Sahil Gandhi, brand strategist and cofounder of Blushush, a London-based Webflow agency, crafts SMEs and businesses into impactful brands.
Everyone wants to become a brand. It’s not even limited to just products and services anymore; even individuals such as business coaches, authors, consultants and creative individuals are all in the pursuit of becoming a brand. Brands represent niches, they resemble power, they emit authority and surely, they define strength.
But we are not here to discuss what brands are. Almost everyone has their own definition. We are here to discuss how to create an unforgettable and impactful brand. Before we begin, let me make one thing very clear to you: No brand has ever been a fluke. You think they are, but they are not.
What you call a fluke is actually someone sitting at the backend who has orchestrated every single move, studied the market, projected the patterns and ultimately strategized the underlying business to carve out a brand of it. I like to be that someone.
Strategy always prevails.
Suppose you’re a football coach trying to make a team. You need everyone, from a center forward to a center-back. You need a defender and certainly someone who can attack. You need a goalkeeper as well. Then, you need someone for the midfield and for the wing-back, too.
That pretty much sums it up.
No.
A strategy will define who will play at what position. What will be the line of defense, who must pass the ball to whom and how will the captain set the whole game plan? That’s strategy. In branding, strategy plays a quintessential role in defining what is working and what is not. You also remove everything that’s unrequited, unnecessary and unwanted.
Strike a balance between clarity and consistency.
Run parallel with clarity, but don’t forget to hold hands with consistency. One of the most common mistakes I’ve encountered partnering with SMEs is that they are just not clear about their voice and messaging.
What does it result in?
Confused audiences, stalled sales and overall chaos.
On the contrary, always be direct and real, be on point and then try to be consistent with it. Remember, you are what you post. Irrespective of the platform, clarity is something you must always aim for and then think about consistency. It doesn’t just matter what you post, but also where you post, how you post and how often you post.
Clarity and consistency should always be in full synchronization with the content when it comes to your brand’s identity, voice and messaging.
Visuals speak volumes.
When you are in the pursuit of creating an unforgettable and impactful brand, you have to focus on every tiny bit of detail there is. Visuals play an integral role in it. It wouldn’t be wrong to state that a large part of an audience can easily spot their favorite brand in the crowd just because they are familiar with its visual identity. There’s a reason why a brand just gets stuck in your head forever.
Colors, fonts and logos are not just symbols but are also a part of our lives; they become ingrained in our daily lives long before we may ever acknowledge it, but we are surrounded by logos and designs that impact our lifestyle. An unforgettable brand is just something that puts this information to good use for leverage.
It’s important to pursue consistent alignment.
We are not living in the ’90s; it’s not the time of bus ads, bench advertising and TV commercials.
Today, brands should target every single online platform to reach their target audience. Ad campaigns should be executed across different channels to make sure the brand aligns across all touchpoints.
I always choose clarity over consistency.
Organizations spend millions of dollars in marketing, draft guidelines and create strategically crafted brand checklists, like I describe on my website, that allow them to resonate and approach their audience in different ways. It’s not just the content but also the platforms and the type of content you put out there to stir traction and drive traffic to your website.
I always say the internet is nothing but a digital market. Your website is your business headquarters, and your social media handles are your retail stores. Now, your customers need to find a synergy in all of them. Only then will they land on the right page, go through a processed funnel and convert to a sale.
Brand positioning evokes brand perception.
Let me share a professional experience with you. I worked with an Ireland-based fashion and clothing brand with 25 stores across the country. They were struggling with their visual identity. It wasn’t just their logo that had issues; their whole website, including their store design, also required a makeover.
The brand was good but wasn’t able to create the brand perception it required for its target audience. My team and I created a whole set of brand guidelines for their team. We created a new website and social media handles, designed a secondary logo for them (along with logo marks) and cultivated a whole brand strategy for them, giving them the in-store enhancement they needed with color palettes, imagery, photography and font application.
Outcome: We were able to elevate the company’s brand positioning, which fueled the brand perception it required to target its audience. I sincerely believe that people don’t buy products; they buy stories. I just love to help them carve one.
Strategist’s Note
I’ve been working with companies for a long time now. I can assure you that an impactful brand is never an overnight success. If I have to leave you with any key insights, it will be only two. Strategy always prevails, and always opt for clarity—but never forget about consistency.
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