Building Your Brand:

How to Position as an

Industry Leader

Copyright 2012 Sabatier Consulting

What a Brand is Not…

• a logo (that’s a symbol for your

brand)

• a product

Your Brand Is…

• A consumer’s gut feeling about

your company, publication(s),

product and/or service.

• It is not what you say it is; it is

what they say it is.

Why Does Brand Matter?

• Keeps you top of mind

• Shapes perceptions into a

tangible image

• Separates you from the

competition

• Directs customer expectations

• Stimulates new sales

Why Does Brand Matter?

• Encourages loyalty/repeat sales

• Unifies your current employees

• Helps recruit good employees

• Attracts and reassures

investors

• Attracts the press when they

are looking for experts

How are Brands Created?

• Individuals create brands based

on emotion, intuition and

rationale.

• Marketers must tap into the

emotional, right-brain reasons

someone buys before appealing

to the logical, left-brain

reasons.

How are Brands Created?

• If you are not selling to emotions,

you are not selling.

• “Killer brands” – promising a

complete experience satisfying far

more than product needs.

• “The secret of our enduring brand lies in

delivering an experience rather than just

a collection of products and services.”

Harley-Davidson annual report

Effective brand marketing

satisfies a primary emotional

driver.

• Consumers to people

• Publications, products, services

to experiences

• Honesty to trust

• Quality to preference

• Identity to personality

• Service to relationship

Examples

• All the news that’s fit to print

(1868)

• Good to the last drop (1926)

• Breakfast of champions (1933)

• Just do it (1988)

• Fly the friendly skies (1966)

• Finger-lickin good (1952)

Examples

• Reach out and touch someone

(1976)

• The ultimate driving machine

(1975)

• Got ? (1993)

• Nothing runs like a (1972)

How are Brands

Managed?

• Brands are managed by sending

the right message and having

consistent quality.

How are Brands

Managed?

• EVERYTHING you do, print,

publish, create, and say should

match the brand personality.

How are Brands

Managed?

• Brands have a tendency to over-

claim, and perhaps need to

place their feet firmly on the

ground if their promises and the

performance they are measured

by are to be more closely

aligned.

Brands must think brand,

not publication.

• A publication may be what you

are, but brand is who you are.

• Brands with value messages

can turn commodity products

into premium products and then

help you sustain the leader

position.

Build Brand Around the

“How”

• Smart marketers figure out how

someone thinks and how that is

meaningful in their lives and

then build around the how

versus trying to sell the what.

Brands Must Be

Pervasive

• Consumers will consume media

the way he/she wants and we,

as information providers, have

to be where the consumer is.

Seven Principals for

Brand Success

• Always start with the customer

• Be distinctive and motivating

• Develop and nurture long-term

programs

• Invest through good times and

bad

Seven Principals for

Brand Success

• Measure your return on

investment

• Build learning into everything

you do

• Execute with powerful

communications ideas

Take Charge

• Connect in emotional,

unexpected ways, while being

seamless across multiple touch

points – giving an integrated

message to the consumer.

Marketing Plan

• Media used for campaigns can

vary depending on your

business objective.

Marketing Plan

• Media options – touch points

Newspaper Radio TV (cable)

Online Direct mail/email Magazines

Pod casts Mobile phones Outdoor

Apparel Events POP

PR CD DVD

Video Street marketing Kiosks

Novelty Customer Svc Others?

Marketing Plan

• Campaigns should not change

every season or even every

year. Expect them to run for 2-3

years at least. (New taglines

and benefit communication just

serve to confuse.)

Most media brands

Marketing Editorial/Circ Sales

Successful brands

are led by marketing.

Sales Editorial/Circ Marketing