Personality, perception and promises, let’s talk about brand
Here at Giant Peach, we believe your brand should be at the core of everything you do, your people and customers should understand it inside out. But what is branding? In this blog we get under the skin of what branding is all about…
Branding – more than just a logo
The bite out of an apple, a tick, a black and white panda… iconic logos are easily identified all over the world. The charity WWF instantly brings to mind the famous panda. An eye-catching, simplistic logo that perfectly sums up their mission to ensure nature and people can live in harmony with each other. But branding is a lot more than a recognisable logo. Branding is the heart of a company, its personality, its values, its beliefs. The customer promise and the journey it takes to seal the deal.
Is your brand serious or funny?
We connect with people whose personality traits appeal to us, and it’s the same with brands. Is your company shy or confident, serious or funny, outdoorsy or city life? First impressions are significant for lasting relationships and getting these personality traits right is key. These unique characteristics need to come through in every customer interaction, from website experience to answering the phone.
A simple exercise to try…
What are the first three words that come into your mind to express your company?
We chewed this over with two well known brands:
First up…
- Apple = innovative, intuitive, cool
And next
- Pukka = sustainable, delicious, wellbeing
This quickly unveils the ethos of these brands. Apple and Pukka have succeeded in their mission, their brand expresses their values beautifully.
Influencing choice and creating loyalty
Brand helps to influence the many choices that bombard us on a daily basis. It’s a hot day, you’re shopping for bottled water. With thirst your main motivator, and little to differentiate bottled water, how do you decide which water brand to pick from the vast array on offer? Your decision will be based on your perception and connection with the brand.
Popular bottled water brand Evian have quickly set themselves apart from other brands by offering the customer a compelling story. Committing to protect the water resource and never taking out more than nature gives, and reducing the environmental impact of their bottle production. Brand values that resonate with the customer, start to revolutionise how we make our choices, and create loyalty.
And it’s no different for big ticket items, like a car. The main goal is to get from A to B. But brand then starts to influence choice.
BMW are known for their high performance cars, but since the explosion of the electric car market, BMW has created a sustainability philosophy. Not only producing emission free cars, but also using recycled materials in their manufacturing. A clever way for the brand to widen its appeal and green credentials, while not compromising on its goal of increasing driving pleasure.
And brand loyal customers are reliable repeat purchasers, they will advocate your company via word of mouth to the masses.
Delivering your promises
Your brand is essentially your customer promise. And fulfilling this is an absolute must, a no brainer.
Riverford Organic Farmers recent rebrand with the catchy ‘Live life on the Veg’ has helped to reestablish them as centre players in the organic veg box market, celebrating the importance of good quality, organic vegetables. And with delivery at the heart of what they do, delivering fresh, organic veg on time is what they must deliver, every time.
Brand – how your customer ‘gets’ your business
So in a nutshell, your brand should underpin everything you do and everything your company stands for. If your own people are living and breathing your brand, your customers will get on board and do the same.
“People don’t buy what you do; they buy why you do it”
Simon Sinek, Leadership and management author, speaker and consultant. 2009
Join us again for the next blog when we’ll give you 7 reasons you really should bother with branding.