Whether you are a newly formed company or one that has been trading for many years, developing and maintaining a successful brand can become a powerful tool in growing your business.

You only have to look at the supermarket shelves to realise how familiar we have become with brands through advertising and how influential they can be in our decision making process. Consider Carphone Warehouse; the term 'car phone' is no longer used but their brand is so powerful they can't risk changing it!

So what is a brand? In simple terms it is a promise. It encapsulates what people think about when they encounter your business, products or services.

For example, when you see the Nike 'tick' most of us think about quality sports products. When we see the McDonald's yellow 'M' we think of value, convenience food. When we see the two 'R's of Rolls Royce, we think of extravagance and engineering perfection.

In summary developing a successful brand can:

• increase customer awareness of your business
• provide an effective method of conveying clear, consistent, positive messages about your business
• give a greater understanding of what customers want from your business
• drive change that serves to meet your customers needs more effectively
• generate a greater awareness and commitment to your values by your employees
• set you apart from your competitors
• set a powerful focus to everything you do.

Developing a strong brand can be challenging as getting it wrong can have a significantly negative effect upon your business, Gerald Ratner's derisory description of his companies Jewellery being a good example.

SMEO have developed a series of workshops that can help you develop your brand and build it into a strong marketing tool. The workshop covers how to:

• identify your business strengths
• identify your businesses core values
• identify how your customers perceive your business
• identify your potential markets
• evaluate potential trading names, logo's and designs
• consider how you and your employees reflect your brand
• evaluate the impact upon other products and services
• look at company slogans, strap lines and mission statements
• review how your premises and other assets reflect your brand
• research the options for where and how you launch your new brand
• measure the impact of the changes
• plan the launch of your brand with in house training and a marketing campaign