In the age of advertising in social media, now more than ever, brands are selling by word of mouth, but these days it’s not just words we use but pictures. This means that now, more than ever, brands need to be recognised in an instant. The best way to do that? Unique Brand Assets.
Let me set the scene.
A customer scrolls through their social media and stumbles across a frothy cappuccino in a cosy warm environment recommended, no less, by their favourite influencer. They immediately want to take themselves there - to be in that environment, to enjoy that frothy cappuccino. The next time they go to make a date with a friend to meet for the coffee they have been craving, they realise they are missing something. What was the name of that coffee shop they wanted to try? That place with the cosy interior, the frothy coffee?
With nothing to distinguish this particular coffee brand from its competitors, its word of mouth recommendation is lost. The customer defaults to on another memorable brand they know in the high street.
I think user-generated advertising is fascinating and it works two-fold.
Brands buy influencer’s time (and followers) by paying them to promote their product. This could mean they have creative direction over the content, although not always.
Aspiring content creators looking to win over brands promote them for free to show what a good job they can do.
Of course the latter is also prevalent in users who recommend brands for no reason other than that they love them; they believe in the product, they value the service and they emotionally buy into the story.
All of these things help brands get out there and increase their customer base. But a brand without unique brand assets, regardless of how loved they are, will be limited by their memorability.
Memorability is Key
Memorability is influenced by many things from the name, the brand story, the colour ways. It could even be the sound their coffee machine makes or the uniform the staff wear. Every detail, if considered, can count towards that memorability and make the brand stand out from the crowd.
Below you can see the instagram feed for coffee content that people may stumble across and that may influence their purchase decisions.
What do you notice?
There is a lot of the same thing going on here.
I picked coffee brands to analyse because they often make the mistake of their brand story being about the product, and not the feeling or effect their product and service has.
This means that there is no real differentiation between one coffee shop and another if they are all decorated with coffee beans and steamy cups.
Now let’s look at the difference with brands with unique brand assets.
The coffee in Costa can be distinguished from the logo’s presence on everything from the cup, to the stencil on top of the coffee. Their brand colours are present throughout the interior, on staff uniform and the paper cups. This is also true of Starbucks and their cups. Their logos and colour palettes stand out because they are unique and consistent references of their brand.
What we can learn from this exploration into user-generated content coffee content is this: memorability is key.
If as a brand you are lucky enough to have people advertising for you via word of mouth on social media without your monetary input, you will only make the most of it if your brand is memorable.
So what makes a memorable brand?
Unique brand assets
Brand assets are everything from the logo, logo variations, to colours, typography pairings and style of photography. The more distinct the assets are from competitors, and the more unique they are, the more likely that the brand that people will recall when they see them is the correct one.
A unique brand story
The brand story is what consumers connect with and what the unique brand assets reference in order to represent the brand. A unique brand story is essential to provide both a unique positioning and distinction from competitors, but also provides a strong foundation from which all the visual brand assets come from.
Consistency
Consistency builds memorability. We learn things from repeated exposure. If a brand is inconsistent it will fail to be memorable and it will confuse consumers. If a brand is consistent both in its application of unique brand assets and the positioning and tone of the brand, a piece of social media content will enable the brand to be recalled in more ways than one.
An emotional connection
User-generated content is a form of word of mouth recommendation in a visual way. We have established that we need to get the visual right in order for the brand to be memorable, but the brand needs a strong emotional connection with consumers for it to be recommended in the first place. An emotional connection is born out of a resonance with a brand story; one that is unique and authentic.
Memorable brands will thrive on social media. Make your brand memorable with unique brand assets, a unique brand story, consistent application and an emotional connection.
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