If You Can See It, You Can Brand It

In the financial services sector it is increasingly difficult to sustain product, cost and distribution advantages.

Branding in financial services is undergoing substantial changes, owing to the dramatic increase in competition following deregulation and the threat posed by new entrants with branding experience.

Success in what is fast becoming an overcrowded market will depend on effective brand differentiation, based on the identification, internalization and communication of unique brand values that are both pertinent to and desired by consumers. [Source: The challenge of financial services branding: majoring on category or brand values? by Leslie de Chernatony and Fiona Harris; August 2000 Brand Management and Marketing Research Unit (BMMRU)]

Successful branding takes a product, service or company beyond market share. What your customers see, hear and experience with your brand becomes what your brand stands for.

If you have a product or service that is tangible, visible or measurable, it is easy to make it sell. You can help prospective customers relate it to the five senses.

But what would you do for a product or service that cannot be packaged physically or can only be viewed in a cluttered marketplace?

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