At the beginning of every Brand Discovery, I distribute a questionnaire to help me understand how the brand is perceived internally. The difference between the internal and external perception of the brand forms the catalyst needed to conduct a brand gap analysis.
This analysis helps identify discrepancies between how a brand wants to be perceived and how it is actually perceived by consumers, providing crucial insights to align brand strategy with business goals and customer needs. By uncovering these perception gaps, AEC companies can take targeted actions to create a more consistent and compelling brand experience across all touchpoints, building trust, loyalty, and value among customers.
During a Brand Discovery performed for a mid-sized architectural firm, I found that the internal perception of the brand idea was "caring". They designed senior living and truly cared about the end client. Their developer clients, however, had a different view. In their minds, the firm differentiated itself through unique cost and time saving efficiencies. In fact, the firm's design-build efficiencies were extraordinary and they had even developed proprietary software to streamline their processes. That they cared about the end clients was a bonus, but it rarely came up during the Discovery interviews.
Now, this firm could go on pushing that they are different because they care. After all, internally that was their driving purpose. But this would be like throwing money down the drain. Their clients are the true owners of the brand, and they are telling us loud and clear, "This is why we use you." For us to try and sell the firm on caring, would be a missed opportunity to speak the words potential clients are asking to hear.
We wound up creating a beautiful steel plaque with their vision statement that honors the firm's dedication to seniors. We then turned our attention to their client-facing content, which was anchored in a brand strategy that didn't apply. Using the testimonials as a starting point, I created content pillars for each of the main threads that came out of the Discovery. There was also a pillar for caring, of course. This ensured that our content was balanced, deliberate, and strategically written to appeal to the target market. It also provided some guardrails–if proposed content fell outside of the pillars, that was our queue that it may not be in alignment with the brand.
The Brand Discoveries are a simple, yet profound way of getting to the heart of your brand and teasing out what separates you from the competition. I would tell anyone from any industry, don't spend another dollar on marketing until you've talked to your clients. You just don't know what you don't know.
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