Before you meet someone, you may know their name, but not their face. Or, you may recognize their face, but not know or remember their name. However, once you put the two together, it often sticks in your memory. The same is true for brands. But it goes way beyond that.
Once you get beyond a face and a name, and get to know them better, you perceive and become familiar with other things. Their personality. Their skills. Their habits. Their lifestyle. Maybe their quirks? And, especially, you get to know what’s at their heart. You come to know their personal brand.
If you find common ground and things click, you choose to spend more time with them. You enjoy being around them and look forward to what they bring to the relationship. You start to form meaningful connections and develop a meaningful relationship. If they start to look different, act different or become inconsistent in what you’ve come to expect, you notice. And, it may distance the relationship. The exact same sequence of events happens with brands.
Brands are based on what you think, what you feel and what you’ve come to expect. Consistency is important for lasting relationships; in people and in brands. Consistency goes way beyond just the visual elements and aesthetics. A meaningful connection happens mostly in the mind. Brands exist in the mind, based on what you think and what you feel. Not just what you see. Strong brand perceptions and meaning encompass and require both sides of the brain, in balance.
In this blog series we’re going to find and discuss parallels between how you think and feel about brands and how you think and feel about people. Whether you’re concerned with business-to-business branding or business-to-consumer branding, consistency, expectations and performance is everything. If things change, you notice! Let’s explore that delicate balance that occurs in the mind and in the heart of the market, and their personal relationship with your brand.
