A brand is an overall experience of a customer that distinguishes an organisation or product from its rivals in the eyes of the customer.
Have a look at your branding. What does a potential customer see if they know nothing else about you?
“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives an organisation.
Ashley Friedlein.
Branding is about shaping that perception.”
It may seem unusual for an accounting firm to be providing marketing services, but since when has that stopped us? Unusual doesn’t scare us, it entices us to challenge the status quo.
When you think about business communications, design plays a big part. Whether your customer buys from you or your competitor, it can sometimes come down to whose ‘packaging’ they feel fits with them best. This affects your bottom line – the line we predominantly deal with in our Business Advisory Services. Our new marketing services are a part of our Value Added Services.
Introducing Lisa
Hi, I’m Lisa and I like to think I’m an organised creative – an unusual combination given the stereotype for creative people is disorganisation. I started out as a printer’s apprentice in 1993, worked my way up through management, became my own boss and then sold to join Gilligan Sheppard. I love the way the team at GS think outside and inside the box – they’re in the business of creating wealth and growth for their customers, so our goals align.
Branding and Logos
In my opinion, a brand is an overall personality for your company. Putting that personality into colours and shapes is design.
Colour evokes emotions, blue is calming and reassuring, and red can make you feel hungry or passionate. The type of font you use can be soft and curvy or strong and angular. All of the elements combined provide what can be a first impression of you organisation.
Brands also evolve over time and there are tricks to keeping the recognition of a brand whilst refreshing it to suit today’s business environment.
I’ve been on a few brand journeys and it’s no surprise that most of the time spent is gathering internal and external opinions.
One such example is a client who provides a combination of information, online tools and advice around mortgages and finance. It was time to update their brand as it was getting tired and what stood out ten years ago, wasn’t working in today’s marketplace.
I met with their team – a mixture of leadership and talent – and not a single person could give me the ‘one minute elevator pitch’. Although they had a tagline ‘Achieve your financial goals faster’ all struggled trying to communicate what it was that they did. They know they made a difference to peoples’ lives, and they knew it was more exciting than just saying “mortgages and finance”.
A workshop was set up with a messaging specialist and the result aligned the team with a common goal, ‘Love your finances, change your life.’ Because the thing that brought them joy, got them up and at work in the morning, was to change someone’s life by helping them to love their finances.
From there the branding flowed easily. We created a new logo, infused fresh colours and set them up with guidelines for presentations, portals and advertising. Not only did it energise the team, it made them passionate about helping their clients.
“If opportunity doesn’t come knocking at your door, build a brand.”
Here to help
Services offered through GS include; design, web design and development, content, social media, newsletters, blogs, branding, focus groups, website management, event management, printing and promotional products – anything you put your logo on, Lisa can bring some magic to it.
Get in touch with us and meet with Lisa for a coffee. Even if you don’t know what you want, but know it needs to change, we can get it done for you.