Creating and establishing your own unique brand is a very particular and complex challenge for business.
A brand is much more than a logo. A brand is made up of multiple strands and layers, from products and packaging to customer service, and it is sometimes difficult to work out if your own understanding of your own brand bears any resemblance to that of your audience.
As your brand is all about an external perception of who you are, what you do and how you do it, you yourself are often too close to it, too embroiled in its detail, and it can help to bring someone in from outside to examine and work on it, offering a perspective that you, as the brand creator, can’t see.
At Optix Solutions we are great believers in creating industry networks and sourcing expertise from the most innovative local companies, working in areas that compliment our own.
Alder and Alder founder Jonathan Alder says: “With a new brand you start with a blank piece of paper, but with an existing brand it is often a bit like doing a jigsaw puzzle; all the pieces may be there but some help is needed to put them together in the right order.
“We have four basic touch points that form the basis of brand; communications, products and services, the people who shape the organisation and the location and environment you work in.
“For an online business the website is not only about how it communicates but it is also the location. The website has to reflect the personality of the business, be easy for the visitor to find their way around, find what they want and get the help they need.
“Social media now allows even the biggest businesses not to be faceless, but to engage in a more personal way with their customers and build loyalty and brand awareness.”
Once a brand is established Optix Solutions specialise in tailoring websites for its clients that reflect the brand, particularly in the case of a new company or product, make the website itself an integral part of the brand.
“It takes a lot of experience to successfully translate a brand into a website, the first essential being to get a feel for and understanding of the business and its customers by talking to and meeting them,” says Optix Solutions director James Dawkins.
“When you design a site there are conventions and usability considerations that have to be adhered to make it work properly. You wouldn’t put the steering wheel of a car on the roof, but beyond that everything stems from the brand, so we have to develop a really thorough understanding of what that is.”
“It’s a creative process incorporating basic elements such as matching imagery, colours and fonts, making the site as easy as possible to use and including lots of trigger and contact points.”
“But it is also about building relationships, presenting information and knowledge and selling the positive benefits of the company or the product to people genuinely interested in what they do.”
