Anything but meh: What does your brand stand for?
Brands try and be all things to all people and as a result don’t truly connect with anyone. A brand needs to stand for something. It needs to attract people who believe what it believes.
So I went on a couple of dates once with a guy who was incredibly lovely. I mean, so nice. He was so nice that he literally had no opinions and he agreed with everything that I said. Which meant that hanging out with him was a little bit meh. And I think we’ve all known people like this. So they’re a bit vanilla and not that engaging and they never speak first. They’re always waiting to see where the masses head. It’s exactly the same for brands. So they try to appeal to everyone and in that they don’t really connect with anyone at all. So a brand needs to stand for something. It needs to connect with people who believe what it believes.
If you think about dry cleaners they’re everywhere and they all kind of blend together. But you might come across one every now and then it’s an eco dry cleaner. So they don’t use chemicals. It’s better for you. It’s better for your clothes. Or maybe there’s one that’s got a three-hour turn around. So these businesses have believed in something enough to build their operations around it. So the organic, clean-living customer sees the eco dry cleaner and thinks, This one’s for me. These are my people. And the time-poor executive sees the three hour turnaround and thinks, Amazing. Why didn’t they think of this years ago? No more business trips with a dirty suit.
So in a world of meh, these businesses have found a way to stand up and be heard. They’ve built their businesses around their customers needs. So what does your business stand for? Who is it really talking to? And is it delivering the right messages? Or is it all just a little bit meh? That’s it for me. Time for brekkie.
Written by: Jodie de Vries
Published: April 11, 2019