How Brand Strategists Build Trust With Clients
By Levina Kusumadjaja
Miscommunication.
Distrust.
Frustration.
It seems like the experience with one bad client after another doesn’t end. What’s missing? Why can’t you break the cycle of bad experiences and bad relationships with clients?
Like in every relationship in your life, one of the things that can destroy the relationship is assumption. Assumptions are among the worst things that people can bring into a relationship. Assumptions are like these cancer cells that are rotting the relationship from its very core. The same way that assumptions will hurt your relationships with your family and friends, is the same way that assumptions will hurt your relationship with your client.
Perhaps your story goes something like this: a client comes to you and asks you to design them a logo, a website, or a complete brand identity package. You asks them several questions in the meeting about their brand and their business, maybe even email them a questionnaire to fill out. And to that they responded with a bunch of adjectives— fun, spontaneous, energetic, youthful—as ways to explain what their brand and business are all about. You agreed on a timeline, agreed on a budget, and hung up the phone. And then you find yourself facing your computer screen with this endless guessing game of “What did they mean when they said...?”. And then when you finally submit the drafts, they don’t like the designs but they cannot tell you why. They assigned you to revise them, but you also don’t know what it is they are looking for. Sounds familiar?
What’s missing is strategy.
The one thing that the story above has in common with most of our relationship problems is that they are filled with assumptions. When you design something for your client that is based on assumptions, you will experience a lot of confusion and miscommunication. It will lead you to a lot of frustration and anxiety because there is no clarity as to what it is you are trying to achieve and what your client is trying to achieve. What was missing in the story is strategy.
Without strategy, the process is filled with assumptions.
You assume the client knows what you are thinking, and you also assume that what you assume is exactly what the client is thinking. At the same time, the client assumes you know exactly what they want. It’s a guessing game from beginning to end. The endless revisions and miscommunications are because of so much assumptions in the process. When you incorporate strategy as a part of your process, it breaks this cycle of assumptions. It brings clarity to the goal that everyone is trying to achieve. Strategy clarifies where you are at, where you want to go, and how you can get to where you want to go. It doesn’t only help you as the designer, it helps them understand the value of what you will be designing for them.
What makes the relationship, the process, and the results meaningful and valuable, is whether they help the clients get to the goal. Assumptions disrupt this process and promotes distrust and miscommunications. Strategy clarifies the goal and uncovers meaning to the work. This is why brand strategy is the foundation for meaningful relationships with your client and impactful work.
Trying to sell a client something they don’t need (a logo or website) and then feeling frustrated that they were a “bad client” when the project goes south. I signed up for Brand Strategy Bootcamp because I had a bad experience and I felt strongly that it was because of miscommunication and distrust with the client. Brand strategy establishes trust, better communication, better relationships, and a better diagnosis. How can you have brand identity without the strategy? Brand strategy is the foundation. - Jez Towner (Lucky kaya creative)
Cheers!
Levina
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About the author:
Levina is a writer based in Indonesia. Because of Melinda Livsey, she recognized the power of brand strategy for every creative. She is sharing about her learnings as she goes to help creatives have fun in their growth and journey of building brands. Connect with her on LinkedIn and say hi!