We all have a name, and we all have a story. Some people are very private and would rather that people don’t know their story, and that is totally understandable. But if your name represents who you are as a professional and as a person who provides a product or service, in business at any level, your name and your story is your brand.
Most people embark on a business venture based around a product or service they have to offer. But careful thought about why anyone would decide to buy from you as opposed to anyone else who offers the same or similar products or services is usually not considered. If it always boils down to you being the least expensive, there will always be someone with deeper pockets who can undercut you and wait until you go away. Survival of the fittest is important. But more important is the survival of the smartest. The smartest marketers understand the importance of branding.
Most of the time, when people begin a business, the name chosen for the business, along with the products or services are not always taken into account in context with branding and marketing. Sadly, they are usually an afterthought because most people just aren’t aware of how their uniqueness is the brand that taps into the story, and provides reason for the buy-in. The difference between you and your competitors is your name and your story, and that is represented by your brand. Your product and your service is represented by your story, and is refined down to your brand.
At the end of the day people remember the brands they hear and see, and those brands are connected to a story that defines the brand. It’s important to think carefully and learn to tell your unique story in a concise and condensed manner.
All of our stories are lifelong. But people, especially in today’s microwave society, won’t sit still to listen to or to read that much content. The short story peaks the interest of those who want to know more, if it is compelling enough. The shortest form of your story is your name, which is your brand.
Telling your story is like eating a meal. Your story is told in bite size portions. The bite size portions are on a full plate, and the plate sits is on a table full of food with all the flavors of your story. The first bite determines if a second bite is taken, and if that is good and consistent with the first bite then the eater goes on to eat more of what is on the plate, and ultimately choosing from the other offerings on the table. The first bite is your brand. Every bite thereafter has the consistency of your brand. Together they are your story. Have you refined your story down to your brand?
For well over a quarter of a century I have worked with local, regional, and national businesses, radio and TV stations, ad agencies and individuals around the USA to refine and define their brand names – and then to present those brands to the public in a way that creates a desire to learn more about the person, the business, and product and service behind the brand.
Your brand is the simplest and most concise part of your story. Crafted accurately and correctly it will represent you in all forms of media, from print, to web, and to broadcast radio and TV.
I’m Banner Kidd, and I’m a jingle writer, and the founder of Kidd Production Group, and Broadcast My Brand . This just the single sentence summary of who I am, and what I do. It is just the beginning of my story. I’m a work in progress, and my story is still being written, just as yours is. I want to tell my story to people who are interested in what I have to offer. But I want my story to stay on message as to who I am and what my vision is, and how I want to accomplish it. What I ultimately want to do is to write a powerful brand name jingle for every business, public persona, product and service in the nation. I should add the caveat, that I want these businesses, people, products and services to be those who resonate with my story. Therefore my story is important. So is yours.
When the Broadcast My Brand creative team goes to work on a new musical logo jingle project we always begin with asking you to tell us your story. We want to know who you are. And then we want to know how that translates into your products and services. What makes you tick differently than all the others? That’s what we want to know. And then we work with you to tell that story in a :30 second song that is designed to be the first bite of the meal that people come to expect, and causes them to want to take another bite, and move on to more of what is on the plate, and then the table.
A jingle is a :30 second, and sometimes a full :60 second song. A song has verses and choruses, and sometimes a bridge element. All of them are boiled down into the hook. The hook is your name and/or slogan. I say and/or because sometimes they are the same thing. That is what we want to refine your story down to – the hook.
The hook represented in your branding song is translatable to all other forms of media. It becomes the first bite of your print offerings, your TV and radio broadcast offerings, and your web offerings. Each time a person encounters your brand, consistently and frequently offered, their interest is peaked to know more, and the more they hear it the more they associate what you offer with your story. Those positive emotional responses, and top of mind recognition, along with your diligence to consistency in telling and adding to your story translate into long term business relationships that are win-win. They are win-win when you always stay true to your story in every bite. It is your brand!
If you’re an ad agency, and radio or TV station looking to bring a powerful resource to your clientele and need a creative arm to help, or if you are a major national corporation, or a small mom and pop startup in small town USA, we want to hear your story and help you tell it and boil it down to your brand, and ultimately provide you with your own branding song, your very own jingle.
Jingles work! They always have. It’s why little children of pre-school age can recite the alphabet through singing the ABC song. The rhyme, rhythm, and repetition of a song taps into our brain and indelibly brands it’s lyrical hook into our minds. It is the same with songs from pop artists that never leave our mind, even though we may not have heard them for decades. It certainly is represented in jingles that remain in our thoughts, even though they haven’t been broadcast for 30 years or more! “Plop plop fizz fizz oh what a relief it is.” Yes! That is Alka Seltzer. “See the USA in a Chevrolet.” The hook contains the name. “1 800 Empire.” Empire carpet’s jingle and these others empowered brand name recognition for these major US corporations. In Empire’s case it branded their name with their phone number. But powerful branding jingles don’t have to be limited to the big national and international players. Those big players were once small players like everyone else. The consistency of their brands empowered their growth. They didn’t wait until they were a huge corporation to begin branding. Neither should you or I!
Of course they have a huge budget in order to present their brand around the world. And we recognize that small businesses don’t have that budget. But small businesses also don’t need that reach, at least not right now. So why pay for national or international licensing when you don’t need it. KPG works to make brand name jingles affordable and attainable for individuals and businesses that can benefit from them.
I want to hear your story. Please, allow me and my team to work with you to refine your story into your brand and present it in musical form, in your own branding jingle, with a hook that represents your brand all across the media landscape. Allow me a few minutes of your time to tell you just how affordable and attainable it can be. I promise you, it is easy! I am excited to hear from you!
Banner Kidd
KPG and Broadcast My Brand Founder