Branding Yourself and Your Business
When you think of a brand, the first image that likely comes to mind is a brand on livestock. Branding a product should be viewed the same way. A successful brand sets your product apart from competition. You want your brand to expand your customer base and increase market share. The larger your customer base and market share, the more powerful your brand becomes. Marketing and branding go hand in hand—a good brand helps your marketing, and strong marketing helps build a strong brand. Your goal is to build a brand that is the recognized leader in its category, making consumers want to be aligned with it and seek it out. With the explosion of the internet, companies now have the opportunity to go global and increase sales and profits. This guide covers the essential principles of building a dominant brand, from expansion and contraction to naming, color, the internet, and global strategy.
Chapter 1: Expand the Brand—The Delicate Decision
Expanding your brand requires careful consideration because you don't want to harm your brand by expanding too quickly. Some companies expand rapidly for short-term gains; others pursue long-term success.
The automotive industry demonstrates how brand expansion can weaken a brand. At one time, the Big Three automakers were untouchable. Consumers proudly stated they drove a Ford, Chevrolet, or Chrysler. As automakers introduced more models, their brands weakened. Consumers stopped saying they drove a Ford—they said they drove an Escort, a Cavalier, or a New Yorker. The market became saturated, brands weakened, and market share diminished, allowing competitors to move in.
Weakening your brand through expansion isn't always bad. In an industry with weak or no competition, expanding opens your brand to a larger market share, increasing sales and profits. However, you must consider the consumers who want exclusivity. Having a brand everywhere and available to everyone might not be what they seek. Rolex, for example, maintains strength precisely because not everyone can afford it. Exclusivity has benefits just as broad availability does.
Chapter 2: Contract the Brand—The Power of Specialization
Having a brand associated with doing one or just a few things exceptionally well builds strength. If you open a restaurant, focus on being great with just a few dishes. Toy stores fit this niche—they sell a variety of products, but everything is geared toward toys. When you enter a toy store, you know exactly what you'll see and why you're there.
Follow these rules when specializing: keep it simple and narrow, maintain full product supply, strike the best wholesale prices to sell inexpensively, and be the best at whatever you choose so you become the industry leader with strong brand identity.
Coca-Cola dominates the cola category with approximately 70% worldwide market share. There is no real "cola war"—there's a clear winner. McDonald's and Burger King succeed because they focus on making hamburgers. While they've expanded menus, they remain focused on being excellent at just a few items.
Chapter 3: Publicity Is a Good Thing—Launching Your Brand
When launching a new brand, generate as much publicity as possible. Publicity is far better than advertising for getting a new product going, and it's significantly cheaper. If your brand relates to outdoor activities, appear at outdoor festivals, country fairs, and action sports events. Pass out flyers and give free samples to create buzz among your target consumers.
Being first at something generates publicity automatically. News organizations love breaking news and being first to a story. With global media connectivity, this costs next to nothing—the news media does the work for you. Social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter allow you to create your own buzz free of charge. Don't worry about catchy slogans during launch. Focus on building maximum publicity for minimum cost.
Chapter 4: Advertising the Brand—Reinforcing Leadership
Once launched through publicity, advertising keeps the brand name in consumers' minds. Advertising is expensive and must be approached with a well-thought-out plan. If you've successfully positioned your brand as an industry leader through publicity, the best advertising strategy is to advertise why your brand is the best. Build campaigns around your brand being the market leader or the quality leader. Consumers want to associate with the best.
Before launching campaigns, conduct surveys and focus groups to understand how consumers perceive your product. This prepares you to construct messages that resonate and entice first-time buyers or keep repeat customers returning.
The ultimate achievement is when your brand name becomes the generic term for the category. Consumers ask for a Coke, not a cola. They make Xerox copies, not photocopies. They reach for a Kleenex, not a tissue. When your brand name becomes the word consumers use, you've achieved dominance.
Chapter 5: Be Authentic—Credibility Builds Trust
Consumers naturally question advertising claims. Your claims must be true and verifiable, bringing credibility that reassures consumers your brand delivers what it promises. Once established, consumers tell others about your brand, leading to market expansion and higher revenues. Being authentic also brings free publicity—media outlets seek industry leaders for stories, further increasing recognition and credibility.
A study of 1940s market leaders showed that among twenty top brands, only three had lost their leadership position decades later. Leadership means long-term success. Strive to be on top and maintain authenticity.
Chapter 6: It's Not All About Quality—Perception Matters
Having the highest quality doesn't guarantee market leadership. A Tag Heuer watch doesn't tell time more accurately than a Seiko. A BMW doesn't necessarily have fewer mechanical problems than a Toyota. In almost every industry, the quality leader isn't the sales leader.
What matters is the perception of quality. Specialization creates this perception—consumers view focused brands as more knowledgeable and therefore higher quality. Higher pricing also creates quality perception, giving consumers psychological satisfaction that they purchased the best. This also communicates status.
When pricing higher than competitors, launch at the higher price point. Introducing at a competitive price and then raising it appears like price gouging. Something must justify the higher price—even superior packaging can provide that justification.
Chapter 7: Category Over Brand—Create Your Own Space
Narrow your focus until you create an entirely new category. Apple did this with the iPad. Atari did it with the 2600, launching the home gaming category. To create a new category, introduce your brand as the first to do what it does, positioning it as the leading authority. Promote the category over the brand—promoting the category promotes the brand simultaneously.
When competitors inevitably enter, don't diversify to counter them. Continue promoting the category. Being first means your brand remains perceived as most knowledgeable with the highest quality. The iPad remains the clear leader despite numerous competitors entering the tablet category.
Chapter 8: The Importance of a Name
The name may be the most important decision you make for your brand. Long-term stability is the most critical factor in naming. After the initial market push and the appearance of competition, the name is what sets your product apart. Being first in the category gives your brand's name higher recognition value and positions it as the authority.
Keep the name straightforward and simple to remember. Avoid names that could be perceived negatively. The name should evoke something positive when consumers hear or read it. Consumers will want to be identified with a brand that makes them feel good.
Chapter 9: Keep It Simple—The Danger of Line Extension
The easiest way to devastate a brand is to broaden the product line too far. More manufacturers are extending product lines and weakening their brands. This also shifts power from manufacturers to retailers, who can charge more for limited shelf space as manufacturers compete for placement.
Visit the beer aisle at any supermarket. Is there genuinely enough demand for over five variations of Miller Beer? Having more varieties doesn't increase sales or consumption—it increases production and distribution costs. When consumers face too many choices, decision-making becomes difficult. Your focused brand with a single clear option stands out. Many companies see initial success as permission to rapidly expand product lines. While this may boost short-term revenue, it destroys the brand long-term and weakens the original product that created the success. Keep it simple. Specialize. Your brand will succeed for years.
Chapter 10: Don't Be a Stuck-Up Brand—Welcome Competition
Competition is healthy for market leaders. Consumers like choice. McDonald's wouldn't be where it is without Burger King and Wendy's. Coca-Cola wouldn't be the same without Pepsi. If no competition exists in your category, consumers may view your brand with suspicion and pass on purchasing.
When competition arrives, resist the impulse to expand to protect market share. However, too much competition equals too many choices, and sales decrease across the entire category. A few select competitors help the marketplace thrive. Being first in the category positions your brand as the leader, and competition actually helps maintain that dominance.
Chapter 11: A Second Thought on Naming
Avoid ordinary, generic-sounding names like "National This" or "General That." These won't give your brand the individuality needed to make a lasting impression. Pay more attention to how the name sounds than how it looks written down—consumers will likely hear your brand name before reading it.
Using everyday words out of context is highly effective. "Best Buy" combines two ordinary words to create a powerful brand name that implies quality and value. "Circuit City," selling essentially the same products, lacked that positive connotation. Will consumers get the best buy at Best Buy? Maybe, maybe not—but they'll feel better about the purchase partly because of the name.
Chapter 12: Keep Brand Names and Company Names Separate
Brand names should always take priority over the company name. Consumers shop for brands, not companies. At the supermarket, you rarely notice company names on products. If you put your company name on a product, ensure it's in smaller font than the brand name. Nobody says they're buying Procter & Gamble laundry soap—they say they're buying Tide.
When consumers use both company and brand names to identify your product, your branding strategy has failed. Sony successfully positions "PlayStation" as the primary brand, with Sony as secondary. Consumers ask where the PlayStation is, not the Sony PlayStation. Microsoft takes a different approach, prominently displaying their company name, but consumers have naturally shortened "Microsoft Word" and "Microsoft Excel" to simply "Word" and "Excel"—doing the branding work for them.
Chapter 13: Beware of Subbranding
Launching subbrands is tricky. Consumers buying your brand aren't necessarily looking for more options from it. Best Western Hotels offers different hotel classes, but the name "Best Western" appears prominently on all of them. Their success came from being a good hotel at a reasonable price. Now they face the challenge of convincing consumers that paying more for a luxury Best Western is worthwhile—consumers still equate the name with value pricing.
The auto industry has used subbranding most extensively, and it contributed to the failure of the Big Three. With so many models, the models became the focus rather than the brand. General Motors and Chrysler required government bailouts and immediately cut production to reduce choices and restore brand value.
Some high-end companies have successfully introduced lower-priced subbrands. Ralph Lauren and Waterford Crystal attracted consumers who couldn't afford their main lines while maintaining high-end status. But these are exceptions. Subbranding is primarily a company decision, not a consumer one. Proceed thoughtfully.
Chapter 14: Can You Ever Extend the Brand?
You can expand your brand properly by keeping all brands under the same family umbrella while giving each its own identity. They must appear independent of the parent company. Darden Restaurants opened Red Lobster in 1968. When they wanted a second brand, they didn't call it Red Lobster 2. They created entirely different restaurant concepts—Olive Garden, The Capital Grille, Bahama Breeze, and Seasons 52. Most diners don't know these restaurants share ownership.
Japanese automakers followed this strategy successfully. Nissan and Toyota introduced luxury brands as Infiniti and Lexus, respectively—not Nissan Plus or Toyota Prime. This separated the luxury identity from their mass-market reputations while keeping everything under the corporate umbrella.
When introducing another brand, keep it simple—stay in the same category and build on existing success. Pick one attribute and stick with it. Darden simply changed themes while remaining in restaurants, serving the same market at similar price points. Make the new brand distinctive and standalone. Ensure the parent company maintains control to prevent rivalry and keep brands differentiated.
Chapter 15: The Importance of the Logo
The most effective logos are horizontal in shape because of how consumers read—top to bottom, left to right. Don't try to change fundamental reading patterns. Font choice matters equally. Different fonts project different meanings: masculine, feminine, modern, antique. Choose a legible font that conveys your intended message.
Nike and Apple are exceptions in successfully using symbols alone. Nike's swoosh and Apple's apple logo appear without the company name on products. For Apple, the logo and company name are identical, creating double meaning. Visit any shopping center and observe store logos—the vast majority are horizontal and easy to read. Lord and Taylor is one of the few major companies using a harder-to-read script font.
Chapter 16: The Importance of Color
Color distinguishes your brand from competition and conveys specific meanings. Red is bold and fierce. Blue is serene and soothing. Yellow is neutral. A common strategy is choosing the opposite color from your closest competitor—Coca-Cola is red, Pepsi is blue.
Some brands become so identified with a color that recognition is instant. The little blue box means Tiffany's. Yellow arches mean McDonald's. UPS built an entire advertising campaign around "What can Brown do for you?"
Companies like eBay, Google, and Microsoft use multiple colors in their logos. Google periodically transforms its logo to celebrate holidays and historical events—almost unheard of for company logos, but as a web-based company, it distinguishes them and increases traffic as people visit specifically to see the logo variation.
Choose colors complementary to the product. Razor blades shouldn't use red, which suggests cutting and bleeding. Blue suggests water and calm—appropriate for a shaving product where consumers use water and want to feel at ease.
Chapter 17: Think Globally
When your brand plateaus domestically, think globally rather than expanding the brand. The word "imported" alone makes consumers take a second look. Countries become known for specific products: Swiss watches, Japanese automobiles, French wine, German beer. Whether accurate or not, these perceptions drive purchasing.
Conversely, trying to sell cars from El Salvador, wine from Zimbabwe, watches from Mongolia, or beer from Fiji would fail because these countries lack established reputations for those products. Be first in your category globally to gain the same advantages as being first domestically. Ensure your brand fits the countries you're expanding into—winter clothing won't succeed in Jamaica.
English is the second most spoken language globally and the language of business. Use it for your brand name and logo. Many non-English-speaking countries already use English brand names: Diesel jeans come from Italy, and Red Bull comes from Austria.
Chapter 18: Branding and the Internet
When introducing a brand, decide whether it will be primarily online or brick-and-mortar. The same principles apply: be first, create your own category, become the leader. YouTube dominates online video. Amazon dominates online book sales, far outpacing brick-and-mortar stores with online presences.
Five factors help determine the right approach:
Tangibility. If your product can be held and touched, use the internet as a secondary source. If it's service-based like insurance or travel, internet branding works best.
Style. Trendy or stylish brands belong primarily in brick-and-mortar with online as secondary. Non-trendy items like sporting equipment, computers, and books work well as internet brands.
Variety. Brands with countless variations benefit from internet branding. Amazon can stock far more titles than any physical bookstore. Brick-and-mortar stores must limit inventory to what sells.
Price sensitivity. If low price drives purchases, the internet works best because consumers can instantly compare prices across sites and save on sales tax.
Shipping costs. If shipping is expensive, stick with brick-and-mortar. If costs are minimal—like digital services or printable documents—internet branding makes sense.
Chapter 19: Naming and the Internet
Online, your name is even more critical than in the physical world because it's the primary reason consumers visit your site. Avoid generic names—if generic worked, Buy.com would surpass Amazon and CheapTickets.com would surpass Expedia.
Keep the name short and simple for easy typing and remembering. One spelling mistake sends consumers elsewhere. Many established companies have adapted to this reality: Federal Express became FedEx, Kentucky Fried Chicken became KFC.
Make the name distinctive and memorable while implying your category. "Planetdogfood.com" or "Dogfooddepot.com" create more interesting mental images than "Dogfood.com." The name should be speakable—initial-based URLs are harder to remember. Avoid mixing numbers with letters unless you're willing to own multiple domain variations, which adds unnecessary cost.
Chapter 20: Globalism and the Internet
The internet breaks down international barriers, allowing small companies to do business globally. Design your website to be translatable into multiple languages. Amazon, based in the United States, is the largest bookseller in the United Kingdom, with over 20% of sales coming from outside the US.
Some companies choose English-only websites, believing it conveys exclusivity and luxury. English is the second most spoken language and the language of business. Non-English-speaking companies increasingly use English brand names. The opportunity to go global reinforces the importance of avoiding generic names—"Shoes.com" means nothing to non-English speakers, while "Nike" means the same thing worldwide.
Conclusion
There is much that goes into making a brand successful, but the process shouldn't intimidate you. Take your time and make informed decisions. Most importantly, think like a consumer. This isn't easy when you're excited about your brand and focused on company success, but consumers make the final decision about whether your brand succeeds. You control making the product the best it can be and the image you project. But consumers have the last word. This is why focus groups and surveys are essential—they provide information directly from the people you want to reach.
