Why is your brand like a baby? Because it needs to be cared for, protected and nurtured. Ignore it and it will be as if it never existed. LA ads president and creative director Dan Katz shares his thoughts on babying your brand so it will thrive and carry your business into the future. Click to watch or read the transcript below.
If you’ve ever had a baby, you know how carefully and lovingly it has to be nurtured, protected and cared for. The world revolves around that tiny person…as it should.
Your brand, if it’s well-conceived, is exactly the same in this respect. If you don’t make that brand the most cherished part of your business’ equity, if you don’t protect it by consistently applying it in your marketing, if you don’t place it at the very center of all your messaging, it will be as if it didn’t exist in the first place.
Your brand is your reputation. It precedes the sales call. It’s what makes you respected. It’s how others regard you. In the end, it’s all that sets your business apart from all the others. You’re either a brand or you’re a generic, like that can of corn that just says “Corn” on the label.
Everything you do should point back to your brand. If you have a Facebook page, it needs to feel like your unique brand at its core. if you’re on Twitter, the tweets need to reflect the spirit and personality of your brand message. Your website, your ads, your recorded phone messages all need to be on-brand, or your uniqueness as a brand will be diminished, if not completely dissipated.
Because most funeral home and cemetery owners don’t think like marketers, their brands, if you can call them that, wreak of sameness. All their marketing looks like everyone else’s. That’s why buying pre-made TV commercials or print ads from a catalog or plug-and-play website templates does more harm than good… Because if you can simply plug in your logo and web address, so can your competitor.
That’s not branding. There’s no distinctive qualities or unique identity to build on. So your salespeople have to work all that much harder, and there’s little to protect the brand when a hot new competitor comes to town.
As you build your marketing program, whether online, social or traditional, your brand must – MUST – come first. It has to be unique, fresh, memorable, experiential, clear and unexpected. And then, everything you do must be a reflection of that brand.
So as I said, your job is to nurture, coddle, protect and grow that brand just like a newborn babe. Do it right and it will be there to protect you later on!
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Dan Katz is president, creative director of LA ads. To discuss your thoughts with Dan on this blog or any marketing matters, email via this link, or visit www.LAadsMarketing.com. You can also connect with Dan on LinkedIn. See agency work via this link.
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