5 secrets to an unforgettable brand

Looking at Singapore today, it’s easy to see why brands are more important than in the past 50 years. Brands are simple meaningful ideas that people immediately connect with and they offer experiences that are unique, relevant and consistent.

Successful companies believe in branding and apply it to build memorable brands that create value to their business. Without having to look very far, BreadTalk, Thai Express and Banyan Tree are some leading brands that have accomplished this right from the beginning.

If you’re managing or starting a business, the idea of building a brand for it may seem daunting. You might think that with everything else you have on your mind, branding your business is just too much to handle at the early stages.

Branding doesn’t have to be complicated. Infact, the earlier you establish the basic elements of your brand, the better you can use them to shape and reinforce how people experience your brand.

Want to create a memorable brand? Get these elements established right from start:

Define your brand promise
In order to capture the way you want people to think and feel about your brand, you need to think about what you’re going to say, and how you say it.

You can do this by developing what I call a Brand Promise Statement. This is a concise expression of the primary functional and emotional benefits that customers get by buying, using, endorsing your brands, products, or services.

Develop your Brand Promise Statement by filling in these blanks:
Target audience: ____
Your business offer: ____
Functional benefit: ____
Reason to believe: ____
Emotional benefit: ____

For example, the Brand Promise Statement for a New York themed restaurant might sound like this:

For people who want to make connections through an interactive dining experience,
GreenApple is the Western dining experience that draws diners into the energy and spirit of the Big City. Our settings and attitude deliver the cosmopolitan buzz that leaves you energized and connected through these special moments.

Once you’ve crafted your Brand Promise Statement, you can determine the personality of your brand and develop the look and feel of your identity and touchpoints.

Find a memorable name
Your brand name is the most valuable asset. It’s the most immediate and lasting expression of what your brand is all about.

A great name will advance your business strategy, justify premium pricing and set the tone for the personality of your brand.

There are three important naming considerations in the following order:

Registrable: Make sure that your name is available to use as a trademark. Ideally, you should also get a matching domain name, e.g. www.yourname.com or www.yourname.com.sg.

Linguistically acceptable: What sounded right in English may not be the case in other languages. You should always check your name to ensure there are no gross negatives in key languages. A simple way to do this is to “test” the name with partners speaking in other languages.

On-brand: There is no magical “right” name. But a good name communicates the rational or emotional brand values.

Develop key visual elements
Once you have defined the brand promise, you can start to work on the brand identity. These visual elements allow your brand to be instantly recognizable and help the brand maintain consistency across all brand touchpoints.

Brandmark: A brandmark is one of the most identifiable visual elements of your brand identity so you need to make the best effort to ensure it’s unique, appealing and thought provoking. Work with a professional identity design company and make sure your brandmark projects the personality that’s unique to your brand.

Colour: It’s a lot easier to make a memorable impression through the use of colours. Successful brands manage this well: Old Chang Kee has its yellow and black, FedEx is purple and orange, SingTel is red and black.

Pick two main colours that represent your brand personality and use them prominently and consistently across all brand touchpoints.

Typography: Like colours, your fonts say a lot about your brand. In general, serif fonts are more formal and classic. Sans-serif fonts are more contemporary and approachable.

Chinese fonts are grouped into two broad categories: modern and traditional. Think about the brand personality you’d like to convey and choose fonts that can get that idea across to your audiences.

Identity and develop key customer touchpoints
Customer experiences your brand through a number of touchpoints. Your ultimate goal is to have each touchpoint reinforce and fulfill your brand promise.

However, not all touchpoints are created equal. Some will naturally play a larger role in determining your company’s overall customer experience.

For example, if your product is candy, taste is typically more important than package design. Both are touchpoints, but each has a different effect on your customers’ experiences as a whole.

Walk through your marketing, selling, and servicing processes to identity key customer touchpoints that can make a significant impact to your business. Design these touchpoints by keeping in mind the visual elements you have developed in the early stages.

Develop an identity guide for consistent delivery
To get maximum results from your branding effort, you have to apply all the branding elements correctly and consistently over time. The best way to do this is to develop an Identity Guide that includes your brand promise, name, brandmark, colours and fonts.

As and when required, refer back to this manual so you don’t deviate from these standards.