Harnessing the Power of an Emotional Brand
Building brand power takes a coordinated effort among all touch points.

By Tammy Humm Donelson

Your brand is what your customers perceive every time they do business with your company, and, beyond that, what they hear about your company in elevator conversations and online chat rooms.

In their attempts to create those feelings and perceptions, companies spent a nationwide total of $67.6 billion on advertising in 2004, according to data from TNS Media Intelligence. Big companies were the frontrunners in dollars spent. Meanwhile, small businesses were trying to come up with prudent solutions that would enable them to compete for customer share of mind and share of pocket.

Rather than compete in a head-on advertising war they can’t win, small businesses must leverage their brand power through a mutually supportive combination of operational branding, public relations and advertising that engages customers and motivates them to become a brand advocate. To build this kind of customer belief, all points of contact must reinforce one another and create the same positive emotional response, not just for the single sale but also for the long term. Consider the “Align, Define, Combine” method of brand building.

Align Your Operation with Your Brand
Your intended brand message may be different from the actual brand your customers experience. Operational branding is aligning the reality your customers perceive with the image your company wants to project. All the little things that add up to the customer experience result in your operational brand.

Before the operational brand can be delivered to the client, it must first ring true to employees. Only then can they become the brand stewards of your company. Sarah Vore, co-owner of Canterbury Preparatory School in Overland Park, turns teachers into brand stewards by taking care of them so they can take care of their students. For example, teachers receive free preschool and childcare. This says volumes about the school’s commitment to children and builds a brand that lives the message of caring for “the most important investment of your life.” The brand message and the brand experience reinforce each other.

Define Your Public
Public relations can be broadly defined as any activity that promotes an image among intended audiences. Intended audiences typically include the media in addition to customers and a host of other industry influencers. To be credible, the public image must be consistent with the operational branding. Otherwise, your public relations efforts may be seen as unsubstantiated puffery. Public relations is a company’s voice—its face to the world. Once you have defined your audience, you can determine how you can promote your company image in innovative ways.

Michelin Agricultural Tires defined the distribution channel as a primary target audience. As the key influencers in product purchase, ag tire dealers and distributors were invited to the Ultimate Ag Tire Challenge where they were encouraged to test drive tractors and combines in a side-by-side comparison between Michelin agricultural tires and their competitors. Dealers and distributors had the opportunity to learn about Michelin tires’ advantages. By understanding the importance of this audience in the purchase process, Michelin was able to reposition ag tire purchase from a commodity price comparison to a value investment.

Combine Advertising with Other Communication Strategies
Small businesses know it is impossible to match big competitors dollar for dollar. However, judicious advertising helps to establish and maintain a respected brand presence and can be a powerful communications tool when used as one component of a comprehensive communications plan. Trade magazines offer business-to-business companies the opportunity to develop brand presence among highly targeted audiences while typically charging lower rates.

The key to getting a good return on your marketing investment is to develop advertising that emotionally connects with the target audience and communicates the corporate brand. Striking an emotional chord will make your advertising memorable and motivating.

Nonprofit groups understand the importance of emotional communications. The United Way recruits donors through campaigns showing the plight of the less fortunate. In exchange for financial assistance, the benefactor knows he or she has helped a number of worthy causes and feels good about it. The focus is on the faces of those helped by the contributions, not statistics. The emotional connection motivates the desired generosity.

Perhaps Steve Yastrow, author of Brand Harmony and marketing advisor to clients like McDonalds, said it best: “Brand is a thought that a
customer has about a product that makes her want to be more (or less) involved with the product. You don’t brand products; customers brand them.”

Advertising and public relations are successful when they support the brand that employees deliver and customers experience. When emotionally evocative advertising and innovative public relations promote a brand message that reflects the actual customer experience, you have a winning combination that will allow you to compete with companies of any size.

Tammy Humm Donelson is the agency communications director at Osborn & Barr Communications, with offices located at 304 West 8th Street, Kansas City, as well as in St. Louis Des Moines Winnipeg and London, Ontario. The company provides branding development and strategic marketing for business-to-business and multi-tiered distribution channels. Donelson can be reached at or (888) 235-4332.