Guest post by Adam Jennings, Design Director at Contour Creative Studio
If you want people to notice you in 2022, it’s important to look the part.
Each year on average, startups spend 10% of their budget building their identity, marketing campaigns and websites. This equates to over £33bn in the UK alone.
But that spend is worth zero if you get it wrong and it’s built around the wrong idea.
If you were to strip away your logo, the shiny website or your latest campaign, would your customers see the same values? Would they recognise your motivation for change or the care for your clients at the core of what you do?
Are you prepared to open your doors to your customers and run your business with complete transparency?
- Would you share why you made [that] decision, what really went on in that team meeting, what you’re planning for next year
- If your customer sat in on your team meetings, would you be proud of everything they saw? How do you treat your staff, and what do you do when things didn’t go to plan?
When you think about growing your brand, business or product – consider being transparent and inviting your customers along for the ride.
To to be clear – I’m not asking you to run your business by sharing everything with your customers. But run your business with the confidence that if your customer was sat next to you, they would still be proud to be your customer.
The best brands work hard to share their story to accurately represent their goals, values and purpose. Nothing fabricated: Honest, human and built around relationships and connections.
If you’re after some inspiration these guys do it particularly well:
To build a strong brand, your core values need to be more than saying things people want to hear. You need to embody the things that you say you stand for, not just shout about them for a PR opportunity.
PR opportunities are there to shine a light on the great work you do. It’s far easier to create a brilliant PR event by doing something great to begin with.
So, how do we get there?
At the most basic level, great brands connect to people’s emotions.
A great place to start would be to consider your answers to the following questions:
- What emotion do you want your audience to feel?
- What are you going to do to make them feel it?
What your brand visuals say about you is important, but remember that your brand is about more than just your logo, your website or your company brochure.
I have a personal mindset that is based on the following statement:
If I can leave this world a better place than I found it, job done.
More businesses need to focus on what positive impact they make for their customers and then build a strong brand strategy to elevate that story.
Your why is more important than ever.
If you have no defined values, your purpose is hazy and your business goals keep changing, the best logo or website in the world won’t help you connect with your customers.
When your values are clear, your purpose is uncompromising and your goal is fixed, a strong brand will grow – shortly followed by loyal, committed and passionate customers.
