Insight 2 – Why is a Brand Important?
In an extremely competitive and visual-led marketplace, the look, styling and tone of your brand identity are essential. It should reflect your big idea, promise, values and personality of your company while visually appealing to your target audience. The power of a brand stems from a curious mixture of how it performs and what it stands for. When a brand gets the mix right, it makes us, the people who buy it, feel that it adds something to our idea of ourselves.
In a world that is overloaded in terms of competitive noise, in which rational choice has become almost impossible, brands represent clarity, reassurance, consistency, status and membership. Basically, everything that enables a human being to help to define themselves. Brands represent personal identity.
So, how do you get it right?
In the construction industry, a strong foundation is built in layers: sand, gravel, steel and concrete. Your brand foundation is no different. Skimp on any of the ingredients — strategy, messaging, visual identity or people — and your brand is likely to be weak and unstable.
To help communicate your brand and start the foundation-building, begin by defining and articulating the key components that make your brand pyramid.
As a reference to help explain each component, we’ve used a client’s brand pyramid, which was formed from a lot of soul-searching and our in-depth brand and communication sprints:
- Define Your Role – The part you play in people’s lives. ‘We’re dedicated to making homes everything they can be.’
- Define Your Purpose – Why you exist and why you do what you do. ‘To share our expertise.’
- Define Your Big Idea – Your brand idea is a captivating and meaningful expression that encapsulates your brand. ‘The ability to inspire.’
- Define Your Values – What you believe in, your values underpin everything you do. ‘Expertise, Inspirational, Dependability, Service, Passion.’
- Define Your Personality – Per the 5th strategic question from our first blog in the 6 Insights series – ‘What is your brand personality?’ – To recap, it’s a set of unique characteristics and qualities that guide how you present yourselves both visually and verbally. ‘Professional, Dynamic, Dependable, Welcoming, Progressive, Small.’
Together these individual parts will inform how you behave, how you talk, what you say and how you present yourself to the world. By taking the time to define your brand’s core, which is then seen as the heartbeat of the brand, you can then articulate your ‘Why‘ enabling you to reach out to people to create meaning, personal relevance and emotional importance.
Make sure to check out the next article in the series—Insight 3 – Know who you’re talking to will be published on 1st April.
Before you go…
If you’re super eager and want brand guidance RIGHT now, click *here* to get in touch with us. We’re always happy to talk! If you’re based in Dublin, why not schedule a free 30mins no-obligation consultation with us at *our offices* off St. Stephens Green. The coffee here is great, and is on us!
