As someone who is seen as an advocate for branding, I must admit that I no longer embrace the term branding.

Perhaps it’s because it has been used out of context so much that the term branding, to me, has lost its meaning. If you’re like me, you may have come across an enthusiastic department leader who has requested that you help to “brand my department.”
Branding has moved in the vernacular from philosophical approach to meaningless buzzword.

In addition to the diluting of the term, there is another reason I don’t embrace the term branding. You see, I live in the western American state of Arizona. I live in a community that still has ranches and farms. With my proximity to the rural west, my first exposure to branding was a hot iron emblem that was burned into an animal’s hide to indicate that the animal belonged to a particular ranch. I am sure the farm animal did not want to endure such a painful procedure.

In many respects, I see those who consider themselves brand experts as “burning” their product or service onto a recipient who may not necessarily want to be “branded.”

In my mind, I prefer to think of my self as a marketing impressionist. Let me explain.

The way your organisation conducts business leaves an impression on customers, stakeholders and the communities in which your organisation operates. Based on the way a person has interacted with your organisation, he or she will create his or her own impression. If your organisation provides quality service/products at a perceived value, with a high level of customer service, most customers will have a favorable impression of your company. This impression is something he or she developed of his/her own accord. He/she was not “branded.”

As marketing communication professionals, one of our duties is to understand the attitudes and behaviours of our organisation, which will leave a positive impression on our customers. Once we understand that which leaves the best possible impression, we must work to reinforce those behaviours in or organisation and understand our customers’ ever-evolving wants and needs.

Thank you for getting this far in my initial entry into the IABC Communication Commons. I truly look forward to contributing in this space. As we move forward, I will provide observations about the marketing communication world. I will also direct you to interesting examples of marketing communication. But what makes this medium so fascinating is your participation. I sincerely hope that I can move you enough to respond to my entries. Whether or not you agree with me, please take a moment to express your thoughts.

So there you have it. My first blog in the Marketing/Branding section of the IABC Communication Commons. And what do I do? I disparage the term that anchors this section. I wonder what kind of impression that leaves on you.

What does IABC mean to you? And what can it mean to the thousands of people we connect with every year - including members, prospective members and our professional colleagues?

To clarify what IABC can mean to its many stakeholders, the association is clarifying its “brand promise” - the essential, simple statement of the value of the IABC connection. Now, this is much more than a tag line for an advertisement. It is the ultimate value proposition IABC offers to anyone who connects with the association. That’s why we have to get it right.

So we’d like your reaction to some ideas we’re working with about what the IABC brand should say to all the people who come in contact with the association. Please take a moment to review the following six value statements. Let us know your reaction, in this discussion, before July 14. Your responses will help create a compelling brand that will help each part of the association attract the participation and support of members and nonmembers. We’ll review the brand ideas at the Leadership Institute in February.

Here are the value statements:
“IABC offers a world of opportunities to professional communicators who pursue excellence.”
“IABC provides access to many “worlds” of communication excellence–geographically, culturally, and creatively–which can make a difference to any members–no matter where they may live and work.”
“IABC enables its members to reach beyond traditional boundaries of map or culture to create a richer world of communication excellence.”
“IABC has the power to connect the world of communication excellence and make a global difference.”
“IABC creates a global network in which members can share their ideas and bring a world of communication excellence home–to the organization, to the office, to the individual.”
“IABC provides a global network for sharing excellence across all disciplines of communication.”

Please participate in this discussion:
1) Select the statement that best reflects why you value IABC - and explain why.
2) Select the value statement (which may be the same one or a different one) that can be most appealing to someone who may be thinking about joining IABC - and explain why.
3) Offer any other reactions or ideas.

Thank you for taking the time to react.

My mother had a saying, “Handsome is as handsome does.” However good you may look, it just doesn’t matter unless you behave properly. And here’s another one: Actions speak louder than words. What you, as a company, say and do is more important than a beautifully designed logo or a well crafted tagline.

In fact, taglines are pretty much useless unless, when applied internally, they rally the troupes. When I heard this yesterday at a talk by Daryl Travis of Brandtrust, I admit, I was taken aback. All those hours I’ve spent in my life fine tuning the perfect tagline…It just isn’t important.

Travis’ talk was about emotional branding (also the name of his book). His concept is based on recent brain research, and it’s fascinating beyond belief. I will try to do it justice with the briefest of summaries: Brands exist in the human mind. The mind contains countless memories which affect future behavior. When your brand promise comes into alignment with your customer’s mental model, then your customer will receive your brand message. You cannot alter the existing model, so you must make your message compatible with the model that’s already there, in your customer’s head.

The question we, as marketers, must ask is: How does our brand make the customer feel? This is critical, because brands are not about facts, they’re about feelings. We may think Wal-Mart is about price, but in fact, it’s successful because people feel Wal-Mart is the champion of the common man.

One more thing my mother always said: Tell the truth. If your brand promise doesn’t ring true–that is, if it doesn’t come into alignment with existing mental models–then you’re toast.

Just thought I’d share.