Communicating your brand meaning and values to your customers and the masses is essential across all of your products and services. You need to be recognized, and people need to quickly comprehend what your brand is all about.
Once you have caught the eye of your prospective customers, you need to stay at the forefront of their minds so that they choose your products rather than a competitor’s.
It should be noted that gaining and keeping consumers’ trust through authenticity is becoming more and more essential, and has often been the core reason why consumers have parted ways with a particular brand. Read on to learn how to stand out amongst a sea of companies, and how to keep your relevancy afloat.
Garner Recognition through Consistency
The last thing you want to do is to confuse customers by having too many things going on, both with imagery and text. Picture early prints of newspapers with 20 different typefaces including bold, italic and every other style available; less is more. Everything should be uniformed, including things like colors, logos, and shapes. The first sighting of one of your adverts, a storefront, or an employee uniform, will essentially be ‘first contact’ for the consumer, so keep messages and identity, clear and simple; they will have the chance to learn more about your brand later.
Break the Mold
Don’t let small obstacles hold you back or worry about being too traditional, that train of thought will not see your brand standing out in a crowd. To set yourself apart, you can adapt to your obstacles and environment. For example, if your logo happens to be circular, why would you put it on a square door? The same can apply for the sizes and shapes of clothing tags. So be bold, be innovative, and don’t get pigeon-holed.
Impress, Sparkle, Dazzle, Shine
There is nothing wrong with a bit of all-out attention seeking and showing off how proud you are of your brand. The advertising options are expansive and exhaustive so there is no excuse to not make use of a good few. Find high-traffic locations to display something impressive, think Times Square in New York for example.
Other quirky methods have included the incorporation of street art, hot air balloons, and even giving out business cards that actually look like and function as cheese graters.
Connect with Your Customers
You should always be available and personable with your in-store customers, as they are more than just simple purchasing points these days. In fact, they double up in functionality as brand showrooms. That’s why this undergraduate course in creative advertising and branding gives students plenty of real hands-on experience in diverse situations, which makes for effective interaction when engaging at all customer touch points.
A recent captivating trend has seen top fashion designers giving employee uniforms a makeover, propelling companies’ style and recognition in to touch with modern times. Employees’ water bottles, drinking mugs, and tablets can also be branded for more onsite awareness.
Integrate Your Customers
Products don’t just have to be advertised plainly all by themselves online. You can add a personal touch and connect emotionally with customers by including them. Alongside your products, you could showcase real customers in videos and photos, with the added purpose of demonstrating their functionality and relevancy in the real world, which in turn reflects the brand. What you get from this customer integration are in essence third-party endorsements which give much-desired credibility.
Authenticity at the Company’s Core
Having and presenting a truly positive company culture is becoming increasingly important. Consumers demand authenticity and are finding it difficult to trust large corporations. Be naturally authentic, and don’t be coy about displaying it.
Featuring pictures from recent charity events is an effective and simple way to achieve this goal. Nothing says “authentic company, nice boss” like a smiling, happy workforce. Let your employees do their share of advertising through the great way in which you treat them.
Your Experiential Marketing Will Be the Talk of the Town
This type of marketing will leave fond memories in the minds of your consumers and will connect your brand to them personally, creating a lasting bond. You can directly involve your customers in a brand experience by trying something interactive that is surprising, and unexpected. This is essentially a ‘PR stunt’, but if all goes well, the advertising will be taken care of through word of mouth and social media, all on your customer’s behalf.
It’s time to showcase your brand in really eye-catching ways, while presenting the story, people, and customers that are behind it. By keeping things uniformed across the board, you will create focus, and see more attention and sales in the long run.
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Jennifer Hahn Masterson is a seasoned freelance visual designer and digital nomad, aiming to shape and enhance the user experience through considering the effects of illustrations, typography, photography, space, colours and layouts on the usability of each product and its aesthetic appeal. When she is not busy pondering about the design principles of unity, space, hierarchy, balance, contrast, scale and similarity, she likes to immerse herself in a good book and satisfy her perpetual wanderlust.
