Building a brand is not simple, but if you dedicate some time to thinking about who you are and who your customers perceive you to be, you will probably discover simple tweaks that can make your brand stand out.
The Pac-10 is in the middle of a complete rebrand. It has a new logo, for one, to illustrate the essence of the Pac-10. It was found that the Pac-10 elicited an awareness of place – the ocean, the mountains majesty, etc… The new logo is built on this awareness – attempting to emphasize West Coast, Innovation, and Championships. The conference has identified its brand and is now trying to reintroduce itself to the sports world, increasing media exposure and hoping to attract the big media dollars. Obviously with a budget like the Pac-10's, the conference can renegotiate with ESPN, extending the brand to Asia, and hire its own Ari Gold by using lead agency CAA to leverage its Hollywood connection.
But there are also simple modifications that will make a difference – ones that you can utilize immediately. Before now, teams were never required to wear conference patches, displaying the conference logo, on uniforms. What? Doesn't that seem obvious? Free exposure! Brand building! Creating awareness! But even large organization like the Pac-10 can miss the obvious. So what is the lesson?
You don't need to hire an expensive branding firm who will execute thousands of interviews to establish what your brand is or how it's perceived. Do your own study. Ask your clients what they think of when they think of your business. Offer discounts for those who take the time to provide feedback. Email out surveys – Constant Contact has them at an inexpensive rate. Create a social media plan – it doesn't take long to update Facebook and Twitter with ideas, discounts or general industry comments. Your customers will respond. Read these comments and start assessing what you can do differently, what you are missing, and where you are getting it right. Simple steps and tweaks can help you communicate more clearly with your customer.
If you have a moment, take the time to read more about the Pac-1o's rebranding efforts: http://sportsillustrated.cnn.com/2010/writers/andy_staples/07/26/pac-10/1.html.
