We caught up with Nigel Black, Head of Marketing at Reach.

 

With more than 15 years in leading commercial marketing strategies, Nigel Black shares his approaches to brand building as a brand & corporate marketing professional.

Q: What is a brand?

A: Language is supposed to illuminate meaning, but it doesn’t always work that way with the word ‘brand’. As usage evolves, definitions become unmoored, and different people start using the same word to mean entirely different things.

I think “brand” is one of those words that is widely used but unevenly understood. What does “brand” really mean?

A brand is more than just a logo or a product. It’s the collective perception that consumers have about a business, product, or service. It encompasses the emotional and psychological associations people make with that entity. A brand embodies a promise to deliver specific benefits and experiences consistently. It’s built through a combination of tangible elements like visual identity, packaging, and advertising, as well as intangible factors like reputation, customer service, and values.

Q: What does brand building involve?

A: Brand building is the process of marketing a brand, whether that be for the purpose of building brand awareness, promoting products or simply connecting with an intended audience for the purpose of establishing a relationship or connection with them.

Brand image in the mind of the customer, competition, and the market all comes down to brand positioning and the aesthetic choices made. However, brand identity is more than just a logo. It encompasses everything from the unique brand personality to the mission statement, to the consistent colour palette in use across every channel.

Building a brand involves a strategic and multifaceted approach aimed at shaping perceptions, fostering emotional connections, and creating loyalty among consumers.

Successful brands create strong connections with their target audience, fostering loyalty and trust. Differentiating themselves from competitors by offering unique value propositions and positioning themselves effectively in the market, allowing the ability to evoke feelings of quality, reliability, status, or excitement, influencing consumer behavior and purchasing decisions. Ultimately, a brand is the essence of what a company stands for and how it is perceived by the world, making it a crucial asset in today’s competitive marketplace.

It begins with defining a clear brand identity, including values, mission, and voice, which serves as a foundation for all brand activations. Consistent messaging across various channels reinforces this identity. Visual elements like logos, colours, and typography play a crucial role in brand recognition.

Q: What are the key elements to consider when creating a brand identity for a business?

A: When creating a brand identity for a business, several key elements need consideration:

• Brand Purpose and Values: Define the core purpose and values that the brand stands for, guiding its actions and decisions.
• Target Audience: Understand the demographics, psychographics, and behaviors of the audience the brand aims to reach.
• Visual Identity: Design visual elements such as logos, color schemes, typography, and imagery that represent the brand and evoke the desired emotions.
• Brand Positioning: Determine how the brand wants to be perceived relative to competitors, highlighting its unique value proposition.
• Consistency: Ensure consistency in branding elements and messaging across all channels and platforms to build recognition and trust.
• Brand Personality: Develop a distinct personality that resonates with the target audience and aligns with its values.
• Brand Voice & Tonality: Establish a consistent tone, language, and style for communication across all touchpoints to reinforce the brand’s personality and values.
• Brand Experience: Consider the overall experience customers will have, including interactions with products, services, and people.
• Flexibility: Allow for adaptability and evolution. Over time, a brand should stay relevant and responsive to the changing market dynamics and consumer preferences.
• Authenticity: Maintain authenticity by aligning brand identity with the business’s true values, mission, and culture, fostering genuine connections with customers.

Q: How important is understanding your target audience in the process of brand building and why?

A: In short, it’s fundamental. I’ve highlighted the importance of keeping your target audience front of mind. A brand that resonates with consumers, drives engagement, and ultimately leads to long-term success.

Knowing your audience helps tailor your brand message, products, and services to their specific needs, preferences, and pain points, making your brand more relevant and appealing to them.

Identifying the unique characteristics and motivations of your target audience allows you to differentiate your brand from competitors, positioning it in a way that stands out with a higher appealability. Gaining key insights into your audience’s desires and challenges informs product development, ensuring that your offerings meet their expectations and addresses their pain points effectively.

Targeting specific audience segments with goal-driven marketing campaigns will drive efficiency by focusing resources on those most likely to convert, rather than casting a wide net, building stronger and more authentic connections, fostering loyalty and advocacy for your brand.

Q: How can businesses effectively communicate their brand values to their audience?

A: Consistency in communication is paramount to demonstrating a commitment to a brand’s values. Whether it’s through email or social media engagement, ensuring that your messaging remains aligned with your brand ethos is essential for cultivating trust among your audience.

Achieving the desired perception of a brand hinges upon effectively conveying its values. Establishing a connection between a business and its target demographic necessitates a clear and compelling articulation of a brand’s worth.

Outlined below are seven strategies to proficiently communicate your brand’s value proposition:

• Craft a distinctive value proposition that succinctly articulates why prospective clients should opt for your services over those of your competitors.
• Cultivate a consistent brand voice, communication style, and tone that resonates authentically with your audience, fostering an emotional bond with your brand.
• Embrace a customer-centric approach, prioritising their needs and preferences throughout all stages of product or service development.
• Curate a company culture that embodies the shared values and principles of your business, as this plays a pivotal role in conveying your brand’s ethos.
• Maintain consistency in your brand messaging and presentation, reinforcing your brand’s positioning in the marketplace and fostering enduring relationships built on trust and loyalty.
• Leverage trusted digital platforms to effectively communicate your brand’s value proposition directly to consumers. Research where your target audiences spend their time online and develop a plan to infiltrate and disrupt with placement of your brand.
• Emphasise the importance of customer testimonials in enhancing your brand’s credibility and securing repeat business and referrals.

By implementing these strategies diligently, you can effectively communicate your brand’s values, thereby fostering enduring connections with your target audience and drive sustainable growth.

Q: Can you discuss some common mistakes businesses should avoid when building their brand?

A: It is important to remember that a brand has never been successfully established by simply uploading a good-looking logo and writing a few lines on social platforms. To create a real identity, brands have to invest a lot of time and effort. There’s research to be done, competitors to be identified, and expert professionals to be consulted. Every business should learn what branding is and why it’s needed. Whether its for a start-up or an established business, mistakes are unavoidable. However, here are a few mistakes I’ve noticed brands making, so you can try to avoid.

Firstly, branding is more than just logo design. Some companies rebrand and spend thousands of pounds on logo redesign but not enough on other brand assets. For example, an online fashion brand can’t boost sales by just changing its logo. To build a profitable ecommerce brand, it should focus on its customer care team, product quality, advertising (both online and offline), competitive pricing, and many other factors.

When Marissa Mayer became Yahoo’s CEO in 2012, she decided to change the logo of the company. It made for big hype among the users, marketers, bloggers, well, pretty much everyone. But when Yahoo finally unveiled its new logo, all expectations were crushed. It wasn’t terrible… but it wasn’t exciting, either. It turned out to be just a minor change that didn’t bring any significant growth to the Yahoo brand. I shall leave the Twitter / X rebrand for another blog!

Another mistake that often occurs is ignoring or failing to check out competitors. This is especially important if you are a new business. Researching the competition helps you understand what established businesses in your industry have done: where they have failed, where they have succeeded and where you can give your brand an advantage. Your research should include products, services, target audiences, websites and social platforms. If you don’t, this could trip you up in two ways: first, being unable to judge the competition properly and second, replicating a competitor’s strategies without truly understanding them.

Brand consistency! Don’t under estimate the impact consistency has on your business. Consistency helps build familiarity, loyalty and eventually, credibility. Be consistent with your promotions, personality, communication and every other interaction you make with your audience. One of the most common examples of brand management inconsistency is when someone in your company uses the wrong asset. This can happen for all sorts of reasons. They might end up using an outdated asset, the wrong brand colours or the incorrect font, tone or tagline.

All brand, no service! Whether you realise it or not, poor customer service can be a huge detrimen. Consumers are more likely to talk about their experience with a product if the experience was negative, which is why the customer experience should be your brand’s no. 1 priority.

Lastly, insensitivity. So many businesses make headlines all the time for creating well-meaning ads that turn into PR nightmares. Remember the Filet-o-Fish ad from McDonald’s in the U.K? If not, worth a quick search. The ad featured a boy asking his mum about his deceased father, only to find out the one thing they had in common was their affinity for McDonald’s. Using such a grave subject to sell fish sandwiches felt emotionally manipulative to many consumers, and the company took down the ad shortly after the backlash.

Before delving into any controversial or sensitive topics, consider how your brand fits into the issue. An honest attempt at sparking emotion in viewers can quickly turn into exploitation. Learn where to draw the line.

Managing a brand is not an easy thing. But you must always understand that your business is more than just its products and services. Success depends on the way you shape the experience of your customers. Remember, if you need help, reach out and share your vision with our team. Your next customer is within Reach.