Augment Marketing Speaks on the 8 Principles of Building a Strong Brand

We learned in a previous lesson that there are seven core values of a brand, according to Scott Bedbury, one of the leading brand managers in American history. He has worked with two of the largest brands in the world Starbuck's and Nike. To review his theory of building strong core values of a brand, in his book "A Brand New World", we look to build brand strength, longevity, and passion within the foundation of the brand. To recap, he states the seven core values being:

• Simplicity
• Patience
• Relevance
• Accessibility
  
• Humanity
• Omnipresence
  
• Innovation

Every brand has a core "essence" that gives the brand its substance. One thing that great brands have in common is the "experience" consumers have with the brand, but clearly you need more than that to build brand strength. It's critical to build your brand around the relationship between the brand, the consumer, and the stakeholders as a whole. As we begin to explore Bedbury's 8 principles of a brand, you should begin developing your own core values and examining each principle carefully.

1. Relying on brand awareness has become marketing fool's gold - This is the difference between brand awareness vs brand strength. Most brands think that building awareness is building a brand. Yes, building a brand from the ground up will include creating awareness some where in the plan; however, according to Bedbury, this is where relevance and resonance come into play. This is the core, the root of a brand and what it means. If you build your brand on awareness alone and the substance of the brand has shallow meaning, your brand will not survive. Building brand strength here is all about the consumers "experience" with the brand.
   
2. You have to know it before you can grow it (cracking the code) - Sitting on several board's for strategic planning, I have had the honor to dig deep in the core of some very astute brands. Defining your mission, vision, and core values is just the beginning of cracking the brands genetic code. You need to clearly define your goals, your vision, a snapshot of your future and how success will be measured; including consideration for your customers, your potential customers, even your employees. This is where you tell the story of your brand to the world. Make it a novel.
3. Just because you can doesn't mean you should (the spandex rule of branding) - Yes, according to Scott Bedbury, just because you have spandex, doesn't mean you should wear it. While determining when and if you are ready to grow, you should be innovative, remain on the cutting-edge and plunge into growth if research supports it. It means building intelligent brandwidth -- ie. joint ventures, strategic alliances, acquisitions, but remember "every brand has it's limitations" according Bedbury. If you are building a solid brand, growth can be exciting. If your brand is built on sand, the foundation crumbles. Know your limitations.
4. Transcend a product-only relationship with your customers - This principle builds in the emotional experience between the brand and the consumers. What emotion does your product evoke? Perhaps individuality, longing, belonging, freedom, self-actualization, discovery. These concepts are what build substance into your brand and how consumers react. Think of Hallmark or Disney.
   
5. Everything matters - In essence, this is the environment in which you build your brand-- much like when raising a child. When you raise a child, everything you do and don't do will affect the child's ultimate outcome as a person. The same holds true for a brand. You should care about the customers, the environment, the employees, representation of the brand...everything. The dress code, the brand definition, the office space, the expectations. This is "brand excellence".
6. Being a good leader for your brand - This principle encompasses leadership, accountability, and motivation. Your brand is an asset to the organization and is just as important to protect as any other assets of the company. In many ways being a good brand parent is much like what the CEO is to the company or what the head of household is to a family. It's being the rock of the organization and leading the company to reach great things. Your role here is to live it, breathe it, and not just talk the talk, but walk the walk. First and foremost, you must believe it and then you must teach others in the organization to believe it as well.
   
7. Big doesn't have to be bad -This is where the core value of omnipresence resonates. As you begin to grow and take over market share, you can be perceived as the Goliath-- the bad giant taking over the world. If your brand isn't about more than making money and taking over market share, sooner or later you will certainly have to fight off the competition, but consumers will see right through it. Their emotional relationship with the brand will emerge and the bad press or belittling comments from competitors will easily be overlooked. This isn't just important for larger corporations, but from a small business perspective as well -- its all relevant to the playing field. You may be considered fierce competition right now, but if your brand is more than just bringing in the revenues-- now you are building brand strength.
8. Building your brand future - Based on relevance, simplicity, and humanity, your brand's future will rise to the top of its category. Consumers relate to these components. Being simple and relevant helps consumers understand the brand. For example, Oprah Winfrey, is a huge brand and makes billions of dollars. The reason everyone loves her so much no matter how much this woman makes is because she's been so simple. She sits on her stage, a person that can now afford to buy anything she wants, and talks about buying an affordable good pair of jeans, what it means to be on a diet and work out like every other person in the world. Her audience can relate to her. Build a strong brand future on simplicity.

The ultimate goal for Augment Marketing is to help small businesses understand the values and principles in building a strong brand that will survive in a world of giants like Kodak, Coke, Disney, Starbuck's, and Nike. We can build strong brands that hold their weight in their own right, in their own category, and in their own markets. It all starts with the foundation. We'll continue to discuss this topic because there is so many details to cover. If you have a comment about building brands, please feel free to elaborate.

As we begin to dive deeper into building a strong brand, your first exercise is to write down your mission, vision, and core values. Augment's Marketing My Internet Business blog will discuss building a strong business online in the coming weeks to further expound on this topic.

Trisha Ahlman is the CEO of Augment Marketing Group and has over 15 years experience in marketing for corporations and small businesses. She sits on several creative and strategic development boards nationwide. "Inspired by growth" from its inception, Augment's mission is to inspire growth in all businesses large or small when developing strong brands. We believe in inspiring, learning and growing. She can be reached at trisha@augmentgroup.com or www.marketingsoftwarebusiness.com .