3 easy steps to build a brand in 2019
The internet has and will make everything a commodity and accessible with the click of a button so what creates differentiation in a world where we have unlimited options? The answer is a Brand.
What is a brand?
A brand is a feeling that people experience whenever they engage with a company and the way that feeling is distributed is through stories.
From this statement above when can identify certain key points all great brands follow.
- They make you feel something.
- The tell a core story to a very specific audience.
- If you love the story, of course, you would share it.
In a world where before we purchase anything we go read multiple reviews and listen to other peoples experience about a company, it can be clear why having a strong brand is a major advantage in our connected world.
The framework of all great brands
Here I would break down the framework of all great brand and how that can be applied to your business today.
The feeling
All brand make you feel something. This feeling is evolving into more of a utility and less of a passive feeling. So how do you identify your brand feeling? Well, let's go over 16 emotional hot buttons humans have.
- Desire for control
- I'm better than you
- Excitement of discovery
- Family values
- Desire to belong
- Revaluating
- Fun is its own reward
- Poverty of time
- The desire to get the best
- Self-achievement
- Sex, love, romance
- Nurturing response
- Reinventing one's self
- Make me smarter
- Power, dominance, and influence
- Wish fulfillment
Now don't let this list intimidate you as you don't have to be aware or understand all these hot buttons. You just have to identify the ones that relate to your brand. Ill help you do that with an example
Nike is a very popular brand. What hot buttons do you feel they trigger?
15 Self-achievement 13 Reinventing one’s self 15 Power, dominance, and influence
Nike is telling a story of self-achievements ( note — not team achievement ) by celebrating the athletes that have taken big moves to do what others felt wasn't possible. Their famous slogan “Just do it” speaks to reinventing one's self and they believe everyone with a body is an athlete.
Coke is also a famous brand. What hot buttons do you feel they trigger?
11 Sex, love, romance 4 Family values
Coke is telling a story of love and passion and connections that make us excited. You can see it in all their branding from the color red which relates strongly to passion to the share a coke campaign which was a major success globally. Their slogan, “Taste the feeling” also show they are focus on the feeling of love and passion. Coke is also a family brand and they share stories that remind us a family like the special Christmas coke bottles. ( btw they invented Santa Claus. quote me )
So now you know the feeling of your brand. Next is somewhat hard. Coming up with stories to share that feeling with the world.
The story
The best way I can explain the process of coming up with a story is by using this short story.
We all know Mario?
I'm sure we do. Mario is your audience for your brand. He is the hero of the stories you tell. Now your brand is the flower he eats that enables him to throw fireballs and turns him into Super Mario.
and in turn, helps him save the princess and live happily ever after. This is the core of all brand stories in the world. and ill explain further with an example.
Nike does sell sports clothes or shoes, They sell a flower that turns you into a super athlete.
Apple doesn't sell computers, They sell a flower that turns you into a creative genius.
The story should have this format.
- Your audience (Mario) has a goal
- They face obstacles
- But your brand (the flower) is there to help them reach their goals and scale the obstacles.
- The end.
Make it shareable
So you have an epic brand and a brand story whats next? Well glad you made it this far. What is next for you is to share that story to the world through various social media. It should hit all the hot buttons and follow the simple story format. If you follow these instructions, I can assure you would be impressed at the results.
Thank you for reading this story, I've been procrastinating on my writing all year but I'm sure this would help someone out there. My name is Henry Ikoh and im a design consultant and brand strategist, I can help you build and design a brand everyone would love. If you feel I can help, do send an email to henry@thinksenpai.com
