Understanding Your Brand – Wonderland Creative Blog 4
There is a great temptation to only think about your brand as ‘a logo!’
We are so bombarded with high street and online print shop speak that the word ‘brand’ has seemingly been distorted or devalued. The truth is that your brand has a great deal of value – it is much bigger than you think – and it ultimately defines you and your business. A brand emanates from a well thought out image mark. Your brand is the blueprint for everything at the heart and soul of what you do and what you offer your clients. It is as unique as a fingerprint or a strand of DNA.
That last sentence may sound overly grand but the brand is more than just an image, it really is a state of mind, a being and a statement of ongoing intent. So perhaps what we have to do in the process of understanding a brand is ask you to disassociate it from the word ‘logo’. A logo is a singular, whilst a brand is collective.
The next time you look around your club think about the whole place as a brand. Take a walk around it and think about one word. It’s not a nice word but it will help you think about your brand and that word is ‘synergy’. Your club as a brand has to have synergy. That means that the brand is as much about experience as it is about the physical icon or image that introduces it at the front door.
If you don’t look to synergise your club it won’t have the one thing that defines your brand and that is identity. If your club has true synergy in all its elements it can be defined in one word, whether that be elegant, exclusive, welcoming, unique, classic, traditional, contemporary, etc.
A brand is also a living, breathing entity. It’s never a fixed element. You need to grow your brand, nurture it, continue to think about it, and with your club, walk around it. Does it have synergy? Does what you want it to do and say stand up to your own scrutiny? Are you delivering the experience to your members and guests that the brand says it does?
A brand is the vessel for your product. It has a unique personality. In every way your brand communicates you have to think about what you are saying to further it.
You have to think that your brand is like a ‘salesman’ with a great personality and an even better product to sell!
The brand is the identity of your club at all levels. The way you advertise, the way you write your copy about it, the language you use, the relationship to that message and what the member/guest gets from it at the club. The brand is also about how you and your team speak about the club, the customer service and the consistency in the messages related. It is also about that personal experience, from pulling into through the club gates, to enjoying the clubhouse, using the locker facilities, the food and beverage offering, the way the course is maintained, the layout of the club shop and perhaps most importantly, the way the service team handles the members and guests every day.
People don’t equate all these facets with the brand they represent but it is all about the synergy of delivering the uniqueness of your brand. So, the brand is a physical object and an ethical entity at the same time.
Take Virgin Airlines as an example. The livery, the service messages, the websites, the planes, the service, the way the staff look, the way they speak, what they say – it all has synergy (most of the time). But all these areas reinforce and qualify the Virgin Airlines brand. They don’t just think the brand is the Virgin logo!
In these times where people want value for money you need to create as many USPs (unique selling points) as you can at your club. Having a strong brand to bind all of these points together will strengthen your offering and give you further potential to create revenue and attract more clients.
Your brand mark is not a logo, it has to have meaning, purpose and introduces everyone to the brand and everything it stands for. The bottom line is think hard about your brand mark and what it says about you, because so much of your business ultimately will radiate from that mark. The brand mark is the start of an adventure. It is the gatekeeper to the greater unique experience you create – and that is your brand.
If you would like further consultation as to how to create and improve your brand, then contact us through contact form below. You can also call 0044+1283 769825. Please also look at www.wonderlanddigitaldesign.com – a new service that can help you create digital archives.
