The importance of brand markers

I don’t often talk about the tactical marketing side of brand delivery and that leads to quite a few people thinking that I don’t see it as important. So let’s correct that right now.

I do think marketing has a very important role in delivering the brand. I just don’t think they should be trying to tell the organisation what it should be – a critical distinction.

Brand markers are what I call all those customer facing touch points that connect the brand with the marketplace. Logo, tagline, ads, brochures, signs, uniforms, websites, even your products and services, are all brand markers.

The vast majority of what agencies (marketing and advertising) produce under the guise of “branding” are in fact brand markers.

Brand markers are an important way for your customers to recognise and connect with your brand. Which is why it is equally important that they authentically represent it.

Unfortunately too often I see an “outside in” approach with those same things being used to set the brand agenda and try to drag the rest of the organisation along for the ride. It never works. Not in the longer-term.

Sure you might get a short-term bump. The bright shiny new thing will always get a bit of attention for a while. But it doesn’t last and if you do down the road of thinking short-term about your marketing, you’ll find yourself stuck in a cycle of “do and redo” that is hard to break.

Working with what is might not be quite as much “fun”. It will certainly require that marketing and creative groups stop trying to be entrepreneurs with the brand and get on with the job at hand – telling the story that is (not the one they might aspire to).

The truth is that there isn’t a clever logo, great tagline, sizzling clever ad campaign, clever website or new product that can overcome the deficit created by a brand that isn’t meeting it’s promises. To use a tired cliché – less sizzle and more steak will ultimately prove more satisfying.

So yes, having great marketing and brand markers is important but don’t let their creation be used as a distraction from understanding what your brand stands for and then delivering on that every day in every way.

Some companies who’s brand markers work overtime for them:

• Skype – everything from their logo, web structure, design of products and services makes is easy to stay in touch.
• Patagonia – their commitment to the environment oozes out of everything they do.
• Feit – local company that wears their passion for shoes on their, well, feet (check out their video for a great example of telling your story).
• Ryanair – it doesn’t have to be slick looking unless you are slick acting, the bargain basement look and approach is a perfect fit for their “low fares, no service” ethos.

See you next week.

Michel Hogan is a Brand Advocate. Through her work with Brandology here in Australia and in the United States, she helps organisations recognise who they are and align that with what they do and say, to build more authentic and sustainable brands. She also publishes the Brand thought leadership blog – Brand Alignment.