How effective is your brand?

By Greg Stine President Polaris, Inc. www.polaris-inc.com

f IKE it or not. you have a brand. I-tWhether your company has a sophisticated branding program, or you practice hit-and-miss marketing, you are communicating something (a brand) to your marketplace.

Part of the process of growing your business in volume and profitability is to better understand qualities that make you special and communicate them effectively and consistently.

Even the smallest company, if it is to survive for the long haul, must create a brand that stands on its own. The brand, after all, is what holds and communicates much of the value and power of a successful company.

Even the smallest company, if it is to survive for the long haul, must create a brand that stands on its own.

place-its strength, its integrity, and its reputation (good or bad).

It is not simply how the company logo is displayed, but is the emotional bridge between your company and your customers.

It is the sum total of all the factors that work together to create an emotional response in your customers and prospects-office decor, employee dress, employee attitudes, the condition of company vehicles and facilities, the look of company literature, product quality, pricing policies, etc.

It is all those things your clients touch, see, or hear and IMMEDIATELY differentiates your company from its competition.

Focused brands are more powerful than diffused brands.

. The first brand in a category has a huge advantage.

One big idea is best-keeP it simple.

. Don't neglect PR-it's a great way to build a brand.

Be consistent and patient-building a strong brand takes time.

So what is a brand?

From a business point of view, branding in the marketplace is very similar to branding on the ranch. A branding program should be designed to differentiate your cow from all the other cattle on the range, even if all the cattle on the range look pretty much alike.

In other words, your brand is your company's image in the market-

For example, what do you think of when you read the word Kodak? Film, or pictures, right? Maybe the gold color of their packaging? I'll bet you didn't think of instant pictures (maybe you would have if instead I had named Polaroid). The people that built the Kodak brand created an image that controls what you (and the rest of us) think of them. Talk about power.

Sadly, most companies know little about branding principles and/or how to implement them. Therefore, when you know who you are as a company-and everyone in your organization is able to articulate it clearlythen you have a leg up on the competition. That's the power of branding.

I have identified nine fundamental qualities of a good branding program.

. Avoid sub-brands at all costshort-term success doesn't offset weakening strength in the long-term. . quality is important, but not as important as the perception of quality. Somehow, some way, you have to be different.

. Put your brand definition in writing, otherwise you'll get offcourse.

Where to begin?

Decide what it is about your company that makes you different or special, and then make sure that everything you do communicates these qualities, with consistency and clarity.

- Mr. Stine is founder, president and director of sales for marketing specialist Polaris Inc. (www.polaris-inc.com), Oakridge, Eugene and Portland, Or.

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Orchard Supply Hardware, Antioch, Ca., has opened a second store in the city; the new 30,000sq. ft. store is managed by O.J. Herranen ...

84 Lumber is expected to open this month in the former Lumberjackbuilding in Redding, Ca.

Home Depot anticipates an Oct. 1 opening in Klamath Falls, 0r., and a Nov. 25 unveiling in Kona on Hawaii's Big Island; has acquired 10 acres in Lihue (Kauai), Hi., for a 140,000-sq. ft. store to open in Jan.2004: will co-anchor a 75-acre shopping mall south of Ontario, Ca., and is considering a 12.24acre site in Grants Pass, Or., for a 116,569-sq. ft. store and garden center

Home Depot is negotiating to build an Expo Design Center in the former HomeBase in Beaverton. Or.; is awaiting annexation of 10 acres in Roseburg, Or., that would pave the way for 113,600-sq. ft. store, and donated $10,000 to the San Bernardino, Ca., arca Habitat for Humanity ...

Lowe's Cos. opens a new store at the end of this month in S. Anchorage, Ak. (John Alston, mgr.), and unveiled new units late last month in Murrieta, Ca. (Scott Kidd, mgr.), and Bellingham, Wa. (Raymond Chapman, mgr.)

Lowe's will tear down the closed Montgomery Ward bailding in Ventura, Ca., for a 135,000-sq. ft. home center; is acquiring a site in Littleton, Co., for a 136,000-sq. ft. unit, and is considering a site in American Canyon, Ca.

Do it Best Corp.has completely redesigned its e-commerce Web site (doitbest.com) to improve member brand identity

Ace Hardware Corp. donated 100,000 U.S. flags to children in 37 hospitals across the country

TruServ Corp. rcceived a CIO100 Award for the second year in a row from CIO Magazine, honoring 100 companies that demonstrate integrated technologies and procedures to improve products, services and relationships with partners and clients

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Utah Forest Products. Escalante, Ut., recently reopened as Skyline Forest Resources; closed early this year, the mill received a state grant to stay solvent (see May, p. 16)

Smokey Point Hardwoods has put its Arlington, Wa., sawmill up for sale

Weyerhaeuser Co. will shutter its Western Building Materials purchasing office in Lebanon, Or., Oct. 18 and recently upgraded the process control equipment on the production line at its MDF plant in Eugene, Or. ...

North Pacific Group, Inc., Portland, Or., recently merged its Lightning Brand Malaysian hardwood decking into its Hardwood Import Division: the company will continue to sell the deckins in the U.S. market

Blue Lake Forest Products,Blue Lake, Ca., held an equipment auction last month at its closed sawmill and planing mill

Ketcham Forest Products, Seattle, Wa., formed an alliance with newly opened Double G Forest Products, Houston, Tx. ...

Pacific Lumber Co. held a equipment auction last month at its closed Scotia. Ca.. sawmill ...

Plum Creek Timber Co. Inc.. Seattle, Wa., has filed suit against the U.S. Fish and Wildlik Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to "obtain judicial confirmation" of the validity of its con- servation plan, approved by the two agencies in 2000; the lawsuit was prompted by a letter from three environmental organizations threatening legal action against the conservation plan ..

MH2Technolo gie s is partnering to connect Masco Corpis operating companies with the distribution chain and its builder custorners

Sani-Tap Inc., Gardena, Ca., has been acquired by V-T Industries; Allan Snyder will remain Sani-Top s.e.o., in addition to overseeing VT West's California and Oreeon operations...

P rogressive Solutions, Richmond, B.C., has acquired U.K.based Software Aspects ...

A study by Environmental Working Group and U.N.C.-Asheville researchers claims arsenic levels do not decline as pressure treated wood ages

Lumber Products, Eugene, Or., is now distributing James Hardie products in Oregon, Washington, Idaho and Utah

Johns Manville" Denver. Co.. is now a Grand Partner of the Atlanta, Ga., green building program, EarthCraft House ...

Owens Corning won 84 Lumber's Yendor of the Year Award

Sierra Pacific Industries, Redding, Ca., has joined the Western Wood Products Association ...

Anniversaries: McRae & Sons, Inc.,Bay City, Or.,45th ...

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