Branding/brand-ing/brandING Definition
The process involved in creating a unique name and image for a product in the consumers’ mind, mainly through advertising campaigns with a consistent theme. Branding aims to establish a significant and differentiated presence in the market that attracts and retains loyal customers.
My experiences in the branding world started with building my own brands and realizing what it took to compete in a crowded world of ideas and choices for consumers. I learned the value of standing out and being noticed right from the beginning. I learned the importance of logo formulation, consistency and professionalism that creates visual acceptance within the 1st few seconds. In today’s world, this is a lot more important as the amount of brands and ideas has increased substantially.
In the early 2000’s I spear headed a marketing push for Dynasty Records and Dynasty Motors. This was my 1st attempt at competing in one of the biggest cities for OOH marketing in the country. Billboards, Wrapped Vehicles, Radio Spots, Post Cards, Promotional Teams and Promotional Products blistered the city of Las Vegas. We began to gain traction when we started doing nationwide ads in publications like the Dupont Registry for the Motoring Company and nationwide publications for the music like The Source, Rides and Billboard Magazine.
Marketing/mar.ket.ing/ˈmärkədiNG Definition
The action or business of promoting and selling products or services, including market research and advertising. After establishing the look, feel, direction and your brand’s target
demographic. It becomes time to get your brand to the people. Organic growth validates your vision to some degree but it is still only the beginning if you plan on becoming a national or
global brand.
Marketing is an ever-evolving industry. As technology improves and more tools are created to access the people, you must pay attention and utilize all available tools that are in
line with who you are trying to reach. If your target demographic is AARP or retired African Americans, you may not want to use Instagram or Facebook to reach your clientele base. Be smart, Do your research and approach marketing with calculated vigilance.
I have been a part of multiple marketing teams and headed others. HipHopRaw.com was a great example of grass roots experiments for organic growth. HipHopRaw.com was a tech company I founded. Our main purpose was a field beta test that would give us the answers to what our target demo wanted in the form of a social video interaction platform. We loaded up branded promotional teams in sprinters, cars and by foot at parties in the city of Atlanta. The hip hop capital of the south.
We went to festivals, video shoots, radio stations and popular street corners to get interviews, sign ups, emails, freestyles, live interviews and on the spot video shoots. It was an incredible experience to get real time feedback and participation and be able to turn in the results to my tech team and make the adjustments necessary for a full launch.
Luckily, we had the liberty of the BETA test. Most companies don’t and are under pressure to turn over sales at a certain ROI for every marketing dollar spent. Be open to accepting criticism and pay attention to the analytics. The numbers will send your marketing into the right direction.
