branding Archives - OpenBusinessCouncil Directory

How to Make Your Branding Details Stand Out

Hernaldo Turrillo — Thu, 21 Oct 2021 00:15:00 +0000

Currently, the world seems to run on smartphones and a stable internet connection. You can even start a business with those tools alone. But, unfortunately, this means the market can easily get flooded with numerous similar business offerings. For this reason, customers must connect with your brand.

Branding is the important process of actively shaping your brand. This typically comes in the form of various elements such as the products and services you offer, all the way to details such as events you support. Nevertheless, it is pretty easy for branding details to get lost in the shuffle of competitor messaging and branding efforts. However, there are ways you can steer clear of this hassle.

Make Them Pop

A simple brand name is easy to remember and straightforward to build around. However, it would neither be unique nor striking. When creating your business plan, consider what your brand stands for and represents. For instance, think about the name you want, how you want people to look at your brand, etc. The basic concept is to start with a solid foundation.

You also have to make sure your products and branding pop when placed among a sea of competitors. For instance, when planning to hand out promotional products at a trade show, think outside the box about what you could offer or do differently to catch people’s eye. You can offer them the best highlighter pen at the event and include a mini planner to start using the highlighter immediately.

You can also offer products based on the season, like a fan for the summer or hand warmers for the winter. The rule of thumb is to do your market research, see what competitors are doing with their branding, and ideate ways to do things differently.

Brand Partnerships

Brand partnerships are a great way to strengthen a specific campaign and attract new customers. It also helps to amplify the brand messaging you are looking to convey. Sometimes, partnerships are an obvious choice. However, that is not always the case.

While there are no set rules on who you should partner with, you should ideally collaborate with a brand of a similar style yet different product/service offerings. This will help you further establish who you are as a company. Ensure you are offering a high-quality collaborative product or limited services. It will help make the partnership feel exclusive and unique, often creating more buzz.

Socially Conscious Branding

In the present world, every business wants to be the “good guy brand.” The reason behind this is quite simple—the companies that appear good generally see better revenues.

Many young customers these days are becoming more interested in purchasing from brands that are ethical and socially conscious. They support brands that are also good citizens. A common example is Toms Shoes. They give away a pair of shoes to those in need for every pair sold.

Your job here is to either find ethically sourced product chains or work with a charitable organization to give back. Whatever option you choose, it’s worth it to do things right. You might also want to consider throwing an event or creating a unique product to support a particular cause. It will help draw positive attention to your brand.

Utilize Social Media

With more than 3.96 billion people on social media globally, there is no better way to promote your products, services, and unique offerings than through popular social media channels. By coming up with content that cuts through the noise, you can help your brand draw the most attention. Building your brand presence on social media is vital to making your business appear more aesthetic and sharing your message with the world.

Nonetheless, ensure you put enough thought into the type of content you put out about your business. Quality remains essential alongside quantity. Also, be consistent with posting for optimal engagement.

Think Outside the Box

Ask yourself, is there something you can do differently from your competitors? For example, can you offer a new product or service? Or, is there a different way of doing things?

Try going subtle if your competitors are loud and colorful with their logos, messaging, and brand names. If every social media page in your industry looks the same, try something new with your brand’s social media handle.

Start by identifying your intentions as a brand and the type of people you are looking to attract. This will help you discover how you can approach your brand in a unique and unconventional way. Then all you have to do is execute your ideas.

Empower Your Business with Branding

Branding is an action that might seem daunting at first. There are a lot of steps involved, from planning to assets to essential personnel creating your unforgettable brand. Nonetheless, it is empowering. When you speak up with branding instead of having others tell your story, the whole world will be more likely to listen.

Hernaldo Turrillo

Hernaldo Turrillo is a writer and author specialised in innovation, AI, DLT, SMEs, trading, investing and new trends in technology and business. He has been working for ztudium group since 2017. He is the editor of openbusinesscouncil.org, tradersdna.com, hedgethink.com, and writes regularly for intelligenthq.com, socialmediacouncil.eu. Hernaldo was born in Spain and finally settled in London, United Kingdom, after a few years of personal growth. Hernaldo finished his Journalism bachelor degree in the University of Seville, Spain, and began working as reporter in the newspaper, Europa Sur, writing about Politics and Society. He also worked as community manager and marketing advisor in Los Barrios, Spain. Innovation, technology, politics and economy are his main interests, with special focus on new trends and ethical projects. He enjoys finding himself getting lost in words, explaining what he understands from the world and helping others. Besides a journalist, he is also a thinker and proactive in digital transformation strategies. Knowledge and ideas have no limits.

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Interview with Richard Haigh, Managing Director at Brand Finance, BA from University of Oxford, Lecturer – “Bridging The Gap Between Marketing And Finance”

Hernaldo Turrillo — Wed, 21 Jul 2021 10:13:15 +0000

Richard Haigh is the Managing Director at Brand Finance. He has lectured at universities and business schools, including London Business School, on topics surrounding brand valuation and management.

From his expertise with global clients in various sectors including banking, telecoms, airlines, sport, media, food and more, Richard has been able to advise our clients about their Brand Hierarchy, and has devised and recommended methods for them to improve their Brand Architecture, Portfolio Management, and Brand Positioning.

Richard Haigh also has a BA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford, qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and became a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing with Brand Finance.

Richard Haigh Interview Focus

1. Education and Professional Career

2. Can you tell us about Brand Finance?

3. Your company / companies, organisations and focus

4. Can you tell us more about the methodology and technology behind the rankings system?

5. How do you see Society 5.0 – 4IR and all areas of digital transformation?

6. What are your views on our society, technology and digital transformations?

7. What are your goals and how do you see the future of work and the main trends in tech and society?

8. With Covid-19 what ways do you envision to redesign our society with technology and social impact?

9. What are your visions for the present and future?

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Richard Haigh Biography

Richard Haigh holds a BA in Mathematics from the University of Oxford and he is qualified as a Chartered Accountant (ACA) and became a member of the Chartered Institute of Marketing with Brand Finance.

Since graduating from the University of Oxford, he has worked with international companies such as global banking group Standard Chartered Bank. He joined the bank in 2009, in which he was in charge of rotations on the Foreign exchange and commodities trading floor. The desks included the derivatives, spot and metal commodity trading desks to assist in front line support tasks and gaining a taste of the industry. “It was at Standard Chartered I gained my first taste of Visual Basic Editor, teaching myself the language to create an information recall macro to enhance the current system of commodity database management,” Richard Haigh mentioned about that experience.

In September 2009, Richard joined family business Brand Finance as Brand Analyst. Climbing up the hierarchy ladder, Richard became Managing Director in 2016. Along all these years, Richard Haigh has brought his expertise with global clients in various sectors including banking, telecoms, airlines, sport, media, food and more, and able to advise their clients about their Brand Hierarchy, and has devised and recommended methods for them to improve their Brand Architecture, Portfolio Management, and Brand Positioning.

As Richard mentioned about his role at Brand Finance: “Aside from my day to day responsibilities both internal and external facing, I have also been a member of the BSI’s delegation to ISO Technical Committee 289: Brand Valuation, for the creation of the new standard ISO 20671: Brand Evaluation.”

Richard is the Managing Director at Brand Finance. He has lectured at universities and business schools, including London Business School, on topics surrounding brand valuation and management.

https://www.openbusinesscouncil.org/wiki/richard-haigh/

About Brand Finance

Brand Finance evaluates the strength and value of more than 5000 global brands every year.

Brandirectory holds all of the Brand Finance rankings, specialist reports and whitepapers published since 2007. With over 40 sectors and industries covered in 46 countries, Brandirectory is the most comprehensive collection of original brand valuations, brand strength analyses and royalty rate calculations.

The Global Soft Power Index and Nation Brand rankings bring the same rigorous valuation approach to perceptions of soft power, national influence, and the nation-to-nation awareness and attitudes that drive global travel, trade and tourism.

Brand Finance’s brand value rankings have been certified by the Marketing Accountability Standards Board (MASB) through the Marketing Metric Audit Protocol (MMAP), the formal process for validating the relationship between marketing measurement and financial performance.

Richard Haigh Links and Sources

https://uk.linkedin.com/in/richarddbhaigh

https://brandfinance.com/about

https://www.brandfinanceinstitute.com/lecturers

https://twitter.com/BrandFinance

https://www.intelligenthq.com/europes-top-500-companies-brand-finance-reveals-auto-mobile-brands-dominate-europe/

https://brandirectory.com/

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Hernaldo Turrillo

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Revealed: Poor Branding Put Startups At Risk

Hernaldo Turrillo — Tue, 16 Apr 2019 09:15:07 +0000

Revealed: Poor Branding Put Startups At Risk

How often do people see companies’ branding or adverts without being able to discern what it is they actually do?. To find out that Studio Graphene has commissioned an independent, nationally representative survey among more than 2,000 UK adults. It ran a little experiment for it: the participants were given a list of 10 company names and their logos, as well as a muddled-up list of 10 descriptions that corresponded to the companies – they had to match the description to the name and logo. Each of the UK businesses raised more than £3 million in Series A investment last year.

The research found:

On average, only 21% of respondents were able to correctly identify what a company did based on its name and logo
40% successfully identified Medopad as a HealthTech company, making it the best performer
Conversely, just 8% correctly guessed what Waldo do – an ecommerce platform for people to buy contact lenses

To delve further into just how important businesses’ branding and marketing are in influencing a consumer’s spending habits, Studio Graphene also discovered:

Half (51%) of UK adults said they regularly see adverts in the media and struggle to understand what product or service is being advertised
62% avoid engaging with a company if it’s not immediately obvious what they do
And 55% feel too many new businesses today opt for obscure names that do not relate to what they do
42% of people say that branding plays a role in their purchasing decisions
And 67% go for well-known brands when making major purchases (cars, holidays, etc.)

With the average UK consumer exposed to dozens of advertisements every day, standing out from the competition has become a challenge for all businesses. However, many companies’ obscure branding and unclear marketing are driving away customers, new research has revealed.

Studio Graphene asked an independent, nationally representative sample of more than 2,000 UK respondents to correctly identify what the following 10 companies do based on their names and logos – Medopad, Quantexa, The Plum Guide, vTime, OLIO, Seatfrog, Lightful, Spectral Edge, Waldo, Lexoo. All of these are UK-based businesses that raised more than £3 million in Series A investment in 2018.

The survey found that on average only a fifth (21%) of consumers could match a business’ name and logo to its description. The best performer was Medopad – the HealthTech firm, aided by the inclusion of ‘med’ in its name, was correctly matched to its service offering by 40% of respondents. Conversely, a mere 8% recognised that Waldo was an online retailer of contact lenses. To avoid this situation, you should do everything you can to forge a good brand name. If you lack inspiration, try using software that can quickly generate many business names.

what is brand?

Studio Graphene then asked the sample about their general perceptions toward logos and branding, and how important they are when it comes to using a company’s product or service.

The research found that the majority of consumers are inundated with adverts they do not understand. Half (51%) said they regularly see adverts in the media and struggle to identify what product or service is being advertised. Moreover, 61% avoid engaging further with a company if it is not immediately obvious what they offer, while 55% feel too many new businesses today opt for obscure names that do not relate to their offering.

Studio Graphene’s study also found that 42% of people said branding plays an important role in their purchasing decisions. Furthermore, two thirds (67%) typically go for well-known brands when making an expensive purchase, such as a car or a holiday.

Ritam Gandhi, founder and director of Studio Graphene, commented: “Today’s research underlines two things: how important branding is within consumers’ financial decisions; and just how many businesses are failing to brand themselves effectively. Indeed, with the average person exposed to hundreds of advertisements each day – whether in a newspaper, on TV or via social media – confused branding can result in businesses losing potential customers.

“Whether you’re a startup or large enterprise, business leaders cannot overlook the importance of clear branding. A company must create a brand and market it in a way that is simple, memorable and relevant.”

Hernaldo Turrillo

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Outsourcing Advice: Why You Need To Trust Other People With Your Brand

Hernaldo Turrillo — Wed, 22 Aug 2018 14:30:44 +0000

Outsourcing Advice: Why You Need To Trust Other People With Your Brand

New business owners and entrepreneurs are often a little cautious about the idea of outsourcing. They read about it all the time, but they struggle to take a leap of faith and employ other specialists to handle some of their time-consuming tasks. However, outsourcing can benefit your brand in many different ways, and this article will give you the lowdown on all those advantages. With a bit of luck, by the time you leave this page; you will feel more confident about developing an outsourcing strategy for the future that will help to take your company to the next level.

Outsourcing saves time!

Firstly, there is no getting away from the fact that employing other specialists to manage some of the tasks within your operation will help you to save a lot of time. For instance, lots of entrepreneurs decide to outsource their customer service department according to www.staffvirtual.com and other sites. When business owners do that, they tend to gain access to huge call centers full of well-trained staff who can deal with all their complaints and requests. You don’t need to stress about your customers getting annoyed because they won’t know the difference. The people you employ will follow a script you write for them, and so the folks who get in touch will think they are dealing with one of your employees.

Outsourcing saves money!

You also can’t ignore the fact that outsourcing will help you to save a lot of money. Let’s consider the situation with hacking and cybercrime at the moment. If you choose to outsource IT support to dedicated professionals like those at www.xbase.com and other websites; you would never have to deal with downtime again. Whenever something goes wrong; you call your outsourcing partners, and they put it right as quickly as possible. That means you never deliver orders late, and you don’t have to worry about anyone stealing your customer’s payment information.

Outsourcing increases productivity!

Outsourcing jobs like marketing and promotion will help to boost productivity within your operation. That is because you benefit from the skills and talents of people who spend their entire working lives focusing on that role. When it comes to promotion; you often need extensive knowledge about the latest trends to ensure you get the best results. People working for marketing agencies have that information, and they know how to use it to advertise your products or services and increase sales. That means you can focus on improving the inner workings of your business and planning for your next expansion.

Now you know about the benefits of outsourcing; it is time to conduct some research online and attempt to identify the most suitable partners for your business. Most companies that work in that field will list testimonials and reviews on their websites, and so you won’t have to work too hard to sort the wheat from the chaff. The best thing about outsourcing is that you can stop at any time if your situation changes. You can also swap partners whenever you choose. So, what’s holding you back?

This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

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Essential Features Of A Successful Landing Page

Hernaldo Turrillo — Thu, 19 Jul 2018 12:33:15 +0000

When you come to create a website suitable for your brand, you need to think about more than just a simple template and some words on the page. Your website is a window to your business and for many, this means that it is the best chance you have of getting the attention of your customers. If you are looking to make a great website this year, the landing page should be your number one priority.

A killer design

The first step to a website that people want to explore is a great landing page. Your landing page is the most important part of your website because it is the first impression anyone will get. Therefore, you could benefit from a website development team who can help you create a stunning design. Think outside of the box and be brave with your design. The more unique you can be, the better chances you have of a sale.

A smooth color scheme

The colour of your website sets the tone for what you expect to see. For example, if you had a black and yellow design, this immediately points towards DIY and hardware. Whereas if you design is pastel pink and white, you might be a wedding dress shop. Think smart with your colours and make sure that they fit with your theme and your logo too.

Featured posts

One thing which can elevate your website to the next level when you are trying to entice people is to have featured content on your website. Featured posts can add a lovely tone to your website and they also give audiences a taste of what they can expect if they continue to explore your website. This can be a super helpful feature and will bring people further into your website to engage with your content.

Imagery

A picture speaks a thousand words, and if you want to be successful as a company you want to make sure you have some killer imagery on your website. Using stock photos can help, however, for originality, you should try to take photographs yourself to fit your company and content. You will show off your talents and the colours and layouts you create will catch the eye of anyone who is scrolling by. Images are twice as high for engagement than text so use this to your advantage.

Links, links, links

Your website might be a window to the business, but it can also be a door to your business. The best thing you can do on your landing page is to add as many links as you can to other parts of your website, any products, and any social media accounts you have. This will encourage your customer to explore and will make them want to find out more about who you are as a brand. Links can also be great for SEO, so it is always worth putting as many different links on your website as you possibly can without it looking too spammy.

This is an article provided by our partners’ network. It might not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of our editorial team and management.

Contributed content

Hernaldo Turrillo

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