What is a brand?
A brand is a set of attributes that differentiates an organization or a business' offerings from those of its competitors in the mind of its customers. It is a label that is shorthand for a list of attributes associated with an organization, a product, or a service. Each brand is shorthand for a thought or a feeling the brand owners want customers to have when they see or hear the brand name. The brand owners want a piece of consumers' "mind share," the space in their brain where they store impressions of people, products and services.
Why is a brand so valuable?
A brand is very valuable. To use a rough analogy, it is like gold. It is an asset that even sometimes is listed on the organization's balance sheet in the form of intangible "goodwill" during an acquisition. Brand is irreplaceable in the sense that once a brand it tarnished, it is forever tarnished. On the flip side, if a brand is viewed positively by the public, it carries more weight than practically anything we can think of from a business, operational and customer perspective.
Your Career Academy network should see its brand as an asset to be protected and nurtured. A brand becomes valuable when it is trusted by consumers or constituents, so that it results in greater sales or other actions that the brand owner wishes to spark. The job of your Career Academy network is to have your brand recognized and trusted by its target audiences.
What is brand equity?
A brand is an organizational asset that, managed over time, grows in value. The perceived worth of a brand is referred to as "brand equity." Measuring brand equity is a way of assessing how established and effective a brand is in the marketplace. It indicates how great a mind share the brand has among its audiences, and whether thoughts about the brand are positive or negative. The first rule of building brand equity is to create the best product or deliver the best service possible. The lesson for your Career Academy network is that it must pursue excellence in everything it does. As stated earlier, brand equity is relatively fragile and can be damaged quickly and severely by even small missteps. Your Career Academy network must be vigilant in protecting your brand reputation and be ready to respond to any controversies quickly and professionally.
What is a brand identity?
A brand identity communicates visually and verbally the attributes of an organization's brand to customers and other key audiences. Why is it important? In order to create a clear, consistent and understandable brand identity in your target audiences' minds, brand attributes and the way they are expressed must be closely linked. Organizations that present a cohesive, distinctive and relevant brand identity can create a preference in the marketplace and add value to their services or products.
As part of your Career Academy network's branding efforts, you may wish to develop a brand identity that consists of your organization's name, logo, tagline and a visual look and feel.
What are the secrets of effective branding?
First, branding must be consistent, clear, and concise. Messaging that is muddled, confused or inconsistent bears little chance of breaking through the mass of communications that the average person receives.
Second, branding must be repetitive. It takes time for a brand to become a part of a target audience's thinking. Your Career Academy network needs to do the hard work of getting its name and messaging out there over and over until it fully registers among the people whom you wish to reach.
Finally, brand perception is all-important. Brand equity leads to people perceiving a brand positively no matter what the contest. Brand equity builds a relationship with constituents so that they trust the brand and are willing to invest in it.
In the case of your Career Academy network, one of the most important aspects of brand building is showing your target audiences (students, parents, educators, school administrators, business leaders, policymakers, the media and others) that your organization is operating efficiently and effectively, and thus making a difference in the lives of students and on companies throughout your region.
A brand should be associated with a core message about the service, product or organization. To get started, it helps to develop a vision statement.
Downloads/Links:
Career Academy Sample Logos
Sample Key Messages Document From St. Johns County
Sample Brand Guidelines for St. Johns County