In order to grow your company and develop a strong market share you must have a strong brand. There’s an old marketing phrase called The Rule of 7. It indicates that your brand needs to be seen seven times before it’s registered in someones mind. Your marketing message needs to be seen 7 times or your tag line needs to be read seven times. I have worked with dozens of companies where the company name is branded on all promotional material in Times Roman font. I’m certain that there is nothing more boring (or transparent!) than that presentation.
Now, it is true that there is a huge argument for repetition. I suppose if you were to take that same boring company name in Times Roman font and couple it with a massive (and expensive) marketing campaign, that would create recognition, but why would you want to do that or spend that kind of money?
Branding is in fact about repetition but let’s define branding. Dictionary.com (whatever happened to Noah Webster?) defines branding as the promotion of a particular product or company by means of advertising and distinctive design. The important reference in that definition is “distinctive design”. A good example of branding would be the insanely fast growth of Planet Fitness. A health club started here in NH. One tiny and simple contributor of their growth is giving away vinyl stickers for members cars. Ubiquitous branding and recognition would be an understatement!
Two of the most prodigious monikers of success are McDonald’s and Nike. Nike has been known to take out a double, full page ad in the Wall Street Journal and simply insert their swoosh, that’s all. Remarkably successful and ostensibly simple. How did they get to where they are today? In large part to repetition of branding.
We have worked with many companies teaching them the need for a logo and the art of repetition. There are some basic facts that need to be in place and one of those is to know your market. More on that in another post.