The document provides an overview of key branding concepts including company name/logo, mission, elevator pitch, market position, value proposition, key messages, tagline, and brand elements. It discusses how branding extends beyond tangible elements to include customer interactions, employee communications, corporate philosophy, and marketing efforts. The document also lists some top branding and business books as a bibliography and recommends thinking about creating emotional connections, co-branding partnerships, fulfilling brand promises, and using social media to build awareness.

1. Branding &
Networking 101
How you think about you and your
product as a brand

2. Branding & Networking 101
Company Name / Logo
This one is obvious: it's simply your business name. Can
you trademark it? Do you own the dot.com? What does it
tell the consumer about who you are and what you do?
Company Mission
What is your main business objective?
Elevator Pitch
Succinctly state what the business does. (High Concept: It's
like Rambo meets Little Women.)

3. Branding & Networking 101
Market Position
How do you want the consumer to think about you?
Value Proposition
What do you offer that your audience values?
Key Messages
What are the supporting, fact-based claims you make?
Company Tagline
What would you say about yourself in 7 words or less?

4. Brand Elements
Name: The word or words used to identify a company, product, service, or
concept.
Logo: The visual trademark that identifies the brand.
Tagline or Catchphrase: "The Quicker Picker Upper" is associated with
Bounty paper towels. "Can you hear me now" is part of the Verizon brand.
Graphics: The dynamic ribbon is a trademarked part of Coca-Cola's brand.
Shapes: The distinctive shapes of the Coca-Cola bottle and of the Volkswagen
Beetle are trademarked elements of those brands.
Colors: Owens-Corning is the only brand of fiberglass insulation that can be
pink.
Sounds: A unique tune or set of notes can denote a brand. NBC's chimes are
a famous example.
Scents: The rose-jasmine-musk scent of Chanel No. 5 is trademarked.
Tastes: Kentucky Fried Chicken has trademarked its special recipe of eleven
herbs and spices for fried chicken.
Movements: Lamborghini has trademarked the upward motion of its car doors.

5. Identity / Logo
Steve Jobs once called Paul Rand, “the greatest living
graphic designer.” http://www.lifeclever.com/paul-rand-thoughts-and-despair-on-logo-design/
A logo is a flag, a signature, an escutcheon, a street sign.
A logo does not sell (directly), it identifies.
A logo is rarely a description of a business.
A logo derives meaning from the quality of the thing it
symbolizes, not the other way around. A logo is less
important than the product it signifies; what it represents is
more important than what it looks like.
The subject matter of a logo can be almost anything.

6. Beyond the Tangibles
"A strong brand integrates multiple
components, all of them necessary,
including customer interactions,
employee communications, corporate
philosophy and advertising/marketing
efforts. Your brand extends to your
employees, customers, the media and
even the general public (word of mouth)"

7. Best Global Brands
Brand Rankings 2011
http://issuu.
com/interbrand/docs/bestglobalbrands2011-
interbrand?
viewMode=presentation&mode=embed
Look at pgs 69 & 70.

8. What You Should be Thinking About
Creating Emotional Connections
Co-Branding - Strategic Partnerships
Brand Promise Fulfillment - Measuring it
How do you use social media to build brand awareness
Brand valuation as a measure of your success

9. Bibliography
Some of the Branding / Business Books on my shelf:
Emotional Branding - Marc Gobe
Building Brand-width - Sergio Zyman
Buyology - Martin Lindstrom
Marketing Aesthetics - Bernd Schmitt
Primal Branding - Patrick Hanlon
Purple Cow - Seth Godin
Logo Savvy - Perry Chua & Dann Ilicic
The Cluetrain Manifesto - Rick Levine, et al
Networking Books:
Little Black Book of Connections - Jeffery Gitomer
Anatomy of Buzz / How to create Word of Mouth Marketing - Emanuel Rosen
The Tipping Point & Blink - Malcolm Galdwell