One day, a few years back, one of our Account Executives brought an apple to work to eat as part of a healthy lunch. When she took it up to take a bite, it slid apart and revealed an unexpected surprise – her apple was filled with gummy worms candy (yes, gummy worms).
There are many, many different definitions of the word “brand”. The American Marketing Association defines a brand as a “name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers”. However, many other branding professionals have a different take on what a brand is. Some say that a brand is the emotional connection that a customer has with your products and services. Others say that your brand is your unique story and the history of your company.
If you’re a business leader trying to grow your business, it’s highly likely that you’re always on the hunt for ways to make your business more profitable. In fact, you and your team have probably already identified a list of “usual suspects” that may be eating away at your profit margins.
“Your brand is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Jeff Bezos (Amazon.com). That’s right. Your brand isn’t what your marketing department says it is. It’s not even what your CEO says it is. And it isn’t what your advertising agency says it is. According to Jeff Bezos, founder of e-commerce giant Amazon.com, your brand is what other people say it is.
A lack of complaints by consumers may be hurting Barbadian businesses. This peculiar insight was uncovered by an Antilles Economics/Blueprint Creative customer survey designed to evaluate Barbadians’ responses to customer service.
Paid advertising can be a great way to raise the visibility of your brand. Up until very recently, the ‘privilege’ of being able to advertise was restricted to companies with budgets that were large enough to pay for the production costs of TV, print or radio advertising campaigns, and for the insertion costs for each respective distribution channel.
Yep. Your employees are your brand. Well, sorta. If you’ve never heard this definition (that your employees are your brand), don’t panic. The reality is, of course, that there is no ‘one size fits all’ definition of the word ‘brand’. This particular definition is just one of many useful ways to describe a brand.
True story. A few years ago, ABC Electronics Inc., a leading electronics retailer (the company’s name and industry have been changed for the purpose of this article) placed an ad in one of our daily newspapers to advertise a sale they were having “on selected items” the following day.
You gotta hand it to us Caribbean people.
