My dad was an entrepreneur – a successful entrepreneur. He built, owned and managed two of the most successful businesses in Estes Park, Colorado, prior to the Second World War.

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Television still delivers strong brand associations. But word-of-mouth is stronger in actually influencing purchasing.

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I’ve always thought the umbrella was a perfect symbol for an insurance company, and so I’ve a fond place in my heart for Travelers.

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I’ve just discovered a new web site with some fine insights into the current branding and marketing approaches of the big companies.

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It’s frustrating when clients opt for the familiar rather than the unique.They may resort to an informal “market research” poll to determine if a unique brand concept is “meaningful”. The results are obvious:friends and associates go with the familiar rather than the unique.

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Quite often I see a local retailer or service provider adopt a type face that’s fairly unique as their logo. There’s quite an array of these semi-obscure faces available through sign companies and printers.

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Branding is first a strategic process. The outcome of this process is a brand. Whether you are branding a company (and that should probably be the first thing you brand) or a product, service or event, it begins with an assessment of the environment.

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Many entrepreneurs say they aren’t ready to spend time and money to brand their new bootstrap business. Not yet anyway. Their approach to branding is “we’ll do it once cash is flowing and the important huddles are behind us.”

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Many direct marketers ignore branding, relying on their persuasive sales copy alone. But branding can help pave the way to higher conversion rates, larger incremental sales and more frequent sales. Just ask the direct response winners.

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As I was beginning my career in the late 1950’s, it was common to think of advertising and marketing as a way to persuade people to buy based on an image or proposition. When we talked of corporate identity, we spoke of image.

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