Brand Mapping

Home » Hot Topics » Business Development » Brand Mapping

BRAND MAPPING - A VISION OF SUCCESS

Consumers buy brands - not products or services. By developing a personality for the brand , it is made more meaningful to the consumer. Planning for success  of your brand is about mapping out all the aspects of your brand's personality. Similar to a map, you need to define the following details: origin, route, vehicle, and destination.

Origin

A map has a starting point. To gain insights into your brand, you need to look closely at its beliefs, values, skills, knowledge and principles aside from its economic, professional and cultural status.  What experiences has your brand enjoyed, as this gives you valuable insights on your good and not-so-good traits, skills, knowledge, strengths, and weaknesses.  Develop a 'straw man' of your brand.

Route

"What does your brand want to be?" this is your brand vision. Now it is important that you have a clear idea of what your brand wants to be; and the things you want to change about your brand whether they are attitudes, habits, or points of view. If you hardly know your brand, then your vision and business targets for the future will be unclear. Your brand vision should cover all the aspects of your brand: the physical image, emotional, intellectual.

Vehicle

A vehicle is the means by which you can achieve your brand vision.  Here is where you can get creative about the look and feel of your brand logo, marketing communication options and how to influence the end-to-end brand experience of the consumer.

Destination

In planning your brand you also need to have landmarks which denote steps in your brand's success.  So you must create business objectives for your brand that are SMART:

Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time bound

The purpose of your brand map is to minimize hasty and spur-of-the-moment decisions that can make your brand lose its way. Sometimes your plans are modified along the way due to some inconveniences, delays, and other situations beyond your control. Like in any path, there are turns, detours, and potholes, so you  must anticipate them and adjust accordingly.