A brand identity helps you to define the product line and chart its course. A guide to set up a brand identity that distinguishes you from your competitors and establishes you as the market leader. If you are going to become an established player in hemp products, you need to strategize and build a brand identity. You see, there is still a lot of confusion about industrial hemp and products derived from it. Call it bad luck, but hemp is unfortunately tied to THC and altered mind states by most people. As a brand and a responsible vendor, your task is to create a niche and also inform the public. How do you go about it? I draw from my own experience and summarize the salient points for you. What is brand identity, anyway? Unless you have an MBA in marketing, it is a term you would struggle to understand. What do we mean when we say President Obama has a nice personality? Are we talking about his politics? His baritone that is instantly recognizable? Is it about his being a highly educated African American—the first black president of Harvard Law Review? Is he somehow exotic (if such a term can apply to a human being)? Born of a white mother (with Swiss, German and English ancestry) and a Kenyan father who met in Honolulu while studying Russian? Or is it the overall package—the overall impression that the man gives when he strides onto a stage and gives a scorching speech? The same is true of brand identity. It identifies: What the brand stands for Its value proposition What is its USP? .. and other similar elements. The ideal example is Mercedes Benz. The German vehicle maker stands for: Engineering excellence Luxury Precision Prestige Performance Design innovation Why is a brand identity necessary? Good question. Can’t you sell a hemp t-shirt based on its quality and without having to build a brand identity? Of course, you can, but with a caveat—you have to advertise again and again. Each time you find a lead, you have to convince them about your product. Why are Starbucks, Apple, and BMW famous? They are big brand names. But look behind it and you find trust. Starbucks would serve you the best coffee in an inviting ambiance. They won’t skimp on the cost of cream by buying wholesale milk powder. Apple technology is the best in the world. BMW is all about ingenious technology and exceptional performance. Once you have experienced these products, there is little chance you would migrate to a rival. Recurring sales means a lot to businesses because it costs an enormous amount to find a new customer. You need a brand identity for: Differentiation Through its brand identity, BMW separates itself from a Kia (at one end of the scale) and a Bentley (at the other end). The same for Kia. Brand identity is not for luxury products alone, but for all categories. Connection Almost every well-known brand is associated with a famous logo. Every time you chance upon it, an association is renewed. The process is subconscious, but it does happen. Experience A brand identity translates a product (from a car to a latte) into an experience. A cohesive brand identity is essential for high sales volume. How to create a brand identity for your hemp products Research your buyers Most in the hemp business have a rather myopic view of their clientele. Their approach can be roughly stated as this way: Create a product from hemp (shirt, face mask, etc.) and wait for an environment-friendly customer to buy it. Since environment and climate change are hot-button topics, they expect marketing an alternative to cotton is all that is needed. Nothing can be further from the truth. Clients like to know about the reason they would buy a particular product. They want reliable data about hemp and why it is the better alternative. You need to know: Age group Education Location Gender Before, you can target them with information. You can gain your insights through market surveys and focus group research. Offering a hefty discount to those who would take part in a market survey is a splendid tactic which can be used. Value proposition Why are you better? What does your business offer that others don’t? Unless a client knows the answer to this, it is likely they would one day drift away to your rival. Successful brand identity requires the brand to tell a story. It might be your brand is more authentic, or more reliable, or any of the dozen factors that make one brand better than the other. Maybe the quality of hemp you use is exceptional and justifies you charging 2X price compared to the market. Whatever it is—state it clearly. Write a mission statement Sounds blasé. Let me assure you it is not. Customers like to compare your performance vis-à-vis the mission statement. The mission statement is not a collection of grave and noble-sounding words. That sounds fake and akin to a sales pitch. What do you feel when you think of hemp products? How do you want to serve your customers? What makes you different? Your mission statement has to address these issues clearly and concisely. SWOT it out SWOT is the acronym for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats. The first two focus on the functional and dysfunctional aspects of your business. The other two are about how it can prosper and what can cause it to falter. Ideally, this task is best done by a management consultant. You might not have the business skills to identify the elements. Also, one needs to be neutral to perform this task. You are biased towards your concept and perhaps not able to comprehend the threats you face. Create a logo Why a logo needs no answer in this day and age. One can recognize a bottle of Coke from a mile away because of the peculiar lettering in white against a bright red background. A […]
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