In today’s digital age, where information is abundant and attention spans are fleeting, the significance of ‘storytelling’ for brands has never been greater.

A compelling brand narrative is not just about sharing your products or services, but about connecting with your audience on a much deeper level, that goes way beyond transactions and begins to foster brand loyalty.

Here, I share some insights into the significance of a powerful brand story and why it’s so effective for your business.

1. Human Connection
Stories have an incredible ability to make your brand engaging. By showcasing the values, beliefs, and passions that drive your company, your audience gets to glimpse the people behind the business, making your brand more relatable.

2. Emotional Engagement 
A well-crafted brand story triggers emotions that can cause your audience feel joy, nostalgia, empathy, or even inspiration. These will always leave a lasting impression.

3. Memorability 
Facts and figures can be hard to remember. But a captivating brand narrative helps your message stick in the minds of your audience – and that’s good news because it becomes a part of your brand’s identity.

4. Differentiation
In an over-crowded marketplace it can be difficult for your brand to get noticed. But your story will help you stand out, highlighting what makes your brand unique, and giving people a reason to choose you over the competition.

5. Word of Mouth
Compelling stories are shared. When your audience resonates with your narrative, they become natural advocates for your brand and willingly spread your message to others.

6. Consistency
A well-crafted brand story serves as a stable foundation for your marketing strategies, ensuring that every piece of communication aligns with your brand’s values and mission.

But remember, brand stories are never a one-size-fits-all. Take time to listen to your audience, understand their needs, and tailor your narrative to speak directly to them. In a world where consumers seek authenticity and connection, mastering the art of brand storytelling can be a game-changer for your business.

Are you ready to empower your marketing through brand storytelling?

Book a free 30-min discovery call with us to explore how we can help you craft a unique story for your brand.

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Over this festive period, I’ve been contemplating what my response will be to a premium brand not living up to its brand promises.

The situation looks like this. A few weeks before Christmas I came across a company that sold very premium adventure gear for those who were into the ‘extreme outdoors’. The brand looked amazing, the products too, and because of its association with the special forces, I knew it would be a brand my son would love.

Despite the high price tag, I decided to buy one of the products for him as a Christmas present (one of the smaller items in the range). With an estimated delivery date of between 3-5 working days, I was well in time to receive it before Christmas, having placed the order on the 13th December.

However, to date, it still has not arrived. And the response from them to all the customers who are experiencing the same issue came in the form of this automated message:

We’re a small team dealing with a large volume of queries and are currently battling a host of internal and external snags that are slowing our usual processes – think software, hardware, courier strikes etc. It’s that crazy time of year!

Yeah ok I get it. But I don’t think it appeased customer frustrations as the 25th December was looming ever closer.

After a week, I emailed them again and got the same automated response. A few days later, yep, the same scenario! …

And then, why oh why was I still receiving messages inviting me to: hurry and complete your Christmas shopping mission before midnight tonight (19th December) to receive your order before Christmas … when my current order was far from fulfilled??

Now, despite what it may seem, this is not a blog to just rant, but to look at the consequences for a young brand who’s trying to build it’s reputation on an ethos of – Honesty. Integrity. Loyalty.

A brand promise is nothing if it’s not followed through with action. Today’s consumers build their understanding of brands from each interaction with that organisation. When a brand breaks its promise, it also shatters customer trust which can lead to plenty of dangerous negative reviews, damaged reputation and even a loss in revenue.

If you are a company that is building a brand, having outstanding products with a great story and a sexy website alone won’t cut it!

In today’s fast paced, over-automated and digitally-driven society, Humanity is the new premium. Internet businesses cannot afford to be faceless entities. They need to connect with audiences on a much greater level.

Trust is the foundation and prerequisite for obtaining deeper engagement with customers who want brands to do what they promise, and actually deliver on the fundamental brand promise, consistently, over time.

For this particular company, I believe this will probably just be a blip that they will recover from. And for their sake – I do hope so. But it’s worth them remembering that promises that are kept, strengthen a brand, but broken promises diminish and set the stage for a long or even impossible come-back.

Do you want to bring new meaning to your marketing through a powerful brand?

Book a free 30-min Discovery Call on Zoom to have a conversation about whether your brand is having the right impact.

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When it comes to branding the key word is consistency! Keeping your brand consistent is vital for maintaining consumer confidence in our products or services.

But sometimes, change is a good thing. The key is knowing when.

Like a fresh lick of paint that can revive a dull living room, or a new haircut can boost self-esteem, a rejuvenated image can bring life back to an outdated brand.

The catch is that, unlike changing your hairstyle, a brand refresh isn’t something to do on a whim because you’re bored of it or you’ve received a negative comment. Without a solid strategy, your renovation could turn into a DIY disaster.

When you’re considering a brand refresh, start by asking a few honest questions:

– Why does the brand need a new image?
– How will a refresh help the business?
– What’s involved and what impact will it have on my customers?

A brand is more than just a name and a logo. It’s also your company’s reputation, identity, and public perception. In many cases, companies recognise the need for change but want to preserve the brand’s positive aspects. With that thought in mind, here are 5 reasons you might consider updating the brand:

1. You aren’t getting enough attention
A great brand doesn’t just generate an image for your company; it gives your customers a reason to sit up and take notice. There are plenty of ways to tell whether your audience has moved on from your message, and the first is that you’ve seen a steady decline in sales.

2. You don’t stand out from the competition any more
Making an impact is hard in today’s saturated online marketplace—and copycats are plentiful. Even if you have a great product or service, it won’t be enough if customers can’t distinguish your brand from the other players in your niche. You need to stay ahead.

3. Your company has changed
A founder’s initial vision, and the company that has grown out of it, aren’t always one and the same. Sometimes a brand is born with a particular product or service in mind, then it’ll develop new ones to better serve its audience. Your brand will need to evolve as your businesses grows.

4. Your message is inconsistent
We know how valuable brand consistency is—not just to your customers’ experience, but also to your bottom line. If you want your brand to become a trusted name, then you’ve got to deliver the same, familiar experience whenever customers interact with you. A brand refresh can help to realign your company’s values when they start to lose their way.

5. You want to attract new customers
As your business grows, it’ll find opportunities to expand into different areas that offer new sources of revenue. Sometimes, tapping new markets requires changing your brand voice or image so it appeals to a wider range of customers.

Ultimately, the decision to refresh your brand is yours, but it can be a difficult one. Seeking professional advice from branding experts will help you to reach the right decision more definitively so that your brand is on track to deliver the results you need.

Contact us to carry out a brand review of your business and we can give you professional expert advise on how you go about refreshing your brand.

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Are you a business who is actively marketing but not seeing the results you thought you would?

When it comes to marketing spend, as a rule of thumb, SMEs should expect to allocate anywhere from 5 – 15% of their gross revenue – and whether you’re a start-up or an established business, that can add up to quite a sizeable sum.

But what if you’re seeing very little return on that investment? How long do you keep it going?

Before we go any further, it’s not my intention to discredit the efforts of your marketing consultant or team. We all know marketing is the essential action of promoting and selling your products or services – that makes absolute sense … so what is the problem?

Well, let’s dive into this: Is marketing dead without branding?

Most entrepreneurs and small business owners think there is no need for branding because they don’t view themselves as a big corporation. Or, they believe they already have a brand – after all, they’ve asked someone to design a logo … create marketing materials … produce a website … Aren’t these all the brand? Yes, they are, but what if these decisions were based solely on aesthetics or an incorrect viewpoint about their target audience or competition?

True branding is actually what you do to make people feel a certain way about your business, or perceive your business in a specific way.

Why is that important you might ask?

Branding is knowing your target audience and then presenting yourself and your services/products to them in a way that will help them to choose you over the competition.

In this way, branding helps to significantly endorse your marketing which, in turn, impacts sales. An established brand means customers are choosing you rather than you chasing them and worrying about the effectiveness of your marketing.

Do you want to bring new meaning to your marketing through a powerful brand?

You can begin by downloading our free 4-point guide on Clarifying your Brand for business growth using the form below. Or, if you’d prefer, book a free 30-min Discovery Call on Zoom to have a conversation about whether your brand is having the right impact.

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2019, for me, signalled a year when I wondered – after 18 years in business – where on earth we were going …

The business I’d co-founded in 2001 had become dull. Unlike the early years, when we were full of heady anticipation and creativity and passion for the work we were producing and the excitement of seeing clients’ company’s transformed with a new identity and marketing strategy, somehow … along the way, as the years had rolled by (and almost without me noticing) we had stopped shining.

2020, I’m sure you won’t need reminding, was the year that changed everything, for everyone.

And for me, amidst all the hardship and heartache, it also provided a chance to stand back and take stock of our business. What had changed? The market seemed static. Was that it? Had it really come to a stand still? The truth is, markets are never static because they are made up of people and so by nature, they’re always changing and evolving. Whether it’s a change in demand, a change in knowledge, a change in society or any other countless ways people change, markets aren’t a place for static entities. The problem was, we had not changed with them.

Change is never easy, but if we were going to survive we had to adapt – like a crab shedding it’s shell, it needed to be a transformation to signal the end of an old era and the beginning of a new one.

Looking back, it all seems to be a bit hazy. Like a road you know you need to walk on, but you’re not quite sure where it’s leading – we went with it, in faith, because standing still wasn’t an option.

Digging deep, we knew that the landscape had changed, so we asked ourselves very honestly: what did we do that still offered value? I laugh at this stage because it truly could have gone either way! But in the end the answer was deceptively simple and staring right at us. It was in our business name: we Think!

We’ve always done it. We think a lot about our clients’ businesses, where they are, where they’re going and how we can help them reach their goals through a process of brand development. Our problem was, we just hadn’t identified our story, we hadn’t worked out what our own brand was!

Today, I’m delighted to announce the launch of our new website, signalling a new approach and era for us and positioning us for future growth. It communicates exactly what we do, how we (uniquely) do it and most importantly how it benefits the very businesses we want to work with.

I’m hugely proud of the team for bearing with me on my quest. I’m excited about the future and I’m ready for every opportunity that comes our way.

If you’re still reading this, thank you for getting this far and finding out what our business has been through over the last 3 years! And if this resonates, if you’re not sure where you’re going, if the market seems static and business is slow – for heaven’s sake don’t stay where you are. Talk to someone, talk to us. You never know what possibilities that conversation might open up …

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