5 Secrets to Authentic Branding in an Era of Declining Trust
A generation ago, authenticity perhaps wasn’t a key strategic goal for your typical marketing firm or brand story agency. That’s not because it isn’t important; it’s simply because yesterday’s audience was less wary and more trusting. Survey after survey shows that Millennials and Generation Z are more skeptical of ads than older demographics. This development is occurring against a backdrop of declining trust in business — the Edelman Trust Barometer reports that 48% of U.S. citizens report having trust in corporations. That’s a relatively steep decline of 10 points since 2017. Not only are modern audiences more skeptical and less likely to automatically trust, but they are also more sophisticated and discerning. In an age where data is currency, people are beginning to take a closer look at how advertising and marketing work — and who truly benefits. The environment makes authenticity essential. Brands and any brand story agency that can connect in a meaningful way have a serious competitive advantage. With that in mind, let’s review five ways you can authentically brand your company and improve your marketing strategy. Fearless candor Remember when Domino’s Pizza essentially admitted their product was awful? In the early 2000s, the pizza chain’s reputation was so toxic that taste testers liked their product less if they were told it came from Domino’s, rather than simply being unbranded. Domino’s decided to make changes to their pizza and accompany the rollout with a marketing campaign that was basically an extended mea culpa for culinary crimes. This candid and authentic approach was a resounding success; Domino’s market share rose from nine to 16% in five years. The moral of the story? The honesty and candor resonated with consumers, and they ordered much more pizza as a result. Fine tune your voice Does your company speak with a unified and distinctive brand voice across all platforms and channels? If not, it’s time to start working with a brand story agency. Your brand voice should be an authentic representation of your brand personality and it should, ideally, be immediately recognizable to your audience. What’s the best way to create an authentic brand voice? Fine-tune your language. All of your brand language should reflect your brand messaging, attributes etc. It should also be relatable, fresh and up to date. What it shouldn’t do, however, is attempt to mimic popular slang phrases or idioms. That kind of thing needs to be executed perfectly, otherwise, you’ll fall into the all too familiar category “corporation tries to be hip and fails spectacularly.” That’s about as inauthentic as it gets in the eyes of modern audiences. Reach for a higher purpose Consumers may be wary about marketing, but they appreciate uplift and storytelling. Look no further than Nike’s advertising campaigns, which typically do a masterful job of highlighting the triumph of the human spirit over often-incredible odds. When an audience watches Rohan Murphy (a wrestler who managed to compete at the highest collegiate level despite having no legs) in a Nike ad, some of the awe and goodwill they experience is transferred to the brand. Being exposed to a narrative like this can create a deeply human and authentic connection, as the ad creates a powerful emotional response in the viewer. Forge a two-way connection Great storytelling doesn’t have to be a one-way street. In fact, by encouraging your audience to share their own stories with your brand, you can forge an even deeper and more authentic connection. Social media is the ideal avenue for a two-way campaign. Invite your audience to share photos or stories on Instagram, and engage them in meaningful conversations about their content. Don’t behave like a brand; Act like a person Let’s face it: Brands are never going to fully transcend the inherent skepticism audience’s hold. So why act like a brand? If you want to achieve authenticity, don’t be afraid to let the corporate mask drop. Show the occasional misstep or hiccup. Work with a brand story agency to create interesting, fresh and human stories to share. Drop the pose of corporate Olympian detachment, and let your audience know that your brand is really a collection of people: Imperfect, yes, but also human and deeply authentic. Reach out to our human team and begin to authenticate your brand story.
Does Your Brand Talk About You? Use a Brand Story Agency
Human beings are natural storytellers. From our earliest days, we’ve shared stories, shaped myths and passed them down through each generation, using them to explain, entertain and educate. The most successful brands understand how important a great story is to public perception — which is one reason why working with a specialized brand story agency is often the best move. By developing a compelling brand story, customers view businesses for what they truly are: A collection of real people working to deliver a product or service that improves the customer’s life, rather than another faceless and distant organization. Neuroscience research has shown that narratives have a profoundly stimulating effect on the human mind; in fact, if one looks at scans of the brain, there is little difference between reading or hearing a story and experiencing the same thing — all the same neurological regions of the brain are activated. A brand story, like any other story, has immense potential for creating rich and meaningful connections with audiences. With that in mind, let’s take a closer look at five tips for improving your existing brand story. Identify your protagonist There’s a reason why almost every story needs a hero; the archetypal “hero’s journey” is one of the oldest story patterns we have, and one that is found in virtually every human culture. It has endured this long for one reason: People respond to it on a deep, emotional level. A brand protagonist doesn’t need to be a figure like Hercules and doesn’t even need to be overtly or classically heroic. It might be a founder (think about the iconic power of a Steve Jobs or Ray Kroc), a spokesperson or simply the company itself. Yet it should always help forge a connection with your audience. Remember, brand stories need to go deeper than conventional advertising; when executed correctly, they create emotional resonance. Make it Relatable “Put people in your photos” is the first thing any news photographer is taught. Why? Because people are drawn to each other, much more than we’re drawn to landscapes or buildings. The same holds true in storytelling. Your brand story should focus on how your product or service improves the lives of everyday people. It should be authentic and compelling, feeling personal yet also universal. Cut Through the Clutter We’ve all started reading a boring story and stopped after a few uninspiring paragraphs, never to pick it up again. To maintain audience interest, it’s vitally important to seize their attention immediately. When crafting a brand story, originality and creativity are paramount. It’s impossible to sell to an audience if you cannot hold their attention. Focus on Simplicity When telling a story, needless complexity distracts the audience and increases the risk of disengagement. This is especially true for brand stories (after all, we’re not creating War and Peace, here). In order to avoid this, it’s important to tell your brand story in a simple fashion. To do this, keep your story focused on the problems you can solve for real people while still allowing your brand personality to shine through. Make Sure You Answer Two Fundamental Questions Every brand story should address two essential questions: Who are you and why are you in business? Audiences want to know who they are patronizing and the values you stand for. They also want to know why you’re in business — and the answer has to be more than just “to make a profit.” Use your story to explain your values and the value you can add to your customers’ lives. Working With a Brand Story Agency Creating a compelling brand story is a real challenge — especially for small to mid-sized businesses. At BIGEYE, we have the storytelling expertise to help you create the kind of brand identity that moves the needle. If you’re in the market for a top Florida marketing firm or brand story agency, we urge you to find out what BIGEYE can do for you.
4 steps to creating brand guidelines every startup should follow
Crafting your brand identity guidelines can seem daunting, especially as a startup. Once you have your name and logo created, it’s important (and even fun) to build a brand guide for your team. Brand identity guidelines can help create a cohesive energy among your employees and guide your creative energy. The trick is not to get bogged down in the details as you’re still building your brand, while providing enough guidance for your team to work and make branding decisions independently. Refreshing or expanding brand identity guidelines as a large, established organization is different than starting with a clean slate. As a startup, you have the opportunity to get it right the first time, break the rules, and let your vision shine. Click here for examples of how our Orlando marketing agency has helped other companies build out their brand, or follow these four unbeatable steps to start creating your brand identity. 1. Start small when building your first brand identity guidelines: When people think about brand guidelines, they often think of a large, polished document worthy of your urban-chic apartment’s coffee table. But that doesn’t always need to be the case. Start with your logo, color variations, font choices, and basic placement instructions. For a seasoned designer, mapping out these details should be no sweat. Kick things off by hosting a brainstorming session with your key stakeholders, decision makers, and design team. Bring examples of what you like, make a “dream board,” or do a little free form drawing as you discuss. Your designer should be able to create the basics based on this discussion. From there, you can begin adding elements and refining. As long as these four elements are in place, you can add more details as you go. And we fully support a coffee table book as the 2.0 version of your own brand identity guidelines, by the way. 2. Tie in imagery and symbols that resonate with your products or services: Don’t be afraid to layer images and symbols that resonate with your brand into your brand identity guidelines. Even if they aren’t part of your logo or copyrighted photos, having inspirational imagery that captures your brand’s tone and vibe can help frame the “why” behind certain design elements, so other employees see their value. Images are also a powerful way to translate ideas without relying on huge blocks of copy. As they say, a picture is worth a thousand words. Including images in your brand identity guidelines can be a visual reminder of your products, forge positive brand associations between your organization and a place or an object, or clarify the look and feel of everything from your office to your packaging and website. 3. Make your brand identity guidelines user-friendly for non-designers too: When your designer or Orlando marketing agency creates your brand identity guidelines, they will include a variety of design specs so other designers and developers can use your brand guide when creating advertisements or tweaking the website. In addition to these valuable details – which often include specific color codes, font styles or typography, photo cropping and filtering instructions, etc. – having non-design-related elements can be an illuminating addition to your guidelines. Sharing your brand identity guidelines with non-designers is a good way to align the team, so consider including a few stylized quotes, your mission statement, or other images and verbiage that translates your core design elements for the average employee. You should never add “extras” in lieu of your design specs, but your style guide should also make as much sense to designers as it does to your accounting team. 4. Include any “do” AND “don’t” recommendations: What designers and employees do with your brand elements is often as important as what they don’t do. Don’t shy away from including a “don’t” here and there in your brand identity guidelines. For example, if your logo features a square form, you may not want your employees to superimpose other images on top of or into the square. Your colors may be interchangeable sometimes, but sometimes they may not. Get clear on what you can and can’t do to avoid unnecessary editing. Naturally, you never know what you don’t know. Some of your guidelines will evolve based on trial and error, but if you already know there are a few deal breakers, get them out of the way up front. The important thing is to start creating. Get something down on a page and let the rest flow naturally. Crafting identity guidelines are a key part of the brand evolution, so let the experience grow with you and your organization rather than waiting until your brand has taken on a life of its own. Our team specializes in brand creation and refinement, so we’re here to help if you get stuck or need a little inspiration. Remember – this is the fun part!
Client Appreciation That Creates Real Brand Advocates
On this, “National Customer Appreciation Day” – how do you go above and beyond the “call of duty” to show your clients how much you care about them? I’m often asked if it’s more costly to pursue a new client, or if retaining existing clientele has the greatest impact on a company’s bottom line. While it might appear subjective, it’s a fairly widely held opinion – and the data tends to support the notion pretty consistently – that it’s both pricier and consumes a greater portion of your employees’ time to generate new business. That’s all the more reason to ensure that your existing clients are busily singing your praises, isn’t it? Seriously, who wouldn’t want to ensure that current customers aren’t also your most valued brand advocates? Thinking back, you’ve likely had at least one highly positive and thoroughly memorable customer service experience that compelled you to quickly share the good news with your friends and associates. As a company, how do you make that type of behavior the norm, in which your employees are empowered to provide only the highest level of client satisfaction – and that they proceed to do so every single time you’re “at bat” with your valued customers? Consider, for instance, the selfless act recently recounted to me about a sales experience with a national retailer that was “share-worthy.” Rather than ordering a book via Amazon or another online merchants, my friend decided to trek to her local bookstore – a less convenient brick and mortar destination – to purchase a much-anticipated book as a gift for her spouse for his birthday. After searching the racks of new arrivals to locate her target gift, she came away with little success. Arriving at the customer service counter, Starbucks in-hand (a frothy latte always seems to make any shopping experience that much more pleasurable), she provided the name of the book, and waited patiently as the associate researched its availability. No luck – the coveted present was already sold out, with the bookstore’s next expected delivery shipment at least one week away. Rather than turning my friend away with little time left to place an online order in time for her husband to unwrap the best seller that topped his list of “must reads,” the associate willingly called the store’s major competitor to offer additional assistance. Sure enough, they had a copy, and my friend left the store with a broad, caffeinated smile, knowing that the book she so anxiously sought would be ready and waiting for her with no further effort on her part related to her search – even if it meant paying a visit to the competition. What compelled the associate at my friend’s first bookstore shopping stop to take the extra step, and go the extra mile, to ensure that her purchase was easily attainable? This example can be translated into nearly any industry – it’s interchangeable. My friend couldn’t wait to tell others – to excitedly share the news with me and my fellow guests at her spouse’s birthday celebration. You could sense her delight when she recounted her experience. That’s employee empowerment: the bookstore employee helped my friend walk away feeling appreciated and valued, even without completing her purchase with the initial retailer. At our Florida advertising agency, we strive to do just that – to provide the necessary expertise and support to allow our clients’ goals and objectives to be attained, while ensuring that expectations are consistently exceeded. [quote]The service that we deliver is more than compelling creative and sound marketing strategy – it’s personal.[/quote]The service that we deliver is more than compelling creative and sound marketing strategy – it’s personal. It’s reminding our clients – as often, and as readily, as possible – that we are delighted to serve alongside each and every one of them as their agency partner. So, keeping in mind the bookstore experience, how do you effectively guarantee that your client’s expectations are continually exceeded – so much so – that they’d be willing to refer new customers to your company, based solely upon their sheer satisfaction with a routine job well done? Contact us today to allow our team to help you gain, and retain, highly satisfied brand advocates – for life!
Why Follow-for-Follow Creates an Inauthentic Brand Experience
Outside of social media marketing, I hear it everywhere. “Follow me, and I’ll follow you back!” and advice suggesting that a Twitter user follow every one of their own followers. Usually, this is the type of thing said by motivational speakers, life coaches and other types of people who don’t truly understand marketing. To some people, a Twitter follow-for-follow seems like an even exchange. Or, perhaps it just seems like “the nice thing to do” in order to help please your customers and loyal fans. But unfortunately, a follow-for-follow pattern can also result in tarnishing your brand’s image and brand experience. First of all, it’s important to remember that your followers can see who you follow. If you end up being followed by a spam or ghost account, and you follow them blindly, you are, at the very least, subjecting yourself to spam. But, you’re also providing incentives for your own followers – the people you influence – to follow spam or fake accounts, which doesn’t seem good for anyone. Much in the way that it doesn’t make sense for Pepsi to follow Coke, or for Mercedes Benz to follow Kia, it doesn’t make sense for your brand to follow the things that aren’t on-brand. Sure, you may love the tweets from your friend Albert who constantly tweets funny comments about celebrity gossip, but if your company doesn’t align itself with celebrity culture, then it’s better to keep that follow to your own personal account. A good brand influences behavior, and if you don’t want to dilute the value of your brand, it’s important to realize that the brand’s Twitter page (and Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram pages) are extensions of the brand identity. In many ways, it’s like aligning yourself with the people you believe you are aligned with – and just because a million people may identify with your brand, it doesn’t necessarily mean your brand needs to cater to them. Perhaps when the Twitterverse was smaller, it may have made more sense to follow each person who followed you or your brand. But, with more than 200 million active users as of this month, it’s easy for bigger brands to get lost in the haze. Imagine being Lady Gaga and trying to follow each of your 39 million followers. Even she follows some 136,000 people, which seems to me like it would make it hard to sift through the noise. Another trend that we’ve seen marketers attempt in order to be more successful on Twitter is the practice of buying followers. All over the internet, people are eager to help businesses raise their Twitter fan bases by purchasing followers at an agreed-upon sum. However, our team of genuine marketing experts frowns upon this practice because ultimately it doesn’t matter who your followers are if they’re not quality, and are not actively engaging with you. Additionally, while some people assume that buying followers will help bolster their credibility, in actuality there are now a variety of social media tools that help shed light on fake followers. If you are looking for more ideas and ways to establish a strong brand presence on Twitter, follow our Florida advertising agency at @BIGEYEagency.