Do you think branding is only for the big guys? If so, you're missing an important opportunity. Branding can increase and protect sales at every point in the selling process, from manufacturing to the retail kitchen and bath dealership.

Branding is the foundation that supports and directs all marketing efforts. Its importance can hardly be overstated. Mastering a few critically important branding principles could help everyone in the kitchen and bath industry, including most retailers and many manufacturers.

Branding creates top-of-the-mind awareness, so when a customer wants your product or services, they think of you, not your competitor. Branding also protects your pricing from the ever-present pressure to discount. In addition, branded products and companies weather slow times better and engender greater customer loyalty, an essential buffer when problems arise.

For kitchen and bath dealers and designers, this means being known and liked by local referrers builders, architects, interior designers and your own former customers. It also means that end users must see a polished, consistent image and a positive, targeted message throughout their contact with you.

Actually, it helps to remember that you have a "brand," whether you want it or not. It's an amalgam of your reputation, your history and your image. If it is inconsistent, inappropriate, weak or negative, your brand is hurting your business.

ACTIONS TO AVOID

Here are six ways that many companies sabotage their brands along with tips for how to avoid doing so.

1. Look like everyone else. To succeed, your company needs a different brand, one that stands out from the crowd. Begin by identifying your strengths and building your brand around them.

Imagine your brand as a personality one that would attract people in your target market. How can you infuse your marketing with that personality?

Brands also need authenticity. Your brand must reflect the reality of the products and services you sell. If you are what your customers expect, they will like what they find.

A brand is a promise, and if you promise what you really are, it's a lot easier to deliver.

Once you get a sense for "who" your product or company is, you can decide what to do to capitalize on or improve your image. Your brand must be executed visually and verbally in a way that resonates with the core of your target market. That's a job for experts the best marketers and graphic designers you can afford.