The brand building process can be applied to either the development of a new brand or the rebranding of an existing firm. In this article we\u2019ll review the context in which the process is used, what happens during each phase, and what success looks like. This process is adapted from the one we use at Hinge \u00ad\u2014 a program<\/a> based on a decade of research into thousands of high-growth firms.<\/p>\n Let\u2019s start by clarifying what some of the key concepts mean.<\/p>\n There are many ways to define a brand. Some emphasize creating an emotional attachment with consumers while others focus on the totality of the customer experience. While academically interesting, these abstract concepts are often impractical, especially in the professional services.<\/p>\n In the context of a professional services firm, we have found that reputation<\/strong> best captures the essence of a brand. This reputation can be either very general (e.g., \u201cthey\u2019re a good firm\u201d) or associated with specific areas of high visibility<\/strong> expertise<\/strong> (e.g., \u201cthey\u2019re the leading experts in cross-border mergers\u201d).<\/p>\n The latter, more specific reputation around visible expertise<\/strong> has been correlated with receiving more referrals<\/a>. Why? The strength of a firm\u2019s reputation is directly related to the visibility of that brand within its target market. The greater the visibility of a reputable firm, the stronger its brand. This relationship is captured in this simple equation:<\/p>\n Brand Strength = Reputation X Visibility<\/strong><\/cite><\/p>\n It just makes sense: well-known firms with strong reputations \u2014 the best brands in an industry \u2014 are easy to refer.<\/p>\n Okay, you now understand what we mean by \u201cbrand.\u201d But what about the \u201cbranding \u201cprocess\u201d?<\/p>\n The branding process is the systematic approach used to create, communicate and strengthen a firm\u2019s brand. It consists of a number of sequential steps. These steps may vary depending on who is implementing the process and the specific outcomes the firm is trying to achieve.<\/p>\n For example, a design-oriented firm may focus on the design of a logo and other materials used to communicate the brand (brand identity<\/strong><\/a>). A promotion-oriented firm, on the other hand, may emphasize increasing the visibility of the brand (brand building<\/strong><\/a>).<\/p>\n Usually, the best results are achieved by taking a balanced approach that devotes sufficient attention to each phase of the process.<\/p>\n When the branding process is applied to an existing firm it is often referred to as rebranding<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong> Brand development<\/strong><\/a> is another term sometimes used to describe the branding process.<\/p>\n Download the Rebranding Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Not all brand-related marketing efforts require a full branding process. For example, when a firm updates the look of its marketing materials \u2014 without changing its market positioning \u2014 that is unlikely to require a full branding treatment<\/a>. Since only the visual aspect of the brand will be revised, the firm doesn’t necessarily need to revisit the foundational strategy behind its brand.<\/p>\n Common situations that do require the full branding process include:<\/p>\n The branding process can be broken into five phases. In this section we\u2019ll explore each phase and explore some common variations and important success factors.<\/p>\n Behind every successful brand is a thoughtful strategy. Getting this phase right is critical to the overall success of your brand,<\/p>\n Begin by considering your firm\u2019s overall business strategy. Start by gathering your management team to conduct a discovery session. Capture your team\u2019s goals, market strategies and individual perspectives. Don\u2019t be surprised if you discover a variety of points of view, and even fundamental disagreement. It\u2019s common and part of the process.<\/p>\n This is good time to pull out your business plan, if you have one, and any other guiding documents. Think about how your company changed since those documents were drafted and what adjustments you might need to make to your marketing.<\/p>\n Now, a lot of firms stop here. That\u2019s a mistake. There are other perspectives you need to consider before you can formulate an effective strategy.<\/p>\n Next you should identify all of your key audiences<\/strong>. You can approach audiences in different ways, so you will have to decide which angle makes the most sense for your firm:<\/p>\n Don\u2019t forget non-client audiences, too, if they are important to your business success. These might include partners, influencers, referral sources and prospective employees.<\/p>\n Identifying your target audiences is important. Why? Because your next step is to conduct research<\/a> into them to attain an objective view into their needs, challenges and motivations. Here are some specific issues you\u2019ll want to cover:<\/p>\n Many of these questions could be sensitive, so we highly recommend you engage an impartial third party to carry out the interviews. You will get far more honest and useful information than if you carry out the research yourself.<\/p>\n See also: TBA Studio Case Story<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Comparing the input you receive from clients and prospects against internal perceptions often exposes wide gaps \u2014 gaps you will need to close to build stronger bridges to your audiences.<\/p>\n Download the Brand Building Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n With this body of data you can begin identifying differentiators<\/strong><\/a> \u2014 characteristics that distinguish your firm from similar competitors. Most firms can uncover 2 to 5 true differentiators. Your differentiators must meet three criteria:<\/p>\n Be careful that you select actual<\/em> differentiators, however. It\u2019s easy to fall into a trap and choose characteristics that simply describe what you do rather than set you apart. And it\u2019s just as easy to choose characteristics that are so common in the marketplace that they have little power. Examples include: \u201cwe have the best people,\u201d \u201cwe have a proprietary process,\u201d and \u201cwe offer the best client service.\u201d While these could<\/em> be real differentiators, you will need to present a great deal of evidence to convince a jaded marketplace.<\/p>\n If you need help working through your differentiators, we\u2019ve put together a helpful guide<\/a>.<\/p>\n Now you are ready to draft a positioning statement<\/strong><\/a>. A positioning statement is a compact, carefully worded expression of your brand. The best ones are both honest \u2014<\/em> accurately describing who you are today \u2014 and a little bit aspirational \u2014<\/em>speaking to the firm you want to become.<\/p>\n Many people confuse a positioning statement with a mission statement or a vision statement. It is neither of those things. Instead, it is a paragraph, usually 4 to 6 sentences long, that lays the foundation for your firm\u2019s messaging. It is a well you can return to again and again as you write headlines, develop your elevator pitch or need to understand how you fit into the marketplace. It is a practical resource that distills the essence of your brand into an easy-to-digest package.<\/p>\n Here\u2019s an example of a positioning statement for an accounting firm:<\/p>\n At Newco, we help retail franchise owners grow their businesses faster and more effectively. How? We combine the expertise and reliability of a CPA firm with automated, real-time reporting \u2014 all tailored to the franchise business model. Our experience and technology give clients strategic insight beyond their finances, giving franchisors the tools they need to achieve higher profits and greater growth. When you\u2019re looking to expand your operations or increase the profitability of your retail chain, Newco gives franchisors the power to feed their bottom line.<\/em><\/p>\n Notice how it describes the firm\u2019s unique characteristics (specializing in franchise owners and offering automated, real-time reporting) and expresses these as tangible benefit to their clients (higher profits, greater growth).<\/p>\n At this point, you may want to take the next logical step and apply your differentiators and positioning to each of your audiences. For instance, you may need to say different things to different industries. Or a CEO may need to hear one set of messages, while an HR Director needs to hear another. This type of document is sometimes referred to as messaging architecture<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n A good way to approach your messaging architecture is to break out each audience and develop a list of messages each may need to hear during the sales process. These lists may include some or all of your differentiators, as well as more commonplace messages \u2014 the basic things an audience needs to hear to be reassured that your firm delivers the services and experience they want.<\/p>\n You may find during this exercise that several of your audiences don\u2019t require different messages. In this situation, to keep things simple, you can simply group those audiences together.<\/p>\n You can take these messages to another level of sophistication by developing a set of objections for each audience, then drafting responses to each, drawing on your audience messages for inspiration. Whenever possible, support your points with specific examples or evidence. By supplying proof, your arguments become more persuasive.<\/p>\n At the end of the process, you will have a document your business development team can use to overcome common objections in the marketplace. And your marketing team can mine it for talking points on your website or in marketing collateral.<\/p>\n As professional services brands evolve they sometimes produce new business divisions, spin offs, stand-alone products or sister brands that may or may not have an obvious connection to the parent brand. If this applies to you, you should take time during the branding process to clearly establish the hierarchy and relationship between these brands. It helps buyers and clients make sense of your business and varied offerings \u2014 any time you can eliminate confusion, it makes the buying process easier. This discipline is called brand architecture<\/strong>. We\u2019ve written another post that explores the issues around brand architecture in detail<\/a>.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Download the Rebranding Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n In this phase, you turn your brand into something tangible. Your brand identity<\/strong> includes many of the most visible elements of a brand, including:<\/p>\n As part of a branding process, you are likely to develop (or in the case of a rebranding program, refresh) some or all of these elements. Your brand identity is an opportunity to take the spirit of your positioning and turn it into something that people can see and experience \u2014 including a distinctive personality and voice. It is a chance to add a point of differentiation to your brand and set your firm apart visually from your competitors.<\/p>\n Unfortunately, most firms are content to play it safe and embrace what\u2019s familiar. That\u2019s why the color blue (especially dark blue) is so prevalent in every industry. That\u2019s why you see cookie-cutter imagery on so many websites. And that\u2019s one reason most professional services brands are so forgettable. Your brand identity is a rare opportunity to make a bold statement and pop out from a bland, homogenous crowd. For those firms with the courage to stand out, their brand identity can make a real difference.<\/p>\n See also: Understanding Brand Identity<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n Keeping a brand identity intact and consistent over time can be challenging. To combat these problems, many firms create brand style guidelines<\/strong><\/a> that define how the brand is put together and explain what\u2019s allowed and what isn\u2019t. These guidelines can be comprehensive \u2014 dictating how the brand is applied in every situation \u2014 or they can be kept simple, with room for variety and exploration.<\/p>\n In the same vein, some firms develop a separate set of guidelines that describe their \u201cvoice\u201d \u2014 the way the words they use express a personality or attitude. Firms use brand voice guidelines<\/strong> to ensure that their written materials read as if they came from the same person. They might, for instance, recommend against using overly technical language. These guidelines might also discuss sentence structure, as well as what type of vocabulary a writer should use. Is humor allowed? If so, voice guidelines should describe when and how.<\/p>\n Some firms go even further and produce detailed usage guidelines<\/strong> for writers that address subjective points of grammar, spelling, punctuation and more.<\/p>\n Before you dive into your brand identity you would do well to write up a creative brief <\/strong><\/a>that spells out some of your assumptions and preferences. If your brand was intended to express personality, for example, try to describe what that means. How do convey your brand in color, imagery, typography?<\/p>\n You should develop the creative brief only after discussing your brand identity internally. It should represent a consensus view. If you are working with an agency, they may lead the discussion and develop the brief for you.<\/p>\n The creative brief should address each piece of your brand identity (alternatively, you can develop a separate brief for each). If you are developing a new name, for example, the brief should capture your firm\u2019s expectations and any parameters that the naming team needs to know to avoid taking wrong turns and wandering into blind alleys.<\/p>\n These are the tools you will need to promote your new brand. Building on your brand strategy, these tools equip you to increase the visibility of your brand and expertise. Exactly which tools you need will depend on how you plan to promote the visibility of your brand (for more on this, see Phase 5). At the very least, you\u2019ll want to pay attention to these two categories of tools:<\/p>\n Whether you build a new website<\/strong><\/a> from scratch or retrofit your existing site to be more engaging, you\u2019ll want to make sure it reflects your new brand positioning and communicates the right messages to each of your target audiences. Of course, it should reflect your new brand identity, too. In fact, you should put a great deal of thought and care into your website. It is the most visible and important component of your brand and marketing program.<\/p>\n One of the most important ways to leverage your new brand is to apply all that shiny new positioning and messaging to your business development toolkit<\/strong>. What\u2019s a business development toolkit? It\u2019s a collection of tools you use to describe your firm and put your strategy into play. Here are just a few examples:<\/p>\n For more ideas on ways to put your brand strategy into practice, check out this blog post on the top 10 branding tools<\/a>.<\/p>\n How you introduce your new brand can affect the overall success of your branding initiative \u2014 and that\u2019s especially true in the professional services. Actually, you should think of it as two introductions: one for your internal team and another for the outside world. They are two very different audiences that require different treatments.<\/p>\n If you don\u2019t take the time to explain your new brand to your team, you\u2019ll be lost from the start. When professionals are left out of the process and have not visibility into how or why decisions were made about the brand they get confused and can turn cynical. It is easy to criticize something you don\u2019t understand.<\/p>\n We recommend that you introduce a program to educate your staff in advance of the external launch. Explain the rationale for the change, and support it with a few research highlights to demonstrate that the branding process was grounded in objective reasoning. Here are a few topics you might want to cover:<\/p>\n There are many, many ways to roll out an internal brand. You can have a simple all-hands meeting or an elaborate celebration. It can be a single event, or a series of training sessions. It can be in one location or distributed over multiple offices. You will need to decide what makes sense for your organization and culture. But don\u2019t skip it. Your team needs to understand what your new brand means, how it repositions your firm and where it opens up new possibilities. A successful internal brand launch also generates critical support for and excitement around your new brand.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n Download the Rebranding Guide<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n It may surprise you, but the external rollout is less important than building internal consensus around your brand. The biggest value of the external launch is its potential to generate concentrated attention\u2014even if it\u2019s short lived.<\/p>\n A new brand\u2019s introduction to the world is a chance to make a favorable first impression. It also provides a forum to explain what you stand for, how your firm has changed and why your firm matters to your audience.<\/p>\n You can approach an external launch in one of two ways: 1) announce your new brand with a big bang, with press releases, a big reveal and maybe even a brand launch video. Launch balloons, if you like. Or 2) you can roll out your brand slowly with little or no fanfare. In this scenario, pieces of your brand may be developed over a period of weeks or months, and over time your brand identity takes shape.<\/p>\n Which approach you choose is up to you. The former has more PR potential, but it requires building out much of your brand up front. The latter may feel anticlimactic, but it gives you the freedom to develop your brand in a lower-pressure, more organic way.<\/p>\n However you launch your brand, it gives your business development team a reason to talk with clients and referral sources about your firm \u2014 how you are changing and how your firm is addressing the needs of the marketplace.<\/p>\n Your new brand is only the beginning. You still have to convert that brand into market value. Many firms make the mistake of putting all their effort into an elaborate brand launch when that money would be better spent on a long-term brand building program. But this takes a strategy<\/a> all its own.<\/p>\n The core objective of this strategy should be to make your firm\u2019s expertise more visible. For the most part, this can be accomplished through a combination of public speaking, writing and networking. (According to our research<\/a>, firms that have the best results apply a mix of digital and traditional techniques.)<\/p>\n So what do you write and speak about? You will want to focus on issues that matter to your audience. Demonstrate your expertise by explaining how to overcome key challenges. Educate them. Show them that your firm is not only knowledgeable, but can make complicated subjects easy to understand. That\u2019s a mark of true expertise.<\/p>\n This strategy will require sustained effort over time. As a result, you\u2019ll want to turn it into a formal plan, with a detailed calendar, assignments and specific goals. It\u2019s even possible to measure many aspects of your strategy. That way you can measure the impact of your approach and make adjustments along the way.<\/p>\n That said, your brand must remain constant. Make sure that the way in which you promote it doesn\u2019t interfere with its message.<\/p>\n If you\u2019d like to learn more about building and promoting your brand, download our free Brand Building Guide<\/a>\u00a0or explore our branding services for professional services firms<\/a>.<\/p>\n See also: Jones CPA Group Case Story<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\nWhat is a brand?<\/h2>\n
What is the branding process?<\/h2>\n
When do you need the branding process?<\/h2>\n
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The 5 phases of the branding process<\/h2>\n
Phase 1. Brand Strategy<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Conduct an Internal Review<\/h5>\n
Identify Your Target Audiences<\/h5>\n
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Research Your Audiences<\/h5>\n
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Identify Your Differentiators<\/h5>\n
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Write Your Positioning Statement<\/h5>\n
Tailor Your Message to Different Audiences<\/h5>\n
Address Any Confusing or Complex Brand Situations<\/h5>\n
Phase 2. Brand Identity<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
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Brand Style and Voice Guidelines<\/h5>\n
The Creative Brief<\/h5>\n
Phase 3. Brand Tools<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Your Website<\/h5>\n
Your Business Development Toolkit<\/h5>\n
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Phase 4. Brand Launch<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
The Internal Brand Launch<\/h5>\n
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The External Brand Launch<\/h5>\n
Phase 5. Brand Building<\/a><\/strong><\/h4>\n
Conclusion<\/h2>\n
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