We know that when companies are successful in developing a brand that focuses on what consumers want in a product, or service, success follows. Consumers will fall in love with your brand, trust your brand, buy your brand, and become ambassadors of your brand.
Consumer perceptions influence behavior, and behavior influences final sales.
When a high level of perceived quality has been (or can be) created, raising the price of your product or service not only provides margin dollars but also aids perceptions. Strong brands command a price premium. A cup of Starbucks coffee is a case in point.
The first step in creating an effective brand is to develop a brand strategy. This is the first goal in our 5d Perception Branding Process. Effective brand strategy provides a central ideal around which all behavior, actions, and communications are connected. We believe that if an effective brand strategy is developed and communicated, it will deflect the competition and differentiate you from all others.
Our goal of the 5d Perception Branding Process is to do just that. Differentiate you from your competition. We like to find what we call, the “Only Only”. The only thing you can claim that your competitors can’t. The competitive advantage and unique value proposition that is yours. And yours alone.
We are designers here at modern8 by background and training, and have a beautiful portfolio just like our competitors. But we recognized is that our clients were asking for something more than just design. They wanted to stand out, to lead the competition, to win. They wanted a brand. So in 2002, we created the 5d Perception Branding Process. We use this to help our clients define their brand position, brand promise, brand personality, and brand identity.
There are 5 steps in this process as the name suggests: Discover, Distill, Depict, Design, and Deploy. The first three steps are the strategic steps. The steps we take to really understand your brand and your objectives. These become your brand strategy. Or brand story. After we have completed these first three steps, we really feel like we understand who you are and who you are trying to reach, and now feel ready to carry those through to d4: design. We feel that to achieve the best design, we need to marry it with the brand strategy. We use the brand strategy as a litmus test against all of the touchpoints we create in d4. From logos, to trade shows, to websites, we use this process to send the right messages to the right audience.
The last stage, d5: deploy, is when the hard work really begins. We guide you through the launch of your brand identity and management of your assets. It is essential that your brand identity has enough resources and support to achieve it’s potential. We provide those for you.
Look for our upcoming series of blog posts where we take an in-depth look at the steps and outcomes of each “d” of our Perception Branding Process. First up, d1:Discover.
