Week 3 Part B: Developing a Brand

 The Key to Brand Development is Brand Analysis.

   Real, in-depth analysis needs to be at the heart of every business venture. No good business is going to release a product without a thorough analysis. Is it functional, is it safe? Is there a market? How much does it cost to produce? How much can it be sold for? How many can we produce? How many do we need to sell? These questions are just the tip of the iceberg for most product research. A company’s brand needs to be viewed in the same way. It is a commodity that needs to be properly invested in and strategized.

    One of the best tools that should be utilized is some form of SWOT analysis. SWOT (strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats) is used to develop strategic planning. Analyzing strengths allows a company to identify good places to start really identifying their brand. By understanding what a company does well, they can play to their strengths. Understanding weaknesses likewise is a good start to mitigating those weaknesses or leaving them behind. No company can do all things, nor should they. Failing fast is a key to business survival. Opportunity is a more difficult beast. Opportunity is fluid and fickle. Realizing opportunity takes planning and timing. It requires a deep understanding of the business, the segment, and the location. Only businesses that truly understand their strengths and weaknesses can plan to capitalize on opportunity when it arises. I always like that threats come last. A thorough SWOT analysis lets a company know who the threats truly are. To the untrained eye, everything looks like a threat. Once a company has identified their strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities, then they can envision what threats are truly out there. It would be a fool’s errand for a company to try and build a brand for everyone else to see without knowing who they are and where they want to go.

    In many articles about building and managing brands, the last step is analysis, refinement, or reflection. I have yet to read an article about building a brand that did not include this vital step. So why leave it to the end? This step is vital. No matter what path is taken towards building and managing a brand, it will never be finished. This needs to be understood in advance. A brand is never a finished product. If a company is waiting to perfect their brand before implementing and managing it, they will fail. New customer research, new technology, changing demographics, altered politics, and unknown competitors will always appear. Any company that is not constantly analyzing their brand will have it managed for them. The “public” on a macro level is constantly evolving. What is popular today may be disastrous tomorrow.

    Once that is done, now it is time to get to building a brand. Once a company has done the necessary research and recognized the ongoing nature of managing a brand, it almost builds itself. Companies lean into their strengths, minimize their weaknesses, recognize opportunity, and identify threats, the brand builds itself.

    The final thing to stress is; don’t cheap out now. Building a brand is about art and entertainment. Graphic design is an art. Building a logo should feel simple, but be elegant. The Apple logo as we know it today, was essentially created in 1977. 

    There have been multiple revisions around a theme, but simple is part of the brand. Each change though is its own work of art. Each logo has subtle nuances that weren’t included by mistake. The rainbow image of the original bitten apple was a look into the future. Back then Apple computers were tan and gray, and the screens were variations on monochromatic. Color cases and screens were a dream but were obviously the vision of the company. Later logos envisioned 3D, minimization, and elegance. Seemingly simple changes, but highly artistic. Clean lines, 3D shading, variations in light, all were carefully designed. We’ve all seen bad logos, designed by the owner. They are too big, too clunky, they have too many words, they are flat. If a logo looks cheap, the company looks cheap. It the logo is confusing the company is confusing. Get a professional graphic designer. Hire them freelance, hire them permanently, but hire them.

    Building a brand is not easy; building the rest of the company may be easier. Building a brand is not cheap. Building a brand is never done. Building a brand and doing it well is definitely worth it.

 

https://www.fool.com/the-blueprint/how-to-build-a-brand/

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/s/swot.asp

https://medium.com/@thelogocreative/apple-logo-evolution-it-all-started-with-a-fruit-e976427f5292

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