How Good Wine Kills Branding

It’s one thing to latch onto a cute logo by 99Designs or craft a catchy tagline with your ladyfriends over a few bottles of wine. We’ve all been there and at the time, it feels like a great (read: money saving) idea. Nowadays, brand is Queen and everyone wants to enjoy that cachet that others will admire. Here’s the crux: eventually your consumer will experience you in person. Will that experience match their expectations?  

Integrity/ [in-teg-ri-tee] / noun

The state of being whole, entire, or undiminished.

Brand Integrity / noun

When what you think, say and do align with your client’s experience of you/your business/your brand. (Brand HER Definition)

Building and managing experiences for the connected consumer can feel overwhelming. It is especially challenging if you don’t have brand integrity. Research shows that brands with more digital touch points are increasingly likely to be selected by consumers [http://bit.ly/1J4r3h2]. Google has sexily coined ZMOT, ‘Zero Moment of Truth’, as a way to understand how the internet has changed the way we buy and to hyper pinpoint online decision-making. Branding now happens at the cross section of multiple platforms, testimonials, reviews, social posts, blogs, articles, referrals et al—and YOU, in the flesh.

Where do you start, you ask?

Do a quick self-audit:

Examine your print materials, social profiles, your website, your email messaging…and ask yourself these questions:

1. Does my brand ROCK? Does it mirror me and my business? Does it feel awesome?!
2. Do I have consistent brand elements that represent me and my business?
3. Will the consumer have a consistent experience with my brand across all my platforms?
4. Does my branding match the consumer expectation of what I know I can and will deliver?
5. Have I articulated my core value proposition and does it match my digital assets?
6. If you were the consumer, would YOU want to work with you? Have you created trust?

I know first hand the creative power of a few besties and a sweet bottle of red—and I also know all the deep, strategic questions to ask to formulate beautiful and meaningful brands for businesses that want to shine. A little of both, perhaps?

When what you think, say and do align with your client’s experience of your business & your brand —Tweet That