When you know your customer’s, they know your brand. Here’s how.

Your friend Ben, loves dressing up all casual and laid-back. And he’s been dressing up like that ever since you got to know him.

One day, you decide to meet him at the local cafe just like you always used to.

And you don’t recognise him until he walks up to you and calls your name.

You’re stunned for a moment, cause he isn’t Ben. At least, not the Ben that you used to know.

Cause he’s dressed up like . . . this:

Yeah . . . you’re confused.

He wasn’t even recognisable! Even after you had scanned the entire cafe, it took you some time to recall and identify that it was actually Ben.

The time that it took for your brain to pause, search and identify Ben caused something known as Cognitive Load.

“Cognitive load” relates to the amount of information that working memory can hold at one time.

And yes, you’re right, your customer neither has the time nor energy to sit down and recall your brand in this fast-paced digital world.

That’s why it’s important for brands to recognise you and not recall you.

What’s the difference you may ask?

The brain doesn’t have to do much to recognise something, but it sure does need to work a bit harder to recall something.

When I ask you what you had for lunch last Friday, you’re gonna have to do a little bit of thinking. But if I were to ask you what you had for breakfast this morning, you’ll immediately tell me what it is.

Last Friday = recall
Today’s breakfast = recognition

As a business owner, it’s your responsibility to put effort for your customers to know you by being consistent. And what do I mean by that?

Let’s admit that in today’s digital world there is so much competition and the time in order for your customers to recognise your brand or any other brand for that instance is getting shorter by the day.

Now when time is such an important factor, do you really think that brands can take so much time to be recognised by your customers?

And even if your brand is aware of the lost time, are you aware of the loss that it might have on your business?

If you aren’t, let’s look at this from a brand’s perspective.

The reason why brand identity was even created in the first place was that when humans or a  customer spends time with your brand, they should be able to understand your brand to a certain level or extent in the short time that they spend with you.

As a brand, it is not possible to try to explain ourselves entirely (our mission, our vision, what we stand for) just within a short paragraph. Though you explain your brand in a paragraph, your customers or audience neither have the time nor the patience to read it entirely to get to know your brand.

Hence, the way your brand chooses to send the message to communicate with your audiences is being converted visually.

And for it to be transported into visual elements, you should have a clear idea of what your brand is, knowing what your brand’s purpose is (the whole reason for your business’s existence).

Visual elements such as colours, textures, patterns, typography, images, etc. help you to identify your brand.

Brands try to take and combine certain visual elements to send out a message to the customers.

Other brands are trying to match a specific identity with their business (or brand) because the concept of branding, stems from human understanding and emotions as certain visual elements (such as colours and shapes) evoke a certain feeling inside humans subliminally.

And once your customers or audience see and know what your brand is, they shouldn’t forget you.

Your customers or audience should recognise your brand which is the whole point of even having a brand identity.

In order for customers to recognise you, repetition is important.

Why’s that?

“Repetition of your brand visuals (colours, typography, patterns, etc) is the only thing that will help your customers get to know you better.”

And how can your brand achieve repetition?

By staying consistent. Consistency is required in order for repetition to endure.

And we all know that consistency from your brand is what will help customers not feel like a stranger to you.

So show up consistently by repeating your brand visuals in all your physical and online spaces, such as websites, visiting cards, letterheads, shopping bags, etc.

When a brand is consistent in its visual representation, it is easier for its customers to recognise them, if not, it is very challenging for the customers.

So help your customers by being consistent.

If your brand is inconsistent in showing up as the same person to your customers, they easily lose interest and trust in you.

Are you willing to take that risk?

If not, don’t do it.

Don’t be inconsistent unless or until you are trying to test the waters with new designs for fun or through customer feedback.

I hope you all know by now how important brand identity is and how it can literally save you from losing a business or starting a new one all from scratch all over again.

It can save you so much time, effort and money in the long run.

Remember, you just have to repeat your visual designs over and over again by being consistent for your customers to recognise you, that will fuel a beautiful and fulfilling relationship with them and will help your business scale up in the long term.

Wanna know more about visual design? Stay tuned, we’ve got them coming!

If you have a clear idea now of how you want your brand to be and look, feel free to contact us. If you want to know more on this topic, hold on, cause we’ve got so much more content coming up related to all things branding and design.

If you found this blog useful, don’t forget to tell us, what is your biggest takeaway.

We’d love to know.