This is part of a series of posts entitled “WHY BOTHER?” – covering why you should bother with branding and design in your business.
What do you think makes your business memorable? Really think about that for a second. Maybe it’s the great products you sell or the incredible service you deliver, or maybe you write impressive copy or send hilarious newsletters – all brilliant – but the thing that will really help you to stand out, attract attention and be remembered – especially by those who have yet to buy from you – is branding.
Branding can help your offering to be more memorable, it can highlight that copy and make your newsletter easier to digest. If you’re on Twitter and have all these messages popping up at you all the time, you’re not going to click onto all of them are you? However, if one of them has an image which really stands out you’d be more inclined to click through to find out what it’s all about – especially if you’ve seen something in the same style before.
A lot of design is about being repetitive. Now that sounds dull, but repetition is how you get through to people, how you make an impression and strengthen your message. Find something that works, rinse, repeat. Be remembered. The “rule of seven” states that you need to interact with a customer seven times before you make a sale. That’s quite a number of times that they need to come into contact with your brand, understand what it is you do, recognise that it’s you and then go away again before they come back for more. Of course, this rule was developed in the 30s and a lot has changed since then. As a plus, there are more places for you to make those touch points count – and a lot of them – email and social media for example – are free – however, maybe because of these extra ways to connect with your audience there’s more “stuff” to cut through to make sure your brand stands out and makes that brilliant impression, so you’ll need to work harder.
I’m going to use that word again… consistency! According to Oprah, this is the most important thing about branding and of course I agree with that. Being consistent – sending out the same message, in the same way, with the same image – shows that you mean what you say, you’re trustworthy and reliable, reinforces your message and of course, if you do the same thing in the same way over and over again – repetitively – you’ll be remembered. (Click here to tweet this!)
You may have seen my 11 Colours series – if not, go and check it out and see what the colours you use in your business could mean. Colour is really important in design. Without thinking about it, colour evokes emotions and creates impressions for the viewer that help to make you memorable. “Colour is believed to be the most important visual experience to human beings” infact, colour can increase brand recognition by up to 80%! Wow! So it’s a pretty big deal, and still just one element of branding. You might find that you can recall businesses by colour, not just the very obvious such as Cadbury Purple, or Coca Cola Red, but maybe you’ll remember a website being pink or an image with a white square in the corner – that kind of thing can stick in your mind. Once you’ve settled on a colour scheme then you need to settle on how you’re going to implement it and, you’ve guessed it, be consistent with that!
What else can you look at in order to be memorable?
- using the same fonts
- using a particular style of photography
- placing your logo on everything
- elements such as an illustration or even something as simple as a thick line
- using a certain shape each time ie. always posting with your photograph in a circle
- using the same wording/ slogan/ tagline/ tone of voice
- reinforcing the same message over and over again – what DO you want to be known for?
- think of at least seven different touchpoints in your business where you can connect with customers
- be where your people are. It doesn’t matter how memorable you are if you’re being memorable in the wrong places!
What are you going to do to make your brand more memorable?