Make Your Brand Familiar, Not Forgettable

In a busy, and constantly changing landscape, small businesses must do a lot of work to stand out from the crowd and serve their clients and customers well. It’s easy for businesses to be overlooked—especially when they may not have access to the latest tools, tech, teams or budgets. Fortunately, there are some time-tested, and budget-friendly approaches and strategies that allow small businesses to make their mark and create a brand that feels familiar and not forgettable. It all comes down to three key areas: consistency, connection, and community. 

If you want to build a brand this is recognized, remembered, and referred, keep reading. A brand that people know, like, and trust isn’t built overnight, but it is built on purpose. The good news is anyone can build one by focusing on these three strategies.

Consistency

The number one key to making your brand feel familiar is consistency. This goes beyond using the same name/logo/color everywhere, which is a given. This involves looking and sounding the same in most every situation where a person engages with or experiences your brand. On top of being able to be more easily recognized and remembered, brand consistency over time helps to create a strong link between your brand and your message in the minds of your prospects and customers. You’re delivering on a promise, so what you say and what you stand for become known and implicitly trusted. Your message and value are easier to share with others because it is reliable. 

Alternatively, inconsistency in how your brand shows up creates confusion and hinders credibility. It’s often helpful to think of this in human terms. A consistent person is much more trustworthy than someone who is erratic and unpredictable. Think about it, a business that is constantly changing its tagline or logo design doesn’t seem stable and is likely not one you’d want to invest in. 

A great place to start with making your brand more consistent is your logo, the visual face of your business. You should have a mark that is simple, easy to reproduce and applicable in most every situation. Another area is with your brand slogan or tagline. Come up with something that is relatable and relevant to your audience. It should be accurate, easy to remember and easy to relay. There’s a reason why jingles are still used today. Think about other brand elements that can be used to develop consistency over time. Think about the Neflix “Tudum” sound, a trademarked audio brand that is so synonymous with the brand that the billion-dollar brand uses for its annual showcase event. 

Connection

The second strategy that helps  create and sustain a brand that feels familiar and is not forgettable is connection. If consistency is about creating belief, connection is about creating buy-in. Whether URL or IRL, your clients and prospects not only need a consistent experience, they need to an experience that they can connect with emotionally, because emotions inform and influence why they will choose to buy from you. What your  brand presents, whether in a print, digital, or in-person setting, must reinforce the best elements  

Branding is more than just making marks, it’s making meaning. This matters because connection reflects a positive sentiment/experience. People, in the course of buying the products and services they want and need to solve their problems, also  want to engage with valuable ideas  and share with others. Consider the power of social proof and testimonials like Yelp or Google Reviews to influence why and how we buy. Connected customers buy more, share more and stick around longer as customers. 

One of the most universally effective methods to create connection is to use the power of storytelling. A compelling brand story can reach and resonate with the people who need what you offer, often better than stats or statements can. All brands are seeking ways to tell better stories and connect better with their audience. Stories engage our minds and emotions in ways that data and facts cannot. There are many ways to tell a brand story, and here are two themes that always work: 1) your origin story – why you started, what problem you solve, what you care about, and 2) your overcomer story – show how you encountered a significant challenge or obstacle and overcame it. As you tell the story, remember that the customer is the hero, your product or service is the guide or tool that helps them achieve their version of success. Consider how you can solicit story snippets  from customers to make the narrative fresh and unique.

Community

The third approach for building familiarity and not forgettability into your brand presence is community. In good times and bad, you’ve got to show up for people in your community, whether that community is digital or exists in the real world. 

I recently met with a business owner who lamented that so many of his competitors were being bought up by large, private equity firms. He was staunchly adamant about remaining independent. For this business owner, this stance was more than defiance or simply to have a differentiator; it represented a way to show up as a small business for the people of his community, in ways that would be meaningful and valuable. 

There are a number of ways to show up in and for your community, whatever that is. Sponsorships, community partnerships, and chambers of commerce are a few. Even if you are a larger company, or don’t have a singular geographic footprint, you can engage meaningfully where your business is based with a group that aligns with your business strategy.

Being a part of even one or two of these organizations emphasizes my expertise, presence, and reputation in the community/region. Recently, our business development manager attended an event in my absence and he reported back that most of the people at the event knew me/the company already from some other context. This means that over time, we’ve done a good job of showcasing our brand in these types of spaces, so many are familiar with our work. 

Conclusion

Consistency is important because of how we think. Connection is important because of how we feel. Community is important because of how we relate to one another. Each is a key component for developing a brand that feels familiar and not forgettable. Going beyond a positive first impression, these strategies help you build lasting impact over time that makes people who need what you offer more likely to choose you. Most consumers need many touchpoints before buying, and the cumulative effect of these strategies is to lessen the number of new touchpoints and exposures a prospect needs before deciding on your brand. By emphasizing consistency, connection, community, your brand can go from afterthought to often-thought about.

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Enthuse Creative develops brand strategies and creative solutions that help your brand be easily remembered and not easily forgotten. Contact us today to learn how we can help your organization.