Branding Dictionary

Advertisement

In branding and marketing, an advertisement is a paid, non-personal, public communication made by an identified sponsor using various media outlets to persuade, inform, or remind an audience about a product, service, or brand. Its goal is to influence the perception and behavior of consumers, leading to increased brand recognition, consideration, preference, and ultimately purchase.

Developing an effective advertisement involves several strategic steps, including identifying the target audience, defining campaign objectives, crafting a compelling message, and choosing the appropriate media channels.

Here’s a breakdown of these key components:

1. Target Audience: The specific group of consumers at which the advertisement is aimed. Detailed audience profiling ensures the advertisement resonates and engages the intended consumers effectively.
2. Campaign Objectives: These could range from raising brand awareness, launching a new product, stimulating demand, changing perceptions, or encouraging customer loyalty.
3. Message: The core idea or theme that the advertisement communicates. This could be a unique selling proposition (USP), emotional appeal, or brand story designed to differentiate the brand from its competitors and connect with the audience meaningfully.
4. Media Channels: The platforms where the advertisement is displayed. These could include traditional media like print, television, and radio, as well as digital platforms like social media, search engines, websites, and email marketing.

Strategic frameworks like the AIDA model (Attention, Interest, Desire, Action) can guide the crafting of an effective advertisement. Moreover, the concept of Integrated Marketing Communications (IMC) advocates for a consistent message across all advertising and marketing channels to ensure maximum impact.

Examples of advertisements could range from a 30-second Super Bowl commercial that reaches millions of viewers, a digital Facebook ad specifically targeted at millennials interested in sustainable fashion, a print ad in a local newspaper for a new restaurant, or even a sponsored post by an influencer on Instagram promoting a skincare brand.

Finally, advertising performance should be evaluated using relevant metrics like reach, impressions, clicks, conversions, and return on investment (ROI). This ensures that the brand’s advertising efforts are effective and provides insights for future campaign improvements.

A few articles on advertisement: here, here, here, here, and here.

Affiliate Marketing

In branding and marketing, affiliate marketing is a performance-based marketing strategy where a business rewards one or more affiliates for each visitor or customer brought by the affiliate’s marketing efforts. This is often done through commissions based on sales, clicks, leads, or a combination.

Key components of affiliate marketing include:

1. Merchant (Advertiser/Brand): The party that creates the product or service. They establish an affiliate program to incentivize others to promote their offerings.
2. Affiliate (Publisher/Partner): A person or company that promotes the merchant’s products or services on their platform, such as a website or social media channel. Affiliates use unique tracking links to prove that traffic or sales came from their efforts.
3. Consumer (Audience): The party that sees the affiliate content, makes a purchase or takes an action that triggers a commission.
4. Affiliate Network: A platform that serves as an intermediary between merchants and affiliates. They provide the technology to track affiliate efforts, ensure sales are properly attributed, and handle commission payment processing.

Affiliate marketing strategies typically involve SEO (search engine optimization), content marketing, email marketing, and social media marketing to drive traffic to the affiliate’s platform and the merchant’s site. Successful affiliates often target a specific niche and provide valuable content that builds trust with their audience.

An example of affiliate marketing might be a tech blogger who writes laptop reviews. They could join an affiliate program of a computer manufacturer or a retail platform like Amazon. When a reader clicks on the affiliate link in the review and purchases the laptop, the blogger receives a commission.

Affiliate marketing benefits both parties involved – the merchant increases sales by reaching a larger audience, while the affiliate earns income without developing their product or service. It also provides value to consumers by introducing them to products or services they might be interested in and providing additional information or reviews to aid in their purchasing decision.

Performance is typically tracked using metrics such as click-through rates (CTR), conversion rates, average order value (AOV), and return on investment (ROI). This helps both the merchant and the affiliate understand the effectiveness of their partnership and make necessary adjustments for future success.

This is similar to brand ambassador marketing.

Anchoring Strategy

In branding and marketing, anchoring strategy refers to a psychological tactic businesses use to influence consumer perception and decision-making. The anchoring principle is based on the cognitive bias that people rely heavily on the first piece of information they receive (the “anchor”) when making decisions.

Key components of an anchoring strategy include:

1. Pricing: One of the most common uses of anchoring is in setting prices. A company may initially present a high price (the anchor), making subsequent prices more attractive. For instance, showing the “original” price slashed next to a sale price on a product.
2. Product Comparisons: Another common use of anchoring is presenting product features or benefits. By setting an anchor that emphasizes a particular feature of the product, companies can make other products without this feature seem less appealing.
3. Value Proposition: Companies use anchoring to showcase their value compared to competitors. By establishing their product or service as the standard (the anchor), they aim to influence how customers evaluate other brands.

A successful anchoring strategy involves understanding the target audience and their perception of value and quality. The chosen anchor should resonate with the audience and be relevant to their needs and wants.

For instance, a tech company may release a new smartphone model at a higher price, establishing an anchor. When they subsequently introduce a mid-range model with slightly fewer features, consumers perceive this as more affordable, even if the price is still high relative to the market. The high-end model is an anchor that influences consumer perception of the mid-range model’s price.

Tracking the success of an anchoring strategy involves monitoring metrics like customer acquisition cost, customer lifetime value, sales conversion rates, and overall market share. By analyzing these metrics, a company can determine whether its anchoring strategy effectively influences consumer behavior and contributes to achieving its business goals.

This strategy should be used cautiously and with ethical intent in mind. These days, many online gurus and digital education product sellers use ludicrous price anchors to get sales. Don’t do that! Here is some advice on perfect pricing.

Aspirational Brands

Aspirational brands are those that consumers desire to be associated with but may not currently be able to afford due to high prices or exclusivity. These brands often symbolize higher social status, luxury, quality, or a lifestyle appealing to consumer aspirations.

Key components of aspirational brands include:

1. Quality and Craftsmanship: Aspirational brands often distinguish themselves through superior quality, craftsmanship, and design. Their products or services tend to be seen as best-in-class in their category.
2. Exclusivity: Aspirational brands often create a sense of exclusivity, either through high prices, limited availability, or selective distribution. This exclusivity can enhance the brand’s desirability.
3. Brand Story and Heritage: Many aspirational brands have a rich history or a compelling brand story that adds to their allure. This can include the brand’s origins, craftsmanship story, or association with notable figures or events.
4. Emotional Connection: Aspirational brands are skilled at cultivating a strong emotional connection with consumers. They effectively communicate a lifestyle or an image that consumers aspire to attain.

Aspirational brands use various marketing strategies to maintain prestige and appeal, such as celebrity endorsements, high-profile collaborations, presence in high-end outlets, and premium packaging.

For example, a brand like Rolex is seen as aspirational due to its association with luxury, precision, and high social status. Consumers who buy a Rolex watch are not just buying a timekeeping device but a symbol of success and prestige.

Measuring the success of an aspirational brand can be complex. Traditional metrics like sales volume and market share may not be the primary goal for these brands, as they often prioritize maintaining their exclusive image over maximizing sales. Instead, metrics such as brand equity, brand recognition, brand desire, and premium pricing ability may be more relevant indicators of success.

This strategy is used to create desirability and emotional cult-like status for a brand. An alternate definition used by some people states these brands are those that people embrace because of the aspirational nature of the brand and what it stands for.

Authenticity

Authenticity refers to the degree to which a brand is truthful, genuine, and real in its interactions with its customers and stakeholders. Authentic brands align their actions with their stated values, mission, and brand promise, resulting in an honest and transparent relationship with their audience.

Key aspects of authenticity in branding include:

1. Consistency: Authentic brands maintain a consistent identity across all customer touchpoints, from advertising and packaging to customer service and social media presence.
2. Transparency: Authentic brands are open about business practices, manufacturing processes, and corporate policies. They actively communicate this information to their stakeholders, fostering trust and credibility.
3. Storytelling: Authentic brands often have a compelling brand story that reflects their origins, mission, and evolution. This story is communicated truthfully and engagingly, establishing a deeper connection with the audience.
4. Value Alignment: Authentic brands stand by their values, even when challenging. This might involve making socially responsible decisions, engaging in charitable activities, or taking a stand on pertinent societal issues.

An effective authenticity strategy requires a deep understanding of the brand’s identity and a commitment to maintaining this identity in all interactions. This can include consistently producing high-quality products, providing excellent customer service, engaging honestly on social media, and communicating openly about company practices.

An example of authenticity in branding could be Patagonia, an outdoor clothing brand. Patagonia is known for its commitment to environmental sustainability, evident in its product materials, manufacturing processes, and corporate initiatives. This authenticity has garnered a loyal customer base and established Patagonia as a leader in sustainable business practices.

Assessing the impact of authenticity on a brand involves examining metrics such as brand trust, customer loyalty, brand advocacy (e.g., through Net Promoter Score), and overall brand reputation. An authentic brand can expect higher customer retention, positive word-of-mouth, and a stronger brand image.

One of the strongest brand attributes is authenticity which is the quality of being genuine. You can have authenticity in your brand story, message communication, product or service value, customer service, and more. Every brand should strive to gain authenticity.

Audio Branding

Audio branding, or sonic branding, refers to the strategic use of sound to reinforce brand identity and enhance the brand experience. It leverages the power of music, voice, and sound effects to create an audible representation of the brand’s values, personality, and promise, forming an emotional connection with the audience and enhancing brand recall.

Key elements of audio branding include:

1. Brand Theme or Anthem: This unique musical piece captures the brand’s essence. It can be used across different platforms, such as TV commercials, radio spots, and digital content.
2. Sonic Logo or Audio Mnemonic: This is a short, distinctive sound or melody associated with the brand. It’s often used at the beginning or end of commercials and promotional videos.
3. Brand Voice: This is the specific style, tone, and character of the voice used in the brand’s communication, such as voiceovers in advertisements, automated responses in customer service, or voice-based virtual assistants.
4. Soundscapes are background sounds or ambient music used in physical or digital brand environments like stores, websites, or apps. They set the mood and enhance the overall user experience.
5. Product Sounds: These are the characteristic sounds that a product makes, which can become associated with the brand (for example, the click of a luxury car door or the startup sound of a computer).

A strong audio branding strategy involves creating a cohesive and consistent sound profile that aligns with the brand’s visual identity and overall brand strategy. It should evoke the intended emotions and effectively communicate the brand’s personality.

For example, Intel’s four-note sonic logo, played at the end of its commercials, is a classic example of audio branding. It’s instantly recognizable, enhances brand recall, and conveys a sense of innovation and reliability.

Measuring the success of an audio branding strategy involves assessing brand awareness, brand recall, emotional response, and the overall impact on the customer experience. Advances in technology, including AI and machine learning, are increasingly being used to gain deeper insights into these areas and fine-tune audio branding strategies.

Bandwagon Effect

The bandwagon effect is a psychological phenomenon where people adopt certain behaviors, styles, or attitudes primarily because others are doing the same. This can influence consumer purchasing decisions, as individuals often perceive popular products as superior or trendy and, thus, desire to be part of the ‘crowd.’

Key applications of the bandwagon effect in marketing include:

1. Social Proof: This involves demonstrating that others are using and enjoying a product, encouraging potential customers to do the same. This could be achieved through customer testimonials, user-generated content, influencer endorsements, or showcasing large user numbers.
2. Trending Products/Services: Brands may highlight their products or services’ popularity or trending status. For example, an online store might display a “bestseller” or “most popular” tag on certain items.
3. Celebrity Endorsements: Celebrities can exert a strong influence on their fans. Brands often collaborate with popular celebrities to leverage their fan base and create a bandwagon effect.
4. Limited Edition Products: By suggesting that many people are rushing to buy a limited quantity product, brands can create a sense of urgency and desirability, spurring others to jump on the bandwagon before it’s too late.

While the bandwagon effect can be a powerful marketing tool, it’s important for brands to maintain authenticity and not manipulate the perception of popularity dishonestly. Misuse can lead to consumer mistrust and harm the brand’s reputation.

An example of the bandwagon effect in action is the popularity of Apple’s iPhone. Many consumers choose an iPhone because they see others using it, reinforcing its image as a desirable, trendy product.

Measuring the impact of the bandwagon effect involves tracking sales growth, market share, customer acquisition rates, and social media engagement. Surveys and focus groups can also provide valuable insights into consumers’ motivations and perceptions.

Blue Ocean Brand Strategy

Derived from the “Blue Ocean Strategy” concept in business literature, a Blue Ocean Brand Strategy involves positioning a brand to stand out from the competition by creating a new market space, or “blue ocean,” that is untapped and devoid of competition. This contrasts with a “red ocean,” crowded with competitors fighting for market share, often leading to commoditization and price wars.

Key elements of a Blue Ocean Brand Strategy include:

1. Value Innovation: The brand seeks to break the value-cost trade-off often seen in red oceans. This involves creating a leap in value for the brand and its customers while reducing costs or increasing differentiation.
2. Identifying Unmet Needs: This strategy involves discovering and addressing consumers’ unmet needs or desires. It could involve creating entirely new products or services or repackaging existing ones innovatively.
3. Creating and Capturing New Demand: Instead of competing for existing customers in a saturated market, a Blue Ocean Brand Strategy focuses on attracting non-customers and creating new demand.
4. Formulating a Distinct Brand Positioning: The brand’s identity, messaging, and customer experience are crafted to reinforce its unique value proposition and differentiate it from the competition.

An effective Blue Ocean Brand Strategy requires a deep understanding of the market, customer needs, and competitive landscape. Brands must be willing to challenge industry conventions and think outside the box.

Cirque du Soleil provides a classic example of a Blue Ocean Brand Strategy. Instead of competing directly with traditional circuses, it created a new market space by blending elements of the circus with Broadway-style theater, appealing to a new segment of customers willing to pay higher ticket prices for a unique entertainment experience.

To measure the success of a Blue Ocean Brand Strategy, brands can track metrics like new customer acquisition, market share in the new space, customer satisfaction, and overall brand equity. The ultimate goal is to establish the brand as the dominant player in the new market space it has created.

A blue ocean brand strategy represents the market space that does not yet exist. It’s the space you could move into if only you knew how. If only you had an in. Knowing how—or having an in—could mean coming up with a new concept, a new manufacturing process, a new licensing deal, or something truly innovative.

Bottom-Up Marketing Strategy

A bottom-up marketing strategy is a marketing approach that begins with a focus on individual products or services and the specific needs of a target audience before broadening to larger-scale marketing and branding efforts. This contrasts with a top-down strategy, which starts with a broad market perspective and overall brand strategy before focusing on specific products.

Key components of a bottom-up marketing strategy include:

1. Customer Insight: Understanding customer needs, preferences, and behaviors is paramount. This includes identifying the target audience’s values and how the product or service can meet those needs.
2. Product or Service Differentiation: The brand highlights the unique attributes and benefits of individual products or services. The goal is to differentiate these offerings from competing ones in the eyes of the target audience.
3. Grassroots Marketing: Brands often engage with customers at a local or community level. This could involve local advertising, event sponsorship, community outreach, or social media engagement.
4. Testing and Iteration: Bottom-up strategies often involve testing marketing tactics on a small scale before rolling them out more broadly. This allows for adjustments based on feedback and performance data.

An effective bottom-up marketing strategy requires a commitment to customer-centric thinking and a willingness to tailor marketing efforts to specific audience segments. It often results in highly targeted, effective marketing campaigns.

An example of a bottom-up marketing strategy might be a craft brewery that starts by focusing on creating unique beers and building a strong local following. It might host tastings at local events, engage with customers on social media, and use customer feedback to refine its products. As its reputation grows, it might broaden its marketing efforts to reach a larger audience.

Measuring the success of a bottom-up marketing strategy often involves tracking metrics like customer acquisition and retention, product sales, customer satisfaction, and brand awareness within the target audience. It also involves monitoring the success of scaling these efforts to a larger market.

Marketing is based on the customers and their worldview rather than top-down management or stakeholders-driven marketing based on their financial agendas.

Brand Advocate

A brand advocate is a person, often a customer or employee, who positively promotes a brand, product, or service based on their positive experiences or strong belief in the brand’s values. Brand advocates can influence public opinion and drive purchase decisions due to their perceived authenticity and trustworthiness.

Key aspects of brand advocates in marketing include:

1. Word-of-Mouth Marketing: Brand advocates often share positive experiences with their network, influencing others’ perceptions and decisions. This can happen organically in casual conversations or more formally through online reviews, testimonials, and social media posts.
2. User-Generated Content: Advocates may create and share content related to the brand, such as unboxing videos, tutorials, blog posts, or social media posts. This user-generated content can provide valuable, authentic promotion for the brand.
3. Brand Loyalty: Brand advocates are typically loyal customers who continue to choose and support the brand over time. Their loyalty often extends beyond individual products or services to the brand.
4. Feedback and Insight: Advocates are often highly engaged with the brand, providing valuable feedback and insights to help the brand improve its offerings and marketing strategies.

A successful strategy for cultivating brand advocates involves delivering exceptional customer experiences, engaging customers meaningfully, and recognizing and rewarding advocacy behavior. For example, a brand might create a customer loyalty program that rewards customers for referrals, reviews, or social media sharing.

Measuring the impact of brand advocates involves tracking metrics like referral rates, social media engagement, online reviews, and customer lifetime value. Surveys and social listening tools can also provide insights into the reach and influence of brand advocates.

An example of brand advocacy could be Apple’s loyal customer base. Many Apple customers not only continually purchase Apple products, but also enthusiastically recommend them to others, share their positive experiences online, and even line up for hours to purchase new releases. Their advocacy helps to strengthen Apple’s brand reputation and reach new customers.

Brand Authenticity

Brand authenticity refers to the perception that a brand is genuine, real, and true to its values, promises, and identity. Authentic brands consistently maintain their essence, align their actions with words, and prioritize transparency in communication and stakeholder relationships. This authenticity can build trust, loyalty, and emotional connections with customers.

Key elements of brand authenticity include:

1. Consistency: Authentic brands ensure consistency across all their interactions and touchpoints, from their products or services to their marketing communication and customer service.
2. Transparency: Openness about business practices, product information, and decision-making processes can demonstrate authenticity. Transparent communication in times of success, and more importantly, during challenges or crises, can build trust and credibility.
3. Truthfulness: Authentic brands don’t overpromise or use misleading claims. They stay true to what they can deliver and uphold their customer commitments.
4. Purpose and Values: Authentic brands are clear about their purpose (why they exist beyond making a profit) and their values (what they stand for), and ensure their actions align with them. They often commit to social, environmental, or cultural causes that resonate with their target audience.
5. Storytelling: Authentic brands often have compelling and genuine stories about their origins, journey, and vision, which they share transparently and engagingly.

To cultivate brand authenticity, brands must conduct regular self-audits to ensure alignment between their communication and actions and between their promises and delivery. Additionally, they should actively seek customer feedback and demonstrate that they value and act upon it.

An example of an authentic brand is Patagonia, an outdoor apparel brand known for its environmental activism. Patagonia consistently advocates for environmental causes, donates a portion of its profits to environmental initiatives, and maintains transparency about its supply chain, reinforcing its authenticity and commitment to its values.

Brand authenticity can be measured through brand trust scores, customer loyalty and retention rates, brand reputation studies, and consumer perception surveys. The effectiveness of a brand’s authenticity can also be observed in customer advocacy and the quality of customer-brand relationships.

Brand Authenticity happens when a brand’s products or service, its core values, its brand promise, and its messaging all align.

Brand Ambassador

A brand ambassador is an individual appointed by a brand to represent it in a positive light, promote its products or services, and contribute to increasing brand awareness and sales. Brand ambassadors can be celebrities, influencers, thought leaders, or even enthusiastic customers with a strong following or credibility within a relevant audience.

Key aspects of brand ambassadors in branding and marketing include:

1. Promotion: Ambassadors promote the brand’s products or services through various channels, including social media, blogs, events, and media appearances. They may share their experiences, demonstrate product usage, or highlight key benefits.
2. Endorsement: The ambassador’s public endorsement of the brand can influence their followers’ perceptions and purchasing decisions. This endorsement should be based on authentic, positive experiences with the brand to maintain credibility.
3. Engagement: Brand ambassadors can engage with the audience on the brand’s behalf, respond to queries, participate in discussions, and create a more interactive and engaging brand experience.
4. Content Creation: Ambassadors often create or contribute to branded content, such as videos, blog posts, social media posts, or webinars. This content can provide valuable exposure and engagement for the brand.

A successful brand ambassador program requires selecting individuals who align with the brand’s values, resonate with its target audience, and can represent the brand effectively. It’s also important to maintain clear communication, provide necessary resources and support, and establish mutually beneficial terms.

Nike, for example, has an effective brand ambassador strategy. They partner with top athletes who embody their “Just Do It” spirit, and these ambassadors wear and promote Nike products during high-visibility events, enhancing Nike’s brand image and reach.

Measuring the impact of brand ambassadors involves tracking metrics such as brand awareness, audience engagement, content reach and impact, and changes in sales trends. Brands can also use social listening tools, surveys, and customer feedback to gauge the ambassador’s influence on brand perception and customer behavior.

Brand Archetypes 

Psychiatrists of the 19th century were the first to notice that many ancient works of fiction shared common characteristics. That is, these ancient works often featured hero characters that fell into certain personality profiles.

Today, we call these personality profiles ‘brand archetypes’.

What is known, and what is infinitely more useful to us, is that this impulse to stereotype is rooted deeply in human psychology. People respond to it. This means, of course, that you can profit from it. 

Brand Architecture 

Brand architecture can be viewed from two angles – one from a parent brand and sub-brands perspective and the second from a brand internal perspective.

In the first case, brand architecture defines the hierarchy of the parent brand and all. the sub-brands that make up the organizational entity and this allows the brand to understand and outline how the various sub-brands interact with each other. 

In the second case, brand architecture defines all the elements and pillars that make up a robust brand. This includes things like brand vision, mission, core values, differentiation, positioning, visual identity, tone and messaging, and more.

Brand Belief 

Brand belief occurs when customers believe in a brand so much that they stop comparing the brand with any other. They become brand ambassadors and hail the virtues of the brand and its products or services.

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Brand Awareness 

A measure of how many people know of a particular brand.

Brand Consistency 

How well the various marketing materials, packaging, and company actions adhere to the brand identity and brand guidelines.

Brand Experience 

The experiences a customer has with a brand, whether or not there is interaction with the actual product or service.

Brand Family 

A set of different brands that are organized under one umbrella brand.

Brand Franchise 

A brand that is so well-recognized that the marketplace automatically views it in a positive light. Also, see brand franchising.

Brand Gap 

THE BRAND GAP is the first book to present a unified theory of brand-building.

Brand Heritage 

Brand heritage can be defined as the long-standing record of a brand’s existence in the public domain and providing services or goods.

Brand Identity 

The expression of a brand by a brand owner, and how the brand wants to be perceived by its customers are specifically created by a competent brand identity designer.

Brand Image 

How a brand is actually perceived by its customers, whether or not it is consistent with the brand identity.

Brand Loyalty 

How much does a customer consistently patronize a certain brand despite the presence of competing brands?

Brand Mission Statement 

Your mission statement answers questions such as Why is your brand is in business, The moral and/or ethical stand of your company, How you want to be perceived by the public, How you intend to change this world through your brand, and is very critical to the success of a brand.

Brand Name 

Written or linguistic method of identifying a product. Usually, a brand name is trademarked to prevent imitation by or confusion with other brands.

Brand Trust 

A measure of a brand’s reputation and standing with a customer. Manifests as a belief in a company’s excellence and quality and easier acceptance of new offerings.

Brand Recall 

How well a brand is remembered or recognized by a customer.

Brand Refresh 

A brand refresh calls for an updated logo and other design elements, but it retains a central theme. A refresh assures your audience that you’re modern and in touch, but it also conveys that you remain in tune with your industry.

Branding Guidelines 

A set of rules and procedures for creating promotional material in order to stay consistent with a brand’s chosen image.

Brand Message Clarity 

Your brand message needs to have an emotional aspect to it. It is not about the features but about the benefits of your product or service. People make buying decisions based on emotions. It has been scientifically proven. Your brand message must touch upon these emotions and then come to the features.

Brand Visual Imagery 

But a brand’s visual imagery goes much deeper than a simple logo design. Successful brands create and use visual imagery that ties into human emotions and seeps deep into the various touch points that their target audience including packaging and campaign imagery. The way a brand’s visual imagery is created utilized can either infuriate a customer base or dramatically increase sales.

Brand Vitality 

Every brand needs to grow and thrive. This is called vitality and brand vitality describes the current and future growth potential that a brand has. You need a robust brand strategy to ensure your brand is vital.

Brochure

A printed document that gives a detailed explanation of a brand’s virtues. Check out our brochure designing service.

Brand Visual Imagery 

But a brand’s visual imagery goes much deeper than a simple logo design. Successful brands create and use visual imagery that ties into human emotions and seeps deep into the various touch points that their target audience including packaging and campaign imagery. The way a brand’s visual imagery is created utilized can either infuriate a customer base or dramatically increase sales.

Buyer Persona 

Buyer personas are research-based representations of who buyers are, what they are trying to accomplish, what goals drive their behavior, how they think, how they buy, where they buy as well as when buyers decide to buy and why they make buying decisions.

Buyer Perception 

Brand perception is a crucial, though oft-ignored, aspect of brand management. We focus so much on product quality, innovation, and customer service that we tend to not consider how people perceive us overall.

Caregiver Brand Archetype 

The Caregiver has very high empathy. They want the best for other people and can’t stand it when another being is in pain. They offer physical and emotional protection whenever they can—sometimes to the extent that others come to rely on them too much. This archetype can be prone to self-sacrifice and can become a martyr. Read more about the caregiver brand archetype.

Celebrity Stylists 

You might not think of stylists as the people to contact with potential business opportunities, but for fashion start-ups, having a celebrity’s stylist vouch for your brand can tremendously increase your odds of getting a celebrity partnership. After all, who’s more qualified to assess whether there’s a good fit between your brand and a celebrity than their stylist?

Commercial

A form of advertisement that appears in video or audio format.

Covid-19 Brand Management 

In this Covid-19 Brand Management guide, we provide tips for maintaining and even enhancing your brand image through these tough times. We start with an overview of the COVID-19 situation and its economic implications. Then we look at specific strategies you can employ to safeguard your revenue stream through savvy brand management.

Core Values 

Like individuals, companies, and brands too should have a set of brand core values that stand as the guiding principles of how the brand would behave consistently in all situations.

Creator Brand Archetype 

Creator brands are visionaries. They seem to exist to innovate. They are non-conformist to the extreme and always strive to come across as authentic. These brands wear this desire on their sleeve. Creator brands are often in the technology, marketing, or design spaces, but this is not always the case. 

 They exist to empower creative consumers. The go-to example is Apple, but let’s look at a few others. Read more about the creator brand archetype.

Customer Avatar 

A buyer persona, or customer avatar, is a marketing mechanism used by professional marketers and business owners to identify highly profitable customers. You can use customer avatars to understand what makes these highly desirable customers choose you over your competition. In general, building and maintaining customer avatars allows you to create a strong brand proposition. You do this by identifying the problems these ideal customers are trying to solve.

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Direct Mail 

Contrary to popular belief, Direct Mail marketing is alive and kicking. In fact, the ROI on direct mail marketing is amongst the best in the marketing world. Direct mail can be very effective to generate leads, promoting special offers, driving traffic to the business, generating retail sales, and communicating with customers.

Emotional Branding 

Wikipedia defines Emotional branding as a term used in marketing communication that refers to the practice of building brands that appeal directly to a consumer’s emotional state, needs, and aspirations.

Everyman Brand Archetype 

The Everyman wears their feelings on their sleeve. They often have unresolved psychic wounds and never hesitate to make that known. They often feel betrayed, and they can be suspicious of others. The Orphan can be cynical and manipulative. However, playing the victim doesn’t jive well with establishing a powerful brand. So from this point out, the orphan archetype will represent everyone’s need for justice, acceptance, and belonging. The Orphan represents the Everyman. Read more about the everyman brand archetype.

Explorer Brand Archetype 

The bold traveler. They set out for uncharted waters, not necessarily hoping for adventure. It’s more that they must answer the call to see what’s out there. They have a deep love of discovering new places, things, or people.

They can be prone to perfectionism in that they’re never satisfied. Read more about the explorer brand archetype.

Hero Brand Archetype 

The Hero has uncommon strength and vitality, and they use these assets to fight for virtuous causes. They’ll go to any lengths to avoid defeat. It’s hard for the hero to lose because they don’t give in. Read more about the hero brand archetype.

Hero’s Journey 

The Hero’s Journey is a story structure first described by Joseph Campbell in 1949. It’s an example of an archetype. You can think of it as a mold into which a writer fits their plot, characters, and setting. By sticking to this structure, the writer stands a better chance of hooking the reader. Why? Well, because the Hero’s Journey codifies features of the story shared by much of classic literature. Pretty much all of our myths, legends, and cultural stories use this format.

Innocent Brand Archetype 

The Innocent Brand Archetype is optimistic, to the point of naivety. They search for happiness in any situation and see the good in everything and everyone.

The innocent tend to want to please others and pursue a sense of belonging. Read more about the innocent brand archetype.

Jester Brand Archetype 

The Jester loves to laugh. Laughter is their medicine. They’ll make others laugh if they can, but often, they’re just out to create entertainment for themselves.

They’re prone to boredom and pursue outlandish or unusual sources of entertainment, often creating it.

They enjoy drawing people out of their shells and getting them to share a laugh. Read more about the jester brand archetype.

Logo Design 

A graphic or image used to represent a company, service, or product. A LOGO DESIGN is provided by a graphic design firm or agency.

Lover Brand Archetype 

The Lover is sensitive. The lover is sweet. They love to love. They lavish people they care about with affection. They enjoy anything that’s pleasing.

Read more about the lover brand archetype.

Magician Brand Archetype 

The revolutionary. The Magician is an innovator, creating remarkable things seemingly from thin air. They are masters of transformation, frequently reinventing themselves.

They’re capable of turning a negative into a positive, but they can also do the reverse. Read more about the magician brand archetype.

Marketing Vs. Selling 

Marketing is a cerebral function – gathering information, processing it, understanding what can be sold where and in what volumes at what kind of price.

Sales is a physical function – taking the product into the market, selling it, and bringing in the money. Neither function has any purpose without the other. Planning without implementation is worthless, as is action without knowing where, when, how, and why to act.

If Sales and Marketing are able to use common support resources the synergies are easier to achieve.

Niche Market 

A niche market is the subset of the market on which a specific product is focused. The market niche defines as the product features aimed at satisfying specific market needs, as well as the price range, production quality, and the demographics that is intended to impact. It is also a small market segment.

Paid Search Engine Marketing 

Outbound marketing means getting your sales to funnel right, and learning how to connect with the demographic that will love your product or service. Unlike inbound marketing, when grabbing attention with a search engine marketing campaign (SEM), you will be paying for every click.

Personal Branding 

Personal branding is the process of turning your personality into a brand both online and offline which would then support your main brand – if you so choose to.

Press Release 

A press release is an official communication from a company written in a journalistic format released to the general public and/or news agencies.

Publicity

Deliberate efforts to manage the public perception of a company, individual, or brand. Also, check out Negative Publicity.

Publicity Strategy 

The core components of a publicity strategy are a Publicity campaign plan, Media Kit, Media contact list, Press release development & release, Story development & propagation, and Press conferences.

Rebranding

Rebuilding a brand identity from the ground up in order to achieve a different brand image. Check out these 5 rebranding mistakes. Check out the case study of rebranding a 135-year-old brand. Refreshing a brand identity when either the direction or target sector changes.

Rebel Brand Archetype 

The Rebel provokes. They stand out from the crowd. Like the Creative, they resent conformity. However, they’re more roguish or aggressive about it. They enjoy going against the grain and avoiding the mainstream.

They take pride in thinking for themselves. If taken to extremes, the rebel can become self-destructive. Read more about the rebel brand archetype.

Ruler Brand Archetype 

The Ruler Brand Archetype, as you might guess, is a leader. Their priority is to bring order. The ruler is quiet, but they may come across as a perfectionist.

This isn’t a bad thing if they can consistently project an air of competence and can back that up. The ruler naturally wants everyone to follow their lead. 

SAGE Brand Archetype 

The Sage is a thinker. A philosopher. Their top priority is cognition and critical thinking. They seek to understand the world around them and doing so is their grandest adventure. To do this, they bring to bear great intelligence and analytical skills. They can be quick—sometimes too quick—to offer a fact or quote in any situation.

 These brands excel at using language and symbolism. They often differentiate themselves by publishing case studies and other pieces of literature that display their knowledge. 

 Read More

Sales Funnel 

By constructing an efficient sales funnel, you laser-focus your marketing efforts. Without a funnel, your potential customers might land on your sales page once or twice, but if they don’t buy right then, you’ll lose them. With a funnel, you can nurture these leads wherever they happen to be in the process. Consequently, you can stop aggressively chasing sales so you can focus on improving your product or service.

Articles in this series:

How To Master Sales Funnels

How To Build A Funnel That Converts

How To Optimize Your Sales Funnel

The Power Of The Survey

Master The Art Of The Landing Page

Writing Killer Headlines For Your Landing Page

Social Media Strategy 

A robust and custom social media strategy includes crafting tailored messages to each social media channel and building a relationship with your target audience rather than using the channels as a megaphone to shout out discounts and deals to the world.

Social Media Management 

Social media management to ensure your social media activities are on brand, communicate the right message and give your great ROI. This requires using the right tools to manage your social media campaigns.

Social Media Campaign 

A social media campaign is a structured approach to broadcast a focused message to a niche target audience with the intent to create one of the following: brand awareness, brand recall, brand loyalty, or sales.

Startup Incubator Branding 

Startup Incubators provide mentorship, networking, and funding to entrepreneurs. Don’t confuse an incubator with an accelerator. 

Sub Brands Family 

If your business has multiple brands or sub-brands, over a period of time, it becomes quite a challenge to implement consistent branding that renders each sub-brand unique and still ties it into the family.

Tagline

A short, catchy statement associated with the brand. Often used in conjunction with logos in various marketing materials. Do you need a tagline?

Target Audience 

The group of people to whom the marketing message is directed. Check out the target audience checklist.

Target Market 

A top-level categorization of a brand’s ideal customers. Check out this target marketing premier.

Top-Of-Mind 

The first brand that comes to a customer’s mind unaided.

Urban & Streetwear Brands

Visual Branding