Branding Your Business

James Hammond

Published by Kogan Page

Effective branding is critical; you do have a brand, whether you are aware of it or not - the question is, does your brand enhance your business?

James Hammond is a practical man who has produced a practical book on branding that will actually help the smaller business with little or no budget for something as esoteric as "brand building".

How does he do it? He begins by examining in some depth what a brand really is. This is the beginning of a step-by-step process in which the reader gets to examine his/her current brand and (re)create it to better effect.

Mr Hammond applies his quarter century plus of brand management experience to the task of educating us in the concepts, the language and the practicalities of building a successful brand and communicating it to the client. Frequent references to human psychology and numerous real-world examples make this an interesting as well as informative volume.

Probably the most important idea in the book is the "Brand Halo" - in itself a superb example of branding. Adopting the premise that you don"t have to get everything right all of the time, the author leads us through the creation of the "Brand Storybook", "Brand Reflections", "BrandEmotions" and a few other trademarked expressions culminating in the "BrandBite", a kind of sophisticated elevator pitch.

Persuasively written, well argued and very readable, this is probably the most useful book on the topic I have come across.