Branding

Effort: The Secret to Branding Success

May 10, 2012 by primm

When most people think of the term “branding,” companies like Apple, Ford, Polo, and Nike come to mind. But branding isn’t just for multi-billion dollar companies. Any company can set themselves up for branding success; it just takes a little effort.

The first issue most small companies face is of cost. While, yes, Nike does spend what seems like a trillion dollars on advertising, a small business can create a branding campaign that will produce results for a very reasonable price.

Secondly, branding is about consistency; but that does not mean you have to be boring. Consistency means delivering the same message to the public until it sticks. Apple, for example, ran the “Mac vs. PC” campaign for some time. While all these ads had the same message, it was almost always a different topic in each spot.

This applies to all forms of advertising your company uses; everything from social media to television ads need to have the same level of consistency. The easiest way to be consistent is to know your target audience. Without knowing this, you are speaking to everyone and your message will not convey its purpose. For instance, do not advertise children’s toys on a late night television talk show. Rather, advertise during Saturday morning cartoons or in the afternoon when children are coming home from school. If your potential customers don’t see your ad, what good is it?

Finally, the brand you and your company are trying to convey needs to be portrayed by your employees as well, so that customers can see that you really are what you are declaring yourself to be.

By doing these few things, you and your company are on the right track to building brand awareness.
Over time, properly executed branding campaigns produce long-lasting results.

If you’d like to increase brand recognition for your business, give The Primm Company a call at 757-623-6234.

Creating a Brand Identity for Mission Mobility

September 14, 2011 by primm

An effective brand identity is more than just a font and shapes. Branding encompasses virtually everything a company does: how it sees itself, what it communicates, and how it is presented to the public. At its best, branding creates a better company by identifying and reflecting the company’s best vision of itself.

The team at Mission Mobility came to The Primm Company for a new brand identity. They were frustrated with the efforts of their current advertising company, and felt their opinions and suggestions weren’t being considered. Faced with a tight deadline to have the company ready for a trade show, they needed a quick solution. But they wanted it to be, without a doubt, the right solution.

The Primm Company held multiple meetings with the client and reviewed the entire product line to learn who Mission Mobility is, what they want to project, and what their future goals are. We learned about their likes and dislikes, the overall “feel” they were going for, and how they planned to use the branding images.

Our artists developed multiple ideas, which the Primm team reviewed internally and adjusted until we had two different concepts to present to the client. A few minor revisions later and the logo was finalized and everyone was happy.

We expanded the logo to a full brand identity concept, adapting it to several different identities the company needed, including those for brochures, newsletters, products, promotional items and apparel. We also created many collateral pieces, such as spec sheets, stationary and trade show displays.

If you’re interested in creating a brand identity, contact The Primm Company today at 757-623-6234.

Build Your Brand with Facebook Ads

May 5, 2011 by primm

Facebook is dominating the display ad market in the U.S.

Based on research by comScore, Facebook now possesses an estimated 31.2% of the display ad market, up from 15.6% in the first quarter and 25.9% in the fourth quarter of 2010.

Facebook is a terrific platform for branding to a specific audience. Ads can be targeted based on demographic information available in user’s profiles, including location, age, gender, marital status, interest, groups, work places, etc. Ads are only displayed to users in your chosen demographic, you set the bid, and (if you choose CPC bidding) Facebook only gets paid when a user actually clicks your ad and goes to your website.

It’s a great tool for brand recognition. Last month, a Primm Company Facebook campaign racked up 4.5 million impressions from users in Hampton Roads! That’s a huge branding reach, regardless of the number of clicks.

If you’re interested in building brand recognition to a specific audience, give us a call, (757)-623-6234.

What if Your Customers Carried Your Brand to Market?

January 14, 2011 by primm

Getting your brand and message to cut through the noise to reach your customers is increasingly challenging. There’s more noise, more vehicles and more messages than ever. But what if you could get your customers to help spread the word?

That’s exactly what Ikea has done with their big blue shopping bags. The bags have morphed into lightweight, inexpensive duffels for athletes, boaters, gardeners and anyone else who needs to carry lots of stuff. Ikea doesn’t have traditional shopping bags – you bring your own or buy one of theirs at the store. But it’s a big bag – it holds 19 gallons of stuff, so it has many uses.

As a result, you’ll see Ikea bags in really strange places, and when that happens, people say “That’s a great idea, how can I get one?” And that’s what makes the approach really cool – you can only get the bags in an Ikea store. They don’t sell them online, so people go to a store for the bags, and often also buy things to put in them.

Most businesses have shopping bags. But how many charge for them, and then have customers helping promote the brand and products?

Do your products or services have unique appeal? Are your customers promoting your brand? If not, why not?