Online, in-person, on the phone. Are they the same?

If not, you might need some help with your branding. You are not alone, meet Michael…

I met Michael at an event last week, he was super friendly, approachable but professional. I decided to take him up on his coffee offer to hear more about his services but when I ring him, his receptionist is rude and accidentally hangs up the phone. So I go to his website to look for an email address and after wasting a few minutes trying to navigate through his boring and unhelpful website, I try one last attempt and visit Facebook and there on his business page is a dated profile picture and one post from 3 years ago, and no contact details. If I never met Michael I would assume his company is just another unhelpful corporate and possibly on the edge of being out of business.

Michael thought getting a new logo that branding was complete but what he didn’t have was:

• tone of voice nailed so staff write and present themselves the way he does – friendly, approachable and professional
• brand story, personality and values articulated so you promote your brand to the right customers and avoid recruiting staff with the wrong cultural fit
• colour palette that is bright and cheerful like him
• photography treatment guidelines so he first has photos, and second they use bright filters and happy people just like Michael
• a font that compliments his logo and is compatible with Microsoft, Adobe products, web so everything looks professional.
• templates for letters, reports, presentations, social media posts, e-newsletters, advertising?
• content plan with clear content pillars (themes) to ensure consistency and on-brand content is being freshly added to their website and social so he looks like he is still in business.
• All of the above were presented to staff as part of their induction because the brand isn’t just Michael.

Our approach: people are the brand

Our approach is not about a logo and a font, it’s about personality. We workshop with sole traders right through to Company Boards to discover what you are like as people and then we come up with the words, colours, tone and images to convey that to your customers, staff and stakeholders.

Eventually I track down Michael we meet and the first thing he asks (most people do!), “Why do I get no referrals from our website?” Simple answer. Your website, the person that answers your phone and every other touch point a customer has with your business, outside of meeting you, is unfriendly, unhelpful and unprofessional. Is that the brand you are trying to convey?

Michael was clearly more focused on sales (or lack of) and not focusing on the bigger picture. But it’s not too late for Michael, he just needed to approach branding in another way. That’s how we can help.

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