Month: November 2019

A brand story is used to evoke an emotional reaction. By doing this, you engage the audience and get them emotionally invested in your brand. However, what many overlook is how integral design is to the brand story; the two elements must go hand in hand. It is this combination which enables creative agencies to build a powerful brand story.

The basics of a brand story

Brand stories needn’t be complex. You’re not writing a novel or illustrating one. But they do need to be meaningful. As humans we are drawn to story-telling. This means that, with the right story, your audience become your champions – retelling your story for you. Another way to think of it is that the brand story is understanding, words, imagery and emotion behind your brand’s design. It links everything together for your audience. If you succeed in getting both an excellent brand story and excellent design together, then they become even greater than the sum of the parts – this is what a creative agency will aim for.

How to tell a brand story

Start with the basics of who you are as a brand. Pick out a few elements to work with. Perhaps you are luxury, user-friendly, informal, community focused, or something else. Think about the roots of the business. Why did it start and why did it develop in the direction it did? Remember that passion because passion is rocket fuel for a good story. Think about what you value as a brand. Why are you different from your competitors? What is the character of your industry? Who are your audience? Remain true to your target audience and think about what motivates them.

The importance of your competitors

A creative agency that succeeds in building a powerful brand story won’t do it in a vacuum. They understand that your business needs to find its own unique place within your wider industry. The brand story is the driving force of this and therefore cannot be created without taking a look at your competitors. Your story needs to be defined and different from others and it needs to appeal on an emotional level where they fail. A creative agency will therefore do competitor-analysis as they begin to formulate your story.

Different elements of a brand story

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that your brand story is simply a chunk of text under the title ‘Our Story’ on your website. It is so much more than this. Indeed, a well built and comprehensive story encompasses everything from fonts to your logo, and graphics to tone of voice. These become the channels through which your story really engages your audience. A simple but clever example of this would be for a business which creates handmade products. If you can include handwritten text in the logo, then the message of your story is far more than just words on the page. Add imagery of the making process on the site and this goes even further. You can think of this in terms of the look and feel of everything you do. This aids your story. So this will include things such as colours and photos on your website through to packaging or brochure design.

The power of the designer

You are in possession of the facts about your brand. You know your audience. You know your history, values and objectives. An excellent creative agency is how these different threads can be pulled together, through design, to create a cohesive and emotive story. Indeed, brand storytelling is simply words on a page without creative design. It is the creative design which makes your story stand out from the crowd and gets your audience 100% invested in your business. Building a brand story is not an accidental process. Instead it is a conscious and directed process which requires knowledge of the business, the audience, the industry and marketing. Get it right by employing a creative agency and your business will be ahead of the game.

A picture tells a thousand words. What does yours say? Close your eyes. Think of a brand such as Apple. What do you see? A logo is the instant snapshot of who you are. In a momentary glance it encompasses your brand’s reputation, personality and drive. What’s more, it’s memorable. It etches itself in to the mind in a way that’s tangible. A logo is not simply a pretty little image, it’s about the impact your brand makes and leaves. As such, a logo should be a priority.

Read more on Things To Consider If You Are Looking For Logo Design Company in Dubai

Who are you?

Think of a logo as being the imagery behind your brand. It’s who you are, in its simplest form. Your logo is what potential customers will first notice about your business. Given that first impressions matter, your logo needs to be considered and intentional, not accidental. This means that before you consider the design of the logo itself, you need to think about what you want it to convey. This will include qualities such as trustworthiness, professionalism, humour, sophistication or any other brand characteristic which define you. The human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than text. That’s staggering and it underlines just how powerful a carefully conceived logo can be.

Attention

As such, a logo has immense power to grab attention. People are bombarded with information in the digital age. Grabbing attention among-st that maelstrom of noise takes something special. An excellent example of a business which has nailed this attention-grabbing is Starbucks. And it’s all down their logo. In just moments a viewer sees and perceives the logo, and, literally, judges the business on its appearance.

The foundation of your brand

Your logo really is the foundation of your brand. It brings together your brand identity in a nutshell. Try and do that in a handful of words alone and you’ll discover that it’s nearly impossible. Yet a logo can convey a story which entices the viewer to feel something in just one glance. When they feel something, they act. This is where an expert designer is worth their weight in gold. Colours, fonts, shapes and tones all hold incredible power. Between 62% and 90% of consumers base their first impression on colour alone. You know this yourself. The psychology of colour explains how we associate different emotions or judgments based on colour. For example, we associate blue (the most used colour in logos) with intelligence, trust and efficiency. We associate red with activity and strength.  Black conjures up a sense of sophistication and security whilst yellow inspires optimism and confidence.

A logo leads

Once a logo has got someone sitting up and paying attention, it’s then important that it leads them on in their relationship with your business. It becomes the way your brand is recognised and remembered. Thus, when someone then sees your brand again (remembering we operate in a multi-channel world), it will again conjure the same feelings as it did the first time it was viewed. A logo serves to be the positive-recall which may not happen through your company name alone. Even if someone forgets your name, they will remember what you look like. This allows you to nurture their relationship with you at every touchpoint, simply through careful use of your logo and overall branding concepts. In turn this begins to allow your business to stand apart from the competition. Your logo makes you unique. It draws your audience onwards in to a relationship with your brand which grows.

Logo to loyalty

This nurtures brand loyalty. No matter where or how a consumer sees your brand, they know there’s consistency because of the logo alone. That allows them to gradually become more loyal to you. Again, let’s use an example. Let’s think about the Nike tick. If you see active wear with the Nike tick, it inspires the feelings of trust, consistency and strength. You don’t need to read the company name. You don’t need to read any information about the item. You simply trust it because you know the logo. It brings up all the feelings of loyalty. That’s powerful stuff. What’s more, your audience expects to see your logo whenever they come in to contact with you. They become attached to it.

Does your logo work?

All that’s really left to ask is does your logo work this powerfully? You need a logo which conveys your brand, invoking emotions and loyalty. It’s a priority if you want to boost your business. But as you can see, it’s actually quite a tall-order to get right. It is so pivotal to your success that you should never leave logo creation to chance.