GOOD TO KNOW
I just need a logo, no branding!
OK, let's play the Never Have I Ever game! Hold your breath for every "never have I ever..." you agree with. Hold your breath until you get to a point you disagree with. Inhale, 3-2-1, go!
Never ...
- I wanted to stand out from the crowd in the market.
- my goal was to have loyal customers.
- I asked myself in which direction I wanted to develop my company.
- I had a hard time finding the right marketing for our business.
- I wished I could charge more money than our competitors do.
- I thought we should attract cool people to our team who understand what we do.
- I was unhappy that we were not the first choice for customers.
- I was unclear about who our ideal customers are and how we should address them.
- I felt unsure about communicating clearly what we were doing.
If you're still holding your breath, then branding is exactly what will help you. And you'll get a new logo from us too!
What is the focus of Brand Hug?
Our expertise lies in branding and its implementation in a coherent visual design. We position and present your company in such a way that your super fans find you and remain loyal to you.
Was ist eine Marke (Brand)?
A brand is the result of all branding measures: It is the gut feeling of a customer about your product, your service ,
performance or your company.
»Brand is what others say when you leave the room.«
(Jeff Bezos)
The brand hug clarifies the why, determines the positioning, designs the look and feel, the tone and all of this together is the basis for establishing an emotional connection with your customers. Customers with such a relationship have been proven to remain loyal to a brand for much longer and recommend it much more often. Only with a strong brand as a foundation can the marketing based on it be truly successful and reach people with its messages.
What is a superfan?
The superfan is one hundred percent enthusiastic about the brand, buys all products, recommends them - even without asking -, writes reviews and even defends the brand if necessary.
One goal of the branding process is that potential superfans find your brand, learn to love it and then stay loyal to it forever.
Is emotion really more important than information?
Yes. Neuroscientists have unequivocally found that humans are only seemingly rational beings. In fact, however, it is our limbic disposition that decides what we find interesting and what is about to be erased. And this limbic decision-making process is highly emotional - but crucial!
That is why it is so important to know the positioning of your potential customers in the limbic system. And that's why we also work with modern neuro models in our brand workshops. The most famous German brain researcher, Prof. Dr. G. Hüther, says briefly:
"You can only learn something sustainably when it is emotionally charged, that is, when it is fun."
In other words: With a simple list of the advantages of your product you will not achieve any. Nothing.
If, on the other hand, you know the emotional drivers of your customers, you can land hits much more easily. Ultimately, people with a charismatic brand feel that they cannot be replaced by any other.
Why is visual design so important in communication?
First, it's because the parts of our human brain that process images are around 200 times older than the parts that process text. So we are more familiar with images through our evolution.
In addition, these areas of the brain are much larger than those that deal with text processing. In a direct comparison you can see in a CT that looking at exciting images in the brain is more like a wildfire, while looking at text only activates a very small part.
Pictures are emotionally richer and stimulate the viewer's imagination much more strongly. And with the imagination, the stories come into play that have always played a major role in the evolution of mankind. Every brand that can build on a good story is on the right track.
How quickly will I see the branding expenses reflected in my sales?
First of all, consider it an investment, not an expense.
"If you put a dollar into your business, you should have another dollar to make it known."
(Henry Ford)
Second, one of the most important goals of branding is building trust. And the Dutch already knew:
"Trust comes on foot and escapes on horseback."
There is no better way to express that sensible branding is a long-term strategy and cannot be measured objectively.
But since all successful brands are also strong brands, there has to be a deeper meaning behind the branding, right?
Your brand is your most important asset and a powerfully executed branding process is your bulletproof vest compared to everyone else who is not concerned with your brand.
The management consultancy McKinsey also found out in a study that design is very important for corporate success. Look here!
»Your brand is by far the most important investment
that you can do in your company. "
What is a brand story?
Stories have been a powerful means of communication since the Stone Age. They go beyond the informative level to an emotional one. Reading, hearing or seeing stories ensures a tangible experience of the content and identification with the subject of the story. If you really want to inspire your target group to the core and turn them into loyal fans, you have to tell stories. Stories affect people at completely different neural points than the famous reading in the phone book - and thus create curiosity and opportunities for identification. A successful brand story gives the target group a comprehensive picture of what the brand actually stands for. We help you define your story and translate it into a visually captivating corporate design that gets under your skin - and gives your target group butterflies in the stomach! Here is a good example of a brand story that we stringently implemented!
When does a brand workshop make sense?
If you are starting a new company and want to set yourself apart from your competitors as a distinctive brand.
If your company has grown in several directions and you want to check whether the visual identity still fits.
If your company has grown quickly and without a brand foundation and you want to present your customers with a consistent look and feel of your brand.
If your company's appearance is getting on in years and it just needs to be given a solid helping of anti-aging.
Who takes part in the brand workshop?
A brand workshop primarily needs the motivated cooperation of those who have the final say in the company: the decision-makers. Sometimes, however, the involvement of other key employees creates valuable perspectives.
How long does a brand workshop last?
The workshop (BRAND-SPRINT) usually lasts six to eight hours.
What exactly is branding?
Branding is the targeted and continuous development of a distinctive identity of a company or a person with which one associates certain values and characteristics as well as a certain appearance and a clear positioning.
What is the benefit of branding?
Branding creates visibility and recognition and thus helps to differentiate yourself from the crowd in the category environment (competition).
Branding helps to increase relevance for fans/customers because they can identify with the brand and its values.
Branding helps to increase the loyalty of fans/customers because they value authenticity and reliable positioning. People buy brands they trust.
Branding helps to increase market value compared to similar products/services/people. Better branding – better business.
Branding helps to develop the company more effectively because it provides a direction through which concrete goals can be formulated.
What is the difference between branding and marketing?
Branding is - see above - the process of branding as the basis of all decisions of a company. A solid brand book is the backbone of every company.
Marketing, on the other hand, is derived from "market" and is the planned process of recognizing customer needs and accompanying coordinated products from development to successful sale on the market.
The aim is to include the wishes and expectations of potential customers in all corporate decisions and thus to achieve certain corporate goals.
First and foremost, of course, sales should be increased: that is, more of a product or service should be sold. To achieve these goals, marketing strategies are developed that are implemented operationally with the help of marketing instruments, the so-called "4P". These are the instruments product / service (Product), price (Price), communication (promotion) and sales policy (Place).
Without a solid branding as a foundation, on the other hand, marketing is in quicksand and individual marketing measures do not pay into the brand's account - which you should always do to keep the image of the brand in the eye of the beholder.
What is the result of a strong brand?
»More customers, at a premium price,
for a longer period of time. "
(Marty Neumeier)
A strong brand has super fans.
Why is trust so important?
Because you only give money to someone you trust.
"If a brand looks like a duck and swims like a dog, people will distrust it."
(Marty Neumeier)
What is the biggest hurdle in branding?
Certainly this is a lack of focus.
It's like your customers seeing you through a pane of frosted glass. Somehow you can halfway see what it's about, but not really. This is especially the case with so-called generalists who please everyone and do not want to exclude anyone. These companies stand for everything and nothing, are therefore perceived as boring and also waste a lot of energy because they fight on all fronts.
It is ideal if your company is number one in a category.
Is it just number three - narrow the category!
What is the second biggest hurdle in branding?
The clearest focus is of little use if communicated inconsistently. When you speak and talk at the same time. When the pictures on Instagram have a completely different look than the videos on Youtube. When three employees have three different looking business cards. Successful brands have a consistent look and feel right down to the last tip of paper and the last pixel.
Why do I need a brand strategy?
A goal with no plan is more like a wish. Without a long-term strategy, you will achieve your goal more difficult and only with a lot of friction losses. Especially in today's dynamic and chaotic times, it is important to define and review intermediate steps in order to keep the chosen direction focused and always make the right decisions. A strategy enormously increases the likelihood of achieving your goals.
What is the goal of a brand workshop?
The primary goal and result of the workshop is a formulated brand core and a clear positioning according to the rules of neuromarketing. You will receive a written evaluation from us and thus hold the foundation for the brand guidelines, the brand design and the guiding stars for brand management in your hand. Both externally and internally, you will be able to make it clearer what your company stands for. So that your customers as well as your employees can better acknowledge you and identify with you. Participants in our brand workshops often feel the scales from their eyes when, with our help, they can clearly formulate vague ideas, goals and thoughts and then see them in front of them in black and white.
What are the methods of our brand workshops?
Don't worry: we don't throw a ball of wool and we don't have singing bowls at the start either. Otherwise, however, some things from the toolbox of neuromarketing. Are you wondering what that is again?
In a very pragmatic way, neuromarketing is concerned with how choices and purchasing decisions take place in the human brain. Brain research shows us that the conscious and rational customer is an illusion. Firstly, purchase decisions are largely unconscious and, secondly, they are always emotional, says Dr. Hans-Georg Häusel.
Create a free logo?
The workshop (BRAND-SPRINT) usually lasts six to eight hours.