It’s Burns Night so no better time to take heed of our national bard’s words.
Wee sleekit, cow’rin, tim’rous beasties?
No, we were thinking about “oh wad some power the giftie gie us, to see oursel’s as others see us.”
Great personal advice but also very pertinent when you’re thinking about your business’s brand.
Our advice is to start with a long, hard look at what your business is saying to the outside world.
Brand
This thought may already have you cow’rin but it’s a fairly straightforward process. And it can also help you get more perspective on your business and the way forward.
Remember, this is what your existing and potential customers and clients hear about you, and that’s before we consider suppliers, competitors and members of staff.
And your brand is everything that gives someone an impression of what you are as a company.
We recommend concentrating on accuracy, clarity and consistency, as these directly reflect on your reputation, and accordingly on your brand.
Check
Let’s start with accuracy and clarity.
Sit down and take a look at what your existing and potential customers would find in the public domain if they researched your company and what it does. Throw an invoice or letterhead into the mix, and maybe a business card and email signature.
A large part of this exercise is checking. By going through every piece of information, and cross-checking across different platforms, you start to spot gaps and anomalies.
There are common things that are unearthed in the process:
- first point of contact – is it always clear how to get in touch?
- email addresses – did you update every platform when you changed your contacts?
- incorrect addresses – maybe your registered address or company address have changed? Which appears where?
- spelling mistakes on core information on the website – how many licenses and licences do you have?
- is there a contact page without social icons?
- or an invoice without your logo, or indeed with a fax number without a fax facility?
- email signatures with an out-of-date message
- people on your website who are no longer with the company – one privacy notice had someone named on it that had left the company eight months previously
Now, we know that reviewing the accuracy of your outward-facing communications is one of those important projects that rarely becomes urgent. Look at it another way: this could be having a daily detrimental effect on your reputation. Suddenly seem more urgent?
Details
Take comfort in the fact that not many of us would stand up to this type of scrutiny.
There are loads of reasons why everything may not be shipshape. As your business develops and grows, it’s not surprising that details are missed or overlooked.
Maybe one person orders the business cards and letterheads, and another mans the social media channels. Changes in the team can always lead to things being overlooked or done differently.
Even if it’s just you in the business, do you have one central repository for information and images or do you re-invent the wheel every time?
But attention to detail pays off. People value it and it reflects well on your company’s reputation.
Following the logic, if you’re careful checking your apostrophes, it’s likely that you’ll take care while making their product, or you’ll go that extra mile in customer service.
Opportunity
Another big part of checking your current environment is consistency. Something may be accurate, but it can still be different from what was said somewhere else.
“But the information is correct,” you cry, “why have you started harping on about consistency?”
Because the clearer your brand is, the stronger it will be. We all know it’s a crowded marketplace out there and we need to grab every opportunity to stand out.
If you say four things about your company, they won’t land as well as one.
Take Nike as an example; their swoosh and “just do it”. It isn’t Nike, their swoosh, “think about doing it”, “get your shoes on”, “just do it” and “are you out on the track yet?”.
I’m being flippant but the power of a good brand lies in making it look simple, and a huge part of that is being consistent.
Think of a choir, where all the members are singing their own songs. Then think of those voices all singing from the same sheet. It’s louder, clearer and much more harmonious.
So when you’re choosing a graphic, use the same colour everywhere, not four different shades of blue that are “more or less the same”. Heck, go all the way and have a recognised colour palette that is yours and yours alone.
Does your business have a strapline, or “catchphrase”, for example. Or does it have more than one? We often find multiple logos on our travels, sometimes dating back years. People love to hold onto old Powerpoint presentations and documents.
If you want to stand out, having a single, simple message and look makes your business’s story so much stronger.
So take that long hard look at where you are right now, and start – as Rabbie Burns said – to see yersel’ as others see ye.
Hoolet is a strategic communications consultancy. Come say hello on Twitter at @hoolet_hoots, or follow us on LinkedIn. You can read more blogs here.