“First of all, a brand is not a logo... Second, a brand is not a corporate identity system... Finaly, a brand is not a product”

Marty Neumeier - The Brand Gap, 2006

Your brand is your business.

Your messages, both visual and written, are your brand.

Effective positioning of your brand will help cut through the ‘noise’. You will be seen as more professional and your potential and existing customers will be able to quickly and easily find out why you are excellent for them.

In order for this to work, the brand has to hang off one simple concept—the big idea. And it needs to be simple so that it can be delivered across a variety of mediums. Also simplicity is easily understood (remember, prospects don’t spend anywhere near the amount of time you do looking at your marketing communications).

But to truly work a brand has to be honest. There is no point talking to British customers about how much you care about them and then outsource all your telephone support to a country that doesn’t speak English as a first language. Customers will soon realise that your brand is full of pomp and is of little substance.

Another mistake that should be avoided is trying to be too clever. Clients can’t be bothered to try and decode what you’re saying to them. So find something true, that stands up to scrutiny and say it clearly. This goes for all your marketing communications as well.

Ultimately for a brand to deliver value to clients and the business it needs to be carefully thought through, aligned with the overall business strategy in mind and delivered clearly. As tricky as this may sound, it’s actually the easy bit.

From then on in the brand needs to be monitored, business activity needs to be compared to the brand promises and anything that doesn’t fit should be removed. If the brand is getting in the way of business strategy or the other way around then something is wrong and work needs to be undertaken to rectify this.

Apple Marketing will take the time to get to understand your business, strategy and your customers. With the objective of building a long-term relationship. This is critical in delivering a branding strategy that will actually achieve results.

It also allows for one of the most important parts of a relevant brand—learning. Only through learning and continuos development can a brand stand for something that means something to customers, that is relevant and lasts.

It’s easy to put these things off until tomorrow, so why not pick up the phone or open up an email and say hello now? You wont get pestered and we can talk more about the stuff that matters to you.