Stand By Your Brand
Subconsciously, customers factor brands into every purchase. The stronger the brand, the clearer the position it occupies in their minds, and the more value it has.
This means it’s more likely they will choose that brand - again and again - over that of the competition. So the goal when building brands is to create an emotional connection with the consumer, and the stronger this connection, the stronger the loyalty you’ll attract.
But what is it exactly that makes up a brand? The name? The logo? The fonts used? The colour palette? The photographic style? The product or service? The supply chain? The customer service? The staff uniforms? The website design? In fact it’s every single one of these and more. A brand involves each and every touch point for your consumers.
A great example of a strong brand is Virgin Blue. Even if they ran their advertising without a Virgin Blue logo, you’d still recognise it was from them. From their solid red backgrounds to their white scratchy fonts and cheeky headlines, right through to their staff’s uniforms and attitudes, Virgin Blue is unmistakably Virgin Blue. Their brand extends well beyond their logo.
Another superb example is the classic Coke bottle, which has gone onto become one of the most famous glass icons ever. Even blindfolded, you’d know you’re holding a classic Coke bottle. No colours, graphics, images or logos are required to know it’s Coca-Cola.
This illustrates that branding is not about making your logo 20%
bigger on your next direct mail piece, but about identifying the
components of your business you want to be best known for,
while recognising that your logo is only a very small part of your
overall brand visibility.
Consider also that sometimes how an individual or business sees
their own brand and how the customer sees that brand are two
different things. To have a successful brand, you need to be
focused not only on what you’re trying to communicate, but
also on how it’s being identified with.
Similarly, a brand is worth nothing if consumers don’t even know
about it. Repeat exposure makes for easier long-term memory
retrieval and so can leverage overall brand strength. Most
importantly, it’s you and your employees who must actively
deliver the brand promise every day.
Customers must be able to rely on your brand to deliver the
same positive experience every time - otherwise you will lose
their loyalty, and lost loyalty means lost sales.
So stand by your brand... and it will stand by you.
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