| No matter what season it is AbuLLard wants to
remind you of CattLeLogos Twelve Days of Branding... a surefire way to create an
Appropriate, Believable and Consistent brand image. |
| On the first day: |
A Vision for your company Make sure there is one
unifying vision for your company -- in everything you say and do |
| On the second day: |
Two Types of Image The visual components of your Brand Identity: logo, web site, marketing
materials are one aspect of your "image." How people perceive you through
your looks, words and behavior is the other. |
| On the third day: |
Three key Messages Distill your
message down to three key points that are Relevant for your target market. Don't
try to tell people "everything" all the time. People remember things that are
clear and concise. |
| On the fourth day: |
Four Means to Market Four things to
focus on that will improve your marketing effectiveness: (1) the right channel
to the market, (2) business processes that enable you deliver what you promise;
(3) software tools and infrastructure that support the process; and (4)
monitoring and evaluation of your efforts on an ongoing basis. |
| On the fifth day: |
Five Steps to Value Vision, Image, Message,
Means, and Consistent Implementation. It all needs to work together! |
| On the sixth day: |
Beware the Clip Art Trap Avoid the tired,
overused images (e.g. the puzzle, handshake, target, bag of cash, etc). Find
a clip art package with style or create your own. |
| On the seventh day: |
Seven Brand Metrics Seven questions
to use to rate your brand: Do you have a brand vision? What does you brand look
like, in all it's forms? What does it convey - implicitly and explicitly? How
well do your messages convey your intent? How easy is it to use? Is it built in
to your business process? Will it stand the test of time? |
| On the eighth day: |
Eight Color Choices In addition to your
primary logo colors choose a limited palette of colors (no more than 8!) and
use them consistently. This will help establish a "look" that will make your
materials memorable. |
| On the ninth day: |
Nine Different fonts... NO! not all at once!
But try something other than Arial and Times Roman! Use Tahoma, Verdana, Maindra, Trebuchet,
or Gill Sans for your non-serif font; Baskerville Old Face,
Garamond, Georgia or Poor Richard for your serif font. They will differentiate
you from all the other documents out there that use the "default" fonts. You
will stand out from the herd. |
| On the tenth day: |
Ten 10 Web page traps to Avoid 1. Animation.
2. Too Much Scrolling. 3. Long, Text-Heavy and Blocky Paragraphs of Unbroken
Text. 4. No Obvious Ways to Contact the Company. 5. Unchanging or
Out-of-Date Content. 6. Long Page Downloads. 7. 'Me, Me, Me!' Instead of
'You, You, You'. 8. Non-Explanatory Buttons or Links. 9. Inconsistent
Navigation. 10. Inconsistent Look and Feel |
| On the eleventh day: |
Eleven Extra templates Develop a consistent
style for all types of documents: Proposals, Newsletters, Faxes, Forms,
Presentations, Address Labels, Flyers, Simple brochures, Data Sheets,
Reports, Manuals. It will make everything you do easy to recognize as yours!
Back to the memorable concept! |
| On the twelfth day: |
Remember these Twelve Steps of Branding and when you
have success managing your brand with the CattLeLogos Method, convey the
message to all your associates. |
