Do looks matter? Does it matter what your brand looks like? I mean, is it not just all about what your business does? Isn’t that all that matters? Hmmmmmm…
The simple answer is: Yes. Looks matter. We are simple creatures. We judge books by their covers. And the clothes do make the man. Just like clothes tell us a lot about the people wearing them, your brand identity or the look of your brand tells people a lot about your business, products and services.
Here’s an example. What can you tell me about this woman?
What about this one?
As much as we may hate to admit it, we have to use something to base our views on and what we see is usually the first thing we grab on to. We only need to see people for a few seconds to get a very strong idea of who we think they are – and the same applies to your business. The way it looks, and everything people see that has any connection to it, tells people who you are and what you are like – and they just might be saying things you don’t want them to say!
How Do you Look the World?
What does the way your brand looks tell the world? Do you know what you want it to say? If you don’t know what you want it to say, you won’t know whether it is working for you, or against you, or perhaps just not doing anything for you – and that is either a great risk or a wasted opportunity.
Your brand always has some kind of look – shouldn’t you be making the most of it? Shouldn’t you be making it work hard for you and make it communicate what you want it to communicate? Whether you want it to be formal, a bit crazy, environmentally conscious or a party animal – or just whatever you want it to be. The basic thing is knowing what you want it to communicate – and then make sure that it does communicate those things.
Get A Good Picture
Have you ever gathered all your marketing materials and put them somewhere so that you can get a good overview of them? If you haven’t, I strongly recommend that you do. Get literally everything together. Take a screenshot of your website, Facebook page, Twitter profile, anything that is online, and print it out in color. Collect stationery, business cards, brochures etc. etc. Print any ads that have been running for the past year or two. Take photos of the office, retails space or any work space you have – particularly if it is a space that the customer comes into – and even if they don’t – it is also very important to communicate your brand to your staff. Hang all this stuff on the wall, spread them out on a big table or even on the floor.
Take a good hard look a them. Are they saying what you want them to say? If not, what do you need to change? What are you going to do about it? This is wayyyyy too important for you not to take the bull by the horns and use your brand identity, the look of your business, to its full potential!
Forming a brand strategy that tells you exactly what your brand identity should be communicating is at the heart of Untangling your Marketing. Another crucial thing is to make sure that you are communicating your brand through it’s identity and each and every touchpoint.