The Get Down: Brand Strategy Explained

Brand Strategy: What you need to know in 2019

Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, large or small, retail or B2B. Yet it is also one of the most misunderstood. Branding is sometimes considered to be merely an advertising function, but it is so much more than that. What trends can your brand leverage to modernize + monetize in 2020? Discover how to create and manage a brand that helps your business become known, loved, and preferred in this brand strategy break-down we call "The Get Down."

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Why Your Brand Colors Matter

When It Comes to Branding, It's All About Color

For sighted people, colors are important, Top brands know this. That's why they invest so much money into researching consumer preferences. They understand that the more they understand about their audiences, the greater their ability to develop messaging and branding that actually works to effect the behaviors of the organisms that can perceive them.

In nature, colors started as a means for survival. Some flowers are grown to have vivid colors to attract pollinators, and there are reptiles whose color changes to protect them from predators in their ecosystems. So if on a lower tier, color plays such an important role to smaller organisms and life, you better believe that it has a significant effect on people. Humans respond to color behaviorally, mentally, and emotionally. Although we are still learning all the ways that color effects us chemically, we've learned enough to know how important colors are to inform, persuade, and influence people on a psychological level.

If you're doing your marketing and branding, consider what your colors are saying about you and your brand and if you're still in the building stages and haven't quite got all your marketing collateral worked out, consider your color theory ahead of time so you can really craft messaging that speaks to the audience that you want to bring in.

There are also commonly reported psychological effects of color as it relates to two main categories: warm and cool. Warm colors – such as red, yellow and orange – can spark a variety of emotions ranging from comfort and warmth to hostility and anger while cooler colors like purple, green, and blue can often spark feelings from calmness to sadness.

Let's dig into a few of the most popular colors to see what how they're being perceived. The following are some common reactions to colors here in the U.S. You can also review a more comprehensive list of color meanings and symbolism on this chart created for download or embed on your site.

Just remember, certain shades or tones may result in very different meanings. Also, the context around the color, and even surrounding colors, can have an effect. Think of this as a more "beginner's look" into color psychology:

RED - Red is the color of passion. It can also be the color of aggression. It is attention grabbing. Interestingly enough, red is appetite stimulating. A lot of fast food restaurants use red because it stimulates your digestion.

GREY - Grey is sort of like the opposite of red. It is a very neutral color. It is a little bit more passive. Speakers might wear grey because they want you to concentrate on what they're saying and not so much what they are wearing.

BLUE - Blue is the color of the sky and the ocean. It's loyal, dependable, honest, trustworthy, and very wise. When you wear blue, it's a great color to show that you are an expert, that you are calm, that you know what you're doing and that you're very loyal and dependable. There have been many really fascinating studies done, one of which had workers work in an all white office and workers working in an all blue office. The workers in the all blue office had 20% less errors, so blue can make you feel more wise, or feel more productive, so it would be a great color to have around you where you work.

PURPLE - Purple is the color of royalty. It's the color of luxury, so if you want someone to thing your gift is expensive, wrap it in purple wrapping paper! LOL! But seriously, there’s a reason why purple doesn't appear in nature very much. That’s why purple dye is so expensive. We attribute the color to being expensive and unique.

ORANGE - Success and high energy. Orange is a great color to wear to the gym. Look around at your next sporting event and see how much orange you find.

BRAND STRATEGY 101 AND WHY YOU NEED ONE (FOR CREATIVES & ENTREPRENEURS)

HOW TO DEVELOP A STRATEGY THAT LEADS TO MEASURABLY POSITIVE RESULTS

Bringing your brand to life is not about how it looks; it’s about how it makes others feel. It’s all about what your customers say and how they feel when you leave the room. That’s why having a great strategy for your brand is so important. Your brand strategy is what cements people’s perceptions of your brand. What might you perceive of a brand with no clear strategy?

Let’s dig a little bit deeper into this whole “branding” thing though.

Branding, according to Entrepreneur.com is “your promise to your customer. It tells them what they can expect from your products and services, and it differentiates your offering from that of your competitors. Your brand is derived from who you are, who you want to be and who people perceive you to be.”

That’s a decent definition, but I’ve cleaned it up a bit. Branding, to me, is actively shaping people’s perceptions about your business. Strategy implies that there is a methodical system that one can implement to attain measurably positive results.

That’s all brand strategy is in the big scheme of things. It’s a system that you implement in your business to shape people’s thoughts about your brand.

Now that we’ve defined Brand Strategy, let’s talk about how we can start to build one for your brand.

I’ve broken it down into a nice little acronym that I hope you remember when you’re developing your brand strategy. Let’s get right into it.

1. C = Customer

Your branding should be geared towards your customer so you have to know who they are. If you’ve got a make-up line, think about the kinds of people you think will be interested in your make-up and direct your messages to them.

2. O = Objective

I believe that knowing from the start what you expect to get out of your branding efforts will help determine whether your branding efforts actually worked. It’s important to start with measurable goals. If your goal is to get 100 new subscribers to your mailing list, your branding efforts should direct your customers to get you to that goal. If you started with 0 followers, then after the release of your new promotional material and a certain amount of time, you should have 100 new subscribers if your branding efforts worked.

3. V = Values

This part needs time for serious self reflection, but being able to convey your values through your marketing and branding is crucial part of signaling customers and clients. Having well conceived core values for your business and brand helps set you apart in the competitive space because your values are unique to you. Your values act as the emotional attitude of your brand.

4. E = Express

As a creative, this is the fun part. Express is communicating those values and beliefs about your brand to your audience. How will your marketing collateral express the vision of your brand? How will your audience receive your messaging? Have you made a branding style guide? Do you need a photoshoot? The sky is the limit, so to narrow things down, refer back to the previous tips and ask yourself if these new creative assets fit your brand, match your values, and support your objective.

5. T = Tweak

As your business grows and your brand evolves, you’ll be able to see the results of your branding and marketing collateral. If you’re not getting the results you need, it’s OK to tweak what you’ve got to create something better.

When I discuss tweaking with my clients, I ask things like…

• Is your logo a png?

• Is the text written from your point of view?

• Are you photos really old?

• Does a different motto, slogan, hashtag resonate more significantly with your audience?

These are all critical things to consider when devising your brand strategy.

CAN NOT HAVING A BRAND STRATEGY HURT MY BUSINESS?

It absolutely could. Let’s say that you are an online retailer of custom made goods. You have a beautiful and responsive website, but you’re checkout page is difficult to navigate. If that’s the case, the chances are, you’re not getting the sales you deserve. This is what I call “brand incongruence;” The experience doesn’t match the brand, thus turning off your customers.

By implementing a strategy for your brand to convert interested buyers into returning buyers, this is the type of thing that you can address before it results in financial loss. Sure, you might have been able to save a few coins going with the default checkout theme, but how many customers have you lost in the process.

Being strategic about your branding efforts will allow you the ability to track whether your efforts worked and to recalculate so you can succeed. You’ll have the power to make smarter business decisions because a certain amount of your success has already been pre-determined.

FINAL WORDS

Denzel Washington is quoted as saying “Dreams without goals remain dreams and fuel disappointment.” The same is kinda true for your branding. If you don’t set a goal for your branding, and if you’re not being strategic about accomplishing that goal, then get ready to be disappointed.

Sure, having an awesome name, great brand colors, and beautiful photos taken by Love’s Apprentice are all important and will help make your brand stand out, but if you care about growth, then you need to make sure these resources help to get you there.

If you would like to discuss how to develop a brand strategy for your own business, please get in touch for a low cost brand development session. We’ll get you squared away on all the steps you can take to refine your brand to get the results you want.