The fundamentals of leaving a lasting impression

Is there a simple recipe to making sure your brand leaves a lasting positive impression?

In today’s world of out of home advertising, targeted online ads that are eerily accurate, promoted ads on our social feeds, 60-second cinema ads that seem to take forever… it’s getting harder and harder to make a lasting impression. Never mind a good one! Yes, competition is tough. As the demand for our attention is growing and growing, so is the difficulty for brands to be remembered – and so, therefore, is the need for them to employ even more inventive ways of grabbing that attention.

Or is it? Technology and media formats might be constantly evolving but us as humans, and what appeals to us, remains largely the same. Could it be that there’s a simple recipe to making sure your brand leaves a lasting positive impression? One that doesn’t rely on ‘new tricks’ to get the job done? It seems to us that there are a few fundamentals that are often forgotten.

Consistency

Deciding on exactly how you want your brand to come across and sticking to it counts for an awful lot. This not only works on a practical level that ensures people will actually recognise your brand identity, but on a professional one too. Making sure to get that same red on your company logo that appears on your staff uniforms and on the branded mugs that get given away with every order might seem like a small detail – but this and all the other aspects of your brand all add up. Consistency equals reliability… and that’s a value that customers will reward with their loyalty.

Attention to detail

The overall impression that your brand puts across to its audience is made up of many fine details. Ones like that particular hue that’s used in your logo, as we mentioned above. Isolated, they may seem slightly on the trivial side but their quality determines the ‘big picture’ lasting impression that your audience walks away with. These are different for every brand but if you can nail things like tone of voice, design attributes, brand values across every touchpoint you’ll be much more likely to leave a smile in the mind of whoever comes across them. Uniforms are a particular piece of brand real-estate that come to mind in this respect. A well-produced piece of clothing that allows employees to do their job without any hindrance, whilst at the same time helps them stay presentable goes a long way.

Know your audience

It’s very hard to be all things to all people and still maintain your identity. The same goes for brands. When it comes to offering people something that’s going to appeal to them long after the suggestion itself has disappeared, it pays to be tactical. Play to your strengths and if you’re going to take risks, make sure they’re informed ones. Whatever business your brand represents, you’re marketing to people with names, lives and emotions of their own – easy to forget when they’re reduced to statistics on a powerpoint! Dove’s ‘Campaign for real beauty’ sets a fantastic example for how to do this. Contact us to find out how Streamline Corporate could help your brand make a lasting impression.