Technological superiority? People friendly? Best support? Highest quality? Most cost-effective solution? Or out of touch? Your brand is the sum total of how your audience experiences and perceives your company, products or services. These experiences (touch points) are molded by your brand identity, brand strategy, the implementation of your brand plan and the brand materials that deliver the message.

More than just a set of marketing tactics!

A branding program should be an “outside-in” & “inside-out” activity that includes and resonates with customers, prospects and stakeholders in the target market and business environment that your company participates in. Vendors, customers, prospects, distributors… all experience your brand in different ways. By staying in touch with these stakeholders, you can gain valuable feedback that can be pumped back into managing the brand strategy and preventing potential slippage.

Fully implemented, a company’s branding strategy and plan should touch and transform every aspect of your company’s operation, enlisting your employees as enthusiastic brand representatives who deliver the brand promise and influence brand strength.

Controlling your brand

Effective brands are built on an in-depth understanding of a company’s competitive position in the marketplace, its product & service strengths, its promises, its values & ethics, its sales process, its after-sales support, and its strategic plan. Understanding the factors that build and affect the brand will enable the creation & implementation of a solid brand or re-brand plan, essential brand elements and branding tools/materials that will effectively help the company engage with the needs and desires of the market, prospects, customers and stakeholders. Through consistent and targeted implementation of the branding plan, a company can dramatically impact brand strength and perception.

Understanding your company’s persona

Positioning:
Where is your company in your specific market space with respect to the competition and what the market needs are?

Unique sales proposition (USP):
What do you see as benefits to your client choosing your products over your competition? What makes your company so special? Even if you are a me-to company, there needs to be a compelling reason why a prospect would chose your products over the competition. Find that positive unique feature and make it part of your brand.

Your market:
Understanding and keeping in touch with your market is a pretty obvious requirement in any business. Being close to it, will keep you on the cutting edge, allowing you to predict the markets direction and adapt your offerings to potential niche opportunities. By staying synchronized with your market, you can address and publicize changes quickly, giving the impression that you are an innovative driver of the technology.

Your competition:
Continually audit your competition, understand their products and analyze the features and benefits they use to promote their products. Do your products out perform the competitions products? Make sure that you capitalize on the things that you do better by promoting the differentiators. Keep your literature and marketing pieces current, dispose of outdated materials, provide opportunities to update current and potential customers. Keeping current will help you build your brand.

Integrated marketing and consistency

Once your identity elements have been established, our integrated marketing approach ensures that future projects employ your identity standards for brand recognition, message consistency, and support of your strategic direction.

What we do:

Understanding brand strengths and weaknesses unveils opportunities for brand growth and renewed strength.

• Identity & message development
• Market position analysis & development
• Brand audit, analysis, & planning
• Marketing communications plan development
• Integrated collateral development & implementation
• Public relations opportunities

Whether you are considering a brand building strategy for a new company, re-branding of an existing company or making sure that you are staying the course, The Hutchins Crang Marketing Group has the experience, knowledge and resources to help you accomplish your company’s directives.

For more information or discussion on brand development, please add your comments,
or contact us directly.

Ted Hutchins, Managing Partner, Creative Director
Canada: 613.482.9623