Branding - Pro's and Cons for new businesses

If a new business has the opportunity to create a brand for it's items (regardless of what they are selling), should they?

I was contemplating going down the branding route for my new business but I am now considering it could just add unneccessary expense and not to mention confusion in the start up phase, am I on the right road or have I fallen off the track?

In fact, initially I wanted branding because I feel it would give me a competitive advantage and act as a barrier to someone else entering my market because I'm out there first. It's a niche market and one that is not in Ireland yet and my business will be 100% online for the launch and forseeable future (launching September/October 09)

Is branding essential for new businesses that don't have the marketing budget of "Nike" or "Baileys" i.e. ones that won't be having international campaigns?

Thoughts?

glanman

you have to use branding, its essential for people to recognise who you are and what you do. Branding is not about a name and a logo, branding is about who you are, what makes you who you are and what you offer. I suggest reading and researching about branding to fully understand what it means.

growler

how can you not have a "brand" for your business / product?

whether you call yourself "Mick's Tyres" and hand paint a sign outside your garage or you launch as My Corp. International , hire an agency to create logos, brochures, identity guidelines, websites, fonts, colour palletes etc for you , your brand is how you are perceived by your internal and external audiences, I don't know how you can not have one.

What do you want your customers, prospects, suppliers, employees, press to think of, associate you with when they hear your name? Do you want to be thought of as a rip off merchant or a trustworthy provider of valuable, cost effective services? A pro or an amateur? etc etc.

As soon as you stick up a url or print a business card you're creating your brand, far better to think about it now , up front, and strive to be the brand you want, than wander about hoping everyone else will somehow intuitively know what it is you stand for.

Pixelcraft

as others have said, you don't really have a choice. If you don't brand yourself in any particular way, your customers will do that job for you. It's best to have some control in how you are perceived no?

Yeah sorry maybe I didn't explain myself properly, I understand the concept of a brand and how my URL and business cards are representing the company and telling people about it etc.

I'm just having a brain freeze at the moment as to what brand I should create. I mean, I wouldn't have a clue who "Nike" are if it wasn't for advertising and I was thinking, should my brand inform people exactly what I do or can ambiguous brands be successful?

fiscalstudent

your still being quite vague with your question.....but as far as I can make out, your wondering if you should call your product something similar to your website?is that correct?

If this is the case then i would invariably say yes they should be linked. Especially for a new web business, google rank will be crucial so having similar words on your web page helps.

For a crude hypothetical example, if i was to sell a financial product off my website, I would be better off calling them "fiscals" rather than a catchy name like "yaks"

does that make sense?is that even what your asking? or have i officially lost the plot!


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www.fiscalstudent.com

fiscalstudent

fiscalstudent wrote: »

your still being quite vague with your question.....but as far as I can make out, your wondering if you should call your product something similar to your website?is that correct?

If this is the case then i would invariably say yes they should be linked. Especially for a new web business, google rank will be crucial so having similar words on your web page helps.

For a crude hypothetical example, if i was to sell a financial product off my website, I would be better off calling them "fiscals" rather than a catchy name like "yaks"

does that make sense?is that even what your asking? or have i officially lost the plot!


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www.fiscalstudent.com

no, no, you're spot on. That's what I was getting at, I just couldn't transfer my thoughts from my head on to writing otherwise known as writers block (but I'm not an artist!)

Anyway, I have two options. I can name my business one that will relate directly to my business and people will understand what it is.

Hypothetical example: I sell tyres and call myself "Micks Tyres" and go get the link www.mickstyres.ie (lol) and my business is built around that name/brand.

Or I can name my business something else which is still totally related but it's more ambiguous. Example 2: I sell tyres and do a "Nike" on it and call myself "The Rubber"

Basically, brand name - should I make it really easy for people to figure out what it is I do, or do a Nike and create ambiguity...

*I think I'm losing the plot fiscalstudent

growler

I don't think anyone has any difficulty working out what Nike do, becasue its one of the best known brands in the world backed by 100 * millions of advertising and sponsorship annually, a spend reflected by their sales and profits.

So if you are planning to sell tyres then i reckon Mick's Friendly Discount Tyres is likely to attract more interest, awareness and less ambiguity than "the Rubber" (although you may get some passing fetish trade by accident, although a "burning rubber" might work for a boy racer audience.

So it depends on who your audience is.

Nike wasn't always Nike, it used to be Blue Ribbon I think, and Nike was a greek god of victory , so it isn't all totally random.

Starting out, you want your target market to look at your sign, url, business card, paper or advert and know instantly what you do, if you've got a few million to invest up front, hire a branding agency!

Sonnenblumen

Deleted User wrote: »

Yeah sorry maybe I didn't explain myself properly, I understand the concept of a brand and how my URL and business cards are representing the company and telling people about it etc.

I'm just having a brain freeze at the moment as to what brand I should create. I mean, I wouldn't have a clue who "Nike" are if it wasn't for advertising and I was thinking, should my brand inform people exactly what I do or can ambiguous brands be successful?

I wouldn't underestimate the emotional aspects of brands. Some of the great brands are great not for being great products but great for how they make users feel using the products!

Brands are not always market leaders, but always associated with specific products attributes.

antoinolachtnai

Are you trying to decide what sort of name to have - descriptive or evocative, abstract or concrete?

The answer is it just depends. The name is just like a piece of machinery. You don't by it because it looks pretty or your mother likes it. You need it to do a job. First thing is to decide what job you want the name to do. Who do you want it to appeal to? What do you want it to suggest? What sort of things do you want to market under it? What sort of campaigns would you be using it for?

MGilly84

I'd agree you need to your Branding plan in place now, it wont just happen by itself or at least sucessfully. Branding doesnt need to be expensive either. If your lookin for a cheap and effective solution I could give you a number of this guy I know whos a branding genius.