How To Create Your Brand Signature

(By Gil Gerretsen) Stop thinking about a slogan or tag line for your business. There's a simple tool that works a LOT better.

Think about it. Every business has a signature. It's the image your customers and prospects form in their brain when they think of your business. It is much like a travel postcard. On one side is a picture which may be beautiful, desirable, funny, or even silly. On the other side is a short written note from the sender about the picture.

In like manner, YOUR business signature needs to be like one of those postcards. You must share a quick, easy-to-understand, message about what you stand for. It is the mechanism through which your business identifies itself to the target audience and establishes its uniqueness.

I call this marketing element a “Mental Postcard.” Every business has one. However, most are not crafted by the business but rather thrust onto the business by the marketplace. However, that’s not what you want to happen.

Since the Mental Postcard is how people remember and tell other about your business, it is vital that you take the initiative and carefully define your Mental Postcard. You must take control.

What does a Mental Postcard look like? It is a very short statement or slogan that creates a VISUAL image or picture about your identity and the primary advantage or compelling claim you offer to your customers.

Some marketing people might call this tool a signature phrase or tag line, but I think those terms are too weak. A series of trite words is not enough. People don't remember words - they remember images. The brain stores information visually. If I mention a giraffe, you see a picture of a giraffe in your mind. Not the letters g-i-r-a-f-f-e!

The key to this marketing principle is that your Mental Postcard must distinguish you on the basis of what you promise to your customers. It’s not about what you do, but rather how you will make their life better. What’s the beneficial end result?

How do you create a Mental Postcard? Start by asking yourself the following questions:

1) What difference does your business, product or service make in the lives of your customers?

2) What would your customers do if you went out of business tomorrow?

3) Who are your key competitors and what do they offer that you don't?

4) What steps do you take to offset their advantage? Are those steps working? If yes, why? If not, what needs to be changed?

5) What is your competitor's biggest failing and how can you specifically fill that void?

6) If you had seven seconds to sell your product or service, what would you say?

Once you have answered these questions, you can begin the process of developing your Mental Postcard. While you are doing so, never lose sight of the fact that people remember things in terms of pictures or images. Only then do they attach words to those images. If you can’t draw the idea, you won’t have a clear idea.

Try to find a positive picture or image that represents what your business, product or service is all about. Your Mental Postcard must be clear and precise. You must get the message across in an instant. I often suggest folks think about what they might draw for someone who did not understand their language.

And ideally, you should be able to prove your claim. It should be measurable. Fuzzy credibility or authority is to be avoided. For example, many businesses build the word "quality" or "service" into their message. But what does that really mean? What one person defines as "quality" may be totally unacceptable to another. This results in fuzzy expectations and ultimately, loss of your credibility.

Your Mental Postcard should lead to brand preference and automatic association. You want your business, product, or service to garner a leadership presence with your customers and prospects. When you establish the dominant and trusted position, you will be seen as different, better, more relevant, and more familiar.

Once you have created your Mental Postcard (this can take a lot of time and effort — and sometimes an outside facilitator), you must continue to "feed" your image. Constantly be on the lookout for ways to get your Mental Postcard in front of your target audience.

And remember a critical fact of business life. Once you have created a Mental Postcard that you are happy with, and that tests well, stick with it. You will get tired of it long before your audience does. In fact, you will probably get so tired of hearing it that you will be tempted to change it, just to have something different.

Stay the course!

The fact of the matter is that your Mental Postcard should last for ten to twenty years! By the time you are tired of it, many people in your audience will just be starting to get the message. If you change it, you will have lost all your momentum. Constant change actually serves to confuse and bewilder your audience.

Once you have a Mental Postcard, treat it like gold. It is almost a license to print money if you have developed it properly. Verbalize it, visualize it and evangelize it.

As the economy changes, your Mental Postcard will carry you through the toughest times. In tough times, people stick with the names they know and trust. While your competitors are scrambling to reposition themselves, you will generate enormous loyalty with your customers and prospects by continuing to be exactly what they expected.

This is because people buy what they believe in. They buy because they trust you to deliver what you promised. So don't let yourself be tempted to come up with a new slogan with each new advertising or marketing campaign. Figure out what you represent, create a mental picture, put that picture into a few words. Then spend all your marketing efforts reinforcing that message using your Mental Postcard.

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