Brand is your strategy.
Most importantly, your brand is the foundations of everything you stand for, where you are and where you want to go. Your reason to be, what you do, why it matters, why you are different and the values that you hold are the glue that binds your organisation together, and the starting point for every successful brand.
Brand is your customer service.
If your customers call wanting to make a sale and get caught up in an automated telephone system, can’t figure out who they should talk to, and leave a message for someone unsure if it’s the right person, that’s your brand. It says you don’t really care all that much about your donors. If the person on the sales counter in a store is talking on a mobile phone about what they did the night before, they are your brand, whether they’re wearing one of the nice new logo caps you bought or not.
Brand is the way you speak.
If you build a new website and fill it with outdated copy, you don’t have a updated brand. If the copy is impenetrable — a disease of epidemic proportion in the B2B sector – that’s your brand. If you let jargon and techno-speak contaminate everything you say, that’s your brand. If your annual report puts people to sleep, that’s your brand. If it’s trying to be all things to all people, that’s your brand.
Brand is the whole array of your communication tools.
Brand is the quality of the sign on the door that says, “Back in 10 minutes.” It’s whether you use a generic voicemail system with canned muzak-on-hold, or whether you create your own custom program. The former says you are just like everyone else and you’re fine with that; the latter says you are original. You might have a nice sales banner that follows all the right visual standards from a brand guide, but if it’s sagging and hung up with duct tape, that’s your brand. It says you don’t pay attention to the details. Can you imagine seeing a crooked banner with duct tape in an Apple store? Never. And that’s their brand.
In the digital age, user interface is your brand.
If your website’s functionality frustrates people, it says that you don’t care about them. Brand extends even to your office forms, the contracts you send out, your internal HR manuals. Do you rethink traditional business tools or default to convention? The choice you make says a lot about how innovative your brand is.
Brand is your people.
Brand is your people and the way they represent you. Having a good team starts with good hiring and continues with strong and consistent training and development. No matter how well your employees adhere to your new brand style guide, if they couldn’t care less about the job they’re doing, that’s your brand.
Brand is your facilities.
Are the lights on, or is your team working in darkness? Is the place clean and uncluttered? Does it have signage that’s consistent with your visual standards? Does it look and feel alive? Your home is your brand.
Brand is your logo and visuals, too.
A great brand deserves a great logo and great graphic design and visuals. It can make the difference when the customer is choosing between two great brands. But these alone cannot make your brand great.
Ultimately, brand is about caring about your business at every level and in every detail, from the big things like mission and vision, to your people, your customers, and every interaction anyone is ever going to have with you, no matter how small.
If you need a new brand, or have an existing one that needs a good scrub up, we can help. Or approach is simple – we listen, understand and crack on. We never let egos get in the way of creating great work for you.
