Most people know what a brand is, but what’s the method to build it efficiently?
Below, I will outline the four main steps to follow for a successful branding; Brand strategy & naming, web design and development, merchandising and, last but not least, brand management. These guidelines will work as a timeline, in that – first, you decide on the strategy and create the brand; secondly, you design it and grow your ideas, and you will then create awareness around the brand. The final step is to verify that it remains valid and consistent in time. Following these steps, will for sure bring you a noticeable brand.
Brand Strategy and Brand Name
Your brand strategy defines what you stand for, a promise that you make, and the personality you want to convey. It is the setting of your business goals. Why are you creating a new brand? What do you hope to achieve by launching the new brand? Use those long-term objectives as a basis for all of your strategic branding efforts. Long-term marketing support for a brand, based on the definition of the characteristics of the target consumers. It includes an understanding of their preferences and expectations from the brand. The brand naming stage is the basis for the entire strategy.
The example of the brand strategy creation for Enbio by CDG is a good one: ENBIO is the inventor and trustee of a remarkable technology called CoBlast, which offers the potential to redefine the performance, function and value of metals. Enbio‘s fundamental focus was the development and commercialization of its patented surface enhancing technologies in the medical sector.
From our market research, we found that Enbio had the potential to enter new markets, which they had never considered. Their strategy was developed to target multiple sectors, such as space, oil, gas and automotive. This strategy was the basis for a new expansion and rapid growth of Enbio.
Brand Design & Development
The brand design process includes your logo, colour palette, and slogan; these are the most important creative elements which convey your brand image. The brand development process is to improve a brand or improving customers‘ knowledge and opinions of a brand. The true value of thinking of your brand as an experience for customers, therefore, lies in its ability to engage consumers deeply in a way that encourages the development of mutually valuable relationships, and the memories these moments create.
For the brand design of Enbio, CDG developed an identity around the concept of particles coming together to form a strong and distinct shape. The icon also embodies the concept of chemical elements coming together to form one unit. Enbio worked closely with ourselves at CDG in choosing this particular shade of blue for the colour palette: the colour blue symbolises safety and tranquillity; Enbio’s process gives peace of mind by protecting the client’s materials.
Their brand development began with their website. We needed to set up a platform to launch their highly innovative technology to all potential parties. With the aim of forging and solidifying relationships with new and existing customers. ENBIO’s value proposition was that they offered their clients the opportunity to evaluate quickly the potency of the CoBlast technology. This was done through its rapid sample production process, and through structured collaborative evaluation studies. This action increased consumer awareness around the brand.
Brand Merchandising
The third element of our process was the brand merchandising step. The brand merchandising could be defined as the ability for a company to make the logo or “brand” standing out either by displaying them attractively or by the use of the logo on your products. These products with logo could be for sale, e.g. a t-shirt with the logo Hilfinger, or for the use by the members of the company, e.g. business name printed on employee’s uniforms. The use by the employees also promotes the company and improve your visibility.
Enbio is not available in retail outlets; their target market is larger, more specialised, and niche clients. In this instance, their visual presence and recognition will not be efficiently extended with merchandising activities. We advised that they should use the method of branded merchandise and logo on employee’s products. So they printed Enbio logo on their lab coats, demonstrating a trustworthy and consistent brand image. This branded merchandise strategy was extended to coats, sweatshirts and mugs featuring the Enbio logo. This also reinforced the idea of the team-player culture, all staff united and aiming for the same goals.
The Enbio brand was now more recognisable; this stage helped to improve the brand identity, visibility, and differentiation from competitors.
Brand Management
And now let’s add cement to your brand building: the Brand management. It’s the process of maintaining, improving, and upholding a brand identity so that the name is consistent, the brand unified and it will be associated with your positive results. The brand must appear on everything you do and will be linked to the previous good experiences. Brand management involves some important aspects such as customer satisfaction, product displays, or competitions. Consistency with brand value is key; proper brand management should result in higher sales of not only one product, but on other products associated with that brand.
For a strong brand presence, we needed to ensure a consistent flow for the metal technology company Enbio. Following on from the above steps, CDG’s goal was to keep the brand as a block, unified entity. First, CDG made the logo, the template for a sheet and the correct colour available on a Dropbox. This way each member and suppliers has access to the right template and can stay consistent with what was created. But the consistency of the graphical part is as important as that of the original purpose of the company’s creation. All was there to remember this purpose: Enbio’s aim is to give more longevity to your products. CDG verified that the idea also appeared in the PR and on the blog. The brand has to stay on the same track. Once the brand was seen consistent and the feedback of the clients positive, we knew that the brand and the company Enbio had a long life ahead.
The Result
The results of all these steps were a clear increase in the number of contracts signed by Enbio. Thanks to the growing presence and the help of CDG, Enbio started to engage in bigger and bigger contracts. It went until even the signing a contract of €5million for the creation of a coating for the new European satellites, a contract concluded with the European Space Agency (ESA). Remember that in their previous strategy they weren’t even looking at space facilities market.
The difference between the former logo (left) and the new one (right) explains on itself part of the success.
The Brand started showing up in top Google results; more contracts were signed and a brand strong enough to be recognised in their field: All the hints are here for a success story.
All this story comes from the work that CDG have made with Enbio. It’s the story of an accomplishment made together: CDG wasn’t working on its side, it became part of the Enbio’s company. CDG became the marketing department of Enbio. The founder of Enbio had a genius idea for their new process, but even if content is king, the promotion is the second most important part. So they called CDG to make the branding, the image of the company and all the design and that made the project fully successful.
That story is not unique: it could happen to you!
