How do you speak to others; how do you serve the people around you, are you the class clown or are you the next big thing; are you matter of fact or do you speak in tongues; and lastly, what’s your vibe?
Your company, product or service’s vibe is how people relate to you, how they remember you, how you appeal to them emotionally. It’s a coherent manifestation of your purpose, your why, values, aesthetic and your voice.
So, how do you pick your muse? How do you create this expression in a way that your audience will get it. How do you make rudimentary sexy, does it have to be sexy? Before you get down to building, you need to configure your blueprint, you need to make sure you brand will speak to the people you want to sell to.
Newer generations of buyers and customers have a certain loyalty to brands. They create connections and befriend them- so to say. What kind of brand would appeal to your target audience? You need to dig deep to answer this, beyond basic demographic data points who are you marketing to? We put ourselves in their shoes, think about the intricate details we don’t put down on paper- what are their motivations, their challenges etc. Download our guide to customer personas.
We couldn’t say this louder. Your why helps answer most things about a brand. It’s the creative reign you need when you need to create an authentic real brand. To visualize your why think about the competitors and expectations in the sphere, your positioning, your key offerings and your brand messages. What are your brand attributes? Why does your brand exist? Why are you solving this problem? Why do your customers need you?
Brand archetypes inform us about the expectations of how we present ourselves, how we serve people, it allows us to create a framework of rules and can give you a good idea of who you are in the early stages of conceptualization. Are you creative like Apple? Or funny like Wendy’s? Are you a rule breaker like Harley Davidson? Are you futuristic like Bumble?
The brand guideline is wildly underused as a document for only UI. Brand guidelines serve as your brand’s DNA; it allows teams and shareholders to be aware of the singular message, mission, and well, vibe. Sending out one message to your customers in terms of language, tone and aesthetic plays a big role in deciding how memorable your brand will be. As humans we look and seek out consistency in actions, messages and brand. This allows your customer to befriend you, have that emotional connection with you when all goes well- have that loyalty, recall, and success.
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