Brand Icon Building Secrets (A new lunch bunch dialog blog)

“Everyone,” he said, “This is Don. Don:

• On your right is Kate, who knows more about sales than most people should

• Next to her is Rick, who is our direct marketing expert

• Gail is next to him, she writes just about anything you can imagine and some things you won’t

• The guy on the end is Fletch. He’s the marketing strategist that started this unruly lot

• On his right is Rob. Don’t be confused when people call him Bubba. He’s a southern fried brand guru

• The lovely lady next to him is Connie. She joins us infrequently but is a whiz at PR and customer service

Bubba blustered, “Boy, the sun has been over the tulip tree for quite a while. Y’all mind if we order a little bourbon and branch while Don tells us what is on his mind?”

Drinks ordered, Don said, “I’m trying to get my business off the ground so I’m working on a logo and a tagline. I’m looking for advice to avoid making mistakes that will cost me downline.”

Fletch waded in, “Slow down. Is the name registered or at least submitted? More importantly in today’s world do you own the URL? Lately, I’m beginning to think that is more important than registering a trademark.”

Chris piled on, “Pull out your smart phone. Look at the icons. They are about 7/16ths of an inch square. Because your business is based on an app you need an icon that can be read at that size that works with the rest of your identity materials. Your icon is where I’d start. It has to convey what you do graphically ‘cause the most words you can use is your name…at best.”

Rick said, “one thing you have to be aware of is that app icons are like call to action buttons. For some reason the CTAs that seem to work best based on split testing are orange. You might want to think about that.”

Gail asked, “Did you say a tagline was part of your concern?”

“Yes,” Don answered. “I need to have one I guess.”

“Wrong answer,” Bubba muttered.

Connie hushed him and said, “A tagline is a good idea most of the time. So why is that the wrong answer?”

Rob paused and then replied, “A tagline is shorthand that most folks just don’t understand. It’s like Brand only worse. Everybody uses the term but most don’t know how to find it in the briar patch. Thing is, when you’re a minnow in a fishing pond you need words that have real power to them, right Gail?”

“Yes indeed,” said Gail. And you don’t get those by pulling them out of some mystical fish bowl full of fancy phrases. Don, I’ll bet you don’t know the difference between your vision, your mission and your position and how those might impact what you call a tagline.

You need to start with what the vision for you company is. Here’s a formula for what a workable vision sounds like. You have to fill in the blanks being sure that what you say fits only your organization.”

A vision statement has four parts:

1. The output

2. The twist

3. The quantification

4. The human connection

For example: Producing and selling [2--locally sourced] cakes and pies that are so [ 1 delicious and satisfying] that [3 every customer] who leaves our store does so [4 with a smile.] More information at: https://www.executestrategy.net

Fletch chimed in saying, “That is not easy. But it will get you to the point where you can state the mission of the company in such a way that every employee who understands it can operate without a huge three ring binder of instructions. I usually try to get that down to 7 words or less. And if things go well that will lead to the words you so blithely call a ‘tagline’ that tells people exactly what your company does for them. That’s called positioning and if it is in sync with your mission it is like capturing lightning in a bottle.” ( A video that sums it up: https://vimeo.com/185534580

Bubba smiled and said, “And we haven’t begun to talk about Brand. What you got to do with all this is figure out how to fit it all together so it don’t rattle round like a bb in a boxcar. What say you come back and see us next week, Don, and we’ll get at the nitty-gritty with you?”

­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

His consulting practice, founded in 1990, is known for Trust-based Brand development, Positioning and business development on and off-line. He is also a sought-after International Speaker.

Consulting: www.JerryFletcher.com
Speaking: www.NetworkingNinja.com