In the last couple of weeks I’ve had two questions/comments about our website. Specifically, one person asked why our site didn’t look like a “social media website” since we are the oldest social media agency in the world, and the other asked how on earth we could have a black site with white text since we are “a web development company.” My response to both was the same, “we are a consulting firm (not just PR, not just social media, not just web designers) and our site is very, very true to our brand, and branding is essential for OUR customers.”
Now, it’s not like either comment personally offended me, or that we didn’t have the same thoughts come our in our user testing/feedback. In fact, we’ve had a ton of criticism for those things above, as well as the tiny, tiny font we chose to use on the site and on our cards – which are the BEST business cards EVER! AARON SMITTHIPONG – Boon Creative The comments though did drive me to think about our yearly redesign and we’ve come up with some kitschy ideas that play off the feedback. It also drove us to revisit one of our core principles at Amanda Vega Consulting | Social Media Agency which is that a company needs to have a brand foundation, period. And they need to be HONEST about their brand – and everything they do needs to feed from that.
And honesty in branding is the biggest issue every company large and small has. When I speak for audiences and ask them how many of them have a branding foundational document, almost all of them raise their hands. When I ask if they feel they are different from everyone else, they all raise their hands. And when I ask how many of them list “best in customer service” or “best of class” as one of the 5 core principles – their hands are still raised. So someone is lying. Or some other marketing agency sold them a bunch of cookie cutter crap they learned in a business book of the week.
We are not ALL the best at customer service. We are not ALL the nicest, prettiest, easiest to use, blah blah blah. What’s the HEART of your company? And here’s a tip: it’s likely NOT the values of nature of the CEO/founder – it’s the PEOPLE that do the day to day work for the company. They drive the brand in reality – which is really hard for a CEO to admit or accept. They swear they are all leaders and strategists – but you can’t be great at both.
So our brand is this: we are the oldest in the industry, we are a bit belligerent or abrasive (not mean per se, but certainly not the cheesy kiss your ass every five seconds telling you how great your new haircut is or how much weight you have lost sort of way,) we are damn good at what we do hands down, and we truly are consultative in our company – to the point that we hand business to competitors all the time if it is the best thing for the client (which only TRUE consultants will do.) Our brand is harsh and nimble. Our brand is honest and flexible. The services we offer don’t make our brand – WE make the brand.
We develop a lot of sites around here. And most of our clients are highly focused on the user experience or expected nature of the web. While this is of course a good practice, they many times throw the heart of the company out the door in an effort to follow the lead of someone else (someone bigger, someone more popular, someone with more press, etc.) rather than truly tell the story of who THEY are and what makes THEM special. While usability guidelines are inherent in any good design, and certain rules of navigation/flow, etc. are obviously important, they are not always more important than brand and positioning.
So next time you’re thinking about your site, start first with your brand. Use the rules of great design, etc. but if your site doesn’t look like the rest (i.e. A white background with three tables with a callout in the right center, or now for “social media experts” a Wordpress blog turned into a site) don’t feel bad. If it works for you and shows the honesty in what you do – and brings customers in the door, then maybe you are doing something right and the others are lacking in imagination and honesty.
Have comments? We would love to hear them on this blog or give us a call (480) 275-9797, we love feedback of all types!
{ 4 comments… read them below or add one }
So true. But I think this is a totally American thing. It always amazed me, but I’ve long written if off as one of these things everyone says but never means. Just like when you great someone in the morning with ‘How are you?’ – no-one really wants to know how are you. It’s just a very well rehearsed ping-pong of ‘How are you? – Good, and you? – Good’. In fact if you diverge from the script you really startle folks.
The same is true with the American ‘we are the best in’ or the ‘my most favorite movies’ – isn’t that an overlooked grammar mistake anyway. There is only one most favorite, yet most people use it in a plural sense. And we drive big giant Hummers on the road. Everything has to be super-sized, or we feel we’re not measuring up.
I think as a society we have to become a whole lot more honest on many levels. Branding has to be honest, but it won’t be more effective unless the underlying interactions as a society are equally honest and less window dressing.
Jan
“since we are the oldest social media agency in the world” – seriously?
Actually, yes, we have been providing managed social media services for our clients since before it was called “social media.” In addition, I was on the original development and marketing team for AOL Instant Messenger and the Chat Room development team, which was in fact the very first implementation of social media – Twitter is basically a reincarnation of those same behaviors and tools in many ways. We have been handling social media for companies in older formats such as blogs, podcasts, and reputation management process for over 12 years – so that coupled with the fact that me and my team helped develop many of the tools that people are just now, or still using, to be social online for business – makes us the oldest firm.
Allow me to dive a bit deeper into Amanda’s thoughts. The ridicule, so to speak, that she received regarding her brand is what I call a huge success.
WTF? How could someone picking you apart and questioning your positioning be a success?
Because you STAND OUT. Sometimes standing out in a bad way isn’t all that bad. Sure, there are times when we cross the tasteless brand that creates nothing but nausea and therefore the “bad” part is no bueno. However, Amanda Vega Consulting’s brand clearly has a level of due diligence taken into account to ensure that the brand was created as a genuine extension of their brand values. The fact that the brand stuck out in the eyes of a few folks only means that they aren’t her target market. This is great news! their lack of connectedness with her brand only helped narrow her funnel and created a stronger position in the eyes of her TARGET market.
“Appealing to everyone is Compelling to no one” (author unknown)
If you want to build a brand that people give a damn about, then push the edges. Do something that has never been done before and by god do something that makes someone uncomfortable. I preach this mantra all the time and almost everyone nods in agreement, but fear pushes them back into the heard. moo.
Create something authentic. So many brands are pre-fabbed, regurgitated crap with no grit. We do not live in a time where you can afford to fit in. You must create a brand with personality and if the values of your brand offend Jack or Jill then so be it. At least your values are backed with integrity.
As for my dealings with Amanda Vega and her team, I can say that their brand identity rings very true to everything from the tweets from Amanda to the execution of their service offering. Job well done AVC.