Contrast Creative

Branding is one of the buzzwords of the modern age. It is used so frequently, we almost lose sense of how important it is. How many celebs do we hear about who are apparently ‘building their brand”? In this context branding can seem nothing more than a vanity project. However, when it comes to building a solid business, it is possibly the most important foundation to get right.

Whether you are a large business, SME or new start-up: successfully conveying your business proposition is essential. In today’s increasingly competitive & global world your brand strategy should give you a major edge. Your brand can literally make or break you.

Branding is a brilliant thing and when done well, will communicate your company ethos, personality, products & services. It can also give your staff a common sense of purpose and, hopefully, pride in what you do. So how do you know if it’s time to get us, the branding experts, in?

Here are 4 reasons why you should look at investing in your branding:

1. Your brand needs repositioning

They say every brand should update or evolve every 7-10 years. This makes sense as your business goals & the values you had at inception may be very different to where your company is, 7 to 10 years on. Perhaps your customers or company USP’s have changed? Maybe the heritage image you went for originally, doesn’t feel modern enough?

A re-brand can be an exciting time. It’s a chance to re-energise and attract new interest, new business, top-talent or create opportunities with new collaborators. It’s also PR-able and the perfect content to use in your never-ending social media strategy!

Change can be a marvellous thing – keep what’s working well and ditch what’s not.

2. Reach a new audience

Maybe you want to expand your business offering to reach a completely new target market or demographic?

They say it takes a user 7 interactions with a brand before they become a customer. However, if they don’t like the look of your brand from day 1, you’re not going to get interactions 2 to 7 which guide them down your sales funnel! Make sure your brand hits the spot perfectly from day 1.

Embody both your values and your target customers. It will save you time & money in the long run.

3. Your market or consumers have evolved

In an ever-changing digital landscape, what your market place & competitors are currently offering is likely to have changed from what they were doing just 12 months ago!

Consumers expect a full 360 service. They expect to find out what you really stand for via e-brochures, newsletters, social media, look-books and regularly updated blogs & galleries. If your website, imagery or typography looks out of date or not in-keeping with your brand identity, it’s probably costing you valuable business.

4. Mergers, acquisitions and demergers

Fairly self- explanatory but needless to say: if the fundamental nature of your business changes, your brand needs to change too. That needs communicating to the public quickly, professionally and succinctly. Protecting both the trust of your current customers and balancing that with the new.

Are you a new start-up with big ambitions but can’t quite nail your brand identity?

Or are you a large business needing to modernise your brand image & communications, whilst retaining what your current customers love about you?

The Contrast Team LOVE a branding project.We have a decade of being branding experts. See some of our branding projects for yourself.

We get to know exactly what our client’s want. From our first meeting with you, we’ll get a solid understanding of:

• Exactly what your USP or big idea is.
• Your values – what does your business truly believe in & what are the pillars you are built on?
• Vision – where exactly do you want to go?
• Personality – what is your business personality & tone of voice? How do you want to come across?
• What brands do you currently engage with?

We then get to work doing a full competitor analysis & create mood-boards for the very best style routes appropriate to you.

So, to make sure your business shines over the next 7-10 years, let’s get the creative balls rolling!

Contact us now  and allow us to help you on your way to becoming the biggest & best version of your company you’d always hoped for.