Your ‘About Us’ Page Is Not Really About You

by Right Think | Jun 12, 2017 | brand personality, brand strategy, branding, trust

Your ‘About Us’ Page Is Not Really About You

A website is one of the first priorities when building a business, and it’s a lot to tackle. You have to decide on a design theme, a layout, the font, the tone… there are many small decisions to be made- one of which is your About Us page. It’s the handshake of your website, and you want to strike a balance between flimsy and firm.

You may be surprised, then, that your “About Us” webpage is not about you and your company. Sure, the content is about you, but the purpose of the page is to help customers understand what sets your company apart, and to make an emotional connection with your brand. It tells them why they should care about you at all, beyond your products or services. With that in mind, here are several ideas that companies have done right.

The best stories are sticky

One way to make your About Us stand out is a great story. This could be the story behind your company’s creation or the story behind your product. If a portion of your proceeds supports a charity or a cause, talk about how that support came to be important to you. The best part about a ‘sticky’ story? It’s easy to read, recall, and share!

Humanize your brand

An authentic voice is more relatable for clients, so step away from the business jargon and the stiff, formal language. However, don’t go too far the other way and risk sounding unprofessional. Your business can’t be taken seriously by others if they don’t think you take it seriously yourself.

Professional branding reaches people on an emotional level, which formal language is not known to do.

Provide visual interest

The average visitor to your webpage spends a whopping seven seconds to determine if it’s worthwhile. Fortunately, a picture is worth a thousand words. Whether you rely on video, images, or parallax scrolling (Cultivated Wit’s website is a great example of this), keep things interesting with some visual pizazz.

Let other people do the talking

Collecting testimonials from customers or allowing your own employees to rate your business is a great way to place value on someone’s voice aside from your own. Lately, companies are taking these concepts further by featuring them on their websites. With permission, link to companies who utilize your services as a different kind of testimonial. A ‘careers’ page isn’t just for open job listings anymore! Take the opportunity to showcase your company’s culture.

Make it memorable

An attention-grabbing headline, a soundtrack, and a lovable mascot are some of the ways companies have achieved success with their unique About Us experience. While each takes a different approach, one thing remains the same: their brand makes a memorable mark.

How will you create an About Us page that helps you stand out? Will your page focus on telling your origin story, or even the story of how your product is created? Is yours a business who – like ours – focuses on its people and utilizes this space to introduce your dream? No matter what you decide, using the tips we have discussed here are sure to be an exercise in brand success!

What is your Brand’s Personality?

by Right Think | Mar 24, 2017 | brand marketing, brand personality, branding

What is your Brand’s Personality?

As human beings, our personality is what sets us apart. The same is true for a brand. Applying human characteristics to your brand helps maintain a consistency throughout your marketing. Personality traits not only guide how a brand talks to consumers, but also create an emotional way for consumers to identify with a brand. Let’s take a look at a few different brand personalities:

Nike— Nike has always been affiliated with athletes. They align themselves with professional athletes and applaud passion and greatness in sports. Their tagline, Just Do It, is motivational. Nike talks to its consumers in a way meant to inspire action, discourage quitting, build confidence and aim for greatness.

Old Spice— This male-centric brand embraces silliness, making fun of stereotypical “manliness” qualities, and exaggerating the effects deodorant can have. The emotion they use over and over again is humor- their commercials and marketing campaigns are always funny!

Dove— Dove is primarily a female-focused brand, despite being a universal product. Their most famous branding came in the form of their “Real Beauty” campaigns. For 10 years now, these campaigns have challenged the socially accepted standards of beauty with campaigns filled with a diverse array of women, including varying degrees of skin color, body type, age, etc. They ask consumers to rethink the definition of a beautiful woman.

All three of these brands have achieved great success through their marketing, largely in part to such clear brand identities. Each offers a clear personality, targets a specific demographic, and maintains a consistent voice throughout different marketing campaigns.

How can you identify your brand’s personality? Start asking yourself the right questions.

Who are you?
Who are you talking to?
What are you selling?
What are the characteristics and tone of your brand?
How will you communicate with your customer base?
What do you want to say?
How do you want them to feel?

One final tip: quite often, a brand’s personality mirrors the personality of its target demographic. Keep that in mind when defining the personality of your brand.

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Using Color to Get Your Business Noticed

by Right Think | Mar 16, 2017 | brand creation, brand marketing, brand personality, branding

Using Color to Get Your Business Noticed

Isn’t color amazing? I am soaking in all the color that is going on in my yard right now as the new spring green grass pokes its way through the soil and the tulips bloom in vivid purple and orange. Our color-starved eyes have finally made it through another winter. Yay! One of the most fun parts of the branding process is when we get to show our clients color palettes for their brand. Color is really what brings a brand to life. Most of the time people gravitate towards their favorite colors. Which makes sense that they would do that, however, did you know that you can actually use color as a brand strategy? And a powerful one at that. Check this out. In a study called Impact of Color in Marketing, researchers found that “people make up their minds within 90 seconds of their initial interactions with either people or products. About 62-90 percent of the assessment is based on colors alone. So, prudent use of colors can contribute not only to differentiate products from competitors but also to influencing moods and feelings.”

Can you believe that? Color can supercharge your brand and your marketing strategies because color evokes emotion in people. You can use color to stir up an appetite or change someone’s mood, help them trust you or get them excited. Of course, we can’t always predict how a person will react to a given color because their emotion around it depends on their personal experiences, however, survey results tell us that the majority of people group color into the following emotional responses.

BLACK Serious, distinctive, formal, elegant, bold, powerful, sophisticated, expensive, protection, dramatic, classy, mysterious, intense, excited, fierce, evil, night, death

WHITE Purity, truthfulness, faith, pristine, contemporary, refined, airy, hope, simplicity, cleanliness, goodness, safety, fresh, easy

BROWN Approachable, earthy, outdoorsy, longevity, conservative, dogmatic, wholesome, delicious, rich, rustic, warm, natural, authentic

ORANGE Fun, cheerful, exuberant, spontaneous, optimistic, speed, searching, excited, courageous, friendly, success, confidence, sunshine, joy

YELLOW Bright, energetic, sunny, creativity, intellect, joy, happy, youthful, friendly, positive, surprise, energetic, cautious

GREEN Life, growth, money, freshness, fertility, healing, healthy, fertile, environmental, reliable, appetite, harmony, neutral, calm, involved, sensitive, tender

BLUE Authority, nautical, dignified, security, confidence, classic, stability, trust, happy, relaxed, cool, approachable, lively, joyful, peaceful, tranquil, royal, masculine, sincere, wisdom, intelligence, faith, heavenly

PURPLE Sophisticated, mysterious, spiritual, dramatic, wealth, royal, youth, creative, mischievous, mystical, deep thinking, nobility, luxury, ambition

RED Love, energy, power, strength, passion, heat, warning, war, danger, determination, desire, assertive, sexy, vitality, fear, speed

So, let’s say, for example, that you have a skincare product that reduces the appearance of aging and you want your customers to feel youthful, happy, healthy and energetic. You might decorate your home in earthy tones, but those colors may not be the best strategy for this brand. This brand needs to consider palettes with bright yellows and maybe some greens because those are the colors that will produce the youthful, happy, energetic, and healthy feelings in the customer.

Here is a chart from Help Scout showing how big brands are using color:

When considering color palettes, it’s important to think about what’s appropriate for the product, what colors the competition is using and the feelings that you want to evoke in the customer. Download our complete color chart here and check it against your brand. Are you using the most strategic colors?

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Does your Logo Pass the Test?

by Right Think | Nov 14, 2016 | brand creation, brand personality, branding

Does your Logo Pass the Test?

An effective brand identity is crucial to your success as a business. Your logo is the entry point to your brand and must communicate your brand message clearly and attract the right customers. How do you know if your logo is up to snuff? The best way is to consult a branding expert that can review your brand brief and your marketing materials to make sure your visual brand is consistent with your original intentions. But, here are six hallmarks of great logo design that you can look for in your brand.

#1—Memorable

It really doesn’t matter how many people see your logo if they don’t remember it. Part of what makes branding so valuable is that when a brand is easy to remember and is immediately recognizable, it builds brand awareness in the minds of your customers. As they get to know and interact with your brand, your logo is attached to the expectations they come to adopt towards your brand. If your brand does a good job of fulfilling its promises consistently, your customers will become loyal and insist on your brand every time.

#2—Authentic

Your logo needs to portray who your company really is at it’s heart as well as hint at your brand promise. Before designing your logo, make sure you go through a brand strategy development process so that you know what your brand purpose, position, promise and personality are. Your visual brand can then be designed to reflect your strategy.

#3—Differentiated

There is a lot of white noise advertising out there, but only a fraction of businesses invest in their branding. By going through the effort of creating a great brand identity, you are literally putting yourself ahead of the crowd. A good brand identity will visually demonstrate to your customers what makes your company different from your competition, and you will attract the customers that align with your values.

#4—Sustainable

It’s important to avoid trends in designing your brand identity so that your brand will continue to look relevant and up to date and stand the test of time. Consistency is vital in the longevity of a brand, and although some brands need a little refresh from time to time, it can damage brand equity to make major changes.

#5—Flexible

When designing your brand identity, make sure you put yourself into the future of your business. Do you see yourself expanding or adding new products and services? Is your logo flexible enough to accommodate growth, or does it pigeonhole you?

#6—Meaningful

Your logo can go a long way in communicating your company’s message when it visually conveys meaning above just the words. Images, symbols, shape, color, fonts and design all play a role in infusing meaning into the graphics.