Toys R Us Soon Will Be Toys Rn't Us - How NOT To Brand Your Business

For example, they try to brand their own name - professional firms are famous for this - think of all the legal firms that have 5 people's names in their title. But what happens when one dies, or worse, forms his own firm, or worse yet, gets involved in some scandal. I don't know the legalities of law firm naming, but if you are working hard to brand your own name, I invite you to strongly consider focusing on a company name - it removes lots of risk and it makes it possible for you to sell your company at sometime in the future.

In other words, brand your company, not your name.

Another mistake is that people sub-brand spin offs under their main company name. This is Toys R Us's problem. They decided to call their baby store Babies R Us, which has it's advantages, but now things don't look as rosy. First, there's all the ridicule that Toys R Us will take in this change. Second, what happens when the company that buys the toy division decides to cut costs to create profitability, creating dirty, understaffed, scantily-stocked stores, closing locations, and firing people, a situation to which the profitable baby company will remain associated in the customer's mind. So, I don't see the Baby division staying strong for long.

I invite you to consider the Procter & Gamble model. You probably have dozens of P&G products in your home without even realizing that they are all made by the same company. Why? Because each brand stands on its own.

Thus Oil of Olay can shift its brand to just Olay and not affect the main P&G brand. Or P&G can sell off brands or whole divisions, have a wonderfully performing brand or one that's dying without having spillover into other products.

It's a great way to build a business, because you operate each business in its own silo, protecting the whole.

Of course, there's a downside, in that it's hard to bridge the success of one onto another, but I believe the upsides outweigh the downside.

Think about this very carefully. You need to build a brand, but branding decisions have decades-long effects - don't make them lightly.

Need help in branding your company? Check out our powerful audio CD Brand Your Business and Make Your Profits Explode!

Tags: Branding