The Importance Of Branding & Integrated Marketing

What is a brand and why do you need one?

What is integrated marketing? Let’s go back to the beginning of branding. Long ago, dating back to ancient Egyptian times, livestock owners branded their animals to protect their property and prevent them from being stolen. As time went by, branding became a way to distinguish one source of animal from another, and buyers started developing brand loyalty to high quality suppliers. Since then branding has been applied to every product and service industry around the globe. Even governments and non-business organizations learned to use branding to improve their image in the face of the public.

So how can you build and develop your brand to send a better message? It’s all about simplicity and consistency through integrated marketing. Think about the best marketers of the world. Names like Coca-Cola, Apple, Disney and Honda come to my mind. Conceptually, these brands have a simple message of “The Real Thing”, “Cool”, “Fun” and “Quality”. As masters of marketing & advertising, these companies’ key to success is repetition. Every execution (Ad, flyer, website, email, postcard, etc.) contains the same message for a particular product, or group of products. Together, over time these brands have gotten stronger and stronger. Remember, it did not happen overnight…it took years of consistent branding and a lot of money. But the investment has paid off enormously for these companies.

Here’s something unique about these four brands: They are not “Discounters”. In truth, they are more expensive brands than their competitors. That’s the power of branding, you do not need to run “50%-OFF” sales in order to get business. People want quality products and services…and are willing to pay more for them. So the key is to build your brand like these companies did by creating a clear simple message that you can repeat over and over for years, decades or centuries. Every printed piece and digital advertisement you create, needs to be consistent with that same message via integrated marketing. Over time, you too will begin to gain “Brand Equity” improving the value of your business. As you begin to gain brand equity, customers will return with greater ease and frequency, as they are now your trusted consumers. As they become better customers, they will tell their friends and family about your product and service. Word-of-mouth is the most powerful form of marketing for you – for FREE! Best of luck in your integrated marketing efforts – contact us for help building your brand and integrated marketing!