How to Create Memorable Branding
When people think branding…
… they usually think color palette and fonts. But that’s only the tip of the iceberg.
Your brand is the heart and soul of your business. It’s how you speak to customers, the experience that you provide in each interaction, the story behind your products, your social media feed, and everything in between. Logos, brand fonts, and color palettes are just the beginning.
There are lots of different schools of thought around marketing and branding, but we believe in creating brands with integrity, personality, and consistency. Today we want to share the components and strategies of making a memorable brand. Please note - we didn’t invent the concept or items listed below, but it’s the method that we ascribe to in our business… and with all our rad clients.
A memorable brand is broken down into four unique (and equally important) categories:
Brand story. A good brand story tells customers why they should care about the brand in front of them. It’s not just enough to offer a great product. You need to clearly convey what sparked the creation of this product, what dream-come-true solution it will provide for your customers, your beliefs and values as a brand, and beyond. If your brand had an elevator pitch, what would it be? If you overheard somebody talking about your brand at a party, what would they say? These are real-life examples of your brand story.
Brand messaging. Brand messaging is the common language that your brand uses. Taglines are the perfect example of brand messaging - it’s always the same. This is also where you get clear on your brand pillars and the value that you want to convey to your audience. For instance, if your brand is focused on being eco-friendly, your content should include a lot of messaging about sustainability, environmental impact, and conservation. We obviously want you to weave some personality into your brand, but make sure you’re staying on message. Humans have incredibly short attention spans, be succinct and clear with your message before you lose them to the doom-scroll.
Brand visuals. No matter how you feel about McDonald’s you have to admit their brand visuals are locked in. Your visual branding should be clear and consistent that, eventually, your customers could single it out from a mile away. Your brand visuals also help create customer affinity by drawing in customers with similar tastes to your brand and gently repelling people who aren’t your target customer away. Resist the urge to constantly make big tweaks to your visual branding. It’s confusing for your customers and also makes it look like you don’t have your shit together. That’s why hiring a branding firm (like us!) is extremely helpful for your brand in the long run.
Brand voice. What is the personality of your brand? Is your brand serious and authoritative? Or are you more playful and casual with your language? Brand voice is important because, although it might seem out there, your brand voice shows up everywhere. Brand voice determines how you’ll write social media captions, your product descriptions, email marketing, advertisements, and beyond. If your brand was a person, what would it look and sound like? How would it talk? We suggest creating a brand voice document so that your copywriting stays hyper-consistent.
You strategically market a memorable brand three ways:
Content strategy. Content strategy is the art of taking everything you identified in your memorable branding, and then strategizing (shocker, right?!) how to get it out into the world. Some example items you would identify in a content strategy include: determining who you want to get your message to, deciding your campaign budget, identifying any campaign goals or KPI’s, establishing a timeline, clarifying your offers, and any other big picture themes behind your theme.
Content plan. The content plan is where you put the strategy into action. A content plan could include things like; creating content and planning out when it will be posted, determining where content will get the best results as they result to your KPI’s, setting a timeline, and engaging with any published content. Having a content strategy without a plan is basically… pointless. We know making a strategy can be exhausting, but push through to the planning stages. It’s so worth it!
Consistency and repetition. In marketing, we talk a lot about the Rule of 7. The Rule of 7 is the idea that a customer needs to see or hear about your offer 7 times before deciding to purchase. You can also think of this as getting 7 impressions from one person across digital channels. Think about yourself as a consumer; you probably don’t buy something the first time you see an ad for it. However, after ten times of getting an ad for the same life-changing mattress, you’re probably ready to add that puppy to your cart. Your message has to be consistent and repetitive so that your target customers can begin to remember who you are. Once isn’t enough. Think about what you want to be known for, and then think of different ways you can talk about that thing to your audience. Rinse and repeat.
