Branding Is Seriously Important

We totally understand that some people don’t find value in the areas of marketing and creative, including things such as branding. You, the reader, might be one of those people, In fact you’ll find in many companies today that one person will have multiple roles. Do you think this person is “doing it all”?

Nope. They’re not “doing it all”. That doesn’t mean the person isn’t capable. They’re likely very capable, as many people are. Having a single person fulfilling multiple roles is not a best practice and becomes even more perilous the larger a company becomes. This is particularly relevant to the marketing and creative fields. Why? Two words; brand cohesiveness.

Your brand is your identity and is the story that you’re telling your customers every day. For this reason you need a team. Individuals who are focused on their key contribution to the team and to the brand identity.

What is your brand without marketing & creative? Go ahead, give it a thought. We’ll wait…

A Branding Thought Exercise

Think of your favorite brands. What comes to mind? Nike? Ferrari? Apple? Starbucks?

Each has a unique brand that focuses on their identity and voice. That unique identity and voice is consistent. Once that identity and voice has been established, a key to the beginnings of any successful company, that identity is adhered to so the business can engage their audience. From that point on the brand evolves to match their market.

Elements of Consistency

Successful brands repeat the use of particular fonts in their visual communications. Their colors and the usage of the colors is consistent and unvaried. The brand’s logo usage has rules for presentation and you’ll never see the logo breaking the established brand rules.

To establish these consistent elements, there is a lot of research in understanding what creative elements and marketing initiatives are required to appeal to their target market.

When you see a Starbucks or Apple, you know the brand immediately, and not just by the logo alone. The creative elements of packaging or the UI design of their app, the designed user experience. You recognize the verbage of their signs and other text communications.

You’ll find the most popular brands understand the importance of marketing and creative. People purchase goods or services based on emotions. A person wants to achieve a particular feeling when they make a purchase. Maybe they want to feel comforted or maybe they want to feel cool.

Put the emotion you want customers to feel into your branding.

Umm… What is a Brand Voice?

Does “brand voice” sound weird to you> Not quite sure what it means? That’s ok, because we’re happy to explain what it is. Brand voice is how a company tells consumers who they are through the brand’s creative elements, more directly through copywriting and the brand’s mission statement, or through other means. These elements combined create brand recognition.

Brand recognition is developed over time as customers learn your brand and eventually love your brand. If you customers love your brand they’ll buy into your brand and in turn help your business grow by referring others to your brand.

You might even notice as you read this blog entry that we are actively portraying our own brand voice. 3 Cats Labs is a brand that’s serious about what we do but we also like to have a bit of fun while doing it. We also like to help educate our clients so they can better understand what we’re doing and how it helps their brand. We create memorable and meaningful brand experiences through collaboration with our clients. You’ll never see “used car salesman” language in our own brand’s copy.

You’ll never see, “BUY NOW!” or “LIMITED TIME LOGO DESIGN DEALS!” It isn’t who we are and it’s not what we do. We would be misrepresenting ourselves and misleading our clients. That brand voice has it’s place, but it just doesn’t have its place within the sphere of 3 Cats Labs branding.

From our experience, some of the must successful branding shows knowledge, understanding, and compassion for customers. That again connects to people being emotional purchasers. People like to feel like they’re buying from people. It’s those darn emotions!

But Don’t Forget About Brand Image

Branding isn’t just your brand voice, but it also involves your brand image. If you don’t have a beautiful yet also strategic vision, your brand may be ignored. No longer can you create a logo with clipart from Microsoft Word, slap it on a flyer, and have yourself a brand. The world today is based in digital and is increasingly visual. For those reasons the visual attractiveness of a brand can attract customers with greater effect than the actual product.

Attractive visuals can significantly influence someone to buy into your concept. A beer with a cool label and great artwork will attract most people before they even consider the actual type of beer they’re buying. We’re guilty of doing the same-we’re human too! But.. we are always open to try a new IPA if you have a recommendation.

No Magic Branding Bullet

Every brand is unique and there isn’t a template or a clean cookie cutter solution that will promise brand success. Every brand is crafted in a unique way with its own special recipe. What works for the auto industry won’t necessarily work for education. To give yourself an advantage, choose to work with the right creative agency. Choose an agency that will help you navigate your marketing challenges and work with you collaboratively to develop your brand voice and brand image.

Our Shameless Plug

We are a full service boutique creative agency based in Singapore but serving clients around the globe. We help you navigate marketing challenges and develop that special recipe to create your unique brand.