8 tips on building a good brand

If you are not a brand, you are a commodity. — Philip Kotler

A brand is more than a trademark. It is a trustmark. A brand is a covenant between the company and the consumer. A trusted brand is a genuine asset. — Larry Light

The biggest and most intriguing business news right now is the fate of Asia’s first airline, Philippine Airlines (PAL), which seems to be in the process of being bought back by the enigmatic and wise self-made industrialist Lucio C. Tan from San Miguel Corp. led by the dynamic Ramon S. Ang. The sale is scheduled to be consummated.

For entrepreneurs and for marketing enthusiasts, it is interesting to monitor. How will the eventual owner of PAL strengthen this still-famous and iconic brand in this 21st century of globalization, booming Philippine tourism, impending ASEAN economic integration and in a fiercely competitive age of agile budget airlines like John Gokongwei, Jr.’s Cebu Pacific Air and Air Asia under Malaysian Tony Fernandes?

Branding gives businesses a competitive edge

Branding is not only important for big businesses like PAL, San Miguel, SM, Cebu Pacific, Ayala, Robinsons, Apple, Samsung, Lenovo, HTC, etc., but also more so for small and medium-scale enterprises as well as for countries too so that we can have a clear competitive advantage over all others in our same field or arena.

Even as individuals, each of us has our own unique “brand.” For example, in my case, most people think of me as a writer due to my Philippine STAR columns and this is a positive brand since they think I’m either well-informed or smart (I hope I am!), although I actually spend most of my time as a realty and money-lending entrepreneur who has recently acquired a few small businesses with good brands such as an antique bakery I’m reviving and a gasoline station with a multinational brand.

Due to several small businesses I am now trying to grow, I remember self-made industrialist John Gokongwei, Jr. and his advice to me years ago: “Build brands.” I am now in the process of relearning all the brand strategies and marketing lessons I’ve read about and more so those that I’ve observed first-hand from progressive enterprises. Let us just go back to the basics.

John Williams of Entrepreneur magazine (another example of a good and clearly distinct brand which Summit Media has linked up with for its Philippine edition) wrote: “Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. An effective brand strategy gives you a major edge in increasingly competitive markets. But what exactly does ‘branding’ mean? How does it affect a small business like yours?”

He continued: “Simply put, your brand is your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from your competitors’. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.”

He also said: “Are you the innovative maverick in your industry? Or the experienced, reliable one? Is your product the high-cost, high-quality option, or the low-cost, high-value option? You can’t be both, and you can’t be all things to all people. Who you are should be based to some extent on who your target customers want and need you to be.”

John Williams recommends that once an entrepreneur or person has defined your brand for your company or entity, here are several good strategies to let everyone know about your brand, I have added my own comments on each tip:

1. Get a great logo. Place it everywhere. Personally, I believe a great logo need not be too complicated, so that it will be easier to remember and also more efficient to replicate everywhere.

2. Write down your brand messaging. Ascertain clearly the key messages we want our brand to communicate, then let all officers and staff know and understand these brand messages or characteristics.

3. Integrate your brand. Branding is not just logo or the color of staff uniforms, the brand message and identity should extend to all aspects of the business or organization from the way we answer social media posts or telephone inquiries, the email signature, the interior design look or feel of offices or shops, etc. The brand identity should permeate everything.

4. Create a “voice” for your company that reflects your brand. This voice should be used consistently in all written, social media, advertising and visual imagery, online and off. Is the brand trendy or formal, hip and young or formal?

5. Develop a tagline. Some of the most successful companies have created taglines which convey the essence of what they are and what they promise in an easy to remember, meaningful, positive and concise statement.

6. Design templates and create brand standards for your marketing materials. In order to uphold the strength of your brand, always use the same color scheme, logo design, the same look and feel everywhere with no excuse for lapses.

7. Be true to your brand. The key to long-term and not “flash in the pan” success of any business is repeat business from satisfied customers. Therefore, we need to zealously protect our brand by delivering on our promise. In fact, better to over-deliver and try to delight customers, not just to satisfy them.

8. Be consistent. I think this one factor, which often sets apart many of our local businesses from the multinationals, is our need to improve and be steadfast in our consistency, whether in terms of brand identity or quality of our goods and services.

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