By: JaneMarie Borger
Creating feelings for a target audience is a superior skill to possess in the 21st Century. Numerous industries from retail to automotive, technology and food chains focus their advertising campaigns on the feelings they want their brand to create. The challenge is to invoke the right feeling. For example, a brand logo is associated with a brand and should invoke a message whether your subconscious realizes the impact or not. Does your company’s logo do this for your employees, clients and prospects? Is each target market getting the feeling you want to create? Have you asked them? Check out this video advertising a private school. Do you think it is getting its message across? Are you having good feelings now about attending this private institution? Would you or your children want to go there?
Think about your favorite restaurant. Does the external façade match the sensory overload you experience when you enter the building or just begin thinking about visiting the place? Check this one out. Does the logo mirror the way the food tastes, the friendly customer service is delivered or the selection of menu items that make your mouth water? Do you smile when you see the doggie bag the restaurant sent home for tomorrow’s lunch? The restaurant’s building exterior, atmosphere, menu design and wait staff should all align to create the culinary experience you crave. That’s why you keep going back.
At your next staff meeting, client consultation or on your Facebook page, produce your logo and see if you hear the message you want to share. Ask, ”What does this mean to you?” Are you hearing the words that reflect your mission, customer service and products? Congratulations! You are branding your company extremely well. If you didn’t hear what you wanted, define what is not being conveyed and begin a new marketing campaign focusing on those feelings, images and awareness. Transform your location to match your brand. Everything from the soap in the bathrooms to the color of the walls should create a feeling that is yours and yours alone. The feelings you create make a lasting impression on your clients – forever.
