If you’ve ever been asked “what does your business actually do, and who for?” this is the blog for you
The most common mistake I experience when I first ask this question is a big schpeel about ‘How’ they do it. This is a bad start mostly because any target audience isn’t concerned about ‘How’ you do this, or make that, they want to simply know one thing… What’s in it for me?
What your company does is provide a solution to a need. Determine the need and you can start talking the right language directly at your audience. Let’s illustrate this a bit more…
For example:
I recently branded a company who wanted a logo to start with. OK so they thought a logo was a brand, but it’s just the company badge. So, we started with the logo, and here’s how things can get very muddled if that’s the starting point. The company name they had registered bore no relevance to the product they produced. Ok, I’m already confused, so I asked them to tell me what they ‘provided to their customers’. To which they started telling me it was an innovative product and the parts came from Europe but are stocked in the UK, and here’s some pics of the parts (shots of builders holding pipework in partly built houses). Hmmm, tell me more (I said), so they did… it appears the pipes are made from high gauge steel, they can work from architects drawings or they can just supply the product.
You get the picture?
I still don’t know what it is or what’s in it for me, and if I was a potential customer I would have walked away none the wiser at this point. I don’t know what the end product is – am I buying pipes, builders or something vaguely innovative?
A brand has to make sense
So the way forward with this company was to identify the need – why would someone want or need what they were selling? I asked. Now the picture became clearer – in one simple answer which was “People get this product installed in their home because they get fed up with carting dirty washing up and down stairs, with this product they just put it in at one end and it comes out next to the washing machine”. Bingo. I had the ‘need’ established, and because the actual product wasn’t visible (it’s hidden in the structure of the building) it was even more important to create a brand around lifestyle benefits. This product reduced the hazard of carrying bulky items, it gave people more time to do other more enjoyable things – the list was steadily building.
So often in branding people miss the point and sometimes selling an improved quality of life is just as viable as selling a feature.
The branding process in simple terms
So this is what really happens during the branding process
- Establish what it is you do – not how you do it
- Who are you aiming it at – who’s your target audience?
- What’s the need – what’s in it for the potential customer?
- Keep it simple – don’t use your terminologies, use layman’s language
- Look at the competition – what do you do that’s better/different/more enticing?
- Draw your customers’ journey from landing to sale – are there steps along the way that can make is simpler/more enticing/provide incentive?
- Get a personality – what tone of voice/look and feel would your target audience expect and like most? Think about age range etc
- Get some simple messages down on paper – and test them to see if they make sense
- Craft these into a single strap-line
- Develop these into core statements that clearly tell people why they should be speaking to you
- Check – have you missed a vital selling point?
- Get creative
Of course all of the above is a process you’ll naturally be guided through by a branding expert who’s done it many many times before, but at least you now know why we may ask you some seemingly strange questions.
If you’d like your brand reviewed get in touch, for just £120 we’ll look at your brand from all angles but most importantly with a fresh pair of eyes and the customer hat firmly on!
Call Jennifer on 07401 575574
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