Consistency | Branding Breakthroughs

Little Golden Books Illustrate Why Visual Storytelling Is So Powerful

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, Brand Personality, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Consistency, Consumers, Market Research, Marketing, Marketing Research, Messaging, Passion

I want you to go back in time to your childhood days and remember one of your favorite books.

Got it?

Now put yourself back into the body of that five year old and snuggle in to listen to your favorite story.

You may recall being tucked in bed with mom or dad perched next to you, sitting on grandma’s cozy lap which was just right for your little body or curling up on the floor next to classmates as your kindergarten teacher picked up that book. As each read to you, they held the book up, showing you all the colorful and wonderfully imaginative pictures. Some may have brought the story to life even more with animated facial expressions and voices that imitated the characters they were reading.

Now I want you to envision that story being read to you once again … but this time I want you to imagine listening to the story with your eyes closed.

The story loses a bit of its punch, doesn’t it?

Why? Because the visuals – both from the book and from the person reading – were such an integral part of the storytelling process.

Perhaps without those pictures. you wouldn’t have been able to envision just how saggy the Saggy Baggy Elephant was.

Or how adorably cute The Poky Little Puppy was … even if he did get in a lot of trouble.

It is the visuals that truly animate the story, bringing it to life in a way that many of us could not do on our own. Without visuals, each of these stories may have faded from our memories over time. The creative pictures and illustrations that Little Golden Books provided to so many of us as children help us better understand why visual storytelling is so effective, particularly when inundated by a virtual sea of communications.

Research has shown that 65% of individuals are visual thinkers and the mind processes visual information 60,000 times faster than text (GT Ignite). We bring moments back to life much more rapidly through the images we collect and store in our brains.

So, is it really that surprising that visual mediums are the fastest growing of all social media channels? The following chart from Tech Crunch identifies the top three fastest growing social media platforms as Tumblr, Pinterest and Instagram. You can’t read a post lately without some mention of the power of visuals. Twitter is rife with posts on how visuals increase engagement with your tweets and LinkedIn recently launched a publishing platform that includes an image as an integral part of the post.

So, in this day of storytelling, remember that visuals can help bring your brand to life far more effectively than words alone.

——————————————————————————————————-

Check out Branding Breakthroughs visual content on our social channels.

Website Pinterest Twitter Instagram

07
Apr

The Passion Play: What Is Your Brand’s Kryptonite?

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, brand positioning, Brand Proimise, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Consistency, Consumers, Experience, Kryptonite, Messaging, Passion, single-minded messages, The Passion Play

Do you have any passion brands in your life?

By passion brands, I mean those brands you cannot imagine living without. Brands that would leave you brokenhearted if they were to disappear tomorrow.

As I think of this question in my own life, I can only think of three: 1) Excedrin Migraine (absolutely nothing works as well on a killer headache); 2) iPhone (my life is tethered to so many apps that I would have a hard time functioning without it); 3) Long Tall Sally (they offer fashionable clothing that actually fits my long limbs). When you think of the hundreds of brands I interface with every week, it’s hard to believe that only three have achieved this status in my life. But, I bet you don’t have a whole lot more in your quiver either.

Why is that?

As a marketer, your driving goal should be to catapult your brand to passion status for as many of the individuals in your target market as humanly possible. An irreplaceable brand creates a shortcut to consumer decision-making. This is a real advantage to time-starved consumers. It also means there is no wiggle room for another brand to sneak into your target’s hearts and minds. That’s an advantage to your bottom line.

But, while becoming a passion brand is an aspirational goal for all marketers, it is far easier to wax poetic about its benefits than it is to accomplish. So, just how do you go about making your brand a passion brand?

I am sorry to burst your bubble. There is no secret black box or magical crystal ball that can circumvent knowledge, investment and hard work. Your brand must intercept the target at numerous points along the decision process, earning their attention, teaching them what makes you special, encouraging them to consider you and ultimately buy you and then creating such an incredible brand experience that they must tell others about you. That is the magic behind The Passion Play.

First, of course, is to get people to notice you … to become aware you even exist. As you well know, the old adage of “if you build it, they will come” never really works nor does tweeting a few posts or announcing a new product on your website. The most important way to get noticed is to figure out who your bull’s eye target is, where they live, work and play, what matters to them most and what emotional benefits they are seeking from your brand. Only then, can you connect with them in a meaningful way.

Once you are noticed, you have to help your target grasp who you are at your very core. They need to develop a crystal clear appreciation for your point of differentiation versus your competitors. This phase answers the question: What is my kryptonite … my secret substance that no one else has? Despite some not-so-complimentary opinion pieces on how flawed qualitative and quantitative research is, designed properly there is no substitute for getting close to your target and understanding what makes them tick.

Once you have earned your target’s attention and demonstrated your value as a brand, the end-game is to entice them to consider purchasing you. Consideration is a precursor to trial. Now, you may think coupons are the answer because you consistently hear women in focus groups say, “If you give me a coupon, I’ll try it.” But recent research shows that coupons generally reward current users of your brand. According to Hub Magazine, “Traditional promotions work well to reward current users for their loyalty, rather than to drive consideration or trial.” So, what about sampling? Well, sampling is great if you have a demonstrably superior product and a fat marketing budget, but for many brands, sampling is just not feasible. Viral marketing? Despite what many marketing companies may promise, there are no guarantees that a cool new product or a catchy little video will go viral or that Public Relations will place that awesome story on the cover of Fortune magazine. So, here is the cold, hard truth:

“You must know who you are,

what differentiates you from competitors

and who you are targeting

in order to develop a simple, powerful message

that inspires your target to take action.”

If you are available where your target usually shops and you are offered at a price they consider a good value, they will finally commit to trying you. Here’s where the rubber meets the road. This is where the value proposition needs to deliver against customer expectations. If the product underdelivers, you will not earn the privilege of repeat purchases. If the product overdelivers, it is not achieving its full market potential. The optimal scenario is to perfectly match the performance of the product with your target’s expectations. Only then, will you achieve maximum trial and repeat.

In decades gone by, a marketer’s panacea was to achieve brand loyalty, but today the goal is to inspire your target to become a champion for your brand. To create a customer that is so passionate about your brand they must share their brand experience with others. They may do this more publicly, through Twitter, Facebook or their blog, or in the shadows where interactions are not as easily tracked, in face-to-face conversations, texts or emails. These are the most passionate of the passionate, the individuals you can invite to participate in your brand.

Making the progression from awareness to brand champion can be a lengthy and expensive process, made only more arduous if you do not have a sense of the essence of your brand and a clearly defined profile of your bull’s eye target. So, start this journey by doing your homework. Just like in the classroom, if you don’t do the work, your chances of making the grade are slim.

23
Mar

Why Spray-and-Pray Isn’t The Best Messaging Approach

Posted by Branding Breakthroughs / Brand, Brand Equity, Brand Personality, brand positioning, Brand Promise, Brand Strategy, Branding, Communications, Consistency, Consumers, Experience, Freaky Fast, GE, General Electric, Imagination at Work, Jimmy John's, Messaging, single-minded messages

We have all seen it … the brand that is all over the map when it comes to their communications messaging. They rationalize that everything they are saying is true, so why not say it? Aren’t they selling their product short if they don’t communicate all the reasons why their product is the best?

At first blush, it makes sense. Why dilute your message and run the risk of losing prospective clients that might buy because of one of the many things you tell them?

In truth, reality suggests the exact opposite.

Too many messages can and will dilute the equity of your brand. It leaves consumers adrift, wondering who you really are and what you have to offer. In a simple word, it confuses them. When a consumer understands who you are, they understand what they can expect from you … every single time they interact with your brand. In the absence of consistent brand messaging, they don’t know what to expect and, thus, are often disappointed with the brand experience. With no brand consistency, it is far too easy to turn to a brand that offers a clear brand promise.

Let’s look at Jimmy John’s to understand this concept a bit better. I am sure that most of you will agree that one thing the U.S. didn’t need was another sandwich shop back in 1983 when they opened their first restaurant. After all, the local Subway, Cousins or Suburpia was satisfying the hunger pains of residents just fine. So, just how did Jimmy John’s progress from a seemingly unknown to one of the biggest providers of sandwiches in the country?

Let’s think about the Jimmy John’s tagline for a moment.

Freaky fast.

This tagline is brilliant in its simplicity. It clearly and succinctly describes Jimmy John’s point-of-differentiation relative to every other sub shop in town. The word freaky exemplifies its brand personality, while simultaneously describing just how fast they are. Anyone that has listened to a Jimmy John’s commercial, walked into a store or ordered a sub on the phone can tell you there is something about them that is just a bit off center. Rapid-fire speech. Offbeat personalities. Comedic exaggerations. Couple this with their willingness to deliver one lonely sub to your home or office in record-breaking time and the simplistic beauty of the Freaky Fast tagline and positioning takes on a whole new meaning. As a consumer, it’s an understandable and memorable brand promise. Every time you order a Jimmy John’s sub, it will be delivered in record-breaking time, with a healthy dose of brand spunkiness along the way.

Another terrific example is General Electric, who is arguably one of the world’s largest and most diverse conglomerates. The task of creating a single-minded brand positioning for a behemoth company that offers a dizzying array of products and services appears to be an insurmountable task; yet, create a single-minded message they did.

Imagination at work.

Whether selling multimillion dollar MRI machines to hospital administrators, slick stainless steel refrigerators to consumers or energy consulting services to businesses, GE issues a rally cry to its employees the globe over – we will only market those solutions that push the edge of convention. Does this mean they will never sell me-too products? Of course not. However, it does imply they will not spend money promoting products and services that don’t respond to their corporate challenge.

Both of these companies, among countless others, demonstrate that single-minded messages that get all of us nodding our heads in agreement are the ones that viscerally connect with us. They leave us with a clear impression of who the brand is and what they promise to deliver on every single occasion we interact with their brand.

That kind of clarity usually earns our vote in the best possible way … through the dollars we spend.

Category: Consistency