Know-How Exchange : Branding

Let's try and establish a focal point here. It's all well and good to want branding and establish logos and whatnot - and writing a plan will help if that's your cup of tea. The important thing is to establish what your business actually does and for whom. That means finding who are your most profitable customers.

Because having found them will give you the starting point to determine what your business is doing correctly. Since it's your most profitable area, it's the one you should be showcasing. That is both your legacy and your point of engagement.

You will note that I have not mentioned the staff, nor have I mentioned progressiveness or innovation. Your business may - or may not - require these things to be demonstrated overtly. Your best customers may not need things from the bleeding edge of technology. They may think of you as reliable and sensible - and not the kind of people to be put to flight by the latest fads.

You need to know what they're thinking. You will have a stack of references which will help you in this, which is the other side to knowing who they are. Knowing who your poorest performing customers are can be a shock, especially when it dawns on you that you've been losing money on contracts that have run for the last two decades. Understanding who not to advertise to is as big a part of branding yourself properly as knowing who to target.

So whilst I haven't made any suggestions, I have given you the framework on which to base your ideas. Because re-branding for the wrong customers won't really help you, will it?

A new logo alone will not mend the fences you're talking about. The CEO needs to get out and about and he or she needs to meet and greet people to win hearts and minds. Brands get retooled when perceptions about those brands are rebuilt. You need to reframe the past in a modern day message and build on the company strengths.

Have them share stories about the people they've helped. Who has hired them? Why? What surprised them (both you and the client)? What problems? What resulted? Think: white papers with an emotional dimension.

Also - if they're seen as stodgy, don't focus the message on "50". Focus on the variety of people who've benefited from their work over the years.

Expanding on Moriarty thought line; you may change the name, develop a logo, come up with a tag line but not the 'brand'. Your customers make the 'brand' you make the product.

With that in mind, why not evolve a partnership with both established customers and those now outside the box to help? Not only to get ideas outside a closed-loop, but it will show respect to your known customers a and to show a willingness to change/adopt to the needs of those not now so close.