How to Brand Yourself Across the Board

Without a doubt, the first impression anyone has with your project is the most critical moment leading to either success or failure. Those primary milliseconds imprint opinion, image, and years of preconceived notions that then become the totality of what they are interacting with. Knowing how to brand is significant - as the first impression suggests, your newly found audience does not have the depth of comprehension with your project that you have, and this makes the mind uncomfortable. In order to fill in the gaps and make sense of the input, a listener, reader, or viewer- anyone interacting in that case, develops a sense of comprehension.

Without knowing how this instantaneous product branding works, and without professional guidance, it can be a crap shoot- your audience will associate either negative images to fill those gaps, or place vaguely rendered positive images in place that will soon be discredited and devalue the audience's experience.

To say it simply, your product branding is more than ordering a free set of business cards from VistaPrint.

Taking a step toward a professional brand means working with a dedicated team - and we at Spotlight Publicity can help.

Your personal branding should begin with a uniquely graphic and visual impact - hence, the label of 'brand.' Much like a cattle brand, the audience interacts instantaneously with a visual cue that identifies exactly what they are interacting with. There's information in that visual cue -



Think of the golden arches of McDonald's.

Think of the AA of American Airlines.

Think of the green sun image of BP Oil.

Each time someone sees those images, they immediately internalize all of their experiences with that brand. Folks who see a Coke sign subconsciously regurgitate emotions of good times, Americanisms, and taste. For your project, or better yet for you yourself, a visual impact is an important and significant investment in your success. With popularity and an increasing audience, having a personalized brand is key to gaining a larger audience.

Mars Inc. has enjoyed an unprecedented insertion of branding through M&Ms, where each individual candy carries not only the imprinted and styled M, but also the uniquely shaped ufo-disc shape that relegates branding to touch as well. Their branding has moved into the kinetic.

Pure genius.

For the entrepreneur starting out by investigating their own branding, the sky is the limit- but there's is so much to consider. What should the logo be centered around? Where is the long term theme? Where can it go? On what will the message be delivered?

Many images have incorporated clever packaging techniques into their branding. Take for example Lifesavers... multi-colored imaging on the packaging, but also minimalized into that 'tube' for brand recognition as well as portability.

How to brand outside of the box, literally, is another significant consideration.

TicTacs rely on their patented flip-top box, beer companies design cardboard silhouettes for portable shelving, Cosmo Kramer designed a coffee table book about coffee tables to actually be a miniature coffee table.

Yes he did.

Product branding is a science, taking in multiple elements in order to account for and become incorporated with the many subtle aspects of consumer interaction. The ways in which this is done is innumerable, and utilizing a professional team is a short investment that will pay off in spades as the years progress and your brand becomes more ingrained with an ever growing audience.

But what is the indicator that a product has been successfully branded? It is an intrinsic ideal- it becomes something that a consumer wants - desires even - to pick up and touch. And in kinesthetic marketing, this is the pure gold of a product. Research shows that a consumer who picks up and item before buying is more likely to purchase it the longer they hold it.

Imagine shopping at Target, and you pick up a shirt. You check the fit, the style, and the size and decide to think about it. At first contact you may not have completely made up your mind, but after a time, you have shifted your purchasing decision to buying it- simply because you have created value with it. It is still in your shopping basket- therefore, you are buying it. Of course, you may occasionally put stuff back based on overriding factors such as removing a personal reward or budget, but think about it- how many items can you identify after a shopping trip as being impulse buys?

To gain first contact, branding relies on eye-shelf placement, color, style- it is something that triggers deep needs in your subconscious.

Clever, yes?

But this approach is applied to large sales- for reaching audiences that are uninitiated into your product. The realist- or perhaps the idealist - believes that consumers interact based on a true desire to do so. Many will... and on the same note, many, many, many will not. They will interact because they are programmed to do so by social psychology, and you have tapped into this by creating a professional brand for yourself.

From an entrepreneurial approach, where the project is presented one-on-one with a new audience such as during a small book store reading, you have a unique opportunity to present your branding with a prepared edge. You yourself can deliver the image's message. You have an ability to infuse the essence of what have to share on a personal level- this also is an aspect of branding.

At Spotlight Publicity, we can assist you with your personal branding. Whether it's an investigation into the messaging on eco friendly packaging, an auditory indicator unique to your project, or a visual element to create that instantaneous connection, we can help.