How to make your brand attractive

"Is your brand attractive?"

Think about the brands you find yourself drawn to time and time again. As you think about building your business it’s important to reflect on the brands that you are familiar with and what you believe makes them so ‘sticky’. What makes you want to associate yourself with a particular brand time and time again despite an abundance of choice (most of the time)? In this piece I’m going to highlight the top three things that make some of the biggest brands in the world so attractive.

1. Consistency

Let’s assume your brand is a person for just one moment (bare with me). If you want to build a strong brand, you need to make sure that the same person shows up everyday. What does that mean? The word to keep in mind is integration.

Your brand communication and values should be fully integrated, from social media to product descriptions, TV ads to the look and feel of your designs.

Consider Nike. Why is it that when so many people are ready to get back to fitness, they run to a Nike store. The consistency and pervasiveness of the slogan (I’m not going to mention it because you already know it) has been integral to Nike’s success. The slogan translates perfectly to the functional, clean designs of their workout apparel and sporting gear. For Nike, consistency has definitely paid off.

2. Strong Identity

‘Don’t ride the fence’, I’m sure you’ve heard that expression before. The idea is that great, lasting brands are never afraid to pitch their tent somewhere. For example, consider the popular magazine ‘The Economist’.

No matter what country is undergoing a presidential election, they’re are never afraid to make a public statement about who they believe should be elected President. This does not mean that you should through your brand into controversial issues, but you should not be able make bold statements about who you believe your brand is and what it stands for.

Strength is attractive. Definitely you will not please everyone but what you will gain is a strong dedicated following.

3. Human Values & Desires

There is something deeply human about the best brands; they associate themselves so closely with some of your deepest desires as human beings.

Think of the Beauty Brand, Dove. In the early 2000s they launched their audacious Real Women Campaign and they took a huge gamble. What was that gamble? The idea that the majority of women in the world were not super skinny models and in fact had a deep desire to love the skin they’re in and see someone like themselves projected as ‘beautiful’.

Dove stuck with that belief that they understood the humanity of their would-be customers and it paid off.

Are you ready to build a standout fashion retail brand? You should signup for our 3 month (Guided learning) business accelerator course. For more information about how your business can get started, sign up here

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Wonuola Okoye

Principal Coach

Big Startup