Signature Strategies Reveals Process of Branding a New Business and Their First Product

(IT-NEWSWIRE.COM, April 21, 2015 ) Littleton, CO -- The Colorado-based branding firm, Signature Strategies, has completed a branding program for the newly named company, SureShire Products, and its first product line, LUGalong camera bags.

Signature Strategies has been helping smaller organizations "profit from the power of branding" for the past 21 years. Its founder, Martin Jelsema, has personally created names, logos and taglines during a career spanning over 50 years.

He said of the SureShire project, "We started this project by helping SureShire management create a brand platform. A brand platform is a document that reflects what the business aspires to and how it will get there. But more than that, it identifies how the company will differentiate itself from competition in a way that attracts members of the market segments SureShire hopes to serve.

"So before we began the actual branding process, we had a foundational document to guide our work and insure the brand would be consistent in all elements. There's nothing that dilutes a brand's strength more than disconnected elements. A strong brand communicates a single, understandable, consistent and welcome message to stakeholders. "

SureShire was selected as the company name after several hundred name candidates were generated by Signature Strategies. The keys to a really effective name according to Jelsema, are "first generating a large list of candidates, and secondly, having a rigorous evaluation process". SureShire won on several accounts. The name was easy to say and spell. It was short. It was very positive. And because of the alliteration, it was easy to remember. And SureShire was unique - a vital consideration for an Internet company so that the ".com" url was available; i.e. http://sureshire.com.

But most importantly, the name connotes confidence and, as Jelsema stated, "a traditional ambiance associated with hard-working, caring people with small-town roots".

Once the name was selected and found not trademarked for its product category, the company's "birth story" was created, along with a "brand promise". These elements document the aspirations of the entrepreneur who visualized the company and set its operating credo. It has a purpose internally of providing guidance to employee behavior and decision-making. For external distribution, the purpose is to provide a human face to the company and to build trust.

Next, logo designs were created, but not before a set of criteria was developed to guide the process. The evaluating factors were both of a technical and communicative nature. A "winning" logo was selected from about thirty candidates. It was simple, all-type and very flexible, either with or without a tagline.

Graphic standards were also developed to assure consistency in designs across the several media. These include type faces and sizes, color palette, stationary design, illustrative guidelines and logo usage.

A tagline was also created, "for folks who value value", utilizing the process of "criteria first". It crystallizes and succinctly conveys the company story, mission and vision. This tagline might also be called a "positioning statement" in that it tells consumers what SureShire stands for.

Finally, Signature Strategies authored a "Brand Bible" for reference by employees and suppliers who work with the company. It includes the brand story and promise; graphic and logo standards; statements of mission, vision, value and positioning; customer service practices, and code of ethics.

When companies require branding of products as well as corporate branding, there should be no disconnects between product and company", said Jelsema. He went on to describe how the brand for the first product, a dslr camera bag, was developed. "Basically, the process is much like the process of branding the company. The steps and the order are the same - and so is value of setting criteria first and evaluating candidates against the criteria.

"For the camera bag, we wanted a friendly, unique name that was short, memorable and product-relevant. And for the logo, it had to be simple enough to be easily applied to the product as well as be flexible for applications in print and Internet websites and ads. LUGalong speaks of its function and fulfills the technical criteria of a good logo. "

The idea of a new company with a new product paying as much attention to branding is often unusual. Many entrepreneurs will leave branding as a secondary business function. They often believe their new venture is too small for professional branding activity. And they further believe that branding is too expensive for a start-up. Jelsema believes the opposite. He states that "getting off on the right foot will save a company in the long run because if you have to rebrand in a year or two the expense and the confusion you cause with your customer base can be way more than any initial investment in branding.

"And a branding program doesn't need to be that expensive. We did both company and product brands for SureShire for less than $10,000. So it is wise to include branding in your startup budget and reap the benefits of 'branding smart from the start'."

Learn more about the Signature Strategies approach to branding at http://signaturestrategies.com.

About Signature Strategies:

Signature Strategies is a Denver-based consultancy and creative resource that helps smaller companies profit from the power of branding through strategic, analytic and creative services. The firm was founded in 1994 by Martin Jelsema, the company's current CEO and Creative Director.

Signature Strategies

Martin Jelsema

303-242-5975

martin@signaturestrategies.com

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