Design Method

Building a brand that your audience will fall in love with

Many believe that branding merely consists of a new logo, set of fonts and a catchy tagline. But, it’s much more than that. What you say and how you say it will help your customers build a perception of your values, services, and personality. Without having a brand, your business has no voice and will be just another face in the crowd.

In truth, brands have more than a few similarities with people. There are some that you love and enjoy spending time with. There will also be many others that you encounter that you are entirely ambivalent about. However, there will also be a handful that have annoyed you in the past, so you go out of your way to avoid them in the future.

Just like a person, successful brands meaningfully connect with people they encounter and allow them to genuinely get to know them and what they stand for. Over time, this approach can build a strong rapport and trust while forming a symbiotic relationship with their customers.

Branding is a way of highlighting what makes your service or product unique and more desirable than everything else on the market. Get your branding right, and you can also build an emotional bond with your customers to win both their hearts and minds to ensure your organization is at the forefront of their minds, whether they are making emotional or pragmatic decisions.

As the digital communications revolution continues to gather pace, we have entered an era of the empowered customer. Anyone can publish their experience with any brand and how that company responds will determine how the online community perceives them. There are even platforms such as Glass Door and Trip advisor that were created to ensure every customer and employee can make their voice heard.

Authenticity and Sincerity

Digital audiences have a wealth of knowledge and experience at their fingertips. They are also incredibly streetwise online and will spot fakery or a sense of being played within a few swipes or clicks. Being real and speaking with an authentic voice is crucial to any business that is serious about improving its customer engagement.

Every business has a story behind their brand although it’s easy to forget when grinding your way through your daily routine, somewhere along the way you would have determined the “why” of your business. The problems your company set out to solve, the passion behind how you brought that vision to life and the motivations behind it. So, why haven’t you shared this textbook example of your authentic brand story with your audience?

By bravely putting your story out there for all to see and include the bad with the good, you can meaningfully connect to your customers who will appreciate your open and honest policy over just another soulless about me page. Committing to authenticity is not just another buzzword, it’s about making your brand appear human in an age dominated by technology and automation.

The Art of Listening

Contrary to popular opinion, the customer is not always right. But they are still human. In a digital of age, it can be tempting to automate your customer support using chatbots. The voice of your brand will need to master the art of empathy if you are serious about pacifying unhappy customers that could be armed with a vast online reach.

However, if you are brave enough to accept honest feedback and actively monitor online conversations about your brand, you could once again win the hearts and minds of your customers.

Larry King once said “Nothing I say this day will teach me anything. So, if I’m going to learn, I must do it by listening.” It’s never been easier to eavesdrop on conversations about your brand. Whether they are happy, upset or angry, if you listen, you can act and solve their problems or remove their frustrations.

A failure to listen can be fatal for businesses of any size. For example, 57% of consumers told researchers that a brand’s failure to respond to negative feedback is an excellent reason to cut ties with that company. Listening and learning from their experiences is possibly one of the most valuable things you can do.

Your brand is much more than your name, logo, and design. Even when you think you have everything in place, you should still explore how you can help your audience fall in love with your brand too. You will also need to focus on building brand loyalty that will continuously drive growth to your business. Get it right, and you will keep your audience coming back for more.

As brand creators that have walked this path many times, we can work closely with you to build your brand, understand your audience and precisely what their expectations of you are too.

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