Branding: How to keep customers

Design can make or break your business. So says Dutch-born, Sydney-based brand designer Hans Hulsbosch, the creator of the latest leafy Woolworths logo and Qantas' contoured kangaroo logo.

According to Hulsbosch, many business owners lack a grasp of how branding works. Thanks to their ignorance, they end up choosing a self-defeating second-best branding solution.

Be picky, says Hulsbosch whose encyclopedic design knowledge covers everything from the relative warmth and coldness of fonts to the weight of airliner paint. Hire designers with a proven track record – stalwarts you can trust to do the job – he advises.

But stay picky. Wait until the design in progress speaks “with the clarity of a bell”, he says.

When you achieve that clarity, your customers will be engaged, which means they will return and "buy over and over again". Likewise, if your brand strikes a chord, your staff will stand behind and promote it, he says.

Beware lumping branding in with advertising or designating it “a junior job” because the field is fiercely competitive. Thanks to widespread high-tech wizardry, we are bombarded with images that vie for our increasingly brief attention.

“Only through solid, well-developed and meaningful design that really connects with people will your brand and your product register in the mind of your customer,” Hulsbosch says. "In today's fragmented media landscape you need a rock-solid brand.”

Aim to capture your business' unique traits, he says. Two small business specialists supply some nitty-gritty advice on how to convey what Hulsbosch calls the “soul” or “DNA” of your enterprise.

10 SECRETS OF A PERFECT IMAGE

1. Seek help from the get-go, says strategist and lecturer Denise Beeson. Professional guidance is critical. Changing your look midstream because you learn another firm has a similar look can be costly.

2. Register your trademark with your local patent office says Beeson. That move gives you legal protection, curbing the use of your look by competitors.

3. Name your company or product distinctively, says Beeson. Stay away from "vanity names”. Your own is unlikely to tell the prospect enough about what you do.

4. Adopt a “tagline” (branding slogan), says Beeson. A memorable one will boost your standing in a prospect's eyes.

5. Be consistent in your "look": check whether your business card resembles your brochure, website, and so on, says Beeson. If not, your audience will be confused.

Marketing consultancy director Paige Dawson agrees that consistency is key. “The goal is for a customer to feel and see that you are the same entity from first introduction to an ongoing customer relationship,” Dawson says.

6. Choose two primary fonts for all writing: one for headlines and one for body text, Dawson says.

7. Choose two to three primary colours to use for all materials, he says. If you have a signature colour, carry it through across all items, from portfolio pads to mugs.

8. Choose an image style to convey who you are and what you do. And invest, she suggests, in a custom photo shoot of your team or location because customers value the authenticity over a stock image.

9. Make templates for staff to use covering all areas from a standard email signature and PowerPoint template to a receipt, says Dawson.

10. Never let up on the consistency. “Being able to share consistent and compelling key messages about your product or service is key,” Dawson says. Check whether the language, messages, tone and style of your marketing materials are “congruent”. Find out whether what the customer reads rings true and resonates.

- © Fairfax NZ News