The Good Brand Checklist No.1

No.1 — A single differentiated idea

I love great brands and and work with brands everyday as a brand strategist and founder of brand management systems company e-see® , the creator of brand management software Brandkit.

Let’s start out by saying, a good brand is a good thing.

It helps us make decisions and cut through the clutter and noise. It reduces anxiety and helps keep everyone moving in the right direction.

It makes for a better world — in my opinion.

Unfortunately branding is often seen as hard, complicated, confusing and fuzzy magic, the job of branding specialists, ad agencies, designers and marketing.

I’m here to tell you — that’s it’s not that hard.

Branding is simple.

So to help you build a better, stronger brand, and a better world , I’ve put together The Good Brand Check List.

It’s a simple eight item checklist. A reminder of the basic things you need in place to build a good strong brand, whether you’re a new brand or an established one.

Our brand is focused on a single differentiated idea or proposition.

This is really important.

While your brand may deliver many actual products or services, your brand will not succeed, if it stands for many things.

You are battling for limited real estate in a prospects mind. You need to stand for something that customers care about and that they can recall.

Try and be all things to all people and your message will be muddled and indistinct.

The best brands are focused on a single proposition.

Example:

Volvo logo

VOLVO has been selling “safety” for more than 50 years. Volvo has become one of the largest selling European cars in the US as a result and is the byword for Safety in cars.

This is despite the fact that many of todays standard safety technologies were invented by others.

For example

• Airbags were first introduced by Oldsmobile in 1973.
• Mercedes-Benz developed ABs (anti-lock braking system) in 1978.

Yet ask the average consumer who invented those things and most would guess Volvo.

This is the power of the single proposition in action.

Some questions you might like to consider:

What is your brand’s single differentiated idea?

• Can you express it in a single sentence or paragraph?
• Is it written down anywhere?
• Do all staff, stakeholders and partners understand this idea?
• Is this idea expressed in all marketing materials and advertising.
• Do your products & service deliver/support the idea?
• Do your brand standards/brand guidelines document the idea.
• Is it included in your “elevator pitch”, i.e. could you express it verbally when caught in an elevator with your biggest prospect.
• Do customers/prospects recall the idea when asked about your brand

Check?

If you can check this item (Our brand is focused on a single differentiated idea) off, pat yourself on the back. You’re on your way to a good strong brand.

If not, then your brand needs work.

Consider getting your team together, preferably away from your place of work to discuss and arrive at some conclusions. You need to be crystal clear and concise. Use simple, easy to understand language with no ambiguity. Then clearly and concisely, with ambiguity document your what your single proposition is.

Note: This is ideally an internal process. But if you get stuck, an experienced branding professional can help facilitate the process and get you moving forward.

Happy branding :)

See the rest of The Good Brand Checklist here.