The Importance of Memorability for a Brand and How to Achieve It

In today’s fast-paced, world, your brand has only seconds to capture someone’s attention.

Potential customers may not be ready to make a purchase the first time they meet your brand, but it’s important they notice and remember it for when they are considering buying.

Awareness comes first, and then memorability is what keeps your brand in their minds long after that initial interaction. The more memorable the brand, the more likely it is to inspire loyalty, increase customer retention, and drive growth.

So, how do you build a brand that sticks? Let’s explore why memorability is critical for a brand and how you can achieve it.

Why Memorability Matters for Your Brand

1. First Impressions Count
   When customers encounter your brand for the first time, they form an opinion almost immediately. A memorable brand stands out in that crucial moment, leaving a lasting impression that influences future decisions. Psychologists talk about ‘encoding‘ – how experiences are stored in memory, such as visually, audio, touch, meaning etc. The more modalities, the stronger the encoding – one reason why video is so powerful.
2. Brand Recall Drives Sales
   Where consumers are bombarded with choices, the brands they remember are the ones they will return to when making purchasing decisions. Memorable brands keep you top of mind, increasing the chances of converting leads into loyal customers.
3. Loyalty and Word of Mouth
   Memorable brands create loyal customers who not only return but also advocate for your brand. Word-of-mouth marketing is incredibly powerful, and memorable experiences prompt customers to share your brand with their networks. In turn, brands mentioned by friends and colleagues are likely to stick.
4. Differentiation in a Crowded Market
   A memorable brand is one that stands out from the competition. It’s not enough to offer a great product or service – a distinct identity resonates with people and differentiates the brand. If it has enough distinctive features, it can easily create the impression of being seen far more often – playing tricks on memorability!
   
   

How to Make Your Brand Memorable

1. Craft a Strong Brand Story
   People remember stories far better than they remember facts. A compelling brand story provides context, emotion, and meaning behind what you do. Whether it’s your origin story, your mission, or the unique value you bring to the world, a well-told narrative helps people connect with your brand on a deeper level.
   Watchpoint: Make sure your story is authentic and reflects your brand’s true values. Share it consistently across all marketing channels, from your website to social media.
2. Develop a Distinct Visual Identity
   Your brand’s visual elements are often the first things people notice, and they play a key role in memorability. A strong logo, unique colour scheme, and consistent typography make your brand instantly recognisable. Think of brands like Coca-Cola or Apple—just a glance at their logos or colours, and you know exactly who they are – and what they stand for.
   The best visual identities are not necessarily the best designed – but they are the most consistently applied and best policed. Look at your favourite brands and see that is true/
   Watchpoint: Use a consistent visual style across all platforms, from your website and packaging to your social media profiles. Consistency helps reinforce recognition. Resist the temptation to tinker with it!
3. Be Consistent with Your Messaging
   Consistency in tone, messaging, and voice is just as important as visuals. A brand with a clear, distinctive voice that speaks consistently across all touchpoints will be far more memorable than one that changes depending on the platform or situation. Advertisers know this and make their voice recognisable and ‘campaignable’.
   Watchpoint: Develop brand guidelines to ensure that your messaging and tone stay uniform, even when different team members are handling communication.
4. Deliver an Exceptional Customer Experience
   Nothing makes a brand more memorable than delivering an outstanding experience. Whether it’s through fast, responsive customer service or delightful packaging that surprises and delights, creating positive interactions makes customers more likely to remember – and return to – your brand.
   Watchpoint: Pay attention to the small details in the customer journey. Even the way you send a thank-you email can leave a lasting impression. Tom Peters spoke of ‘small moments of delight’, little unexpected experiences at service touchpoints.
5. Use Emotional Branding
   Brands that evoke emotion are far more likely to be remembered. Whether it’s through humour, nostalgia, or inspiration, connecting with your audience on an emotional level makes your brand stick in their minds. People may forget what you said, but they won’t forget how your brand made them feel.
   Watchpoint: Identify the emotional triggers that resonate with your target audience and incorporate those emotions into your messaging and campaigns.
6. Create a Unique Brand Personality
   Your brand’s personality should feel like a person your audience can relate to. Is your brand quirky, trustworthy, authoritative, or playful? A distinct personality gives your brand character, which makes it more relatable and memorable.
   Watchpoint: Infuse your personality into everything – your website copy, social media posts, and even the way you handle customer service. The more distinct your personality, the more memorable your brand.
7. Leverage Memorable Taglines and Slogans
   A catchy, memorable tagline can be the difference between your brand fading into the background and being instantly recalled. A great tagline encapsulates your brand’s essence and is short, snappy, and easy to remember. Think of Nike’s “Just Do It” – simple phrases that become synonymous with their brands. What about these: “The best a man can get.”, “Because you’re worth it.”, “It does exactly what it says on the tin.” You don’t even have to mention the brand!
   Watchpoint: Keep your tagline clear, concise, and aligned with your brand message. It should be a phrase people can remember easily and associate with your brand. It can fast become a brand asset.
8. Consistency in Action
   Beyond the visuals and the messaging, consistency in how you deliver your product or service is crucial. Brands that continually offer the same high level of quality and service are more likely to be remembered and trusted. Inconsistent experiences confuse customers and make it harder for them to form a lasting connection.

Don’t forget: The Power of Memorability

Where consumers are constantly bombarded with information, a memorable brand is your greatest asset. It helps you stand out, builds customer loyalty, and ultimately drives growth. By crafting a compelling story, developing a consistent visual and messaging strategy, and creating unforgettable customer experiences, you can ensure your brand remains top of mind.

Memorability isn’t something that happens by chance—it’s the result of thoughtful, deliberate actions that make your brand unforgettable. 

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Why you should take a look at your brandscape?

Brands don’t exist in vacuums, but are part of complex brandscapes. They not only live alongside other brands but are affected by them and together shape their commercial environment. Understanding your own brandscape not only allows you to be responsive to the changing tides, but also to identify profitable opportunities.

At one time marketers focused upon ‘competitive positioning’. This was a simplistic view based upon a combative, ‘us-and-them’ concept. Today we understand that there’s space for many brands in all sectors. Rather than spend time, money and energy on commercial conflict, it’s more productive for us to identify our place in the brandscape and work on developing our offering to maximise the opportunities.

So where do you start understanding your brandscape?

It starts with a big picture view… concentrating on people. Who is the audience? – What do they want and need? 

The next step should be easy. It’s about having a clear understanding of your own brand. Identify your values, your product or service strengths, and where you currently live in your brandscape (needs some brutal honesty here).

If you look at any collection of businesses or brands you’ll see a wide range of differences and variations, even across the same sector. Take any two similar brands and though they may display many similar qualities, they are likely to possess them in differing quantities and effectiveness. The first task is to identify these key dimensions in the brandscape – and then look at the variations.

An obvious example might be the size of the organisation. That might range from those with many hundreds of employees to single owner director businesses. So size may be a dimension worth comparing and noting as a useful measure. 

It’s important to remember that whatever measure we create is only a comparison – it’s not a score. Taking the example above, some consumers might see a large brand as being a reassuring factor when choosing. However others might find it intimidating and seek the more intimate service they might expect from a smaller brand. 

Understanding the players in your business arena, and your place in it, is the foundation for developing a brand with a unique offering based upon values.

It’s all about the customer.

While it’s vital to have a measure of the supply side of your brandscape, most important is having an understanding of the consumers who make their choices there.

The traditional approach might have been to collate masses of quantitative data – market size, value and volume, demographics and economic statistics etc. However, another approach can be to study qualitative data such as published media information – press, broadcasts and digital. Together with interviews and personal experiences this can provide a more emotionally sensitive picture. Sometimes called ethnographic research, rather than just answering questions, this approach can allow cpnclusions to emerge about about social behaviour and choices.

Bringing it all together

Now we have three dimensions and their interactions:

• You and your brand.
• Customers making choices.
• Other brands and their offerings.

These are the key components of your brandscape. By considering the details, not only can you have an overall view, but also see the dynamics at play.

What you’re able to do is look for gaps or niches. Where can you develop or build upon your strengths to service overlooked customer needs?

Points to remember.

Brandscapes are constantly changing. Customer needs, economics, new entrants, businesses leaving, technology and legislation changes – create new challenges and new opportunities. It’s important to regularly monitor the environment.

Any data we collect is only a snapshot in time.

Engage in your brandscape. Don’t be a passive observer. Meet and talk with customers, suppliers, other businesses and the media. Data will gather itself, and openings will appear.

The brand is a living thing – observe it, nurture it. And when change is needed, embrace it.

How investing in the brand will smooth your path, fast track development, and accelerate business growth.

Let’s take a look at just 7 ways that building a dynamic brand contributes to building your dynamic business.

1. Stand Out in the Crowd: In a competitive market, a strong brand is your unique voice. When there’s a lot of background noise, a clear distinctive personality is heard and remembered.

2. Build Trust and Credibility: A consistent, well-structured brand signifies professionalism and quality. It fosters trust with potential customers. When people have a great consumer experience, they naturally look to repeat it – and seek out a trusted brand.

    

3. Attract and Retain Loyal Customers: A strong brand connects with your target audience on an emotional level. You often hear people talk about their ‘favourite brand’ –  they are speaking about buying choices they make that also say something about themselves. Small businesses are uniquely placed to develop these close relationships as they become part of your brand personality.

    

4. Command Premium Pricing: A powerful brand creates perceived value, allowing you to charge slightly more for your products or services. Customers associate your brand with quality, making them willing to pay a premium.

    

5. Amplify Your Marketing: A cohesive brand message across all marketing channels strengthens their impact. Your brand identity and messaging become instantly recognizable, driving engagement and conversions. Your brand supercharges your marketing – and your marketing builds the brand – a double hit!

    

6. Attract and Retain Top Talent: A strong brand attracts passionate employees who will identify with your values and mission. This leads to a more engaged workforce, boosting productivity and innovation.

    

7. Build Long-Term Value: A well-established brand becomes an intangible asset that contributes significantly to your business’s overall value. It’s an investment that pays off in the long run, attracting investors and increasing your exit potential.

Bonus Thought:  Brand building is an ongoing journey, not a destination. Regularly assess your brand’s effectiveness and adapt to evolving customer needs and market trends. 

Memorability in marketing refers to the ability of a brand or advertising campaign to stick in the minds of consumers. This is important because the more memorable a brand or campaign is, the more likely it is that consumers will remember it and make a purchase.

This can be especially critical for b2b services where an intrusive sell may not be the initial step on the customer journey. A potential buyer is not necessarily ready to make a purchase at the point of their interaction with the business. Therefore, the more memorable the brand or the offer, the more likely it will be near the ‘top of mind‘ when a purchase is necessary.

One way to increase memorability is to use unique and attention-grabbing concepts in advertising or other communications collateral. Another way to increase memorability is to create a strong brand identity that is consistent across all marketing materials. This includes using the same colour scheme, logo, and messaging across all platforms. In fact, consistency is one of the strongest aids to memorability, just as repetition can be used to stimulate recall in learning.

Key factors for memorability

Memorability has two elements – the brand and the message. It’s vital that the two are aligned and in step. We’ve probably all experienced the case where where we can remember a great piece of advertising but can’t recall the brand. Similarly, when there is a choice of brands we may not easily recall the competitive-benefit messages. The two dimensions must be synchronised to ensure memorability.

Another way to increase memorability is through storytelling. Telling a compelling story can help create an emotional connection with consumers, which can make the brand or campaign more memorable. This can be done through short videos, social media, or even podcasts.

Finally, it is important to ensure that the message of the brand or campaign is clear and easy to understand. Consumers are more likely to remember a message that is simple and straightforward, rather than one that is complex and difficult to understand.

In summary, increasing memorability in marketing is essential for building brand awareness and driving sales.

This can be achieved by using unique and attention-grabbing concepts, creating a consistent brand identity, telling compelling stories, and keeping messaging clear and simple, and aligned with the brand.

Why we need fuzzy goals for today’s brand strategies.

One of the cornerstones of traditional, brand-strategy creation, is goal and objective setting. There has always been an issue that situations and the business environment are constantly changing. Objectives are in flux.

The rapidity of change over just the last two or three years has accelerated at an unprecedented rate. Old models that should have been retired years ago need replacing.

SMART objectives aren’t smart anymore.

The hackneyed mnemonic SMART – Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic and Timebased – is no longer fit for objective setting. 

How can I be ‘Specific’ when all the variables are bouncing around? Yes, I have a good overall idea of where we want to be, but ‘Specific’? The parameters are changing daily. If I set specific objectives they are likely to need resetting, perhaps in days. 

The same is almost certainly true for ‘Measurable’, ‘Achievable’, etc.

We can clearly see the reasons for our dilemma if we return to another standard tool, the PESTLE analysis.

This is a useful tool aimed at gaining a macro picture of the brand environment. PESTLE stands for Political, Economic, Social, Technological, Legal and Environmental factors. It’s easy to see how useful this is in framing goals and objectives for your brand. To know where you’re going (strategy) it’s important to know where you’re starting from.

Let’s look at this in diagrammatic form (below)

If I had asked you to fill in descriptions of the brand environment in each of those boxes, say, a year ago, they would be pretty well useless today. Even if you’d done it just four months ago it would not have been helpful, and if you complete it today, is it likely to be relevant in three months’ time?

The world is changing fast. We could almost imagine that the world is conspiring against our strategic aims. While we set our objectives and try to follow them, the environment is not standing still. Politicians plot their own strategies, maybe enacting new legislations. Nations change relationships and trading arrangements. Financial interest and growth rates may fluctuate massively. Consumers change socially and culturally, and new technologies surface daily.

While all this is happening, our competitors are not standing still, and are trying as best they can achieve their own business aims.

Our brand against the world?

The world conspiring against our small aims may not be as far fetched as it sounds.

 “The facts and our intentions are comparable for the better part to two forces that pull in two different directions and their diagonal is the course of our life.”

Arthur Schopenhauer

What Schopenhauer was saying is that while we pursue our aims, the world doesn’t care. The facts of the world are independent of our aims and intentions. While we press forward with our strategy, what’s happening, forces in the world are acting against us – the resulting direction is called Schopenhauer’s Diagonal – the direction we will actually travel.

 

For a brand this means that as you try to follow a course, the constant and rapidly changing environment is working to throw you off course. Even on a 12 month plan you’re likely to be well off your initial objective.

Fuzzy goals can help.

Let’s forget about setting precise objectives for a while, and consider using fuzzy goals. These goals can lack precision, but among their key characteristics are the facts that they are progressive and iterative. Working on the basis that we don’t know what we don’t know (which may be a given in a fast changing world), it makes sense to keep adjusting the strategy as the goal shifts.

Fuzzy goals obviously need some overall sense of direction of course. Researchers* working in the area coined the term ‘pole-star vision’, which “motivates the general direction”. However it still leaves the freedom to reset incremental goals as situations change. Fuzzy goals are not static and unchanging, they are progressive and directed by the learning processes along the way.

One analogy likens fuzzy goals to viewing a distant star. Is starts as a blur, but the closer we get the focus becomes sharper. We may even see another adjacent star that’s far more attractive.

Brand strategies are inherently creative activities. They lend themselves to fuzzy approaches. Precise details and data can be applied the more we learn. Fuzzy objectives can lead us to sharper brand strategies.

For more views on fuzzy goals, check out a great post by Dave Gray.

*Radical innovation: crossing boundaries with interdisciplinary teams

Long before the concept of ‘Personal Branding’ was understood, brand practitioners often used the ‘Brand as Person‘ model as an aid to help establish brand personalities.

The concept was simple. If your brand was a person, what sort of personality would it be? Examples might be: a trusted uncle you might go to for advice; a best friend who is good company and fun to be around; a team member who can always be relied upon… etc. It was a simple approach, but invited you in to consider characterisics that a brand might have or need.

When we are involved in personal branding, characteristics are already there in the personality. The issue is that the personality, particularly if it’s yourself, is a complex organism. We usually have multiple personalites or roles, based upon who we are interacting with. You may be a daughter or son, a parent, brother or sister, employee or boss, team colleague… the list goes on. Everyone you interact with is likely to know and describe you differently.

Building the personal brand

So, if you are working on developing your personal brand, which personality do you work with? You can’t pick and choose, because they are all you, just different sides to your own personality. The most important principle is to be authentic, while presenting the best possible you.

That brings us back to the ‘brand as person model‘. What is the real ‘you‘ that your audience best resonates with? It might be a good idea to do a little research. Just as you would with a corporate brand, ask people to describe your strengths and weaknesses, then analise,work and refine them and how they will be presented..

Remember, it’s important to be authentic. You are presenting the real you and people quickly see through false facades. People often talk about a brand promise. Brand choices are made based upon what the brand promises to deliver. This is critically important. If a brand fails to live up to its promise – the damage can be terminal. Customers may buy a brand of cola, for example, because they can rely on it to always taste the same. If one day they buy a bottle and the taste has changed, they may feel disappointed and let down. It didn’t live up to the promise, and trust is damaged.

The same goes for personal brands. Write down what your brand promises to deliver – your brand values – make sure they are based upon the real you. Whenever involved in some activity, check to ensure the action is aligned with your brand  values. People will choose to follow you because of who and what you are, and what you stand for – that’s your brand promise. Live it.

Brand Semiotics provide powerful tools to not only understand brand personalities, but also to identify opportunities to occupy advantageous positions in the brandscape.

Brand choice is significantly influenced by emotional engagement and the intangible, perceived benefits that the brands represent. Semiotic analysis helps our understanding of these dynamics, and how they are communicated.

So what is semiotics? 

It’s a branch of social science that is concerned with symbols. At its most basic, consider a red traffic light – that’s a symbol that society accepts as a requirement to stop. Semiotics is about ‘signs’ – and the red light is a sign.

Semioticians may talk about the ‘signifier’ and the ‘signified’. All that means is that the redlight is the sign – the signifier –  and the order to stop is what is signified. Interestingly, what is signified in this case is a culturally accepted ‘rule’.

More than names and logos

Let’s take a brand example – ‘Apple’. The brand name (and the Apple logo if you like) are signifiers, they are ‘signs’. And what is signified is not just a business or its products, but a complex mixture of things they stand for. It’s about emotional connection, vision and values, loyalty and personal identification. The meanings behind the brand are constructions that we, as consumers, build in our minds – in a way, it could be said that ‘we’ build the brand.

But let’s not get too obsessed with logos and brand names. There are lots of signs around every brand – visual, or literal – sometimes personal in the way business is done. Premises and products, other customers and their behaviours and interactions with the brand. In fact, almost anything around the brand can be considered a sign.

 

As a general classification may consider the main semiotic dimensions as:

• Material – text, images, brand names and logos, ads, websites etc.
• Conventional – based upon society’s rules and traditions.
• Contextual – social context and cultural nuances.
• Performative – involving the behaviour of people and their interactions.

You’ll probably be getting the impression that there is a great deal of theory involved in semiotics, and you’d be right, but that is really the territory of academics. We’re concerned with how we can apply semiotics to the real world of brands.

How can we make practical use of semiotic approaches? 

There are many applications in branding and brand development. The methods used may be somewhat different from those common in other techniques.

As an example, research usually takes an ethnographic approach to assemble and evaluate data. This is very similar to ‘grounded theory’.

Unlike survey methods where you start with a question that you want an answer to, a semiotic approach starts with an open mind. There is no question.  The researcher collects as much data as possible that occupies the category being researched. Typically this may include published material, print media, ads, images, interviews, web material, social media, packaging… searching all the ‘signs’ in the category. Even though we haven’t started with a ‘question’, we expect one or more to be emergent from the exercise. This means the question is more likely to be the right one.

The objective is to look for patterns, tensions, and dialectics. This strategic analysis allows us to map the category in a strategic grid. We can use binary tensions to see what space the brand in question occupies in the category. 

The analysis should also allow us to spot opportunities to improve the brand’s positioning.

For a new brand, strategic possibilities can be identified for occupying unique advantageous places in the brandscape. This can provide a powerful platform for building creative strategies. Unlike traditional approaches using survey style research, which tend to be applied downstream, the ethnographic, qualitative methods described above are ideal for upstream strategies. The brand’s position and direction can be established right from the start.

We’ve only taken a quick look at this topic, but in an increasingly crowded and complex brand space we need a process to understand its dynamics. People often talk about brand narratives – the story a brand tells. Well, brands are telling their story all the time, in terms of the signs – the signifiers that surround them and are embodied in them. These signs signify brand equity.

 

 

Is potential brand damage at P&O down to bad luck, bad management, or poor communications?

Whichever,  there can be little argument that once again a major brand may suffer significant brand damage. 

It doesn’t take a specialist to spot the potential for such injury to the brand. We’ve seen cases in recent history of major names taking serious hits – sometimes enough to destroy the brand and the business.

• Arcadia, owner of Debenhams, Top Shop and others. The brand mired by poor customer value and controversy over finances and its pension fund – not helped by its controversial controller. 
• Anderson Consulting. Its role in the Enron scandal called into question one of the critical brand values – probity. Enron went, and the Anderson Consulting brand with it.
• Uber. Flying high in public approval until it seemed to become a magnet for brand tarnish. From rumours of harassment, to scrutiny of employment practices – brand questions that were certainly not helpful for its disappointing IPO.
• Mighty Facebook has seen its once-loved brand skate from one PR crisis to another.
• Volkswagen, automotive paragon, caught questionably manipulating pollution data.

Such examples raise the question of how you evaluate brand damage. The cost to the business may be quite straightforward to assess – it is in pounds spent on litigation and compensation, lost revenue and forfeited customer relationships. But damage to the P&O brand is more difficult to evaluate as it concerns attitudes, emotions and values – and the actions that may result from them.

There are a number of tried approaches to brand valuation and views on which is the most appropriate and reliable can be quite heated, but there are standard models. However, these models cannot easily be inverted to apply to brand damage.

For example, one approach uses the value of advertising and promotion invested in a brand – this is always a bit suspect to me as it does not take account of the effectiveness or otherwise of the campaigns. Manifestly, this cannot be used in reverse.

A more robust approach has been to calculate the notional cost for an organisation to license the brand in question. This is perhaps more accurate, though it does depend upon a good deal of subjectivity. What is the value of licensing a tainted brand?

Direct financial loss or movement in share price could be included in a formula of indicators, but although these may be a measure of corporate loss, they may not help us assess actual damage to the brand.  The real brand damage is reputational. Financial loss is a result.

Let us return to the example of P&O: as we noted earlier we can already look at the cost to the company of the outcome, and look at the impact on the share price. A more accurate indicator may be sales – though this may take time to become apparent. Customer attitude to brands is often directly reflected in willingness to buy and switching brand choice. But customers are not the only stakeholders and in the case of powerful multinational brands, the reputation amongst governments, influencers, regulators, trade bodies, employees and trades unions will all reflect the degree of brand damage.

In short, reputational damage inevitably results in brand damage. It will be up to P&O’s skill to keep the ship afloat.

4 really good reasons for a brand refresh

A brand refresh can be a powerful tool – so long as it’s for the right reason.

But let’s start with a really bad reason. And this is all-too-common – the owner, or CEO wants a change. They’re fed up or bored with the brand or brand identity – often one that’s taken a long time to become established and build recognition.

A second bad reason is that a new CMO has arrived and wants to make their mark. What’s an easy way to do that? Refresh the brand.

My general advice is to never tinker with a brand that is established without serious grounds.

So here are 4 good reasons that may signal the need for a brand refresh.

1. Your customer base has moved on.

Brand strategy always starts with the consumer. But it’s important to keep reviewing the strategy, because the world doesn’t stand still – and nor do the customers.

The key consumer drivers in place when the strategy was created may have changed. It may be time also to reconsider shopping habits and communications channels. A brand refresh may be needed to ensure that the brand is aligned with current needs and wants.

Messaging may need updating to reflect the demands of new generations of consumers – not just verbal and written messages, but each semiotic signifier – symbols, images, colours, etc. Brand identities that may once have survived 10 years or more may need reviewing more often.

2. Your business has moved on.

Are you brand goals and aims still the same? In the same way that your customers’ requirements may have changed, so might those of your business.

External influences, economic, political, legislative, social etc., may have changed your commercial environment. You may have responded by changing the way you do business or adjusting your priorities.

A retailer may have moved more business into e-commerce, a heating engineer may have moved focus from domestic to commercial customers, an insurance broker may have identified a profitable, specialist niche to concentrate on.

Again, a brand refresh may be required to align the business but also to communicate change to your audiences.

3. Technology has moved on.

As we’ve mentioned already, your brand must provide answers for the needs and wants of your customers. Technological advances may make your solutions less relevant, or your emphasis may need to change.

When mobile phones arrived, for example, at least two sectors needed to look at their brand positioning. The first were landline providers – what unique benefit could they now offer over mobile providers?

The second sector was photography. Digital cameras had already changed how photographs were taken, but mobile phone cameras now changed why they were taken. No longer to store and file memories, but to instantly share fleeting events with audiences.

The place photography now occupied in people’s lives meant brands in the sector to re-think and refresh.

Refresh here means not only reviewing the brand offer, but also your communications. Has technology changed the communication channels you use?

4. Society has moved on.

Social changes, emotional and political, may be subtle or dramatic. For example, attitudes to environmental, racial and gender issues can change faster than we might think. Consider the social attitudes of 20 years ago – and remember a very different societal landscape – and ‘brandscape’.

It can be quite easy for a brand to be caught out, simply by allowing outdated attitudes and social values to persist in their organisation. Corporate leadership and brand leadership should be steering brand values. But also the time may be right to reconsider and refresh brand communications that may not kept up with the times.

Branding should be based upon common sense, but sadly, we see so many pitfalls awaiting the unwary – or the un-prepared. Pitfalls that are easily avoided, and brands and brand identities that can deliver great rewards for their businesses.

So, we’ve assembled the 7 deadly sins of branding – the most common failings – yet among the most straightforward to address. We’ve also compiled some, hints, advice and guidance how these traps can be avoided.

1. Impatience

It’s understandable that when you’re undertaking an exciting new venture or project – you’re impatient to get started. You want to see your new brand in the flesh – and you want to see it now.

The result is you cut a few corners, or miss out some steps that you think will slow you down. People often skip a little research, or perhaps employ the first supplier, rather than shop around.

It’s also tempting to go with the first approach that looks as though it may work – but then, after a little time, have second thoughts and go back to the start again. No time-saving there.

Often that careful checklist or plan you created at the start, simply gets neglected. It’s not just impatience to see results that’s the problem. Impatience can lead to accepting results that fall short of your required standard.

Avoiding the first deadly sin.

• Allow time to think. Thinking time is working time. People sometimes feel guilty when sitting and thinking. They believe they should be ‘doing something’. Don’t confuse activity with working.
• Allow time to plan – but also allow time to follow the plan. Allocate a realistic time for an activity in your plan and stick to it. If you have allowed (or been advised to allow), say two weeks to research and develop a brand name – use that time. It will be time well spent.
• Use your external advisors. They don’t just know what to do, but also how to do it, and how long it takes to do it properly. Delegate the tasks and work to the timescales they recommend. Then get on with something important yourself.
• Bring in trusted third parties to help and assess progress. They can objectively comment on results and provide important reality checks. It can help put your impatience in perspective.
• Remember what it’s all about – not just results – but the best possible results.

2. Parsimony

The dictionary definition of parsimony is;  “Extreme unwillingness to spend money or use resources“. Your brand and branding is not just a side issue. I often see businesses using an intern to handle their branding. Others buy in services from Fiverr, or PeoplePerHour to create brand identities.

Let’s be very clear – your brand is your business and your business is your brand. Whatever you invest in your brand, you are investing in your business – and vice-versa. What you are prepared to spend on branding does not just reflect upon how much you value branding, but how much you value your business.

This is one of the most common of the 7 Deadly sins of Branding, and it’s understandable why. Of course it’s tough, especially for a startup, to fund growth. But when you create your business plan and launch budget, if you’re looking for savings, don’t automatically look to branding and marketing. You may think; “Of course he’d say that. He’s a marketer and brand specialist”. That’s true, but look down the line – your brand is where real value lies in your business. If you put a lot of work into your business over the years, it is the brand that holds the value. For most SMEs, unless you have very valuable fixed assets, or perhaps patents, any potential buyer of your business will be buying the brand.

Avoiding the second deadly sin.

• Be realistic about your budgets. Look carefully at the tasks you want to carry out. It may be best to just concentrate on the essential actions and spend what’s necessary to do them properly.
• Speak to real specialists to obtain an assessment of the true, commercial cost of what you want to achieve. Use these as benchmarks for your budgeting. Of course you will to buy as keenly as you can. If a reputable supplier has told you an action should cost, say, £2000 you may realistically be able to shave £100 or more off the price.  But if somebody offers to carry out the same work for £300 – avoid them.
• Be honest with your suppliers – consultants, designers, writers, developers etc. – about what you want to achieve. Don’t assume you know the abswer,  and ask for a specific solution. Explain your objective and your budget, and your supplier may suggest an alternative, less costly option that you had not considered.
• Consider alternative payment options. Barter – offer some of your goods or services in whole or part payment. Equity payment – offer your supplier a share of the business in exchange for their services. If it’s somebody who you can see being heavily involved as your brand grows, such as a consultant, it makes sense for them to have a real interest in it’s success.

3. Self-induldgence

Your brand is not your personal toy. There may be many people relying upon its success – customers, staff, suppliers, investors and their families. Of course, building a successful brand and be engaging, exciting and fun, but it should not become a vehicle to indulge personal whims or interests.

You’ll no doubt be employing specialists to work on your brand. Avoid the temptation to interfere. Don’t lean over their shoulder and give unfounded input. For example, if a designer suggests blue for your brand colour or packaging, they’ve done so based upon training and years of experience. Don’t just say ‘I want it red, because that’s my soccer team colour’. Wait until they’re finished and let them explain their reasoning,

It can be difficult for the solo-preneur not to get sucked into this trap. It’s your business and the place you spend your working day. Separating business and personal interests and enthusiasms can be difficult.

Avoiding the third deadly sin.

• Be clear about your brand objectives. Write them down and refer to them constantly. Check that whatever steps you take align with the brand strategy.
• When you’re working with your team, add another brief agenda item to every meeting; “How will this affect the brand?”
• If you are a sole owner or director, find an impartial friend one you can trust to be honest with you. Regularly ask their opinion of any projected developments, brand extensions, changes or diversifications.

4. Lack of research

Research is critical. So far as your brand is concerned you can’t have too much. You need to know your market – current or proposed. Who are your customers – current or proposed. What about your competitors – who are they, how many, what are they doing?

What is happening in your market place? Often called PESTLE analysis – PESTEL reflects the names of the six segments of the general environment: (1) political, (2) economic, (3) social, (4) technological, (5) environmental, and (6) legal. If you are not aware of what’s happening in these areas, your brand cannot respond.

It’s amazing how many businesses don’t have this basic level of information. They rely on ‘gut-feel‘ and unsolicited feedback.

For brands, emotion is a powerful factor. Emotions like trust, respect, approachability, attractiveness, loyalty etc. Going to market with no idea what people think and believe about your brand (or your competitors’ brands) is serious omission.

Avoiding the fourth deadly sin.

• Simply, do the research – it’s not difficult.
• Do your PESTLE analysis – all the data you need is easily available online.
• Identify who your key target customers are – create personas to help identify them as real people not just figures. Then make an estimate of how many there are in your catchment area (your market size).
• Identify your main competitors and learn as much as you can about them.
• Find out what current and potential customers think about your brand. Just ask them – and they may tell you!
• Keep repeating the above. Markets are fluid and constantly changing. Make sure your brand is relevant and aligned to current customer needs.

5. No plan

In preparing for battle I have always found that plans are useless, but planning is indispensable.
Dwight D. Eisenhower

That seem’s paradoxical, but what General Eisenhower was saying is that as soon as you put a plan into action, the situation changes. However if you have been through the planning stages, you will have considered all the possibilities and be prepared to respond to such changes. You should not be caught off guard

A brand plan or strategy should be a simple thing. It identifies where your brand is now, where you want it to be, and how you’re going to get there. The key point is ‘where you want it to be’. Your brand objective. Without it you may just stumble from day to day. It’s surprisingly easy to fall into that trap –  because you’re busy, seeing no further than the tasks you have in front of you.

Often the problem is that people have a business plan, but not a brand plan. They have the classic financial plan, which is fundamental for any business – but no mention of the brand. The brand and business are two complimentary strands, each dependent upon the other. But if the brand’s direction is not planned, sooner or later the direction of the business becomes confused.

Avoiding the fifth deadly sin.

• Start with the objective – where should the brand be going? It’s as simple as that.
• Create a brand plan or strategy alongside your business plan.
• Build your plan with your team – all your team. Not just your top management or marketing team. The act of planning is a powerful collaborative process – it gives you all a helicopter view of the brand and the business.
• Regularly check that both plans are aligned – are business and brand heading in the same direction.
• Review you market place regularly. What’s happening out there? Do you need to adjust your plan?

6. Where are the values?

Critical to any business are its brand values. It’s vital that everyone knows what the organisation stands for. If you look at any successful brand you will find that its values are evident to all. Not in some snappy ‘mission statement‘, but in what the brand and business does and how it does it.

Just as you can assess a person’s values by how they behave, the same is true for the organisation.

For a sound business the brand values should be implicit. But to allow the brand to plough ahead without clarifying them can lead to confusion and conflicting messages being sent. The most valuable assets for conveying and demonstrating brand values are you and your people. From CEO through every role in the business – whether that’s 2 people or 2,000 – every one must understand and what the brand stands for, and how and why it goes about its business.

The trap is that too often, senior management are so busy getting on with the job, that they don’t articulate the values, and don’t communicate them. Day-to-day decisions are made without considering whether these align with the brand’s purpose and standards. Little wonder when the outside world has difficulty understanding or engaging with brand.

Avoiding the sixth deadly sin.

• Start by identifying and articulating the values. This is not an easy task. Forget all those meaningless mission statements, and write down honestly why the organisation exists, and the values you aspire to in the day-to-day operation of the business.
• Communicate, communicate, communicate. Talk about values within the business. Don’t be afraid of expressing values in external communications.
• Use values as a selling point.
• The best way to communicate values is not by ‘saying‘, but by ‘doing‘. Run the business and the brand by its values.

7. Undervaluing

Sadly many businesspeople undervalue their brand. It may be seen as a nice add-on – something to look at some time in the future. It’s seductive to concentrate on the easy-to-see aspects of the business, rather than what’s just under the skin. Business owners often think that the brand is just a marketing concept – not particularly valuable in the real world.

But the brand is a living thing. As we noted in Sin #2, brands are valuable assets. Accountants have formulae for calculating the worth of brands as ‘intangible assets‘.

Back in 2010, when Kraft foods bought Cadbury for $19.5bn, they were not just buying some factories in Birmingham, or a stack of chocolate producing machines – they we buying all those very valuable brands.

Whether or not our brands reach those eye-watering values remains to be seen. But just as we might keep our home in good repair and not allow it to look neglected or become dilapidated and lose value, we should take care of our brands.

Avoiding the seventh deadly sin.

• Keep an eye on your brand equity – this is about how customers prefer your brand to those of others. Work on the things that can enhance it. Brand equity contributes to brand value.
• As an exercise, try to do a rule-of-thumb valuation of your brand. There are a number of ways to do this. A simple but rough method is cost-based valuation. Look at all the costs you incur creating and building your brand. Advertising, licensing, trademarks, sign-writing, social media, printing promotion etc. – and don’t forget staff time. Okay, it may not be a great amount in your first year, but multiply it by 10 years. This is the cost to replace or rebuild the brand, but it’s not really the true value of the brand. Other methods such as income based valuation (revenue attributable to the brand) or market based valuation (what similar brands have been sold for) may be more appropriate. However, such an exercise does focus the mind on brand value.
• Quite simply, look after your brand – if you avoid the 7 Deadly Sins of Branding – you’ll build and maintain a strong, desirable and valuable brand.