One of the most important components of defining your company is defining your brand. To become successful, you need to make sure that your logo is recognized instantly. Not only is this important for advertising reasons, but it is important as your company continues to grow. The trick is figuring out how to develop your company's brand strategy to make sure it's up there with the big name brand superstars. Let's take a look at a few of these companies and how you can learn from their branding tactics.
Coca-Cola
How does a soft drink create a brand that is recognized around the world? Sure, it helps that the brand is worth about 70 billion dollars, but it wasn't always like that. Coke's strength is that is always finds a way to connect with its current customers. The brand has had to make a lot of changes since 1886 to keep up with their audience, including changing their logo over the years to become more modern and thinking of creative campaigns to keep up with the times.
The best example of Coca-Cola's recent successful campaign was their Super Bowl commercials. Coke is always very forward thinking about how to create a brand that can relate to their audience. Their commercials pictured two polar bears: one rooting for the New York Giants, and the other rooting for the New England Patriots. The commercials that would play depended on who was winning the game. This is a great example of how the 125-year-old brand is still able to stay current.
Marketing takeaway: Relate to your audience and connect with your customers.
Geico
When you think of Geico, what do you think of? The gecko? Their tagline, "15 minutes can save you 15% or more on car insurance?" Geico is the prime example of using a mascot to define your brand. Geico's challenge was getting people's attention to promote car insurance, and while other brands can often use their products and services to excite audiences, insurance is something everyone needs, but it usually isn't too exciting.
The Geico gecko has revolutionized and defined Geico's brand. By having a character that discusses the benefits of car insurance in humorous situations, Geico is able to get into the minds of people of all ages. Even younger children are drawn to the gecko, despite the fact that they're not looking to buy car insurance. The key to their success has been putting a face to their brand.
Marketing takeaway: Be creative and find a unique, exciting, and attention-grabbing way to express your message.
Apple
Apple is the quintessential example of what brands strive to be like. Apple is associated with products that are easy to use, simple, and high quality. The brand is known to be representative of a way of life, leading its customers to say proudly, "I'm a Mac."
Apple did not use traditional methods to become a company with some of the most loyal users. Instead, they used emotion to connect with their customers. Apple's design was focused on making a person's life easier through its products. They showed their customers they were trustworthy and reliable. Apple's focus on human connection made its brand representative of a friend more than just a business. Not many companies can say that.
Marketing takeaway: Communicate with your customers in a way that earns their trust and loyalty and makes them want to tell others about your brand.
JetBlue
JetBlue revolutionized the airline industry by creating a new way to fly. Instead of flying simply to get from one place to another, JetBlue turned it into an experience. JetBlue came with friendly flight attendants who went out of their way to make flying meaningful. Each seat was equipped with a television set as well.
JetBlue saw a niche in the market and took advantage of it. People were not happy when they were traveling, and JetBlue found a way to fix that. Their brand became well known for the experience associated with flying.
Marketing takeaway: Find your target customers' pain points and figure out a way to solve them. Make your product or service an experience, not just an expenditure.
Comcast
There are a few brands that are only associated with the complaints they get when they are not functioning properly. Comcast is in an industry that you often don't hear good things about - you only hear when people complain that their Internet or cable is out. Comcast took that feedback and ran with it.
Comcast was the first company to offer customer service on Twitter. They recognized that the tool was perfect for real time engagement and took it to another level by utilizing it to service and interact with their customers. Instead of getting complaints about a product that wasn't always reliable, they started getting praise for the immediate attention given to the customers.
Marketing takeaway: Use different techniques, such as social media, to provide additional ways to allow your customers to reach and engage with you, and to show them that you care about their concerns and feedback.
So there you have it - 5 strategy lessons from top brand names that you can implement for your company. What are you waiting for? Start building up that brand recognition and loyalty!
Branding is just one component of a strong marketing strategy. Get a custom evaluation of how to improve your marketing with a free inbound marketing assessment from HubSpot!
The branding success of apple is also thanks to its design. If you walk on the street and see someone with white in ear phones, you know the person has an ipod. The distinctive apple is also a logo that pops up everywhere.
I agree. Apple owes a lot of its success to its engineers and especially its design team. They’ve done a fantastic job with all their products, and it certainly doesn’t hurt when you have some of the best marketing brains in the world working for you! Apple’s website and especially the product pages for the iPhone, Macbook etc are just a sight to behold!