Branding

However, in the video we explain why we will define branding as our image and how we project that image to the customer. We will use an example of a big chain hamburger restaurant as our example of why branding works.

The video closes with an example of a client who doesn’t pay attention to their image, or total customer experience. This restaurant is going to be put up for sale because of poor branding. Today, online reviews normally drive much of the traffic your business receives. Had the work of good branding been taken care of up-front, this restaurant would not have failed.

This is really an important lecture. This
time we're going to talk about Branding
and we're going to open with a
definition of branding. Let's go to work.
If you get on the Internet or read a
book about Branding, what you're going to
find out is Branding is considered the
total customer experience. When
everything's said and done how does the
customer feel about the experience of
doing business with you? Was it positive?
Now I've found that for the most part a
small business person can't worry about
something quite as ethereal as a "total
customer experience". The reality is
you're probably more concerned about
who's going to be on the register this
afternoon than you are about the total
customer experience. So I like to
concentrate on something a little more
basic. Your image and and how you project
that image to the customer. And that's
really what we're going to define as
Branding for the purposes of this video.
Now, the most obvious thing when it comes
to that type of Branding is your logo.
Your logo needs to be consistent, it
needs to have the same colors across all
of your various platforms, and we talked
about that quite a bit in Spaced
Repetition. You may want to go back and
watch that video. But in general I'll
show you this: here's some logos from
various companies that you've seen and
these logos don't change. They'll be the
same in the 1950s as they are in the 20
teens. That's because we know that
Branding, burning an image into your
customers mind, is terribly important. I
know you've heard me talk about
consistency in your logos before and I'm
going to talk about it some more again
later. But first I want to share a story
with you; I've mentioned earlier in this
series that I have a mentor David Wright
and David Wright likes to tell a
particular story. You see for those of
you who don't live in the US, the United
States is a huge country. You can drive
from the left coast to the right coast
and it takes more than three days at
Interstate speeds. So on our three day
trip, our father...
he is driving along and it's getting
lunch time and the kids are hungry. So
they go up the exit ramp and they decide
they're going to have a hamburger for
lunch, it's an American thing, and they
get to the end of the exit ramp. Off on
this side there's a place named Buddy
Boy's, on the other side McDonald's. Now
I'll tell you a secret: Buddy Boy's has
the best hamburgers in the entire region.
I mean they only use the center slice of
the tomatoes, the onions absolutely fresh,
the farmer brings them in from the
fields, the beef isn't just rare Black
Angus. It's Red Angus, you actually have
to add a little oil to the hamburger
meat before you can fry it because it's
so rare. This is crisp, wet, cold iceberg
lettuce. It is the best hamburger you can
get and it's right there. It's at Buddy
Boy's. Now don't forget across the way
here there's a McDonald's. But don't
count McDonald's out in this particular
exercise. You see, McDonald's has some
things going for them: number one, our
family knows McDonald's, they know these
guys, they've never heard of Buddy Boy's.
Who is Buddy anyway? So the McDonalds we
know. The restaurant's going to be clean,
we know the restroom, or toilet, WC, is
also going to be clean and despite what
you may think of McDonald's, you've never
heard of roaches coming out of their
food and the price is good. They're going
to give that meal to you right away. So
McDonald's has a lot of things on their
side but mostly it's because of Branding.
You see, our family knows Buddy Boy's from...
nowhere; and they know what they're going
to get at that McDonalds. They know
exactly what they're going to get. So the
choice here is much simpler. The family
has no idea what they've just missed out
on and I guarantee you because of
Branding, nine times out of ten they're
going to go to McDonalds
and pass by the best hamburger they ever
would have had. Now, I want to tell you a
little bit more about branding because
McDonald's doesn't really drive a lot of
their Branding with emotion. But there
are some very good places who use
emotion as part of their Branding. Let's
start with the Save the Children website.
They're trying to evoke particular
emotions. Look at the photographs of the
young children on the homepage of the
site. Clearly they are going to
accomplish this by making you feel for
these children. Let's take an example
from the opposite end of the spectrum
here's a rock band from Boston. Notice
the colors they pick and the images, some
of which could best be described as
quite disturbing. Here is a tourism-based
example and we know how these folks want
us to feel. If we use their product, you
know you're going to have a great time
out on the river and this company has
been consistent throughout their
Branding. I'd like to go back to that
textbook definition of branding for just
a moment; you see, I have a customer in
New England who owns a small restaurant
and branding is absolutely killing them.
As a matter of fact, they want to sell
that restaurant sometime this Summer if
they can and I can tell you exactly why:
it's Branding. Branding is their problem.
You may also want to insert the word
reputation. If you go on TripAdvisor, or
Yelp, or any of these review sites. What
you'll find out about this particular
place is people will go to the
restaurant three or four times, have a
wonderful experience, they'll get on,
write glowing reviews; four stars, five
stars, and then the very next review
right behind it, one star. Why? Because
that person went in, they set there for
30 minutes before the waitress ever
shows up, and the food was another 20 minutes
getting there. It didn't matter how
good the meal was, by the time they got
the food it was already done. And that is
causing these folks to go out, now
they're motivated, you see people who
have a decent meal they're not motivated,
so these guys are motivated, they're
going on these review sites the writing
mixed reviews. One is great the next
one's awful and their Branding is
killing them. So you can see from this
that consistency in your product is
terribly important. It will, and it has in
this case, it will put you out of
business. Pay attention to your Branding,
to the total customer experience. That's
going to do it through this particular
lecture. Coming up next time one of my
pet peeves: Compelling Text. I'll see you
soon. bye bye...