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There are all kinds of funnels. Funnels for your oil. Funnel cake, and then there are Marketing funnels. Why funnels? Product and Marketing have silly names for ecosystems and tech stacks. “Marketecture” should also be included in the silly category of Marketing speak. But that’s another blog post entirely. The mighty marketing funnel is a schematic that’s showcased a lot. So, what the hell, I made a funnel too! It’s a brand funnel, which I am sure isn’t a new concept, but I am feeling bloggy tonight. So, let me try to explain.
This brand funnel resembles an hourglass shape or a wine glass, not a funnel. However, this is a visual of how a brand identity project proceeds. At the top, a vast amount of information is needed to start a brand project. There are some concrete essential tasks, and some could be considered fluffy non-ROI trackable tasks. Then, all that information filters through a complex maze of thought leadership, creative concepts, and actual deliverables to get you to the focus point of your brand. It’s marked in the image here as the “spot,” a “brand spot,” if you will. “Brand Spot” sounds weird, but we’ll go with it.
The point, or the spot of this, is that brand exploration is a significant and potentially scary project. There are so many factors that go into it.
It’s complicated, and it is supposed to be.
Additionally, the word “branding” means different things to different people.
I have worked with many clients on creative projects, and when the word branding comes up. A slight look of fear in the eyes occurs. Flashes of lost money, time sucking away to oblivion, and the overwhelming list of to-dos flicker in those eyes. I know that look.
Some clients need all this and get overwhelmed–or excited by it. Some people could only need certain parts of a brand project, as they are well along the brand journey. Some just need a “refresh”. And let’s be real… a “brand refresh” is still a rebranding project. (It’s just a compromising term on how to ease it to decision-makers.)
Do you have to build all of these brand tasks out?
Some say all must be accomplished, and some say part of the brand to-do list can be done later. I think the latter thinking can result in unexpected roadblocks and gaps in your branding & messaging that you just have to fix later. I am on the side of absolutely. You can’t completely realize your brand without going through the entire process. You still have to experience the exercise on what defines your brand at the core level. (i.e., Mission Statement, Values, and Your Brand identity.) You might think you know your brand, but your customers might not. And that is bad. Really bad.
Your customers won’t get what your brand is until you go through at least the basic process of defining your brand. So, what’s worse? Customer confusion about what you do? Or concise brand message with clarity and, therefore, happy customers.
So, you might look like a “Charlie Day conspiracy meme” in your brand journey. but as someone who has been a part of multiple rebrands in my career, brand projects are not something to be rushed, skipped, or compromised. However, what can be accomplished on budget and on time is a decision that can be easily defined.
Therefore, the benefit of a small agency like ours is that we’re happy to discuss how to scale your brand project to cater to your needs. Branding is an exciting journey; your customers will be customers for life if you get it right. So, if you are ready to roll up your sleeves and get started on your brand journey, we are happy to guide you.
Cheers!
Greg Cooper
Owner & Lead Doodler
Idea Circus 💡🎪
AUTHOR BIO
I’m Greg Cooper, and I draw better than I write. However, I’ve been a Creative Director with 20+ years of creative and consulting experience in the digital landscape. My studio, Idea Circus, can partner with and provide complete creative solutions for agency-level production services without agency-level prices.
You can reach me on this site here, on the interwebs, and, of course, on LinkedIn.
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Here are a couple of GREAT books on branding that you may enjoy as well:
Conquer Your Rebrand: Build a B2B Brand That Customers Love and Competitors Envy
Building a StoryBrand: Clarify Your Message So Customers Will Listen
Not “Influencer” social,.. but social enough.
In the last year, this team processed 856,648,859 words across 100,000+ articles in 50 Languages. That’s a lot. I had the opportunity to build an internal brand for the Cisco International Experience (IX) team, which handles all localization projects for the company.
I had the opportunity to brand a startup, named Context River. Data is a river. Data works better in context. That’s the brand concept behind this new startup. Project by Idea Circus
How do you elevate a company’s brand? Well, you call me, of course 😉
Self-aggrandizing aside, I had the opportunity to help Rafay, an enterprise AI and cloud services company specializing in accelerated computing infrastructure. The Marketing team wanted a rebrand, technically it’s a brand refresh, but we updated a lot of stuff. Here’s a breakdown of all the projects for this new project launch.