What a Successful Brand Looks Like

This article was contributed by Levina Kusumadjaja

Everybody wants to have a successful brand. Whether you are the business owner, the brand strategist, the designer, or whoever you are in this branding journey, you want the brand to be successful. If you study branding from experts out there, you will find that there are many things that can help us measure the value of a brand, both tangibly or intangibly—such as brand awareness, brand association, and other fancy labels that go along with them. The problem is, they seem complicated, don't they? So, let’s look at a simple illustration.

Let’s imagine a store called The Local Bakery.

If you want to know how successful The Local Bakery has been in building its brand, you can ask the people who just walked from the store. Some of the questions you can ask are:

  • What do they feel the moment they step into the bakery?

  • What do they think about the selection of bread available there?

  • Did they find the place welcoming and friendly? How did they feel about how they were being served by the team?

  • What do they feel when they walk out from the bakery?

These are simple questions that can give you a good picture of The Local Bakery's brand. Let me give you 2 different scenarios. Scenario A: People walk out feeling overwhelmed by the menu choices, annoyed by the long queue, and unimpressed with the taste. The other possibility is Scenario B: people walk out feeling so energized to start their day, loving the variety of artisan bread available daily, and connecting with the bakers serving them. It's the complete opposite.

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→ Complicated vs. Easy

→ Inconvenient vs. Accessible

→ Overrated and overhyped vs. Exceeding expectations

→ Unfriendly vs. Welcoming

Even without reading the vision, mission and values of The Local Bakery, we know that they haven't successfully communicated their brand to their customers in Scenario A. No brand wants to be seen as overwhelming, annoying and unimpressive; not even for a small local bakery in the neighborhood. We can tell The Local Bakery has failed in their efforts to build their brand.

In Scenario A, we can easily conclude that they have done a pretty good job. A good branding makes customers happier. It makes their lives easier and more convenient. It helps people trust you because they believe your products and services make their lives better. It is clear that in Scenario B, customers feel like what The Local Bakery offered added value to their lives in a positive way. How can we know this? By listening to the customers.

The basic principle: Listen to what the customers are saying about the brand.

A brand reflects what people think, feel, and perceive about that brand. It's as simple as that. No matter how bad The Local Bakery wants to be seen as a friendly, affordable, neighborhood bakery, it is not up to people behind The Local Bakery. It depends on what the customers think about The Local Bakery. So, if we want to know about how good a brand really is, we shouldn't go to the business or people behind the brand, rather we should go to the customers.

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!

 
All, Brand StrategyMelinda LivseyBrand Strategy