In a world where brands are battling severe competition, driving customer engagement has become every brand’s key goal. Establishing a connection with your customers and building an enduring relationship based on engagement is vital for success. Since customers tend to make purchasing decisions based on their entire experience with a brand, and not just based on reviews or word-of-mouth, the onus of building a strong, relatable brand is entirely on you. Here are 6 points to consider while you drive customer engagement for your brand:

1. Ensure brand consistency

Since your brand is what people think and feel about you and the impressions they have of you when they hear your name or see your logo – brand consistency is one of the most critical requirements for driving customer engagement. It helps in building trust. It shows you are dependable. It enables customers to feel confident in associating themselves with your brand. By keeping your colors, fonts and messages uniform, sending the same message across every channel and living up to your brand promise in every interaction, you can be an authentic brand and engage the right values and feelings towards your brand.

Take for instance Coca-Cola; from the name to the logo, the product to the messaging – Coca-Cola has demonstrated consistency across every medium, every interaction, every bottle – in fact, in everything it does or says!

2. Leverage modern technology

Modern technology like Artificial Intelligence (AI), Augmented Reality (AR) and Virtual Reality (VR) are no longer limited to sci-fi movies and gaming consoles. Having seeped into the business world, they have the power to completely transform customer engagement and experience. Do you know? 56% of top performing companies are considering AI to create personalized experiences and to learn continuously from the interactions they have with their customers. Using modern technology, you can anticipate customer needs, quickly identify purchasing patterns, create highly personalized campaigns, deliver relevant products and services, and drive substantial engagement.

Furniture giant Ikea’s VR experience digitally showcases products; using the VR headset, customers can walk around a real size, make-believe 3D home, interact with objects and even change the color of cabinets and shelves!

3. Use social media as a tool

In today’s social media age, chances are, you’re using this powerful platform to connect with your customers. But don’t stop at that. Use social media as a tool also to understand customer behavior, analyze their feedback, identify questions, research influencers, and create content that resonates with customers. It’s only when you leverage social media to analyze such valuable data about customers, that you can drive customer engagement. Use social media as a medium to engage with prospects and customers. Reinvent your brand’s social media strategy and build curiosity and excite customers.

Social media giant Flipkart makes use of social media to drive engagement in an innovative way. By leveraging the Facebook LIVE platform, Flipkart creates an immense buzz right before the “Big Billion Days” sale, garnering more engagement and attention than ever.

4. Get insight into customer behavior and deliver delight

There are myriad ways in which customers communicate with your brand; through social media, through email, through the retail outlet or even through your online store. By tracking each customer action across multiple channels, you can gain a deeper, more holistic understanding of customer behavior. You can understand the what and why behind their actions, their purchase journey, as well as the impact of your ads and other marketing initiatives. By collecting thousands of data points across the customer journey, you can capitalize on the information to uncovered hidden correlations, proactively understand their needs, and serve them better – thereby improving customer satisfaction.

Johnson & Johnson integrates data from various platforms to deliver customized and engaging content to customers.

5. Never ignore customer feedback

In a world where customers are always online – communicating with friends, playing games, watching movies, buying products – never ignore customer feedback. Taking customer feedback seriously can go a long way; it can help customers feel heard by your brand, feel valued and is also a great way to improve your products and services. Honest customer feedback can be one of the most important drivers for a change in an organization. As Bill Gates says, “your unhappy customers are your greatest source of learning”. So be thankful for customers who complain, for you still have the opportunity to make them happy.

Sports brand Nike takes customer feedback very seriously; through its @NikeSupport Twitter handle, Nike’s dedicated customer service team responds to individual customer questions and queries 24×7 and in 6 different languages – driving engagement in the fastest and best way possible!

6. Personalize communications

With 70% of retailers making customer personalization a priority, it shows how important personalization has become to drive customer engagement. Personalization is about making customers feel valued; it can range from an auto-generated, but genuine, birthday email to an analytics algorithm that suggests products based on preferences. By understanding customer behavior and tailoring messaging around that behavior, you can ensure your customers feel their personal preferences and needs are being taken into account – mandatory for engagement.

Netflix’s recommendation engine is one of the best examples of personalization. By understanding customer preferences through previously watched movies and shows, Netflix curates its recommended feed of TV shows and movies and offers content that best meets the needs of the customers.

Create Exceptional Value

In an always on, always connected world, it is not surprising for customers to expect brands to anticipate and meet their needs in real time. Today, customer experience goes beyond product purchase and use — it’s about feeling heard, having problems fixed, and having trust in the brand. Since most customers only do business with brands they can trust, driving customer engagement has become imperative to every brand’s success. By interacting with customers and allowing them to share experiences you create for them, you can foster brand growth and loyalty and create exceptional value.

~If you’re not taking care of your customer, your competitor will!

– Bob Hooey, Author

 

Want to drive more engagement for your brand? Write to us at info@lokusdesign.com.

The food and beverage industry is among the most difficult places to thrive in. In India, economic development and supportive government policies have resulted in a higher demand and supply of innovative F&B solutions. With a spike in demand, there’s been a high rise in production, processing, distribution, and the marketing of F&B products in our country. As far as manufacturing goes, F&B is now the fifth largest sector, and the Indian food processing sector received FDI worth $7.8 billion, making it one of the most heavily funded sectors in the country. India has also become a hub for the production of processed foods. So what does all this development mean for brands? Cutthroat competition! Having an exceptional product isn’t enough, you have to sell it, and to sell it you have to tell your unique story.

There are plenty of quality products out there and customers have so much to choose from, it’s up to the brands to give customers a solid reason to not take their business elsewhere. If you stand out, you have a lot to gain. So what can you do to stand out? Here are 5 recent Indian F&B branding stories that caught our eye:

RAW Pressery

Born in 2013, this brand was first imagined out of necessity. The founder Anuj found his kitchen ceiling splattered with carrots and asked himself why healthy habits had to be so complicated. Armed with a Norwalk cold press juicer and a drive to create healthier habits, Raw Pressery was born. The core value of this brand is “all good, no bad”, and this stands out on their subtle but effective packaging. The way the ingredients are listed also highlight the the same. All brands usually resort to fine print when it comes to nutritional labels but Raw Pressery does the opposite. They do not shy away from their message, and the ingredients are listed on the forefront of the body, one below the other with a last line that reads “and nothing else”. If you follow them on Instagram, they’ll show you how to reuse the plastic bottles as little planters because they’re all about “all good, no bad”.

80% of their packaging is transparent so that you can see the ingredients such as chia seeds, which also is in synch with their transparency and brand promise as a company- to bring you “all good, no bad” juices. Once they picked up the pace, their first outdoor campaign was an extension of “all good, no bad”. A play on words, you would have noticed hoarding in big cities which said, “the fruit, the whole fruit, nothing but the fruit”. This catchy slogan went a step further to establish that besides real fruit, nothing went into a Raw Pressery juice.

Mason & Co

Even the biggest names in the business pale in comparision with the aesthetic, organic and wholesome bars of chocolate that Mason and Co create. Mason and Co is all about the good stuff. This homegrown brand was imagined by a couple of passionate chocolatiers who are obsessed with everything that’s healthy, natural, and delicious. On discovering that there were no local options for healthy, gluten-free, vegan chocolate, the founders decided to be the first ones in the business in India. Their clean and earthy packaging is a symbol of nature and resonates with the brand’s promise of being sustainable, artisan chocolate.

In a nation that’s obsessed with dairy, Mason and Co resorted to telling a story to educate the masses on what their chocolate stood for. The packaging on each bar educates the consumer on how the bar is fair trade, organic, and vegan. The branding tells the story of the lush cacao farms in Tamil Nadu and Kerala where their local farmers source the choicest beans to make the best chocolate. They also switch up the packaging according to seasons and themes!

There’s a neat little space behind the packaging which will tell you the story of how the cacao beans are sourced from small organic farms in the South, and how each bar is made using the artisan bean to bar process. Their clean and earthy packaging is a symbol of nature and live up to the promise of being sustainable, artisan chocolate.

Fassos

It’s not easy to go from a small outlet in Pune that was bleeding money to a company that receives over 10,000 orders a day. The Fassos success story is like no other. From the signature purple and yellow, desi style collaterals to the clean, upscale Fassos design that we know today, we can all learn a thing or two from Fassos. The initial message of the brand was desi fast food. The menus, packaging, and the website was all a reflection of this message. From quirky, Indian street art on the boxes to catchy taglines in the outlets, everything about the branding was typical Fassos. However, with the emergence of competition such as Box 8, Fassos knew that something had to change.

Enter rebranding! From new and improved menus to a sleek, clean design that would win back the market share, Fassos managed to get it right. The new packaging was a reflection of a new brand promise- desi fast food with a contemporary twist, for the urban palate. The clean, minimalistic design is also in synch with their new menus which have been introduced by ace chefs in the country. The brand switched it’s positioning from being a desi joint where you could indulge in delicious wraps on the go, to a desi brand with a contemporary twist where you can indulge in global cuisines with an Indian vibe, and every single collateral, from the menus to the social media communication to the packaging reflected this change.

Dinshaw’s

Dinshaw’s has been a household name in central India for decades. With changing times however, the brand felt a strong need to relook its impression on the hearts and the minds of its customers.  The entire shift in Brand Strategy, however, was driven inside-out, and was strongly anchored in the brand’s inherent commitment to “goodness”.

The entire design exercise that followed also drew heavily from this- with the purpose of making people feel cherished. The rebranding enabled Dinshaw’s to maintain its mass appeal while still making it feel aspirational for its target customers. It helped the brand stand out distinctively in a cluttered retail context. A conscious attempt was made to rationalise the brand architecture and packaging design in a way that drove maximum efficiencies in the overall marketing/packaging spends.

Blue Tokai

The coffee roasters at Blue Tokai are reaping in the rewards after they have created a name for themselves by being very good at what they do, and by letting the world know through good branding. From being available online to having their own flagship stores and custom cafes, and tie-ups with other brands, Blue Tokai owes it all to their dedicated focus on customer experience and education. This is made possible through great branding. Their packaging is rustic and simple, with personalized messages on each pack. Effective communication and the most aesthetic flatlays resulted in Blue Tokai being a massive hit on Instagram. The logo is an abstract tail of the peacock because “Tokai” is the Malabari word for the tail of the peacock. The story behind “Tokai” is one of the first things you will see on the website. The “Tokai” is to represent the pride of India. The founders wanted to give the Indian market freshly roasted coffee which was homegrown, as compared to buying imported coffee made from beans grown in India. This is why you will see the peacock tail on all of their branding.

Earth Loaf 

An exceptional homegrown brand, Earth Loaf is a premier, gourmet, artisan chocolate brand. These guys are doing it right, from versatile, Indian inspired flavours to healthy, organic ingredients. This vegan brand boasts an array of unique flavours, and each has a backstory like Mysore Pak Nouveau from their collection, The India Story. Everything about this brand is earthy, even the name itself is like a slice of Earth – Earth Loaf. The brand promise is to create innovative, healthy chocolate for the Indian market, and they’ve done just that. From candied mosambi to Malabari Forest, the flavours of this brand are nostalgic journeys by themselves. Made with love in India, our national bird stands tall on every bar. Through its packaging, Earth Loaf blends art, culture, and nostalgia with a decadent chocolate experience. Earth Loaf caters to a refined audience because you will only pay that kind of money for a bar of chocolate if you understand the health benefits and the sustainability of it. This is what Earth Loaf banks on, and a lot of their communication is a reflection of this.

 

Want to leverage design to drive a strong impact for your F&B brand? Drop us an email at info@lokusdesign.com and we would get back to you soon!

As markets become crowded, the task of building strong brands becomes harder. The reality is that consumers of today are surrounded by the cacophony of brand messaging and advertising clutter. With dynamically changing markets, products that continue to evolve, and competition that increases almost every day, how do brands stand apart and successfully build that strong recall factor in the minds of their consumer? This is where brand positioning comes into play.

What is brand positioning?

Brand positioning is the process of placing your brand in the minds of your consumers. It is the summation of what the brand does in conjunction with what the target audience is. Positioning takes into account competitive assessment. It helps prospective customers make sense of the brand and, to then, assume a distinctive place in their mind.

Brand positioning helps in shaping consumer preferences. An effective brand positioning strategy drives what makes the brand favourable, credible, and different in the mind of the customer. It is brand positioning that helps the consumer, remember that Tesla combines luxury with environmental consciousness, Colgate is the protective toothpaste, Coca-Cola brings happiness, Woodlands is for the great outdoors, Rolls Royce stands for bespoke design and customization, Nike is the attitude for an athletic lifestyle… the list goes on. Positioning essentially influences the consumers’ perception of the brand and ensures that the brand occupies a specific space in their minds.

Brand positioning is the organic outcome of all that brand marketing and communication does. It gets built only over a period of time. Brand positioning is not what a brand says about the product but more about how the consumers perceive it. It is about making the consumer understand the Value Proposition in a manner that they can relate to it. Strong positioning thus has to convey authentic, differentiated/ unique, credible, believable, and sustainable values that the brand can bring into the lives of their target audience.

Why brand positioning matters

Because brand positioning impacts how you want the customers to perceive your brand, it must carefully align with the Purpose of the brand. All the brand marketing and communication messaging is a means to motivate the customer to become loyal to the brand.

1. Establishing meaningful difference

Consumers today face constant mar-comm bombardment from several channels multiple times a day. Creating an ownable image, a singular differentiation in the minds of the customer, especially when product level differentiation is hard, becomes an important benefit. With trust levels in brands, products, and institutions at an all-time low, it becomes challenging for brands to capture the mindshare of the customers in a meaningful way.

While earlier brand positioning could be based on the functional merit of the brand, today it is more about establishing a meaningful difference in their minds to influence purchasing decisions. Functional superiority can only assist positioning to a point. It works mostly in the absence of direct competition. However, the average customer today sees hundreds of brands offering identical functions with indiscernible features. Functionality thus has to drive meaningful difference and positioning helps in achieving that.

2. Creating a market niche

In their book, 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing, Al Ries and Jack Trout talk of the law of the first. This law says that the first one to the market establishes their market dominance. But what happens if you are not the first one? The positioning strategy then has to explore creatively where they can be the first. It could be by evaluating the target demographic and assessing their behaviours, mindsets, values, needs, interests, fears, frustrations, joys, and dreams and evaluating how those have shifted. Or it could be by creating an uncontested market by expanding the boundaries of the existing industry. For example, in the edible oil industry Sundrop oil is positioned for light cooking, Saffola is for heart health, Fortune works for homely comfort food. The same product, cooking oil, gets positioned differently creating a nice market for the brands.

3. Remove brand indifference

The consumers of today are smart. At the same time owing to information bombardment, attention spans have reduced significantly. And when attention spans reduce, indifference to brand messaging increases. Apt brand positioning helps in aligning the brand messaging with what the audience wants and needs while making it clear, concise, and focused. This influence that positioning has on brand’s storytelling, communication, and messaging, impacts how customers perceive the brand’s performance. It helps in removing indifference towards the brand.

4. Anchors external and internal customers

Brand positioning matters not only to influence the external customers but also the internal customers (the employees) of the brand. In order to deliver great results employees must be invested in the mission and vision. Since the brand positioning is born out of the core Purpose of the company, this drives a singular alignment of effort across all the employees too. When they do so, they work towards creating superior brand experiences. Such an invested employee will push the boundaries to make a customer happy. With clear brand positioning, sales and marketing teams also gain greater business clarity. This helps them channelize the sales funnel more effectively and tackle customers more effectively.

5. Guides decision making

Since brand positioning facilitates a brand’s recall, it helps in guiding buying decisions. It establishes a relevant connection of the consumer’s need with your brand’s offering. Clear positioning successfully reduces the cognitive load that goes into searching and evaluating brands that address a particular consumer need. Walmart, for example, changed its “always low prices” slogan to “Save Money. Live Better” to attract their target audience with a promise of high quality that did not come at a high price. On similar lines, Big Bazaar positioned itself by saying “isse sasta aur behtar aur kahin nahin”- indicating to the customer that if they needed the cheapest and good quality goods such as groceries and staples, all they had to do was head to the nearest outlet.

6. Premium enablement

Position a brand clearly and you will be able to command a premium. Ever wonder why the same garment such as a pair of jeans is priced so differently? Armani jeans are priced way higher than a GAP and a GAP is priced higher than a Levi’s. This happens only because they market to a specific demographic with whom those values resonate. With such an alignment it becomes easier to associate an aspirational value with a brand when needed and command a premium.

In Conclusion

Much like those other marketing staples, purpose, and promise, positioning too emerges from emotion. It is this emotion that helps people connect with the brand. Owing to the impact that right positioning can have on a brand’s life story, positioning is not a marketing du jour, to be looked at in passing. Unless brands have effective positioning in place they will not be able to map a sustainable business plan and guide marketing strategies and initiatives. Positioning is that magic pill that helps brands determine “what your customers think of you” and guide them to “what you want them to think of you as”.

 

Looking for help in developing a strong Positioning for your brand in the minds of your customers? Write to us at info@lokusdesign.com.

When carefully defined, taglines and slogans can reinforce your brand’s value proposition and provide a reason for your audience to connect with your message. In fact, many brands are recalled by their taglines and not by their names – it is the tagline or slogan that influences their perception in the market and helps consumers identify the service or product that they provide. Here are some reasons why taglines and slogans really matter:

They facilitate top of the mind Brand recall:

Good taglines are memorable and provide top of the mind recall and salience for the brand. It makes differentiation/comparison/ evaluation easier and helps consumers with the purchase process and decision. Good taglines become a very critical piece of the brand identity- customers tend to remember well-crafted taglines- even better than the brand names. This helps in clearer understanding and positioning of the brand in the hearts and the minds of customers. It also attracts attention and delivers an accurate picture of what your Brand is all about.

L’Oréal’s slogan “Because You’re Worth It” was launched in 1973 and has proven to be timeless. The message is all about what the woman thinks – her self-confidence, her decision, her style. Today, these four words clearly showcase what the brand represents; an astonishing 80% of women recognize and respond to this positive phrase and powerful sentiment. What makes the tagline even more powerful (and beautiful) is that L’Oréal uses it all across its operations – “in its philanthropy, its products, and its thoughtful celebration of women”.

They clearly highlight your Brand’s Value Proposition/ Promise:

If you’re thinking “My brand doesn’t need a tagline,” or, “Taglines are of no use”, you are mistaken. Although some great companies do just fine without one, a tagline helps communicate your brand promise in a clear, concise, and memorable way. The tagline also serves as a constant reminder to your customers as well as your employees of what your Brand seeks to stand for in the hearts and the minds of its customers. And in that it reinforces your brand’s identity.

Take FedEx for instance. Their tagline “The World on Time” showcases exactly what FedEx can do – deliver packages on time! And that’s not all. A tagline as powerful as this evokes an emotional response; when customers read or hear the tagline, they realize that FedEx chooses punctuality over everything else. Through its tagline, FedEx conveys it understands how important time is for its customers (and hence for itself) and ensures their package, their message, and their “world” is delivered on time.

Amul, with its “The Taste of India” tagline brought about a paradigm shift in the Indian retail market. The tagline highlights the commitment of the brand in taking quality food products to every individual in this vast nation; products the common man could never afford. By making non-essential items such as chocolate and ice-cream available to the aam aadmi, AMUL ensures its products reach every rural corner of the country and “The Taste of India” reflects this value proposition accurately.

They can help in unifying all Brand Communication:

Good taglines and slogans can effectively anchor and act as a start point of all marketing communications and campaigns. Since companies market their products using a variety of channels including billboards, print, email, mobile, and social media advertising, a strong tagline or slogan binds all the elements of the campaign together. This creates a strong brand recall in customers’ minds. If your social media posts are fun and exciting, but your product packaging plain and boring, you risk sending mixed signals that will only confuse your consumers and leave them feeling your brand can’t be trusted. A tagline or slogan can be used not just for advertising purposes, but also on promotional items such as bags or caps or t-shirts and even on the actual product packaging. The end result? Familiarity, consistency, and hence trust across channels, products, advertisements, and consumer groups.

Nike’s ‘Just Do It’ is one of the simplest and most powerful slogans of all times – a slogan that was coined in the year 1988 and exudes strength and drive even today. And their consistency has certainly paid off; reports suggest that the slogan enabled Nike to increase the share of their sport-shoe business from 18% to 43%, ($877 million to $9.2 billion in worldwide sales) in the first ten years!

To sum it up…

Whether you’re a big company or small, a well-thought-out tagline or slogan can surely make your business. Although in the grand scheme of branding, crafting a tagline is becoming more commonplace and almost trivial, especially in a digital world where attention spans have shortened and screens have become pocket-sized. But ignoring the importance of taglines would be a huge mistake. As we have shown, they play a very important role in letting consumers quickly and efficiently sum up what you are all about. They capture the true essence of your brand’s promise in a few words. They conjure up positive images of your brand. They aid in brand recall. And they ensure brand consistency. And that, like Boost, is the secret of their energy!

 

Looking to craft an effective tagline for your brand? Write to us on info@lokusdesign.com.

 

Anyone who has ever thought about creating a company, and pretty much all brand managers and product owners here, can empathize, just how difficult it is to devise a name that is unique as well as descriptive. Among the most important tasks for the marketing team is to coin a brand name that would reflect the essence of the brand and fit seamlessly into the core ethos of the company as well. The name must be pleasing and provide a distinguishing identity amongst the ocean of other brands in the market. Not an easy task, right?

When you look out at some iconic brands, have you ever thought about how and why did the team behind it settle on that particular name for their company or product? The trust is that the best brand names have stories behind them. They mean something specific when viewed in the context of that story. They form a connection with their target audience on the basis of a shared acceptance of the story, the context, and the meaning.

Though, there are a number of brands out there that have created a niche for themselves, here are a few of our favorites names that are distinctive and have a story to tell too.

Amul

Amul is the largest company run and managed by a co-operative society. Amul is a Sanskrit word which means priceless. The company is based in Anand in Gujarat. The word Amul is an acronym and stands for Anand Milk Union Limited. It’s either a happy accident or a careful synchronization of serendipity that the acronym means so much in the context of all that the brand represents. This iconic brand stands for giving the common farmer, especially the rural women, access to economic freedom, by being part of the “White Revolution.” Individually each farmer may stand for little, but once they come together in a co-operative the collective strength is tremendous -priceless even! Of course, the product they focus on, milk, is an embodiment of purity and goodness. And who can put a price on that?

Google

The largest search engine in the world had an accidental christening. Its founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin looked for registering websites with the name Googol, which is the digit 1 followed by 100 zeroes. But, they inadvertently searched for google.com. The domain was available and quickly registered and google.com came into being. The reference to the massive number was anything but accidental though. The number represents at the basic level, the number of web pages the engine trawls through to find a response to the questions of searches. The number also represents the staggering number of search results the engine could throw up if put to the test. But, in essence, the name represents the unbound potential of the internet and the freeing up of opportunity for those of us using it. The sky is the limit with Google.

Apple

Your favorite phone brand has quite the story attached to it of how its name was coined! The brand, right from the days of the early iMac Personal Computer, represented accessibility and ease of use. It was designed with a sense of simplicity and approachability in an age when computers were something that only scientists or mathematicians used. At one level, Steve Jobs wanted to add an element of fun to the brand name. But at another, much deeper, level he wanted to distance himself from the intimidating aura surrounding the use of computers. The product promised to be a computer for the masses and even for school children. Hence, a common, everyday Apple was chosen as a name as also an elegant but simple logo. For sure, this simple brand name worked remarkably well for Jobs at the time -and has stayed impactful since.

SKYPE

How do you communicate with folks in another office, or city, or country? Would you like to see them while you do that? Would you turn to Skype? That name has an interesting back story too -and one that is so self-explanatory that it’s always been the right call. The name Skype was derived from “Sky peer-to-peer,” as in, a way to connect individual people together one on one, from the “sky” wirelessly. This semi-technical term was then shortened to “Skyper.” Eventually the r got dropped (as sometimes our Skype calls do) and we were left with a clear, concise, descriptive, and super-smart brand name -Skype.

Micromax

It’s commendable that an Indian mobile phone manufacturer, Micromax, has established itself in such a competitive market. The brand has a loyal user-base and a slew of products the market appreciates. In the early days when the competition was the high-end phones, i.e. the iPhones, BlackBerrys, and Samsungs of the world, Micromax’s USP was budget-friendly smartphones. Micromax subtly made its presence felt. The company and the brand were all about affordability -but not at the cost of functionality or style. They promised to deliver a smartphone experience but at prices that young India could access. The name was a smart way to communicate that value – the “Micro” represents the price point and the “Max” represents the utility. This potent mix has stood the brand in good stead even as market dynamics have changed with the advent of newer brands.

 

Are you buzzed with these stories too? Do they offer inspiration to you as you go about devising a brand name for your product too? Perhaps you need some help as you go about doing so -if so then reach out to us at info@lokusdesign.com. We have many more stories like these -and a bunch of trued and trusted methodologies to help you craft your own winning brand story!

In the hospitality world, if you can’t keep up, there are plenty of contenders waiting in line to take your place in the hearts and minds of your consumers. The digital consumer of today is more empowered than ever and unafraid to rustle a few feathers with a devastating Yelp review. It is up to the brands to implement strategies that will serve the tide of demanding customers. So, what can you do to ensure the best customer journey and experience? First, effective Branding, because it’s the very first impression of your establishment. Branding gives a new customer a reason to sit down and order something from your menu. To avoid getting lost in the crowd, here are a few pitfalls in Restaurant/ Hotel Branding to avoid.

Pitfall 1: Not revitalising your Brand to keep pace with the changing times

It’s okay to rely on those loyal patrons that have been enriching your business for years, but today it helps to adopt a unique brand voice so that you make a lasting impact and customers come back for more. Remember, you may be iconic to the generation that you served and grew with, so your older customers will always have a reason to come back, but what about new customers? Your clientele isn’t immortal, so you will have to do something to attract new customers, branding is a key part of this. It could be something as simple as revamping your menus to incorporate some colour and typography, instead of the same old, laminated printouts you’ve been using for generations. Go for a contemporary way to showcase your history and heritage and showcase your story.

From the tubby, winky chef to the iconic golden arches that are signature to outlets across the globe, Mc Donald’s is a great example of logos done right. Back in the 1940’s the original founders of Mc Donald’s were revolutionaries who introduced the concept of fast food for the first time. So for the first eight years, the logo reflected their one of a kind, ‘Speeder Service System’ with the tubby chef who looked like he was in a rush to get somewhere. Once the fast food concept spread and competitors began entering the market, the McDonald brothers brought in a sign maker to design the logo while incorporating the two golden arches which held the structure of their building up. Later, after Ray Kroc acquired the company, the golden arches remained as the brand’s corporate identity. Over the next few decades, the brand continued to revamp and tweak the logo so as to keep with the times, however, the elements remain the same- the iconic, golden arches. This goes to prove that you don’t have to let go of everything about your logo, an update that appeals to the modern masses will do just fine.

Pitfall 2: Not standing for anything

In today’s hyper-connected, digital age of awareness and social responsibility, consumers are looking to connect more than consume. Customers are becoming more conscious about the brands they choose to support, especially the segment with a higher spending power because they have a larger number of options open to them. If you don’t stand for something, you have no purpose. If you have no purpose, well, it’s basically downhill from there! So remember to define your purpose as a brand and reflect that in your branding. If you’re a vegan restaurant, you stand for the environment and the planet, make sure that your branding represents that. If you’re into Keto foods only, you’re into the business of human health, make sure that you convey that through its branding. If you feel like you don’t know what your brand stands for, or you’ve never given it adequate thought, take the time to step back and reflect on that. Introspect about your business and what it means to you, this will help you in creating a base for your brand which you can then build every other strategy on. With restaurants and hotels, customers experience their brand from the moment they enter into the establishment to the moment they exit it. Good branding ensures a consistent experience throughout and gives the customer a reason to emotionally connect with them, thus increasing the chances of them returning.

Pitfall 3: Not telling a story

Behrouz Biryani does one thing, but they do it well! They only offer biryanis and a few signature kebabs, but their branding is top notch. Enticing visuals of aromatic biryanis are brought to life with the rich voice of actor, Raza Murad to create an experience that coaxes you to order some biryani within minutes of watching the commercial. Everything about the brand, from its rich website with regal imagery to their black and gold packaging containing food that’s fit for kings, tells a story. The story is about the origins of biryani and the inspiration that drives the brand and everything about their offerings are in total synch. So if you’re looking to brand or rebrand, your first step is finding your inner voice as a brand and telling a story to represent this.

Pitfall 4: Devaluing your Brand

If you don’t want to attract the bargain hunters, stop thinking like one. Your branding should never be focused on discounts and bargains because you will only attract the kind of customer who prefers quantity over quality, those who are not loyal. An excessive focus on discounts and offers devalues your brand and that is just bad for business. Have pride in who you are and what you offer and highlight your uniqueness instead of relying on discounts to attract customers.

Pitfall 5: Larger than life Branding

No, a huge hoarding stating that you have the “Best Steak in Town”, isn’t going to do much to set you apart from the competition, or define you as a brand. Today’s digital consumer is more aware than ever and has learned to tune “marketing” out. The consumer will perceive your claims as a desperate attempt to grab attention, and this does very little to create a lasting impression. You will get lost in the crowd. Also, remember that a statement like “Best Kebabs in Town” is nothing but an opinion, you may have the best kebabs in town, but that’s YOUR perspective, your customers may feel otherwise!

Pitfall 6: Ignoring the science of colours

Ever thought about why some of the biggest players in the food industry use so much red and yellow in their branding? From KFC to Mc Donald’s and even Subway, if you think this is a coincidence, think again! Colours impact our subconscious in fascinating ways, some create a sense of warmth, while others stimulate your appetite, and some can create a sense of happiness and comfort. So while considering the psychology behind colour, select your colour schemes based on what you wish to project. Colours such as blue and purple have a calm and serene effect. Studies have concluded that blue even lowers the blood temperature and heart rate, so they’re great options for hotels. Colours such as red, orange and yellow are appetite stimulants, and green is associated with nature, so if you’re a health-focused establishment, incorporating a little green could go a long way.

Take a moment to look around the vast ocean of brands that surrounds us today. It is easy to distinguish the established ones from those still struggling. Why is it that some of these brands are successful and the rest still only finding their footing? There are some brands that naturally generate a feeling of trust with their customers. Look at some of the most successful brands across the globe, be it Apple, Coca-Cola, McDonald’s, Shell, Toyota, BMW… one common denominator across all of them is that all these brands communicate a clear promise to their customers. And then they work really hard to deliver on it.

What is brand promise?

Brands, like each of us, need a reason to exist. This reason for existence is the purpose of the brand. While brand purpose answers ‘why’ a brand exists, brand promise emerges from ‘how’ a brand seeks to fulfil its purpose…

Brand Promise is the value that your brand is committed to consistently create and deliver to its customers. It clearly highlights all the tangible & intangible benefits one can derive over his/ her engagement with your brand across multiple touch points. It sets clear expectations of performance in the minds of the customers. As such, it illustrates how the Brand, given its Purpose, satisfies the perceived needs of its customers.

Promises are to be delivered…

Since promises build the foundation of trust if you cannot deliver what you promise you lose credibility instantly and move towards the path of irrelevance. So while you need to be courageous when defining your brand promise, you need to also assess if you can keep your promise – Every. Single. Time.

Ever wondered why McDonald’s manages to thrive, even at the posh Avenue des Champs Elysée in Paris, France? Because MacDonald’s manages to deliver on its brand promise of an inexpensive, consistent, and familiar meal that can be delivered fast in a clean environment. Subway, on the other hand, made a promise of providing healthy food to their customers. It positioned itself as the healthier alternative to unhealthy junk food. All was well until people realized that eating a load of carbs in the form of bread and ingesting a load of preservatives in the form of the cold cuts was not healthy. Subway was seen as unable to deliver to their brand promise and this hurt their ability to become a part of the ongoing healthy-eating revolution worldwide.

When a brand has an unclear brand promise, it also becomes difficult for it to resonate across the length and breadth of the organization. If the stakeholders are not committed to the promise or do not understand it then how can we expect the same from the consumer? In a Harvard Business Review article, ‘Why Strategy Execution Unravels’, the authors state “a breakdown in trust and the inability to coordinate across functions and units are the biggest drivers of failed execution.” Clearly, the brand promise has to be accepted wholeheartedly within the organization. It is only then that you’ll be able to consistently deliver on it.

Why a clear Brand Promise Matters…

For brands, a clear promise highlights the specific customer needs they fulfil and the specific customer pain points they resolve. In that it clarifies how a brand intends to add value to the lives of its customers. A well thought out promise also give brands a clear direction for product development, featuring, and marketing communication. This helps brands focus all marketing investments for better return on investment.

For customers, a clear Brand promise aids purchase decision-making as it gives a pointed answer to the question, ‘what’s in it for me?’. This also helps in creating a clear product differentiation in the minds of the customer which helps them evaluate one brand vis-à-vis the other.

In Conclusion

A brand promise should not be confused with a brand theme or a marketing slogan. It is something personal between a company and its customers, and the basis of this relationship is the capability of the brand to deliver on its promise. Fail here, and your customers will begin to wonder what you really stand for and if your credibility can be, or rather, should be trusted. It, therefore, becomes crucial to be intentional in what you promise to your customers and committed to delivering on this promise. Therein lies the ‘secret’ for developing a great, trusted brand.

 

Looking to clarify your Brand’s Promise? Write to us at info@lokusdesign.com.