Branding and Re-Branding
A lot of small (and medium sized) businesses tend to stick their heads in the sand when it comes to addressing the need for building a brand. Most tend not to notice that they're actually building a brand anyway, mostly without even realising it.
Make your mark. By embracing branding you can take control of what people think of your business, what they expect of you, and help to win more business.
Your brand is the collection of assumptions, impressions and expectations that you build in the minds of people who meet you. Everyone is a brand. Knowing how to build it to your advantage is a major part of building a business. Paying attention and being active in brand development can bring real competitive advantage and generate real rewards.
One of the keys to our work that leads to greatest customer satisfaction is the fact that we take time to understand our customers. We invest effort in understanding their values and aims and begin to address the sorts of questions that build up an understanding of brand identity. This may involve logo design, or designing new stationery or developing company livery for vans or concepts for adverts and exhibitions, but often it is about much more subtle and low-key decisions and ideas.
Before and After
Before. This is a snapshot of the Bellamont Topiar website before we undertook a complete re-branding exercise.
and After. This is the brand we created for Bellamont Topiary - more in keeping with the high-quality product they sell, and closer to the target customers' expectations for aspirational garden plants.
Building a brand through a website includes looking at apparently tiny things like which fonts to use, whether to use illustrations, cartoons, photography, which colours to use for different parts of the site, how much information to put on each page. It also includes looking at the 'voice' used to write text on the site - friendly, personal, professional, technical, third or first person.
Most of the time visitors won't give any of this a second conscious thought but the first and last impressions will all be formed by the way these issues are addressed.
A Picture says.... We believe that good photography is a key to a great looking website. We use stock photos or commission professional photography when the need arises, as well as using clients' own photos on their site.
The Art Of Gentle Persuasion
Jon's background in psychology (a BSc & MA if you're interested!) plus Bill's practical experience of many years in business has recently been enhanced by Regine Jong's involvement with Alacrify. As a specialist marketing consultant with experience in a wide variety of market sectors she is available to assist in developing these brand concepts and practical ideas for boosting the right sort of brand for a business.
Accepting the need to take control of your brand is the first step to making more of it. If you're interested in seeing how a better understanding of your business branding can work for you then do give us a ring on 01300 320076 or drop us an email on jon@alacrify.co.uk and we'll give you a call to discuss possible ideas.
Alacrify Ltd. 01300 320076. jon@alacrify.co.uk
