Marketing
elasticity, delivers more revenue, profit
and growth.
Internally, a strong brand provides
clarity. Everyone understands what
the business is trying to achieve, where
it sits in the market, how it behaves
and how it adds value. When everyone
knows where the business is going,
they’re motivated, pulling in the same
direction to achieve the same goals. It
becomes the framework that guides
behaviour and shapes decision making,
allowing a business to move forward.
When viewed in this context, brands
are integral to long term success, and
the need for a brand platform with a
clear value proposition, positioning and
identity becomes more compelling.
Build a distinctive brand identity
Events compete for people’s time. To
be successful, you have to convince
your audience that exhibiting, speaking,
visiting is the best use of their time,
because you deliver opportunity they
otherwise wouldn’t have.
To establish a strong brand, you
Ian Bamford, founder,
Foundry12
Bamford spent many
years working in creative
agencies on brands
from Audi to KFC, AEG to
Johnnie Walker and client
side within the events
industry developing
brands including Spring
Fair, Pure, Bett and more.
He set up Foundry12 over
two years ago working
with start-ups and
established companies
to build brands, develop
messaging and create
emotive campaigns.
36 — April
“Investing in both brand and short-term tactical is a more
effective strategy than investing heavily in lead generation”
need to know why you exist, and how
that’s invaluable for your audience. Ask
yourself what impact does your business
deliver? Why should your audience care
about you? What value do you offer
them?
Answering these questions gives
you your reason why. Once you know
your why, you can define your value
proposition and develop a brand identity
that brings your proposition to life.
How you look – your fonts, colour
palette, visual style – your tone of
voice, the language you use, and your
messaging should be developed with
the singular purpose of creating a
distinctive and clearly differentiated
brand that engages people.
A distinctive style incorporating
design cues carried through all your
communications creates a visual
shorthand for your audience that builds
recognition and familiarity.
Likewise, your message should inspire
and motivate. It’s not about selling
how great you are. To connect with
your audience and build relationships
that last, it’s about having a clear
point of view that conveys emotional
intelligence, empathy and a narrative
based on business truths people
identify.
Be consistent
To build trust, generate loyalty and
ultimately make your audience buy
into you, it’s not only a distinct
identity and your message that matter.
Consistent delivery is vital. For people
to connect with your brand, they
have to experience the same familiar
emotional reaction each and every time
they interact with you. Being consistent
in how you present your brand and
how you speak is the driver that aids
recognition, maintains the quality and
integrity of your brand’s image and
increases its perceived value.
Without a strong, consistent identity
the result is a series of unconnected,
disjointed messages with no shared
thread running through them. This
creates uncertainty in the minds of your
audience. They become confused about
what they’ll get out of any relationship
with you, and you fail to connect.
Be creative
As much as we’d like to think they
do, people don’t consume marketing
materials. They’re busy, they only
consume what interests them. To
stimulate that interest, brands have to
deliver marketing that’s memorable,
motivating and truthful. Before channel
led marketing plans are developed
it’s about a powerful point of view
communicated consistently in a distinct
brand framework that people recognise,
identify with and trust.
The key is to find those business
truths your audience identifies with,
truly understand why your event
is the one that’ll help them thrive
and consistently deliver a strong,
differentiated brand that everyone
within the organisation understands,
and everyone outside the organisation
recognises.
Brand building has the power to
change audience behaviour and deliver
long term success.