5 Signs Your Brand Is Missing a Foundation
Tuesday, November 22, 2016
by Susan Schoolfield, APR
Marketing
5 Signs Your Brand Is Missing a Foundation
You’ve got a name. You’ve got a logo. What more do you need? A lot more. A name and a logo are just the face of your organization – not the heart or the brain or even the skeleton. Without a strategic framework for your brand, every ad or marketing piece you create is a shot in the dark. It might meet one need for a time, but it doesn’t work as part of a long-term strategy, and it doesn’t build recognition with your audience.
It certainly doesn’t turn your brand into a cultural icon.
A strategic marketing agency can help with that. Digging in to define who you are and what you do differently, they’ll create the foundation and key messaging upon which every other campaign and collateral piece is built.
Sound like a lot of hogwash? Here are five warning signs your brand is suffering from a lack of structure.
1. People don’t know how to talk about your organization.
You have a hard time answering when someone asks what you do, or what differentiates you from your competitors. Maybe what you do is so complicated or niche that it’s difficult to explain. Or maybe you’re so surrounded by industry jargon that layman’s terms elude you.
Brand architecture gives you bite-sized lines to help you articulate the unique who, what, when, where, why and how of your organization, clearly and efficiently.
2. Your marketing materials are an outdated mismatch.
You have the green brochures with the smiling photos, and the red brochures with the cute illustrations, and every branch of your organization has a completely different logo. If nothing matches and if anything looks old, it’s time for a makeover.
Brand architecture helps unite all your departments and branches with one set of messages – which lays the groundwork for creating a unified look, too, with customization where it’s needed.
3. You need to reach a new audience.
You’ve established a good following with one audience, but you see a great opportunity to sell to a different group of people – you just have no idea how to talk to them. Your organization simply wasn’t built to cater to this audience.
Brand architecture can help identify both the universal characteristics that make you appeal to all your audiences, and the specific characteristics that appeal to individual audiences – and can help you craft a message for each of them.
4. You feel stuck.
You haven’t grown as an organization in years and you don’t know why. You have a strong foundation of products and services, but you don’t know where to go next.
Brand architecture draws from team members at every level to understand the organization as a whole, and define your purpose and vision – which can help you identify opportunities for growth.
5. Your employees seem less motivated.
You sense that your employees don’t feel fulfilled. They don’t seem as committed as they used to. They certainly don’t feel like going the extra mile.
Brand architecture doesn’t just give your leadership direction; it gives the entire organization direction. When you identify the unique way your organization serves others, you give your employees a sense of purpose. They can feel that they are making a difference in the world, even if it’s one customer at a time. That kind of attitude change can be huge.
Balcom’s brand architecture process is called B the Brand™. It’s thorough, it’s insightful, and it’s surprisingly fun for you. Learn more about B the Brand and our other branding services.
Tags: Branding & Advertising