Reading this article from Fast Company got me thinking, especially this line: “Great brands are built from the inside out; they are built around a strong belief system and are driven by values. What your customers experience every time they interact with your company is the brand, not the visual identity.”
Considering visually centered mediums drive a lot of current communication and practices, and likewise are prominent in many of the ways we interact with our audiences (we are in the era of Instagram after all), it’s easy to start equating what your brand looks like with what your brand is. Often the first and last line of interaction with customers (or whomever you want interacting with your brand) is wrapped up in a process that is at least in part visual–if not highly visual. And there is an aspect of aesthetics influencing how people experience your brand with each interaction. However, that experience cannot be only about looks.
When it comes to figuring out the positioning of your brand the main thing to take into account is: what are we promising to deliver, and how?
The logo, color palette, font choices, verbiage–that might as well fall by the wayside if you’ve promised something to your audience that you can’t deliver on. Getting that strong internal process and structure down must come first.
Audiences are offered so many opportunities for gorgeous design these days that it simply is not enough to just have your brand look good. Your design choices must be shored up by sound practices, informed choices, and consistent delivery. If they’re not, it’s just a matter of time before folks dig down and find there’s not much there. Which is where a consulting agency like Quince Communications can help.
When it’s your job to create a consistent, consistently deliverable product, program, and/or service, you understandably won’t have time to dig into all the granular details of marketing to and communicating with your audience. Working with a specialist, skilled in communications and branding, from typography, color palette, to messaging and content strategy, can create a brand that not only reflects what you do, but really resonates with the people you’re trying to reach.
Let us help you find the voice for your brand so you can focus on creating the depth of the experience that will keep them coming back.
Bauhaus photo courtesy of Ross Sokolovski via Unsplash.
