In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- The importance of having a clear message for your brand
- How to conduct internal research to create a brand strategy
- How to identify your target market
Strategic Brand Identity
Erin Braford is all about message clarity, taking action and doing things well. She is the CEO and co-founder of Heart + Matter, a strategic brand identity agency with a goal of helping companies grow, innovate and make an impact.
Erin never does any brand work without a solid strategy in place. Once she’s got a plan, the work is more impactful and produces an alignment between personal and professional values.
Do Internal Research
There is a difference between the DNA of the company and the values that you highlight in order to get attention. You must choose what works best for your customer base by conducting research to determine what they relate to most.
Look to your organization’s culture for what you should be highlighting in your marketing. Find the emotional reasons that the company exists instead of just looking at its history.
Hearing from customers about what they really want and what they value in the company helps Erin’s agency prioritize the messages they project. Get clear and focused on what you are great at according to your customers instead of pulling from everything you have ever done in your business.
From Strategy To Creative
Identify who you really are at the core and then make sure that you show up consistently, from the first impression to thirty years down the road. Every decision that you make on the creative side should be reinforcing the story that you are trying to tell.
“If a client touches it, sees it or experiences it, it is sending them a message about you.”
By telling a consistent story over time, it gives you the opportunity to keep proving that you are reliable.
Finding Your Target
When a company is clear about who they are and what they bring to the market, Erin says they have a lot more resiliency.
“What you do might change, but who you are doesn’t.”
Be true through and through within your business. Take a look at who you think you are, who you say you are and how you step forward — and address any gaps that present themselves.
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