HOW TO CREATE AN IDENTITY FOR YOUR BUSINESS
When you have taken the time to create a winning market position, be sure to take the time to develop a clear, memorable identity that explains why you are and why people should buy from you. All your efforts to generate influence and to position yourself in a powerful manner come together in your identity. The important point is that creating an identity is a critical task. You need to spend time and effort necessary to find one that will work for you.
There are four points in creating an identity:
You need to find a clear image that communicates quickly what your product is and why people should buy it.
You must discover a relatedness between you and your customers.
You need to match the style of your name, logo, and slogans to your customer’s self-image.
You need to bring all those elements together in a convincing way.
Logos are important for consumer companies, but they are even more important for business-to-business marketers because companies are not well differentiated. For example, companies providing engineering services don’t have visible products. Buyers often blur suppliers’ images and the company that wins is often the one with the clearest identity.
EXECUTING YOUR IDENTITY
Depending on what you are trying to convey, what style you want, and how you can relate your business to customers you need to put all together so that it is obvious to them.
Name
Ideally, you want a name that immediately conveys who you are and why you are different.
Be distinctive
Don’t use names that are too bland. You can’t always get a perfect name, but if you can’t you are better off going with a distinctive name that people might remember, like Toyota, Apple, Dangote or Guinness. Sometimes you can combine a name with a visual to make the name distinctive.
Three key points
When you use a name, consider:
What feature or characteristic you want to convey
What you want then name to accomplish
Who you want to appeal to.
Logo
A visual image can support your name and make it easier to remember. The guidelines for n effective logo: make it distinctive, keep it simple, and have it match the tone of your business.
Slogans
Another method of identifying who you are is to have a slogan that goes with your name and logo. This slogan should either create an emotional response, identify your target customer, or state you best benefit.
Routine Business Operations
Your identity is effective only if it applies to the way the company is run. Three words should completely describe your marketing strategy: consistency, familiarity, and confidence. Consumers gain confidence when they become familiar with a company because of its consistency. Your identity throughout your entire operation is crucial if you want to create confidence.
Action Steps
List at least five or possible names, slogans, and logos for your business. Do this even if you are already in business. You may want to introduce a new marketing strategy, and if you do, a name change is a dramatic way to alert customers to your marketing efforts.
Get a group of customers or prospective customers together and ask them the following questions about combinations of your names, logos, and slogans:
What price range does this business serve?
Who are the company’s target customers?
What type of products does the company sell?
What is the company’s competitive advantage?
Repeat step 2 every year. You must remember that reality in the market-place is what customers think, not what you believe. Hopefully, people understand what your business is and why they should buy from you. If they don’t you will have to work harder to get your point across.
