In the wake of the recent financial crises, many financial brands have taken a severe beating. Fortunately, much of the public's anger towards the big Wall Street firms hasn't trickled down to smaller community-oriented banks or firms across the country. Nonetheless, smaller banks and firms shouldn't be complacent.
After all, your client base constantly changes. Your branch continually rolls out new products and offerings. And your brand has an ever-growing presence on social media. All of this activity can significantly affect your brand, triggering questions like "Is our logo out of date?" "When was the last time we updated our website?" and "Have we revisited our social design?"
With so many moving parts, a financial branding refresh is likely in order. Using our brand questionnaire as a guide, here are some important factors to consider when revisiting your financial brand. (Click here to see the entire questionnaire.)
1. The fundamental nature of your business.
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Describe the nature of your service—in one sentence.
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Who are your primary clients or consumers?
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Who are the people (titles) within an organization that you sell yourself to? Who do you ultimately work with?
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What is unique about your company versus your competitors?
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What is the primary differentiator between you and your competitors?
2. Personality of your company
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What is your work environment like?
a. All serious
b. Comfortable
c. Fast-paced
d. Cheerful, casual, companion-like
e. Team oriented
f. Individual – revolves around the owner
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If your company were a car, what would it be?
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If your company were a bumper sticker, what would it say?
3. Positioning and marketing for your company
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What is the primary quality that your company possesses that will yield success? That is, what is your distinct competitive advantage?
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List the proof points that substantiate your value claim.
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What is your primary shortcoming or weakness that could potentially lead to failure?
Based on the research you collect from these questions, it is essential to create a financial branding platform document, which will outline your brand personality, brand promise and key messages for your business. This is where we can help.
The brand platform is developed through a combination of varied forms of research, current situation questionnaire, brand questionnaire and agency intuition and expertise. Once the data is synthesized and revealed, we will end up with a comprehensive company guideline for all of your branded communications and business marketing.
Now we'd like your feedback. How often does your firm conduct a branding refresh? What are the most important components of this process? What's particularly difficult about trying to refresh your brand?
Need more assistance in your financial branding refresh? Contact us for a free consultation.
