Branding: making a lasting impression

BrandingServices

While branding might not transform your company’s core fundamentals, such as market demand or operational efficiency, it can significantly enhance its public perception and appeal. When done well, branding can create powerful first impressions and become instrumental in fostering customer acquisition and retention, ultimately providing a clear competitive edge.

Your brand is what people say about you when you are not in the room.

Jeff Bezos

Businessman

As a brand designer, my goal is to find a distinct voice for your company’s product or service that is authentic, coherent, and compelling. A well-put-together logo, vibrant colors, and dialed-in typography serve as the medium, but the message is the essence of your brand. By being thoughtful and purposeful about both, we can construct a narrative that effectively communicates your company’s value to the outside world, resonates with customers, and earns their trust.

In a branding project, both input and the final output are equally important. Understanding the client, their product, and the desires of their customers is key to shaping an effective brand. This process involves interviewing users, clients, and stakeholders, as well as conducting workshops, and engaging in knowledge sharing activities.

An example of a completed BPS exercise

One method I use to streamline this knowledge transfer is called the Brand Personality Spectrum. I like this exercise as it compels us to operate within boundaries, keeping the focus on what truly matters while letting go of what isn’t. Or, as the saying goes, “If you try to please everyone, you’ll please no one.”

Authenticity

We don’t like people who don’t live up to their promises, just as we don’t appreciate brands that do the same. Some companies feel compelled to overhype their offerings or claim traits they don’t truly possess, creating a beautiful facade with a hollow structure behind it. This might generate short-term interest, but it will inevitably lead to disappointment and breach trust later on. Authenticity is the key to building lasting bonds with your customers. However, being authentic isn’t about downplaying your strengths or being overly modest. It’s about recognizing your core competencies and building a compelling and truthful narrative around them.

Emotion

People, driven by both emotion and rational thought, are the ultimate decision-makers behind every purchase. Top-tier brands succeed by connecting with customers on an emotional level, understanding the core values and desires of their audience. Even in the B2B sector, traditionally dominated by logic and features/benefits driven marketing, we shouldn’t underestimate the emotional component. After all, behind every business decision is a human being. While we might target a different set of emotions, such as security, reassurance, or authority, the foundational principle remains the same.

Emotional spectrum

Trust
Joy
Happiness
Excitement
Love
Connection
Inspiration
Safety
Security
Authority
Nostalgia
Empowerment
Relief
Curiosity
Belonging
Community
Loyalty
Pride
Fear
Surprise
Delight
Adventure
Escape

Trust

Trust is the foundation of any lasting relationship, and the bond between brands and their consumers is no different. Building trust isn’t a one-time event; it’s an ongoing process that requires consistency, transparency, and reliability. Brands that keep their promises, engage in ethical practices, and maintain transparency in their operations will inherently build a sense of trust with their audience. When trust is established, consumers are more likely to remain loyal, even in the face of minor setbacks or mistakes by the brand.

Even though truthful conduct is the essence of continuous brand growth, businesses often invest in branding very early on in the product launch cycle. That’s because a professional and well-crafted presentation can bring a sense of trust and legitimacy to products that are entering the market for the first time. An idea becomes tangible when it has a great logo, graphics, copywriting, web, and social media presence; consequently, customers are more likely to engage with it.

While it’s beyond the typical scope of a branding project to change how clients operate and conduct their business, aligning the new brand with established practices and highlighting existing strengths ensures that truthful conduct becomes effortless.

Recognition

At its core, branding aims to imprint a company’s identity in the minds of consumers. The more recognizable a brand is, the easier it becomes for consumers to recall it during purchasing decisions. This is why it’s crucial for brand components like the logo, color palette, and typography to remain consistent over time and maintain structural simplicity. Overly complex or frequently changing elements tend to be harder to grasp and remember, diluting your brand’s value and recognition.

Too many companies want their brands to reflect some idealized, perfected image of themselves. As a consequence, their brands acquire no texture, no character, and no public trust.

Richard Branson

Entrepreneur

Consistency

One way to bolster brand recognition is to diligently maintain consistency in its application. While it might sound as simple as using the same brand elements over and over, there’s more to it. The rapid pace of the market frequently demands change, and it’s crucial to have a system that allows for variety and dynamism. The challenge lies in striking the right balance between repetition and innovation. Great designers tread this fine line, introducing freshness while staying true to the brand’s core ethos with every asset they produce

Simplicity

It can be incredibly hard to make things simple, especially when working with complex systems and high-tech products. Nevertheless, simplicity is the only way to cut through the noise in today’s highly saturated market. Short and punchy headlines work better than overly wordy ones. Clean and sharp shapes leave a stronger imprint in people’s minds than the ornate and detailed ones. Layouts that are easily scannable prove to be more engaging than those requiring thorough reading. A limited set of colors and font choices trumps extensive and loosely defined libraries.

Engaging with a brand shouldn’t feel like deciphering a complex puzzle; instead, it should offer a streamlined and pleasant experience. By distilling complex concepts and systems down to their essence, we can make brands more recognizable and easier to engage with.

Differentiation

Differentiation is another aspect that contributes to better recognition. Brands need to establish what sets them apart from competitors, providing consumers with compelling reasons to choose their product over the competition, ultimately creating a special place for the brand in customers’ minds. Much of this hinges on product features and marketing, but a good brand is always aligned with the broader business strategy and can enhance and accentuate it.

Strategy

A brand, inherently intangible, often has a mysterious air about it. While its influence is undeniable, it can be difficult to quantify directly, leading many to turn to metrics such as social media engagement, website visits, customer acquisition, or CLV. Nonetheless, entrepreneurs universally recognize its critical role in their venture’s success, and continue dedicating resources to refine their brand image. Embracing industry best practices and frameworks can demystify the the brand process, shifting it from a seemingly opaque endeavor to a transparent and straightforward journey.

In this quest for clarity, the importance of a well-structured approach becomes evident. A careful orchestration of the following elements forms a comprehensive brand strategy. It extends far beyond visual elements and deeply aligns with the company’s mission and business objectives while remaining centered around the customer. It bridges the gap between company intentions and customer perceptions, ensuring that every touchpoint aligns with and reinforces the brand’s promise and core values.

Purpose
Promise
Target audience
Positioning
Voice and tone
Messaging
Values
Customer experience
Competitive analysis
Visual identity
Touchpoints
Guidelines

By staying authentic, connecting emotionally with consumers, upholding the principles of consistency, and valuing visual simplicity, you’ll pave the way to a vibrant and successful brand that leaves a lasting impression.

Interested in building a brand together?

Reach out at [email protected], and we can pick it up from there.

Branding: making a lasting impression

Authenticity

Emotion

Emotional spectrum

Trust

Recognition

Consistency

Simplicity

Differentiation

Strategy

Interested in building a brand together?

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