In today’s climate, breaking out as a new brand in any industry is no easy feat – you’re often competing with hundreds or thousands of products already on the market.
And unless you’re doing something wildly innovative and out of this world – the difference between all those products (to the consumer at least) is often minimal.
Truth is, the best selling brands don’t often produce the best product, but they do usually have the best brand story.
Very quickly:
A brand story is a narrative that encompasses the history, purpose, values and vision of a brand.
Good brand stories are written with a target persona in mind and addresses all the things which matter to the customer.
By crafting a story that extends beyond the actual product, the colour of the packaging and the commercials – brands are able to build an emotional connection with customers, meaning they’re more likely to purchase from the brand and are more likely to become loyal brand advocates with a big lifetime customer values.
In fact, Harvard Business Review tells us that 64% of consumers cite shared values as the primary reason they have a relationship with a brand. And the reason they even know about these ‘shared values’ in the first place, is because of the brand’s story.
Hopefully, by now I’ve done a good job of defining a brand story and convincing you to have one both in equal measure – so here’s how to go about developing your own.
In this first step, think about what you believe in, what your big vision for the business is and how your brand might behave or make people feel if it were a person.
At this stage, you’re defining the philosophy of your brand. You obviously want to make a product that tastes great and makes people feel good, but (hopefully) there’s something running a little deeper than this, which in the branding world, we call your ‘why’.
Just like if you would pitch to an investor, allowing your customers to understand the long term value in your business and what makes your winery, distillery or brewery different, better and more special than the rest, means customers are more likely to support you for the long-term.
The most important thing to remember here is to be authentic. Consumers can sniff out a phony a mile away, so make sure you’re being realistic and accurate about what it is you’re about.
If you haven’t yet defined who your ideal customer is, then this is the obvious first step to take, before you can think about what matters to them.
There are a few ways to do this either through personas, archetypes or ideal customer avatars, and it doesn’t matter which avenue you take, as long as you answer these questions:
It all seems pretty basic, but understanding (and recording) this makes it easy to identify your customer’s pain points and the emotional factors influencing their buying behaviour.
It’s important to treat this step as a very brief and objective one. Try not to get bogged down or disheartened by what your competitors might be doing or how brilliant your aspirational brands might be.
Instead, try to pluck out common trends or themes between them. What is it about their messaging and positioning that makes them noticeable?
Do their Instagram posts make you laugh? Are their cocktail recipes perfectly non-fussy? Or do you wonder at their brilliant sustainability program every time you visit their website? These are all examples of a brand story in play and depending on your and your customer’s values can be a nice source of inspiration for step number four…
It can be helpful to start with an imaginary Venn diagram. Placing your answers from step one in one circle, and your answers from step two in the other – and the magic overlap between the two, is the backbone of your brand story – your shared values.
Cross-reference the answers between the two and piece together the commonalities between your business and your customers. Use your dot point answers to define the key elements of the brand story.
Documenting your brand story will help you, your employees and your business partners tell the story more effectively and successfully.
As a business owner, telling your brand story might be easy and come naturally to you, but as you expand and your team grows, it’s important that your employees are singing from the same hymn sheet.
By recording your brand story and encouraging your stakeholders to read it, you reduce the chance of the story being mistold and your brand misrepresented.
As every interaction with your business is an opportunity to tell your brand story, documented guidelines are a good way to make sure that this remains consistent. This is especially important if you outsource elements of your business operations to freelancers or contractors.
Now you’ve written your brand story, it’s time to tell it and how you deliver your message is just as important as the message itself, so make sure you consider which platforms/media you’re going to use. Or a better way of looking at it – which platforms and media do your ideal customers use.
In addition to advertising and digital marketing, remember to think outside the box. As mentioned earlier, every interaction a customer has with your brand is an opportunity to apply your brand story.
Think about the staff uniforms for your tasting room, the tone of voice in your returns policy on your website or the experience of your retail store. Keep this in mind for product development, too. Ensure your products align with your brand and assist each other, rather than fighting for attention or shelf space.
And while you may be the author of your story, it doesn’t mean you’re the only one who can tell it. Your employees and customers are the two most powerful advocates for your brand, so harness their storytelling power and encourage them to share your brand story.
Incorporate your brand guidelines into your employee onboarding and encourage them to understand the story, so they can share it with your customers.
Customers are often your biggest fans. Engage them by asking them to share their brand story: their experience with your brand and your drinks – this authentic user-generated content will attract like-minded customers who have seen you know how to address their pain points.
7 – Be Consistent
And finally, be consistent. If your message is inconsistent, it becomes diluted and less impactful.
That’s why the best and most effective brand stories are communicated consistently, across every channel in order to resonate with your target audience.
As a brand strategist + designer, crafting a client’s brand story is the very first step of my process. It ensures that any design or creative decision that follows is intentional, purposeful and connects with the target audience.
While building a brand story can take a little more time, it’s such an important part of the branding process and is often the difference between the success and failure of a brand design.
This article was written to give you all the guidelines, prompts and processes required to craft your brand story, but if you’re feeling a little overwhelmed or have any questions. Get in touch and I’d be delighted to help.
Jemma Adams
I’m a brand strategist, website designer and digital marketer serving unique and passionate businesses and entrepreneurs in the food, drink and design space tinybrand.co
Trends often get a bad wrap for being time-bound, fleeting designs with no substance and a short shelf-life. And while often true, it’s not always the case.
I’ve researched six growing trends in website design that are backed by strategy, science and best practices.
These trends will help you connect with your users, increase conversions and create a lasting, memorable impression that will have them coming back for more.
Whether you’re launching a brand new site or thinking about an overhaul of your current website situation, consider these six popular trends and cross-reference them with the needs of your users to see if your site can deliver them even more value.
Multilayered content is an ideal way to achieve a visually complex and interesting design while still achieving coveted minimalist, clean and simple style.
While conversion goals may differ from site to site, there are always a few common ones; to generate leads, sell products or capture data. And, in order for a website to achieve these goals, it needs to keep the user engaged and interested long enough for that to happen.
An easy way to engage a user is to add complexity and interest to the visual components of the design. By layering images, text and graphic elements, you’re not only creating an engaging page design, but you’re also able to showcase more content within a smaller space (like a phone screen, for example.)
Delights are a staple of good user experience (UX) and they come in two forms; Surface & Deep. In essence, a ‘delight’ is an element or interaction which adds to the overall experience of a website.
Surface Delights could include animations, movements, gestures, sounds or even snippets of micro-copy to inject personality, humour and interactivity into the user experience to make it more memorable.
While Deep Delight is holistic. It’s the overall experience of the site and is only achieved once all the users’ needs are met. Think about the feeling of flowing through a website, finding exactly what you’re looking for and then checking out with a few simple clicks — that’s Deep Delight.
We’re all now such experienced website users, that we expect such delights without even realising it. And so, as designers and website owners, we’ve reached a point where delights (both surface and deep) are now necessary to meet users’ needs and habits.
Perhaps it’s wrong to call this one a trend. As a core element of good user experience, delights really will become integral to all and all good website design, in 2022 and evermore.
If your brand can handle it, then consider elevating your website design with bold, dominant typography.
Also known as brutalist typography, this statement trend can elevate a minimalist design to a feeling of prominence, strength and ruggedness. Coupled with a simple, but strong colour palette, bold typography can exude an urban-like, metropolitan or masculine vibe.
Users connect with visual design and are able to draw conclusions about a brand from how their website looks and feels (and ultimately, makes them feel). A trend or technique like this can be a great way for brands to assert confidence in their offering and connect with their users on an emotional level, without obnoxious copy or cringe-worthy brand statements.
Two years into the pandemic, life still feels uncertain and divisive. From fashion to interiors, wherever creativity is concerned, people are seeking comfortable and familiar experiences as an opportunity to escape the chaos. Website design that feels a little more analogue and more retro can feel comfortable, relatable and nostalgic — offering soft reminders of the good old days
A big trend for imagery and typography — designers are making their websites feel nostalgic and familiar with subtle elements like retro fonts, grainy or textural filters, soft lighting or imagery with a film aesthetic.
Be sure to approach this one with caution. There’s a fine line between the beauty of nostalgia and the dagginess of dated design.
For reasons similar to those used to unpack Trend №3 — websites with bold, contrasting colour palettes are in favour. When it comes to design, colour is arguably one of the most powerful elements used to create an emotional connection, so for brands and products with emotional baggage, this can be a great way to connect with your target customers.
Not for the faint-hearted, or faint-intended, this style typically packs neon colours, deep blacks, colourful gradients and grunge-acid shapes designed to connect with millennials and Gen Z users. A bold trend which certainly isn’t for everyone, consider whether strong contrasting colours is going to inspire or stress your users.
A design element as old as advertising itself, kinetic typography (or animated text) is now flaunted by some of the best websites across the globe. While this can be a relatively simple design inclusion, the impact kinetic typography has on the user experience is strong and long-lasting.
Historically relying on animations, graphics or video to tell brand stories, website designers can now use the power of animated text to engage users and convey meaningful messages in a variety of forms.
Not just an aesthetic, this trend is great for engaging users and increasing valuable site metrics like Read Time, Page Views and Scroll Length. Kinetic text can grab the users attention and guide them through the page while drawing attention to important details or creating a fun/playful tone.
Although we’ve just discovered a handful of shiny, exciting and attractive possibilities for your new website, remember to be mindful of your design choices.
Great design is intentional — whether you’re animating text or layering images, always remember to think about Deep Delight and the overall experience of using your website.
Be selective about which trends (if any) you introduce into your business and make sure you’re adding value, rather than creating friction or cluttering the user experience.
To promote and celebrate Single Awareness Day Hart & Jones have designed a range of scented candles. With tongue-in-cheek titles Stupid Cupid, Love Yo Self & Single AF SAD candles are the perfect accompaniment to your singleton self-care. A solid reminder that you don’t need a relationship to celebrate love.
If you have had enough of love-sick couples parading their relationships at Valentine’s then you are not alone. The expectation to be in love has led to 40% of our population associating the holiday with negative emotions, with many being left feeling lonely, insecure, depressed or unwanted.
From these feelings of isolation Single Awareness Day was born, a day to enjoy your singleness rather than drowning in your sorrows. In protest to the commercial monster that is Valentine’s Day, SAD is celebrated on February 15th , a day to enjoy singleness, empowerment and self-love. Honour the joy and freedom of being single and give love to the person most deserving of it, you.
Global education service provider and brand owner of TopUniversities.com, QS Quacquarelli Symonds (QS) have appointed AgencyUK as social media partner. QS is the world’s leading provider of services, analytics, and insights to the global higher education sector and famed for its university rankings, which have become the annual benchmark for universities around the world.
AgencyUK were appointed following a three-way pitch, in response to a social strategy and brand awareness brief set by the QS marketing team. AgencyUK will develop the organic social media strategy for the higher education and student communities around the world and launch a new programme of social media content off the back of it.
The pitch was overseen by Tim Edwards, Chief Marketing Officer at QS. Its purpose was to find an agency team who can support, unite, develop and promote their mission – to empower motivated people anywhere in the world to fulfil their potential through educational achievement, international mobility and career development.
The first wave of activity undertaken by AgencyUK includes strategy and creative that is based on education sector insights gathered from their world-leading independent market research and data analysis. The strategy will extend into the development of a global strategy and social media content plan rolled out in partnership with the QS global marketing team.
Tim Edwards, CMO, QS, said: “We were looking for an agency with strong strategic and creative capabilities and a track record in disrupting competitive markets. QS has grown rapidly through a combination of new product development and corporate acquisition, but we remain focussed on maintaining our market leader position, and to do so means being closer to our target audiences and continually investing in channel marketing.’’
Amy Stobie, Commercial Director, AgencyUK, said: “We are absolutely delighted to have been appointed by QS. They are a well established brand with a host of well known digital properties and a continuing ambition for growth. Our social and creative teams are well placed for reaching out to these target communities and we’re keen to get going.”
AgencyUK are an independent brand communications agency with 32 staff based in the UK. The company has demonstrated 200% growth over the pandemic period, largely attributed to the expansion of their healthcare portfolio. QS is the fifth global account win in the past 12-months.
“Emotional wellbeing for the next generation requires us to be there not just at bedtime but also across the day and in environments like classrooms. Our goal is that proactive development of EQ becomes as important as IQ. In order to reflect this, we have evolved from Moshi: Sleep and Mindfulness to Moshi.” – Ed Barton, COO, Moshi.
Moshi are on a mission to improve the health and happiness of the next generation by teaching them the fundamentals of mindfulness from an early age. The UK is facing an unprecedented mental health crisis, with children most affected of all. Today, 1 in 6 children suffer with poor mental health; from anxiety and eating disorders, to attention deficit/hyperactivity disorders and more. Through guided meditations, mesmerizing stories, and soothing sounds, Moshi aims to make mindfulness magical to young minds.
As Moshi expanded their content from sleep-only to round the clock mindfulness, they approached Fiasco Design to encapsulate the change via a new digital home. “We initially appointed Fiasco to rebuild our website. The project quickly became something much more and led to us sharpening our brand across platforms with the website at the centre.” says Ed Barton, COO, Moshi.
The updated brand colour palette now includes brighter hues, with accessibility in mind. The original main brand font, Calibri, has been replaced by Chromatica by Polytype foundry, a versatile sans serif type with a warm and personable tone.
Fiasco also helped to set the tone when it came to photography, introducing a vibrant set of studio shots that replaced stock imagery. Charming hand-drawn annotations add a sense of personal expression, as unique as every child.
The new website drives subscriptions whilst simultaneously capturing the magic of mindfulness. Moshi’s personality has been dialled up through playful UI design and motion. The result is a site that echoes the spirited nature of the app and ultimately champions the child.
“As a parent to a young child, I’ve had first-hand experience of how transformative the Moshi app can be to family life. It was a pleasure, therefore, to get the chance to work with the team at Moshi to help realise their vision for the brand.” – Ben Steers, Creative Director, Fiasco Design.
You can read the full case study here. Fiasco’s partnership with Moshi is the manifestation of their brand pledge to use creativity to inspire change. Working seamlessly across brand and digital, Fiasco creates extraordinary brands with heart and spirit.
2022 is going to be a hugely interesting year for marketing growth and development. The lasting effects of the pandemic have altered many consumer patterns, creating new challenges as well as opportunities.
Here, we gaze into the crystal ball of 2022 trends and look at five opportunities you can take to develop your brand in the New Year.
Influencer marketing is set to reach $13.8 billion in 2021 and many anticipate this will only grow in 2022.
This was a huge growth market in 2021, the industry even saw the formation of more than 200 dedicated influencer marketing agencies. So, in 2022 and beyond, the space is only going to get more competitive and vying for positions. Attention will become much more strategic and partnerships must be much more considered and personalised.
What is intriguing is that engagement rates have proved to be better for micro-influencers than for the stars of social media. Brands will do well to factor this into their marketing strategies moving forward.
The digital fatigue experienced by the general public during the lockdowns of 2021 will likely shift into 2022.
A combination of furlough, work from home and overall online overload led to a massive digital fatigue in the later parts of 2020 and into 2021, with people actively moving away from digital platforms for rest and respite.
What is intriguing is that, for so long, industry individuals have been predicting the demise of offline marketing. But, if digital fatigue continues to grow, then there is an argument to be made that the offline space is there for those who seize the opportunity.
As Instagram continues to prioritise video content as well as the continued growth of YouTube shorts, it won’t be long before video content begins to shape social media metrics and algorithms.
To stay ahead of this curve, brands need to adapt their content strategies to focus more on the creation and delivery of high quality, short videos.
Brands have been finding huge success with TikTok and there’s no surprise to see the likes of Calvin Klein and the NBA as two of the year’s most popular accounts. However, it’s refreshing to see the likes of the Washington Post and the World Health Organisation finding huge success through this medium.
So, there’s an opportunity here for non-traditional TikTok brands to start carving out a niche for themselves.
Gen Z: content marketing
Marketers have been obsessively focussed on Millennials for the last 20 years, but now we’ve reached a point where the Millennial population has capped out, as the first wave are now approaching their 40th birthday.
Gen Z audiences now present a much more diverse and much more digitally native audience than their millennial predecessors. From a content marketing perspective, this can be an absolute dream as it potentially opens a brand to more opportunities and a more diverse crowd.
The new ‘Intro to Game Art’ short course will give you an insight into the world of game art, exploring the range of roles and essential skills needed to get you started when exploring a potential future career in game art. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning and producing work to a design brief.
Working in the games industry
Concept art for computer games
Modelling for computer games
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop media production techniques, such as camera operating (on mobile devices, DSLR cameras and broadcast cameras), video editing, graphics and motion graphics to produce content for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Camera Production Techniques
Sound Recording Techniques
Editing Techniques
This new and exciting programme is designed to equip individuals (aged 19+) with the technical skills, knowledge and understanding needed to produce digital content across several platforms, ensuring you can use social media most effectively for your small business, sports team or trade.
This course will provide a great opportunity for you to develop graphic design techniques, such as designing and producing a brand identity and branded graphics for Instagram, TikTok, Facebook and more. There is a host of exciting modules that your tutor will guide you through, including:
Planning your Project
Typography and Layouts
Working with Illustrator and Photoshop
Creating a Brand
Independent brand consultancy, Mr B & Friends, has unveiled a bold new brand strategy and design identity for global serviced accommodation booking agent, Situ.
Situ combines industry leading technology with first-class customer experience to provide an impeccable and effortless service for a range of client companies, from large corporates to film production companies, to clients in the construction industry. Having continually proven its credentials since its inception in 2006, Situ needed a brand that reflected the organisation’s unique positioning – while delivering a visual and verbal identity that stood out in an increasingly homogenised and predictable sector.
Situ’s point of difference was clear from the outset – they emphasise the value of the relationship between their team and the client. Every Situ listing is subject to stringent quality checks to make sure it’s perfect; criteria that ensures Situ continually achieve excellent service ratings ensuring that in a world of faceless booking agents and platforms, Situ’s approach has always been, and will continue to be, people-first.
Mr B & Friends worked collaboratively with CEO Phil Stapleton, Head of Communications Jo Redman and Senior Marketing Manager Tamara Edgar. The brand idea took its lead from the company ethos and created the organising thought ‘Connected by people’. A perfect encapsulation of the way Situ empowers their team to deliver unforgettable service, sources quality serviced accommodation options and creates unique tech which supports their clients.
The visual identity was transformed, capturing the energetic, upbeat personalities of the team behind Situ. A warm, charming tone of voice adds to the appeal, while the three brand pillars (technology, people and product) are brought to life through three powerful propositions: Search with ease, Service with heart and Stays with soul.
Liam Smith, Associate Planning Director at Mr B & Friends said: “From the first meeting we felt the warmth and positivity of the Situ team and could see their dedication to making booking effortless for their clients. Following category research, we identified this space as the narrative that Situ could own and make distinctive. It was clear that we had to translate this into a powerful brand idea.”
Situ Founder and CEO, Phil Stapleton says, “The new brand strategy and identity is perfect. Our ambitions meant that we needed a brand and cultural platform that would unite our company and take us all to the next level. The work that Mr B & Friends have created epitomises what we’re all about as a company, but also importantly enables us the Situ brand to really stand out in the business travel, global mobility, and relocation sectors.”
Tamara Edgar, Senior Marketing Manager at Situ says, “What I loved about working with the team at Mr B was their ability to really tease out our personality, our ethos, our aspirations and our culture and make that shine through in the new brand which now just feels so us, so Situ!”
The project was awarded to Mr B & Friends following a competitive, but non-creative pitch process. The agency has now helped Situ to implement the new idenity across internal communications, digital estate and customer facing marketing.
Client team
Phil Stapleton, CEO
Tamara Edgar, Senior Marketing Manager
Jo Redman, Head of Communications
Agency team
Liam Smith, Associate Planning Director
Harriet Whitehorne, Head of Copy and Content
Sara Foley, Middleweight Designer
Chris Tozer, Associate Creative Director
Andy Kaye, Account Director
Steve Richardson, Executive Creative Director
Simon Barbato, CEO
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