Everything and Everyone Has a Brand!

Brands are part of our everyday lives.  They are everywhere.

Many people immediately think of products and services when we think of brands. But places, religions, people and even ideas can and should be branded. What’s the value?  See for yourself.

Link the Thinking and Feeling

Think of products and services like Apple, Nike, Google, etc. – love them or hate them, you know exactly what you will get from them. Brands that move from a noun to a verb and are part of the everyday language, have pretty much reached the holy grail of branding. Skype your family. Photoshop that picture, and just Google it!

How does a brand become a great brand? And how does a great brand stand the test of time?

Great brands connect, resonate and then spread like wild fire. Great brands connect our thinking and our feeling. When you connect thinking and feeling, you get someone’s attention and you keep their interest with the promise of something great. You offer something valuable beyond just your product or service. You don’t just differentiate, you make a difference. And by making a difference, you evoke emotions.

When a customer feels like they belong to something, they implicitly trust it.

Building Trust

Trust is not something that just happens. It takes consistency and time to build. You trust your bank with your money.  You continue to invest there because they have a) branded themselves in a way that resonates with you and b) proven their worth and validated your trust in them. 

Trust gives everyone reassurance.

If you think about it, trust starts within us. Our senses have been developed over time to inform us of goodness, beauty, excitement, risk, danger, etc. We trust our senses unconditionally because consistently, they’ve been our beacons in life and we continuously learn from them. From influences in our environments, past experiences, and from stories from other people we trust.

Trust in people has been built over time with regard to the expertise and competence they bring. We blindly trust them (think about doctors) with our lives due to the inherit trust that lies in their capability. We trust them because what they are promising we can depend on and rely on. They create value to us.

Trust = Reliability + Desirability x Experiences

Our world has changed drastically and continues to change at a rapid pace. The people (your customers) are now making the decisions. They are empowered and demanding. Whatever they experience in their personal life becomes the standard and they expect it in ALL aspects of their lives.

ADDING VALUE

To tap into this empowered and knowledgeable market, TRUST remains the foundation. The essence of trust is when people find value from you or the services you provide. As a business, you need to deliver value beyond your product or service. All of us make our decisions based on the maximum value being received.

The value received can be objective (ie. better sound, faster connectivity, quicker payment, lower price, etc).  But, it can also be subjective (ie. ethical standards of the company, the social issues that the company support and I also personally value, embracing diversity, etc).

Value is a key factor in brand development and is derived from all the interactions people have with your company and product/service. At every touch point. That is even before they sign up or purchase your product, and definitely after. The value you create needs to be a way of life.

When you truly offer value, you have an outside-in approach as a business. You build relevant and valued experiences to your customers’ needs.

Make a difference

People and consumers have different needs and will find value in different solutions. People want to belong and connect to other people and organizations that share their values. If you try to be everything to everyone, you will end up being nothing to no one. Be unique and don’t just be different – make a difference.

Connect to Belong
The power of connecting between an organization and consumers results in a two-way understanding and long-term relationship. When you truly connect, you connect on an emotional level because of your shared values and belonging.

You connect on an emotional level by once again applying a human-centered, outside-in approach. One way to do this is through storytelling. We all love a story. When your brand is a story, it will help you stand out from the cluttered world we live in, it will help you to be differentiated, and it will help you to be remembered.

Your brand will be defined by what people, your customers AND your employees think and feel about you. Unlock and cultivate the value you offer and keep building on the trust you earned.

This is how you become memorable in a noisy and ever-changing world.  If you need help building a great brand that stands the test of time, contact the experts at SK Consulting.  From concept to creation to implementation, we’re there with you every step of the way!