Whenever someone mentions Disney, it’s likely the word “magical” comes to mind. In fact, if you think of any of your favorite brands, you’ll probably have a similar experience—Nike: “inspirational,” Coca-Cola: “refreshing,” Ford: “tough.” But did you ever wonder why just the mention of a brand name gives you such a solid feeling? It’s because those brands have built and delivered on a strong essence.
Your brand essence is the promise of specific values and benefits—comfort, quality, protection, etc.—that your company makes that has profound meaning and relevance to users. It gives consumers a gut feeling about who you are and sets your business apart from the competition. But how do you create that gut feeling?
Make Essence Essential
Too often, businesses skip brand introspection and construction, opting instead to go straight to product/service planning and marketing. In short, they fail to make their brand essence essential. A successful brand needs to establish an essence before it can tell the world who it is and what it does. Brand essence hits several important notes, including:
- Establishing purpose: A brand must have a purpose. It must be intended to make some difference in the lives of its potential customers. And to justify existing in today’s crowded marketplace, a brand needs a purpose that sets it apart from others. What does your brand offer that others do not?
- Establishing the brand positioning, personality and tone of voice: Your brand essence provides a clear direction on company objectives and helps guide the positioning of your brand in the marketplace. It also helps establish your brand values, tone of voice statements, creative design and a brand story that will resonate with customers.
- Enables growth via differentiation: Your brand essence gives potential customers a reason to choose your company over the competition. Through your brand’s story, value statements, and tone, you provide customers with a differentiating factor that helps them see the benefit behind working with your business as opposed to your competition.
Click here to learn more about how brand essence drives growth.
