Building Brand-Based Relationships (Part 1 of 4)
Your brand – It starts with a first impression and an introduction. It develops through dialogue and interaction. It is proven over time by consistent behavior. In the end, either both parties are happy with the experience, or they are not – either way, they will tell their friends about it.
Your brand is a promise and it is developed in the minds of your target audience much like a relationship.
In this series of four blog posts, we’ll identify the aspects of social and professional relationship building that translate into the different facets of your brand and how the quality and durability of your client relationships can be improved by defining and managing your brand.
Brand-Based Relationships, Part 1 of 4
The First Impression
The Introduction
The Dialogue
The Relationship
The first impression
How do you form your first impressions of people? The way they are dressed, the way they carry themselves, the buildings they walk into, the cars they get out of, the people whom they are talking to – all of these elements combine into indefinable first impressions. Right off the bat we have expectations about individuals without any other information.
Your potential clients will similarly form a first impression of you. The name of your business, the person who referred them to you, the style of your logo, the aesthetic of your website – before you even get a chance to communicate any substantive information, your potential client will form an expectation about your firm before they read a single word of your marketing materials.
Tips for improvement:
The easiest way to create a good impression is to develop a design that reflects your brand. Make sure your design is implemented in all aspects of your company’s appearance, both in person and online.
- Design aspects to address for consistency with your brand:
- Colors
- Font
- Tone
- Expressions
- Etc.
- Style your office to support your brand and design:
- Furniture
- Décor
- Employee appearance and attitude
- Hold music
- Etc.
- Online appearance and marketing:
- Tagline
- Other marketing messages
- Visual elements and imagery