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Brand: what sets you apart?
Ideally, your mission statement should set your organization apart from your peers. This uniqueness should be perceived by your audience.
To understand it, you should ask your current customers to describe in very specific terms what constitutes in their eyes the personalities of your organization and your events. Why do they choose you over the competition? Why do they keep coming back? What needs does your product fulfill that other products do not?
Branding is the process of understanding this uniqueness and having it reflected in everything you share with your audience – your events and the customer’s experience, as well as your communication materials. Through this process, you will differentiate yourself from your competition on every level and your marketing messages will be more specific and compelling.
Your brand is the “device” (word, phrase, shape, sound, color or combination of these) that prompt this uniqueness in the mind of your clients or prospects. Having a single, distinct visual image is paramount in the consumer’s ability to recognize you in an instant. Your first promotional investment should be to hire a professional graphic designer to develop a logo and a graphic charter that reflects your organization’s personality. This is an initial step in the process of branding your organization and a visual representation to help promote events, programs and offerings in a consistent manner.
Example of graphic charter:
The Steppenwolf Theater Company has adopted a clear and distinguishable graphic charter for all its promotional materials - brochures, billboard and website: large black and white pictures of its ensemble members, red logo and black or red font for the text. This charter gives a great consistency to the Theater’s communication effort, and reflects its intense performing style.
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