SME Marketeers Marketing Project
Creating a brand and value proposition
What it is
Branding is a consistent look and feel for your company across all media whether that is a business card, a website, a social post, a brochure even an invoice!
But more than just the visuals, it also incorporates the 'tag line' the short statement that you use to say why you are different and what you will deliver. You will all be familiar with Nike and 'Just do it', or Tesco - 'every little helps', you know instantly what you are going to get from that company and small businesses can do just them same.
Through a process of identifying your tag line, your mission, your values and your expertise, you can build "Who you are and what you stand for" in to every communication through both visuals and your words.
Consider now how would you describe what you do and why you are different in 6 words? What 5 single words would you want people to think about your company and what you deliver? Quality? Professional? Approachable? Reliable? Fun? Adventurous? Compassion?
These words will depend on your offering, something like "Go Ape" for example would want different words and feel to a funeral director.
We can help you to create your own strapline and brand identity.
How it helps
Whether online or offline, every time people see a communication from you, they are making a decision to use your services from what they see and what they read. They will be forming an opinion - consciously or subconsciously - about whether you/your company are a good match to their values and therefore suitable for them.
For most services, they will be looking for things like reliability, professionalism, care in the service you deliver, expertise etc. So at a very basic level, 'branding' means taking simple actions such as:
• Visual brand presence - always including your logo is used on communications (and used consistently), and in a tidy fashion. A form to complete with no branding looks lazy and unfinished. Also every time you send a form, give a quote, write a ppt presentation, the logo and details should appear in the same place.
• Colour scheme: ensure that anything you produce - social posts, invoices, letters, business cards all use the colours in your 'brand' pallet. So if your logo is red, and you suddenly use blue and orange to do a social post, or a promotional flyer, it visually confuses the user. It gives them the impression that it looks untidy and unprofessional. That little thought has gone into it.
• Wording: Consider the language you use in emails, your website and documents. Does it reflect who you are? Consider also what you type into Social Media - whether it's your personal account or not - it can affect how people view you. For example, would you hire a 'tutor' if their posts are full of typos? Or if you see they are regularly tagged being drunk and disorderly? They might look like a lot of fun, but you may not want that person tutoring your child.
Examples of our work
Lasting change comes from within....
This was a fantastic project to be involved with. Working with a truly inspirational sustainability visionary Nadine Exter, we needed to create a simple tag line and mission to encapsulate the hugely beneficial and wide ranging work that she and her team of expert sustainability consultants provided.
Their work spanned all aspects of sustainability from strategy to R&D, ESG to supply chain, climate change to community engagement and their projects make a real difference to the planet, to businesses and to us as individuals.
We worked through a process to define the brand's value proposition (or tag line) and mission statement, which was supported by "pillars" of expertise and skillsets and underpinned by the services customers could choose from.
This then formed the basis of a creative brief for our designer to visually represent the brand tagline. This project took us from value proposition and visual branding right through the customer journey to delivering the website and all the on-page SEO.
Work With Purpose
Getting started guide
Use our "Getting Started" form in our 'how to define your marketing strategy blog' to help you begin to identify key elements about your brand, your company, your USP. Consider you market, your competitors and most importantly identify your customers - who they are and what they want.
