5 Branding Process Myths
Setting and managing expectations is the lifeblood of our agency. With each project comes new questions and information, helping us to better set our next client up for success. Here are 5 common expectations we set with new clients that you can consider before your next project, internal or otherwise.
- It will be love at first sight when you see your new logo, company name, or brand identity system.
Brands don’t depend on any one asset. Your name cannot bear the weight of the entire brand. Nor can your logo for that matter. They have to work in unison, supporting each other to create a cohesive identity built on associations people have with those collective elements. Only once in my career have I had a client see a name and unanimously choose it on the spot. The majority need multiple rounds of options and most ultimately choose a name that was presented in the first round that had grown meaning as time (and sleep) occurred. Brands grow on people, including those who work there.
How to fix it: Allow time between big decisions, and refer with vigor to the brand’s requirements. Ask your agency if they can offer a decision matrix exercise to evaluate various options that respect the strategic parameters of the project. Don’t underestimate the power of the brain’s REM stages of sleep in serving up creative decisions to your prefrontal cortex. We say “sleep on it” for a reason.
2. Polling people will help ensure we’re making the right choices.
Asking others to make decisions based on the face value of a brand asset is like asking someone to buy a house without knowing the neighborhood. It’s not that your team isn’t capable of making strong creative decisions (everyone is, which I’ll talk about in a future post), it’s that they are at a disadvantage because they have not been included in the research or strategy, and therefore lack the parameters for creative decision-making. Creativity without a framework is art. To make artistic choices within the realm of corporate identity, we must provide goals, requirements, and strategic direction to those making decisions.
How to fix it: Decide during kickoff who you want to fit into one of 3 categories: 1) key decision makers, 2) people whose input matters, but don’t make decisions, 3) people who can provide qualitative data necessary for you to include diverse perspectives. Group 1 is the lucky (or unlucky, how you look at it) bunch that attends key presentations, provides strategic input, and ultimately makes the decisions. While it does no harm to poll groups 2 and 3 for data and discretionary input on potential assets, their responses should not be the deciding factor because as mentioned, they lack the same knowledge set as Group 1.
3. Agencies have a magic answer that no one else knows.
This mindset isn’t an accident; corporate agencies spent decades mystifying branding and advertising processes. After all, if the client feels overwhelmed, or worse, dumb, the agency can pitch what works for themselves without the need to defend value. I don’t have to point out why this model has and continues to hurt clients. It’s still a very commonly practiced approach that we’ve sadly heard time and again from clients who’ve worked with other agencies. The truth is, great agencies don’t have magic answers. What we do have is collective experience across hundreds of verticals and corporate structures that allows us to ask great questions, a passionate immersion in our own industry, countless mistakes under our belts from which we can spare you, extra hands and brains, and repeatable, effective frameworks to help you achieve your goals.
How to fix it: Before you sign a contract, find out how your agency will collaborate with you, what they will be held accountable for, and what you will be accountable for. Do your homework. Our most successful clients are ones who have narrowed their goals and have allocated resources (employees, money, time) to the success of the project. Bonus points for leadership buy-in (don’t have buy-in? We can help with that too).
4. Brand is abstract and can’t be measured.
A former yoga teacher of mine explained that many yogis speak of energy as if it’s some ethereal, mystical life force rather than a scientifically measurable element (ironic in my mind as it’s typically fitness-types who measure caloric intake and output). It seems vacuous, yet many of us apply the same logic to our company’s brand.
Brand equity is comprised of the knowledge, attitudes, associations, and loyalties that people have with your brand. There are myriad methods to benchmark and monitor key factors including awareness, recognition, recall, preference, and market share of your brand. Strong brand equity can be linked to premium pricing, preferential advantages over competitors, higher market valuations, and lower marketing and operational costs.
How to fix it: Develop KPIs and measure them. Remember that employees and customers have knowledge bias and therefore can’t be useful. Conduct your research in the broader market to gain insight into the minds of people who have not yet bought from you.
5. Working with a brand agency traps me in a long contract.
Collaborative structures aren’t the only advances in the client-agency relationship over the past ten years. Short term contracts and flexible working models create environments in which both parties can succeed. Not everyone needs long term support, and sometimes a “toe-dip” can be a refreshing way to kick off a relationship with a new agency and build trust. As an example, many of our clients over the years have been in rapid-growth situations, hiring in-house team members yet needing support in the immediate term. In these instances we have either engaged for a short-term contract that aligned with hiring deadlines, or scaled back our activities as new hires were onboarded. When our goal is to be helpful to others (rather than getting the most for ourselves), doors of opportunity open, allowing for beautiful collaboration, innovative ideas, and creativity.
How to fix it: Ask about your agency’s operational structure as it relates to client projects. Where can flexibility occur in the relationship if business situations change? How can the team adapt quickly to new information that is predictably going to be introduced throughout the contract?
Need more help? I love questions and new friends. DM me anytime Kara Redman.
