Am I making myself clear?

December 14 2015

One of the brand issues I come up against most is CLARITY. What do you do? Who do you do it for? What are the key benefits of using you?

Let’s start with your logo, name and tagline (if you have one). This should go at least 75% of the way in explaining these 3 basic questions. People are busy and/or lazy and don’t have time to work out your message. If it’s not clear, they’ll feel compelled to go somewhere else.

Your website is your shop window. What do you sell in yours? You have 8 seconds to make an impression before your visitor decides to stay – or leave in a confused haze. Websites tend to become a dumping ground for every last bit of company information. I’ve experienced this twice in client meetings this week. In an attempt to say everything, often we end up saying nothing. Yesterday,  one of my clients (refreshingly) started their website again from scratch. We worked out what we need to say and now have the plan in place for a new, image-led, 5 page site that replaces the previous 20+ pages and will do what we want it to much more effectively. We’ve included a blog page for news and articles so its content will be updated regularly without adding clutter.

Another meeting led me to try to work out and explain to my client what I thought his product was about. No one should make their customers work that hard. I always say if my mum/uncle/neighbour doesn’t get your message, you’re branding is clearly wrong. It’s not about being clever or mysterious, it’s about being direct, open and accessible.

Social media is pretty good for branding as you have license to be informal and just say what you want to without cloaking your message in 3 letter acronyms and buzzwords. Look at your own branding – what are you saying? Then ask your customers what they think you’re saying.

Say what you do. Say who you do it for. And finally say why you’re bloody good at it.

This entry was posted in Communications, Branding, Business advice, Inspiration and posted on December 14, 2015


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