Piping hot
The Pizza Tracker from Dominos is one of the best branding tools they came up with. You place the order online or through the app and you can see where your pizza is in the process of making and delivering that hot and fresh pie to your door. Of course, Dominos didn’t need to do this. After all, they built their brand without it. Why create it now?
There could have been many reasons. However, one thing is clear. They took assumption off the table while enhancing their professionalism. I don’t know about you, but when I’m hungry I want my food fast. I don’t want to call wondering where my pizza is and how long it’s gonna take to get here. The more time goes by without communication, the more I’m wondering what’s going on. My mind then paints the picture of what I think and feel. Now that pizza shop is what I’ve painted it and they can’t change it.
I’ve said before your brand occupies a place in people’s mind and once you’re there you cannot change it unless you have A LOT of money. However, when you provide a process you’ve taken the brush away from them. As long as the process works, and repeats the same experience people want, you’ll get more business. Admittedly, this took longer for me to put into practice, and made it harder for me to do my job without pushback. Example.
Back to the drawing board
I was designing a logo for a client which was the first part in a large brand integration campaign. Designing logos takes a lot of research and time. This translates to a few weeks actually. I know that of course, but my client doesn’t. So, they thought I ghosted them with a rather large deposit and started calling wondering what’s going on. I’m in the Batcave working but they didn’t think that. Naturally, I’d let them know where I was and made sure they were comfortable. Yet, their frustration and uneasiness carried over to the presentation because, like in the previous article, the preframe of mind is bad, so their reaction to the logo was bad and I had to go back to the board unnecessarily.
Now I put the process of building their brand on my website and in my proposals so there’s no question. On top of that I make the engagement, the entire project, phased so that everyone is good on the direction and we can make adjustments as we go.
Transparency is king
By making the process of doing business with your brand public and easily accessible you accomplish three things:
Address any underlying concerns your clients may have.
Increase your professionalism which increases trust.
Paint the picture YOU want of your brand, and with each successful project you do, you’ll be able to increase your rates.
As you make the process transparent and not a secret, you continue to control the narrative of your brand and keep making it amazing. Next time we’ll talk about one of the most important parts of your brand picture, your reviews. Much success to you.
Images courtesy of Pixabay.com
Originally published on LKNconnect.com
