Do you need a brand to be in business?
Is your business a brand?
How important is it to have a brand?
What is a brand?
I would like to bring some clarity to some of these questions business owners are wondering about.
Hi, I’m Priscilla Blanchot, I have 20 years of experience in the design and branding field I started my career in Paris my hometown went through New York in an agency setting and Salt Lake City where I worked in the house and now a consultant. I work with companies that are doing good to humanity to the community and to the world and who are struggling to position themselves in this noisy market.
To the contrary of what a lot of people are thinking, a brand isn’t a logo, a corporate identity, the sign on your door, the truck you’re driving, a product, your look and feel.
A brand is actually your customers gut feeling about your product and your services. It’s the human reaction to your product and services, as Marty Neumeier says “A brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what they say it is”.
So do you need a brand to be in business? Well, the answer is yes, yes you need a brand to exist as we are all interdependent of our customers so we can be present, strive and grow on the market and it isn’t about who has the most colorful flyer or biggest logo and the loudest voice on the market. It’s about what creates a better connection between your customers and your services or product and how in turn your customers will talk about your services and products more than anything.
It’s a human to human connection every product or service touches on a human level. Think your business by itself is not a brand it needs its audience to exist. So you guessed it right, it’s really important for a company to have a brand, to create a community, stand for something. If you look at large brands like Patagonia, Nike, Apple, and Tesla they all have their microenvironments of customers that are loyal and live and preach for them.
When you have a strong stand for something like for example Cotopaxi or Patagonia that want to spread good to the world are standing behind a product or service and their employees, your customers will come easier then if you do not stand for anything. This is what we call a business value or authenticity. To build this community of your own, you need to find your company’s authenticity. Why do you do what you do beyond wanting profits?
And what does your company stands for? What is the why of your company? Why are you in existence? When making any kind of decision always, always think of your customers!
Remember it isn’t about you and what you like, it’s about your customer what they want, what they like and it’s about servicing them.
