Business Strategy | Zesty ✴︎ Vancouver Branding Agency, Package Design, Graphic Design

You’re not selling features and benefits. These days it’s critical to dive deep into meaning and belonging. Alter the thinking of tangibles to the intangibles people desire.

Often people think of attracting customers by finding a large group of possible targets, make shiny things to attract them followed by sending a bursts of messages. This is a fools errand. You need to start by designing a world they will wish to inhabit. You need to cultivate meaning in order to captivate an audience—Branding.

Branding is a gut feeling

Everything people buy adds to their identity. As such, customers make decisions based on emotion or gut feelings. They see themselves and who they want to be in the brand.

The difference between branding & marketing

Branding is why
Marketing is how
Branding is long-term
Marketing is short-term
Branding is macro
Marketing is micro
Branding is strategic
Marketing is tactical
Branding is a pull tactic
Marketing is a push tactic
Branding drives enduring reputation
Marketing drives periodic sales
Branding is the reason someone buys
Marketing is the reason someone thought to buy
Branding builds loyalty
Marketing generates response
Branding creates value
Marketing extracts value
Branding is the being
Marketing is the doing

Before trying to manage communications your brand must be stripped down to its simplest form: one big idea that everything else builds on.

If it can’t be said simply, how can you expect customers to quickly connect with the heart and value of your brand?

Simplify to Amplify

It’s common to want to list every bell and whistle on your brochure or package design, but your customers will be overwhelmed. In a world of increasing complexity, a clever bunch of organizations have found that embracing simplicity can deliver far-reaching results.

At our Vancouver branding studio we teach clients to simplify. Our client HITCASE for example could say all of the reasons why their product is great for surfing; waterproof, durable, comes with flotation attachments, has a super cool variety of lenses to snap on, etc etc. Instead they say one thing “Made for this”. In taking this strategy they achieve everything they want and evoke emotion—with only three simple words!

Brand differentiation

Branding is a way of clearly highlighting what makes you different, and more desirable than the competition. Effective branding elevates a product or organization from being just one commodity amongst many identical commodities, to be something with where there is no substitute.

You don’t need to have an exciting product or service, you just need to have courage and imagination. Even though every brand wants to lead, unfortunately most end up doing things that are very similar to their competitors…blast everyone and anyone with confusing and complex messages.

A better brand experience

A great strategy to start simplifying your brand is customer journey maps. When you understand each and every point of interaction with your brand, you can more easily maintain a seamless experience. The more you know, the better able you’ll be at striking a chord. And the less value you’ll see in a shotgun approach.