Branding 101: Fix Your Focus or Lose Your Sh*t
Good branding is all about simplification, application & optimization. Simplifying font, design, photography & messaging, applying that messaging into a clear Brand Story and then optimizing that Brand Story across all channels in order to evoke an emotional response out of a target audience.
Ideally brands would come to kreativ collective when they launch their business. Unfortunately, that is typically not the case. We are generally contacted by brands once they come to a point of complete chaos within their Brand Story. At that point, we have to either reverse engineer through the noise and shift the business or founder’s focus back to the central mission of their brand — OR we have to recreate the entire mission and then build the strategy from the ground up.
That’s why we say we are part brand strategist & part therapist. Mapping out the strategy is one thing, but getting a Founder to release their idea of the old and embrace the new direction is a whole other beast.
Building a business takes a certain type of individual. Building a brand requires a slightly different brain. And it is (very) rare that an individual Founder can build both a successful business and a relevant Brand Story. The reason why most new business fail is because new Founders try to do it all and lose their shit (aka their business). Most new businesses could avoid collapse if they outsource their branding efforts. The reason? Frame of Reference.
New parents see their toddler playing with pots and pans and think “they are going to be a musician!” New business owners are the same. They see one piece of content that brings slightly higher engagement & a couple more followers and think “maybe this is what we should market!”
Distance is necessary to maintain focus. A comprehensive brand strategy is not solely about the minutia of daily likes and followers. Rather, it is about gathering the data of daily likes & followership over the longterm in order to see trends and continually solidifying and simplifying messaging in light of the Brand Story.
Successful brands are created when someone without any emotional attachment to a business comes in and sees the big picture, and then implements the necessary steps to achieve said picture.
You cannot read a label from inside a bottle. Perspective is key in maintaining your focus, quieting the outside noise and not losing your shit. So, our best advice? Hire the integrator and view the spend as a benefit, not a cost. Because they have the perspective, experience & patience to take you through the long-game of creating a true Brand Story — sans the gimmicks & ass shots.
