Brand consultancy is a large part of what brands need to be successful. It often comes down to explaining the elements that are hindering effective branding.
It is easy to show people that brands can be more than just a product. The main purpose of brands is to consolidate, package, and distribute ideas about a specific thing. It can be difficult to express how brands create their meaning.
The atomic equation of branding is quite simple. Brands are the sum and product of reputation and identity. B=I+R. Although it sounds simple, BIR is not always a good fit for a boardroom. After some time spent analyzing the real-time, we came up with seven core principles that will help consultants focus on new opportunities and lead conversations about building great brands.
These are the principles of strong branding that we have learned to trust:
1. Brands are not people, but technologies of people
Effective brands are more than just trademarks. They embody people, their teams, and shared causes.
However, thinking of the brand as a person ignores the fact that they are force multipliers. It is important to remind brands that their assets are unique, even though they may be collections. This singular core is what must endure as the company’s body builds, arranges, and deconstructs itself for various functions. Because of its uniqueness, people look for unique brands.
Although there is no accounting for taste or perceptions, it should be possible to hold people accountable for their feelings and perceptions about the technology. Recognizing that brands are technology means understanding branding as a toolbox. Maintenance and all. We like to embrace the people who make up a brand, while also giving a healthy and rigorous critique of its limitations as a machine.
2. Authenticity is fleeting, the Soul is eternal
Keeping your focus is key to managing the flow of intangibles into actionable. Every brand projects its stances and perspectives, whether it is in its identity or its outputs. What does the brand’s decision-making process have to do with its self-image? What drives a brand’s ethics and values? Who is at the helm of a brand’s ethics? These questions are the heart of a brand and can’t be ignored.
Sustainable brands go beyond being a sign of quality. The brand’s interior is what people will feel most comfortable with, and the exterior will naturally form. If authenticity is needed, it can be a sidetracked but not a goal. The focus can shift from the search for the next temporary monopoly. Instead, we can ask more important questions: Which niche is best served by our soul? What is the best way to define this space as ours? Is it possible to claim that space right now?
They will run if you make them.
3. Feelings are sacred
Maya Angelou’s quote was spot on: “People won’t remember anything you did or said, but they will remember how it made them feel.” To reach consumers, brands must trigger emotions on both the conscious and subconscious levels. Respect is also required. It is easy to trigger the wrong emotions. However, it is not the same thing as setting objective expectations. Brands that fail to follow through on feelings will come across poorly. We try to avoid what can’t be delivered and focus on what we have to offer them.
Respect can be reciprocated. The team can be lifted by uplifting their audiences! Look within and find the things that are missing. You can make the changes that you desire to see in the world so that customers will show their respect for you.
4. Is there a community? No context. No Brand
You can’t please everyone and you won’t have the time or energy to do so, it is important to find your community. It is easier to create for people in your community if you speak with them and listen.
From a distance, the talking part seems easy. What is the best way to make people hear you? It takes listening to people before you can make plans. A brand’s effectiveness is determined by its ability to harmonize the plan and maintain consistency.
A community can often make the difference between a great product and a sustainable brand. When creative teams have to think about their target context and the time they could spend innovating and creating, they often slow down. Don’t waste your time on tasks that are not your forte. Get the facts straight from the horse’s mouth.
5. Actionables beat Prayers and Thoughts
It takes time to develop a brand that connects. There is as much entropy as in any other area of our expanding universe when you consider reputations, contexts, and even dumb luck. It is foolish to hope that something will turn in your favor. Marketing is different because brands are not created by one person. There are infinite possibilities for connecting to find solutions.
We cannot ignore the power and importance of empathy. It is hard to measure empathy, except for its implications in other metrics. However, this doesn’t mean that we shouldn’t try to project empathy on the same scale as tangible operations. We shine brighter when we have constant dialogue! You cannot turn away the gray.
6. Agencies Are Not Silver Bullets…
It is a science to determine the basic elements of an organization’s identity. It is an art to translate that alchemical formula into a brand. How do you balance sincerity and style? If you can, put it on a spreadsheet. There are many new ways to make change happen and enhance creative assets.
The agency’s true value is not in promising or expecting these solutions to drive innovation across all brand machines.
7. But those collaborations can strike gold.
Our greatest successes were with brands that wanted us to work alongside them, not under them. Disinterest in real partnership is what has led to our most frustrating failures.
This chart shows a straight line on the scales of branding success and collaborative trust. It is easy to forget that cooperation is what makes businesses last. So open up!
