These sentiments are expressed by Andy Sernovitz in ‘Word of Mouth Marketing, Revised Edition: How Smart Companies Get People Talking’. He goes on to say in the first chapter “In many cases, word of mouth marketing isn’t actually “marketing” at all. It’s about great customer service that makes people want to tell their friends about you”

I apologise that I’ve taken his comments somewhat out of context (although I dare say the CIM would say it is ‘all about marketing’ as marketing includes your supply chains) but it does highlight an interesting point that people can miss when it comes to brand.

You need to identify what you are to your customers, the final say on brand perception lies with them. It’s not necessarily the way to sit round in a brainstorming meeting drumming up the next big vision and how you want to be perceived when it completely misses the mark with your audience. Build on positive attitudes and address the negative ones and then ensure you deliver on your brand promise.

This way your ads will say what you are and the experience will be one that encourages the audience to talk to others about your brand.

So what makes a good logo, how do you graphic designers go about it and how important is it? I’ve come across one arguement that its not a big deal what your logo is like, although that was in the B2B environment. It is true how you market towards businesses compared with towards consumers is different but does it warrant a slacking off in good design or are we prepared to design for designs sake. “It looks contemporary enough, that’ll do”?

So when do we mean it? I personally have some views and they differ from the average graphic designer and marketer. Not saying their views are wrong but there seems to be significant gaps in understanding what a brand is and therefore how to achieve it. Brand is a rude word when you talk solely about your logo but on occasions its easier to go with the flow and talk in a way that everyone round the table understands. Here we have the problem.

The purpose of this blog? To find where people are with the subject, what it means, build a level platform of understanding, language and then find the best ways to apply the principles of brand across the board of all levels of business. Well that’s the plan.

So any opinions of what brand is to yourself and your company we’d love to hear them.