My Thoughts on the Importance of Brand-Building

Your Brand Is More Than a Business. It’s a Personality.

A brand is a person waiting to be discovered and expressed. The logo is his/her face, and through its expression, it is the first impression he/she makes when walking into a room.

The brand colours represent how he/she looks when he/she does so. The tone used in brand communication is how he/she sounds when speaking. As for products/services under that brand, they are the convictions he/she has to offer to the room. And for MSMEs competing in local and global markets, this personality is your competitive edge. Giving this person a personA, an identity, a tone of voice, a look, a character, with his/her own quirks and charms is an important part of brand strategy. It is born out of marrying the company’s vision to the customers it wants to target.

Consistency Creates Recognition

Your brand will need to make a positive impression on the target audience not only when he/she first walks into a room, but will also need to become a face one remembers when he/she walks in next. Your brand should become the familiar face that stands out in a crowded marketplace, where consistency is the key to survival. When your brand maintains its authentic personality across every touchpoint, customers first notice you, and then they recognise you every time. Like a familiar friend whose presence is unmistakable, your brand, coupled with the good reputation brought on by dependable deliveries on brand promises, becomes memorable and trusted. Yes. Familiarity breeds trust.

Strategic Personality Development Drives Connection

Building a brand personality isn’t just a showcase of creativity. It’s the strategic marrying of your company’s vision with your customers’ expectations. The right personality ensures that when your brand “walks into the room”, it resonates with your target customers, and they are ready to listen. Getting this personality right is of paramount importance to communication. This is why I like to actively be a part of the brand-building conversation. It helps me take it RELEVANTLY to the subsequent stages of conceptualising/executing the many different pieces of communication that could lie in a brand’s journey.

Every Piece of Communication Matters

I do not subscribe to the checkbox approach to brand communication, though. No rushed social posts, no last-minute event invites, or deadline-driven content. While this may serve to send some information out at the time, this could handicap the brand’s journey forward through the overlooking of brand guideline hygiene points. Every piece of communication is an opportunity to reinforce who you are and deepen customer relationships. We should take those opportunities and make the most of them, and take care that none of it sets us back unwittingly. These pieces of communication should be crafted, not dashed out. And all brand custodians need to be on the same page regarding that.