Fortunately for them, it’s a challenge we hear about on a daily basis and love to talk about!
How one person views your brand will be different to the next person.
Your brand is made up of the perception others hold of you and your company.
• What do they think about your company when they see your logo and how do they feel about you?
• What thoughts spring to mind when they hear your name?
• Are these thoughts positive or negative?
Of course, this is different for everyone because everyones viewpoint is unique, but building up a solid understanding of how you are percieved helps you effectively develop your brand.
A mens clothing brand that is perceived as young, dynamic and aspirational to one person could be perceived as elitist, pretentious and expensive to the next person. The fact is, your brand is going to take on different meanings to different sets of people depending on lots of different factors, for example their personality, background, personal experience and their age will all play a part on how they interpret you.
You have no control over what others perceive about your brand – but with well considered, targeted branding you can begin to effectively communicate with your target audience.
What you can do is strip everything back to basics to develop a core set of principles and values that your business lives by that will influence the people you want to attract and help bring them closer to you. By doing this you’ll also influence what you want them to perceive about you.
With every new client that comes to us, we walk them through a short branding exercise to help them understand more about their business and ambition for their project. It also supports us in our work to ensure we align your brand, business’ vision and most importantly we fully grasp who you want to attract and the direction you want to take your business.
• What brand traits would you like people to describe about your business?
• What other brand would you like to be compared to and why?
• How would you like someone to summarise your brand in just one sentence?
Answering these key questions will give you some ideas on the direction you want to take your brand. Not everyone will see you in the same way, but at the very least you can start to steer them on the right path.
We understand that branding can often be thought of as a complex subject.
With many years experience in brand creation and development, the Wider team can simplify the process by walking you through the different phases from developing your brand persona, planning your brand strategy, through to creating the right mix of marketing tools to communicate your brand.
Give us a call, we’d love hear your ideas and vision!
