bar of the web browser. If you’re developing a new brand, don’t settle on a brand name until you’ve checked it out at a domain name registry to confirm it’s available as a domain name. Research availability on registry sites like GoDaddy.com, NameCheap.com, or NetworkSolutions.com. To shortcut the process, avoid choosing a brand name that’s straight out of the dictionary. You can preempt a ton of frustration by coining a word that you can use in both your brand and domain names. Microsoft, DreamWorks, Netflix, and Firefox are just a few examples. If your brand name isn’t available as a domain name, try these Plan B approaches: Come up with a tagline or slogan that becomes a major part of your brand identity and the basis for your domain name. For example, type in www.justdoit.com and you land on the Nike site. Look into purchasing your top-choice domain name from its current owner. This process can be costly and time-consuming, but if you plan to build a valuable brand, it can be worth the investment. Domain name advice As you plan your domain name, consider the following points: Keep your domain name short and easy to remember. Some of the best-known web addresses provide good examples: www.ebay.com, www.google.com, www.yahoo.com. If your brand name plus .com or .org is taken, don’t try to end-run the system by using your brand name plus .net. If web users instinctively type .com, they’ll go straight to someone else’s site. Don’t get clever by adding hyphens or making unusual alterations to your brand name. For instance, a domain name like www.cookeezncream.com may be available, but the chances that most users will remember and instinctively type it correctly are slim. Don’t invent an abbreviation for a long brand name unless you’re sure it will be easy to memorize and recall. For example, the Hawaii Visitors and Convention Bureau can be reached by typing www.hvcb.org, but they don’t ask you to remember the lineup of initials. Instead, they market the domain name www.gohawaii.com, which offers an easy-to-recall address. Think globally. If your business plan calls for international presence, register your name with international codes to specify your global offices. Registering your domain name When you find the domain name you want, register it immediately. Most registration services charge somewhere between $25 and $75 for a three-year period of domain name ownership. When registering your name, consider this advice: The first domain name you need to register is your site name, as in www.yourbrandname.com. Consider also registering your site with various extensions, such as .net, .org, .info, or .biz so others can’t later grab the alternative addresses. You can redirect the traffic to your main address. Consider registering versions of your domain name that people are likely to type when trying to find your brand online. For example: Register your tagline as a domain name so people who forget your brand name but remember your slogan can reach your site. Register your brand name with misspellings. For instance, if you type www.googel.com, you’re redirected to www.google.com. Register additional domain names as you discover new user-error tendencies. After your website is up and running, regularly check error logs to see what kinds of mistakes people are making when trying to reach your site. Creating a multiple-domain-name strategy costs very little. You can use a process called URL redirection to point all traffic to the website that carries your primary domain name, incurring no additional site building or hosting fees. Registering your social-media name While you’re choosing and registering your domain name, register your name across social-media networks as well. When deciding how to present your name, follow this advice: Decide on a social-media moniker that’s short and memorable. If your brand name is available, use it as both your domain name and your social-media handle. Sites such as knowem.com, checkusernames.com, or namechk.com will tell you on-the-spot whether the name you want is taken on various networks. If it’s available, click to claim and protect it. If your brand name isn’t available on the social-media networks you want to use, consider this advice: Avoid adding odd hyphenation or characters that people are apt to forget or mistype. Invent a version of your name by combining your name with a word that describes or reflects your brand promise, business arena, or niche. Use one name on all networks to build brand awareness. Reserve your name on the networks you plan to use immediately.

Cheat Sheet / Updated 02-25-2022

A brand is so much more than a pretty logo. To win loyal customers, you need to develop a story that represents the quality and character of your organization or product. By then telling that story consistently across all channels and backing it up with exceptional customer service, you gain all the benefits (and profits) that come from being a trusted name in the marketplace.

Article / Updated 08-24-2021

If you’re a solopreneur — a freelancer, a consultant, or a one-person business dynamo — building a personal brand, essential as it is, may not be enough to fuel your success. You might also want to turn your talents into a branded business that others know and trust. This stands true especially if you want to compete with established businesses or if you have plans to grow your one-person business into a larger enterprise you can someday sell to a new owner. In that case, you need to build two brands at once. Benefits of a one-person business brand By most forecasts, one of three people now work as freelancers or on contract, and over the next decade the contingent of self-employed is on track to include nearly half of us. If you’re aiming to succeed selling service or talent, full time or as a side gig, you’re up against stiff competition that’s only going to keep getting more intense. That’s why freelancer or one-person business brands are advantageous. They prepare you to convince the person you’re trying to sell that you’re serious about what you do, that your offerings are different and decidedly better than other choices, and that you can be counted on today, tomorrow, and well into the future to serve as a supplier and to stand by your work. Think like an entrepreneur By turning freelancing into a branded business, you turn yourself into an entrepreneur, and freelancers who think like entrepreneurs work more hours, make more money, are more optimistic, and enjoy more success than freelancers who provide services without an entrepreneurial or business-owner mindset. Those facts come from findings in the 2012 Freelance Industry Report, based on responses from 1,500 freelancers worldwide. Brand to win business Participants in the Freelance Industry Report survey were asked to name their most effective method for finding and landing clients. The leading answers: Referrals (27 percent), word of mouth (26 percent), and networking (17 percent). By building a trustworthy brand for your one-person business, rather than treating your work as a series of assignments or side activities, you develop the trust and confidence that inspires referrals, positive word-of-mouth, and networking success — online and in person. One-person brand-building steps to follow Branding freelancing or consulting services tends to differ from branding any other kind of business in one big (and dangerous) way. People who set out to build multi-person or high-growth businesses know they need to establish their businesses as trustworthy brands from day one, whereas people launching one-person businesses too often think they can wing it for now and develop a branded business later. As a result, they get off to a slower start, make weaker first impressions, command lower prices, and compete at a lower level than competitors who appear more structured, professional, and established. The minute you decide to turn your freelancing into a business, pave the foundation for a business brand by taking the following steps: Define your business. Include its point of difference, target audience, and competitive position. Define your business brand and how you’ll present it online and in-person. Formally establish your business. Choose and register a business name. Also, establish business accounts that separate your business and personal finances. (It’s hard to develop a credible business brand when you’re paying business expenses with personal checks.) Prepare to market by developing your business brand identity and making your business findable online through a website and social media pages. Especially if your business serves businesses rather than individuals, realize that clients prefer to work with credible professionals they can count on well into the future rather than with individuals who work on a piecemeal basis and may leave to take a job or pursue another opportunity on a moment’s notice. Branding your one-person business gives it the necessary edge.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

Unless you’re building a personal brand, to paraphrase an old coaching adage, there’s no “I” in the branding team. Everyone in your organization plays an important role because your brand is reinforced or weakened every single time people come in contact with any facet of your organization. The following tips help you when putting together a cohesive branding team: Start by gaining buy-in from owners and leaders. Without participation and leadership from those in a position to make strategic business decisions, a brand is in danger of a credibility train wreck. Involve and enlist the support of top-level executives. A brand needs to be reinforced through every business decision. For that reason, it needs to have the interest and engagement of those who call the shots to keep the company true to its brand premise and promise. Gain organization-wide brand awareness and commitment. Every single person who has any form of customer contact — whether before, during, or after the purchase — is in a position to strengthen or weaken brand trust and belief in your brand promise. Gain all-important commitment by educating everyone from the CEO to part-time or freelance contractors about your brand strategy, promise, identity, and presentation guidelines. Turn them into brand champions and ensure that they know the rules for presenting your brand by managing your logo and staying true to your brand promise. As you set out to create or revamp your brand, include representatives from all areas of your organization. Then, at key milestones along the way, involve your entire team in updates and to share the rewards of a brand well built. Commit the time and effort it takes to put everyone on the same branding page — because what they don’t know can hurt you.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

Brands create consumer trust and emotional attachments. As a result, they foster relationships between consumers and products that withstand pricing wars, transcend offers from new competitors, and even overcome rare lapses in product or service excellence. Great brands aren’t just known and trusted. They’re loved. For examples of brands that enjoy strong bonds with customers, the next time you’re stuck in traffic, look at the logos posted in the windows of the cars around you. Each time you see a logo decal, try to think of that brand’s chief competitor. Then ask yourself, “What’s the chance that a buyer of the competing brand would display the brand’s logo with such pride?” Only brands that strike deep emotional chords with customers make their way into hearts, minds — and car windows. As you develop your brand and it gains strength and loyalty in your market area, look forward to reaping the following benefits. Brands make selling easier People prefer to buy from companies they feel they know and can trust. Brands put forth that assurance. Whether you’re selling products to consumers, investment opportunities to stockholders, job opportunities to applicants, freelance or consulting services to clients, or ideas to constituents, a brand paves the way for success by establishing positive awareness of your unique and meaningful promise before you ever present your sales proposition. When people are aware of your brand and its unique and positive attributes, they understand what you stand for and what unique value they can count on you to deliver. As a result, when it comes time to make a sale, brand owners can concentrate on the wants and needs of the consumer because they don’t need to explain themselves. Without positive brand awareness, you have to build a case for the value you deliver every single time you get ready to make a sale. While brand owners are closing the deal, those without strong brands are still introducing themselves. Brands prevail over no-name offerings In the marketplace, you have either a one-of-a-kind brand or a one-is-as-good-as-any-other commodity. Brands are products defined by and chosen for their unique distinguishing attributes and promise. Consumers are willing to spend extra effort and money to obtain the brands they believe in. Commodities are products that are easy to substitute and hard to differentiate. Oil, coffee beans, wheat flour, and milk are commodities. Consumers buy commodities because they meet minimum standards and are available when and where they’re needed and at the lowest price. Only commodity items that are distinguished by a unique attribute and promise — think of Pillsbury flour as an example — develop into strong brands. As proof of how brands pave the way for positive decisions, imagine you’re setting out to buy a computer and you see one emblazoned with a known logo — the face of a known brand. It’s likely that your next step is to dive into a discussion with the salesperson of how much memory the particular model you’re viewing contains, how the machine can be customized to your needs, what software is included, and other details that will move you to the purchase decision. On the other hand, if you see a no-name model — even at a dramatically lower price — you’re likely to first try to assess the quality of the manufacturer. You may ask the salesperson where the computer was made, how long the manufacturer’s been in business, whether the manufacturer is reliable, whether other customers have been satisfied, and other mind-calming questions about consumer satisfaction levels, warranties, and return programs. Selling a no-name item is a costly route to a sale in a brick-and-mortar setting, and it’s even a tougher proposition online, where no one is standing by to offer explanations, inspire confidence, counter resistance, or break down barriers for your consumers. Brands build equity Brands that are preferred and valued by consumers deliver a long list of business benefits that translate to higher sales, higher profit margins, and higher owner value. Consider these brand advantages as proof: People are willing to pay more to buy brands that they believe deliver outstanding and desirable benefits. This is true for business brands, product brands, and personal brands. Consumers stay loyal to brands, buying them more often, in greater volume, and without the need for promotional incentives. Retailers provide brands greater store visibility because they know that brands drive sales and result in higher store revenues. Brand owners can grow their businesses by leveraging their brands into product and line extensions rather than having to introduce new products from scratch. Brand owners find it easier to attract and retain good employees because applicants believe in the quality of the workplace based on advance knowledge of the caliber of the brand. Brand owners run more efficient operations because they align decisions with the mission, vision, and values that underpin the brand promise. Brand owners benefit from increased market share, increased investor support, and increased company value.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

In some ways, branding is like a construction project. Before you can build, you have to select and prepare the site. That’s the role positioning plays in the branding process. Following are the most common positioning approaches. Fulfill an unaddressed interest or need This is the find-an-itch-and-scratch-it approach. You study your customer, see a need or desire that isn’t addressed by an existing product or service, and move quickly to beat competitors to the solution. The result? An offering that slides into an available slot in the customer’s mind — as long as you seize the position before anyone else stakes claim to it. WeightWatchers is a great example of fulfilling an unaddressed need. Founder Jean Nidetch turned a conversation about how to lose weight into a brand that’s now 50 years old and known around the world for its weekly support group meetings that help customers shed weight and keep it off. Challenge the status quo Challengers take on market leaders and business category norms with innovations ranging from new forms of distribution to innovative pricing and promotion approaches. By presenting themselves as torchbearers for the next generation, challengers disrupt norms and win interest and followings that result in marketplace upheaval and, sometimes, market leadership. EasyJet, now the United Kingdom’s largest air carrier, set out to revolutionize air travel by announcing flights priced “as cheap as a pair of jeans” and catering to cost-conscious, plan-it-yourself travelers with self-proclaimed “cheap flights” on “the web’s favorite airline.” Another example: Airbnb now fills more room nights annually than all Hilton Hotels combined, without owning a single room of their own. Instead, by playing matchmaker between travelers and owners of spare rooms, boats, and even castles, Airbnb has become a prime player in what’s called the “sharing economy” — and racked up a brand value estimated at $10 billion-plus dollars along the way. Specialize to serve a new market niche Rather than trying to compete with the pack, specialty brands serve a narrow segment of the market — winning interest and followings within a market niche and sometimes achieving market leadership as a result. Be wary of becoming a copycat brand. You don’t want to become a me-too brand. A me-too brand is one that offers exactly what another brand offers with no distinctive attributes other than the fact that it’s presented by a different marketer. If you try to slot your brand into a position already taken by a competitor, you face a tough uphill battle. First, you have to convince customers to move away from their current choice. Then you have to convince them to move toward your offering. That’s double the marketing work with half the assurance of marketing success. After all, telling customers that what they believe is wrong is a slow way to influence perceptions. An equally bad idea is trying to leverage off someone else’s brand. By likening your brand to someone else’s brand, you cast a spotlight on a competitor while pointing out your own second-string position. Instead, find your own position by filling an unfilled need, innovating valuable new-generation offerings, specializing to serve a market segment or niche, or creating an all-new solution. SPANX is a good example of a specialty brand. In owner Sara Blakely’s own words, “My footless pantyhose idea evolved into a super niche product category: new-and-improved and comfortable footless pantyhose with super control and body-shaping support.” Transform an established solution This is the evolutionary approach to positioning. Examples include the transformation of computers into laptops into tablets, cars into electronic or hybrid or self-driving machines, American coffee shops into upscale European-style cafés, and — on the horizon — package deliveries into doorstep-drops by unmanned drones, to name a few. Creating a transformational solution takes enormous insight into popular culture and plenty of marketing power to get the word out. It also takes plenty of money — both to create innovations and to promote new products with such velocity and strength that you can lay claim to the first position in the category before competitors have time to leap into the arena. Introduce an all-new solution Product discoveries come from innovators who see the same problems everyone else sees — or who notice problems no one else notices — and who move on their insights to come up with never-before seen solutions. Some solutions involve altogether new inventions; others transform existing solutions into new product categories. Recent examples of innovations include fitness bracelets, cloud computing, language-learning apps, and the Segway Human Transporter, introduced to “transform a person into an empowered pedestrian.” Older examples include car radios, TV dinners, and Saran wrap. Gaining awareness and adoption for a brand-new idea requires patience and a massive marketing investment. After all, you’re not just introducing a product, you’re introducing a whole new paradigm for which the market may or may not be ready. Prepare your nerves — and budget — in advance.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

When it comes time to name your brand, get ready to invest some time and even some money, especially if your brand’s going to span a large market area, compete against major brand names, or support a major vision that will take decades to achieve and therefore will live long into the future. Follow these steps: List the attributes you want to reflect in your brand name. Consider the following: What terms out of your brand statement do you most want your name to convey, reflect, or support? What aspects of your brand promise would you like your name to advance? What words define the character you want your name to convey? Bring together key business partners, managers, and staff members and ask them to answer the three questions listed in Step 1. Then ask them what kinds of names come to their minds. Decide who will actually choose your name. Involve all who will have a say — especially the key decision maker — in the naming process. You’re setting yourself up for trouble if the person who will ultimately approve the name fails to participate in the process and lacks understanding of the reasons behind the name ideas being presented. Rounding up good ideas Whether you’re naming your brand on your own or involving a branding consultant or marketing firm, begin by giving thought to the kinds of names you think do and don’t suit the character and vision of your brand. Brainstorming Ease people into the process by starting the session with a discussion of what kinds of feelings the participants would like people to have when they hear your brand name. Write down every emotion you hear. Then group them into categories, such as reputation, expertise, features and benefits, or any other labels that seem to fit over clusters of words that emerged from the discussion. Then leave the categories in sight as you begin to brainstorm names that may induce the desired responses. As you brainstorm name ideas, encourage creativity by following these tips: Give every idea its time and space. When an idea seems to come out of left field, encourage alternatives. Probe ideas. Ask participants to describe the underlying meaning of the names they’re presenting. Encourage alternative perspectives. Record the results of your brainstorming session and review them as soon after the session as possible. Finding inspiration To find a unique name, reach outside your usual work environment. Give the following ideas a try: Go to the kinds of places where your target customers spend time. Scan magazines and websites that you think your customers read. Also scan magazines and websites that are well outside the interest area of your customers. Look through dictionaries and a thesaurus. As part of your observation, take note of the kinds of names that catch your eye or ear. Your findings can guide your name decision. The hard part: Narrowing your list to the best options When creating your short list of names, follow this advice: Include only a few top contenders unless you’re planning to undertake a trademark search, in which case you need a longer list because many will be knocked out during the legal process. Keep your top name contenders tightly within your naming committee until you’re ready to reveal your name selection. Then (and only then) you may want to show also-ran names as part of the rationale you present to build support for your top choice. Put your top contenders through a preliminary test When you arrive at a short list of names you believe fit your brand well, put each one through the following series of questions and investigations. Does it accurately depict or support your desired brand image? Does it convey, imply, or accurately reflect your differentiating attributes and brand promise? Does it reflect your brand position? Can it grow with you? Is it easy to say? Is it easy to spell? Is it unique? Enter the name in several search engines and scan the results to see if the name is already in use by other businesses. Does it translate well? Do you like the name? Can you protect it? Make sure you check availability, stake your claim, obtain your domain name, and protect your brand with a trademark if it will be crossing state and national borders. Check for domain name availability Your domain name is the string of characters that people type into their web browsers to reach your site. Ideally, you want your domain name to read www.[yourbrandname].com. For an initial test of availability, open a web browser and enter the domain name of your dreams in the address line. Based on what you learn, here’s what to do next: If you get a message that no such page exists, you’re in luck. Open one of the many domain name registrar sites, conduct a free name search, to confirm that the name is available, and then claim it. Popular registrars include NetworkSolutions.com, GoDaddy.com, and Namecheap.com, among many others. If your initial search takes you straight to a web page, the domain name you want is already taken — sorry. One option is to bid to buy the name. It may be owned by someone willing to part with the address — for a price. Be aware, however, that this can be a time-consuming and costly process. Another option is to buy the name with an alternate top-level domain, such as .net or .info. You should avoid this approach, and here’s why: Most people searching for your business for the first time will take a shortcut by typing your business name plus .com into their browser address lines. A third option, but not a good one, is to buy some clever variation of your name by adding hyphens or using alternative spellings.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

You need to build a brand for yourself and, if you own a business — even a one-person, part-time business located in a corner of your living room — you need to build a brand for your business as well. On top of that, you have to keep the strength of each brand in check with the other. Keeping your personal and business brands in balance Obviously, you want to enhance the image, visibility, credibility, and trust of brands, so this next sentence may surprise you: You have to be careful not to overdevelop your personal or your business brand. You have to keep each one in sync with the other and with your goals. Here are examples of what can happen when one brand eclipses the other: The personal brand of George Zimmer was so synonymous with Men’s Wearhouse that when he and the business parted ways, news reports called it “the firing heard around America.” Zimmer had closed countless ads with the line, “You’re going to like the way you look. I guarantee it.” The business promise had become his personal promise and his abrupt departure shook investor confidence in a way that might have been avoided had the business shifted brand visibility before transitioning its powerfully branded founder to “a smaller role at the company.” A restaurant owned by award-winning chefs famous for leading the sustainable-dining movement is for sale at a price the owners feel is in line with the fame and following they’ve acquired. Last time the listing was checked, a buyer hadn’t been found. A million dollars is a lot to pay for a restaurant people love primarily for the brilliance of its owners. A business owner — or a business employee — who is such a strong business brand ambassador that her title and company affiliation is the overarching theme for everything from her LinkedIn profile headline to her social encounters to her appointment to local boards fails to create a personal brand that serves as a transportable identity. As a result, when it’s time for a change, she literally has to rebrand herself with the personal brand she never adequately developed during her business stint. Imagine your personal and business brands are riding a teeter-totter. Does one outweigh the other? Keep your personal and business brands in check If you’re building brands for yourself and your business, consider these questions: Do your brands share equal levels of awareness, or is one significantly more powerful than the other? Put each name into a search engine. Are results for each name equal in terms of quantity, quality, and how well they reflect your desired brand image? Review recommendations, publicity, online mentions, and comments by others. If they refer to you personally, do they also mention your business name, and vice versa? Does each brand support but also stand independently of the other? Would each brand have credibility even if the other disappeared? Is your business brand strong enough to survive without the power of your personal brand? If you sold or left your business tomorrow, would its brand be dramatically diminished by your exit? Conversely, are you, personally, adequately visible within your business brand? People humanize businesses and go where they can’t, such as to networking events and into community or leadership positions. Is your personal brand strong and visible enough to boost the power of your business? Based on your findings, you may need to take one of two steps: If your personal brand is weak in comparison to your business brand: Develop your awareness and value in your business arena, industry, community, and online. Make personal branding a priority — power up your personal identity, awareness, and credibility — especially if your business could benefit from a more personal face or if you’re planning to pursue personal opportunities outside your business. If your business brand is weak in comparison to your personal brand: Start reducing the emphasis on you and your own name and turn the spotlight onto your business and its name, team, processes, and assets. Make business branding a priority. If your business doesn’t have a website, launch one. If you don’t have a business logo, get one and feature it in your personal email signature and on personal online pages. Cross-promote your two brands When you build personal and business brands, you establish two sets of positive images in the minds of others. Your business name unlocks one set of images and your personal name unlocks the other. By consistently linking your brands through cross-promotion, you make each brand an asset of the other, fortifying each brand and extending the reach of both. Connecting your brands can be as easy as presenting the logo, web address, Twitter handle, or other identifiers for your business brand on your personal sites and clearly establishing yourself as the business founder or owner in all business introductions. The result is greater reach and credibility for both brands. Conduct a Google search and assessment for your brands. Keep an eye on which brand is most visible and adjust brand emphasis if and when the balance becomes out of line with your personal and business goals.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

Your brand promise is the pledge upon which you build and stake your reputation. It’s what those who come into contact with you or your business can count on you to consistently deliver. It’s the expectation that you live up to every time people experience your brand, whether online or in person, or through advertising, promotions, buying experiences, service encounters, or any other form of contact. Your promise is the essence of your brand. Don’t make the common mistake of thinking that your logo is the sum total of your brand identity. When people think of your brand, they may visualize your logo, but your promise is what motivates them in your direction. When Nordstrom posts that it’s “committed to providing our customers with the best possible service — and to improving it every day,” it’s making a promise. Geico’s “15 minutes or less can save you 15 percent” is a promise. Zappo’s “The best customer service possible” is a promise. Each one puts a company’s reputation on the line by pledging to live up to high expectations, or else. The promise becomes an internal rallying call for excellence and a magnet for new business. If you’re not sure of your brand promise, consider these questions: Why do customers choose your business? What do they seek from you that they can’t get elsewhere? What attributes do customers count on that they would find the hardest to replace if your business weren’t available to them? Answer these questions on your own, ask managers and others in your business to answer them, and then go to a few key customers and ask for their input. Explain what you’re up to. Tell them that, as part of your branding strategy, you’re clarifying the way your business promise is interpreted in the market, and you’d appreciate their responses to the preceding questions. When you’re done with your analysis, take these steps: List all the reasons customers choose your business and the attributes they count on only your company to deliver. Circle all the attributes you’re confident that you can deliver consistently and upon which you’re willing to stake your reputation. Put a check mark next to those attributes that are compelling to customers and to your internal team — the ones you can proudly rally around. Take the checked items and make a short list of business attributes that are most assured, most compelling, most believable, and most consistent with the character of your company. Your final list of attributes provides the basis upon which to build your business promise. Following are a few more examples of brand promises to get you started: Samsung: Taking the world in imaginative new directions. BMW: Genuine driving pleasure. Walmart: Saving people money so they can live better. Disney: Only Disney can deliver a fantasy experience for families to share. You can see from the examples, brand promises often boil down into mottos or declarative statements around which businesses coalesce. They start, however, with internal commitments. Use the following template to write the commitment you’ll incorporate into your promise and branding strategy. [Name of your business, product, or service] is the [your distinction and the generic term for your type of offering] to provide [your unique features or benefits] to [your customer profile] who choose our offering in order to feel [your customers’ emotional outcome]. We consistently deliver the unique attributes and benefits our customers count on, and we promise our customers [the promise customers can absolutely count on from your company]. Broken promises break brands. As you put your promise into words, make sure it’s one you can deliver upon consistently. Staying true to your word and upholding your promise is essential to building brand trust and loyalty.

Article / Updated 01-17-2017

Whether you do it on your own or call upon professional expertise, start developing your brand’s logo design by completing this worksheet so that you or your logo-design team members understand the brand your logo must reflect before the creative process begins. Also, provide the following information to help guide creation of a logo that fits your brand and its market: A description of your clientele. Three to six words that you think best describe your brand and offering. Samples of logos you like and don’t like, along with some idea of why you feel the way you do about each one. Input regarding design, color, and shape considerations. Design ingredients As you go through the design process, be aware that typestyle, colors, and shapes have a bearing on the way a logo communicates. What’s your type? The typestyle you choose — and the way you arrange the type in your logo — has an impact on the impression your logo makes. Follow these tips: Choose a typestyle that matches the character of your brand. If your brand character is buttoned-down and professional, choose a typestyle that looks professional and even formal. If your brand character is casual, choose a typestyle that looks casual, too. Customize the presentation of your name in your logo. Type that’s professionally arranged has its spacing adjusted, called kerning, so that letters are placed in uniquely pleasing configurations. The difference is almost imperceptible, yet it makes a dramatic difference in the appearance of a wordmark, and it’s one of the reasons logo designers earn their fees. A primer on colors Your logo’s color scheme can become an essential element of your brand identity. Coca-Cola is red; IBM is blue; John Deere is green. As you choose colors for your brand identity, consider the following: Establish a color scheme that differs from the scheme used by your major competitors. Choose a color scheme that reflects your brand character. If your market is comprised of young children, logo colors that resemble decorations on a birthday cake may be ideal. The same colors would hardly work for a respected plastic surgeon or corporate law firm. Choose colors that reflect your brand and the expectations customers have when selecting your offering. Consider how your colors will be interpreted in other cultures or countries if your brand will be marketed internationally. If your logo will appear on apparel or specialty items, consider how the colors will look on uniforms, golf shirts, ball caps, coffee mugs, or the dozens of other places it may end up. The fewer colors you employ, the easier your logo will be to manage. No matter what color scheme you adopt, be sure your logo works beautifully in plain old black and white. Logo shapes and sizes Most logos need to work well in a horizontal configuration that’s about half as tall as it is wide. In other words, they need to look good in the return address portion of a business envelope, in the top corner of a web page, and on the shirt pocket of uniforms or logo apparel. Whatever configuration your logo takes, be sure it can reduce down to the size it will appear on a business card. Logo design evaluation When reviewing logo designs, put them through a preliminary test to see if they incorporate the traits of most good symbols. Do you think the logo makes a good impression for your business? Is it easy to see and remember? Does it work in a single ink color and at a small size? Is it original? Logo design taboos The biggest mistake that new brand marketers make is saddling themselves with logos that scream homemade. Follow this advice to avoid common logo-design pitfalls: Think twice before handing the logo-design task over to your cousin’s nephew or undertaking it on your own. Your logo visually represents your brand. If you want to compete with great brands, hire an expert who specializes in logo design. Don’t let the design get too fussy. Avoid clip art. Don’t be a copycat. Your logo makes the difference between a strong and a weak first impression for your business. Preparing your logo artwork If you feel up to the task of designing your own logo, follow this advice: If you create your logo by using the templates available online or in publishing programs, customize colors, symbols, and typestyles so that you end up with a unique look for your business. Use the same design software that professionals use. Most designers use Adobe Illustrator, known as vector-based graphic design software, which means that the final logo design can be enlarged or reduced without design distortion or loss of quality. If you hire a professional for your logo design, take these steps: Choose a professional whose expertise, size, and fees fit your needs. Options range from freelance artists to small design studios to local, regional, national or global ad agencies to internationally renowned identity developers. You can spend anywhere from several hundred dollars up to the million-dollar range. If you want a logo that competes well in a local market, set aside a small budget and find a local resource. If you aspire to make the list of the world’s top brands, turn to the talents of award-winning brand specialists, and plan to invest accordingly. Review work samples to be sure that the designer’s style matches with your expectations. Be clear about your budget and obtain cost estimates before authorizing design work to begin. Stipulate that you will own all rights to your logo after you pay in full for its design and production. Upon approval of your final logo design, obtain copies of the artwork in EPS format for printing purposes and in JPG and GIF formats for online use.