Menu

Branding Made Easy

The headline is misleading. Branding isn’t easy but it can be made easy. How? By being simple. Yes, simple.

The most simplistic brands give people what they want at the moment they want it without complication. And in the process, these brands earn devotion (and dollars) from customers.

According to the Siegel+Gale’s Global Brand Simplicity Index, 69% of consumers “are more likely to recommend a brand because it provides simpler experiences.” Dollar-wise, 63% of consumers are “willing to pay more for simpler experiences.

A lighthouse brand that is following the simple path to branding success is Netflix. The company gives people the shows they want at the precise moment they want it with a simple click of button. A totally hassle-free customer experience.

Amazon is another successful simple brand. Yes, their diverse offerings are anything but simple but the nearly anything you want to buy and one-click buying experience makes Amazon simple.

Another way to look at “Branding Made Easy” is through something I call The Aspirational Gap.

Aspirational_Gap

A gap exists between a consumer’s aspirations and their actual lifestyle. All consumers aspire to live a certain lifestyle but most times they settle for living a life below their aspirations. Successful brands make it easy for people to actualize their aspirations.

Customers who shop at Whole Foods Market aspire to live a healthier and more flavorful life by avoiding foods complicated with artificial ingredients and with genetically modified organisms. Whole Foods simplifies the lives of people by only selling natural and organic products. The company makes it easy for people to actualize their aspirations of living the good life.

People aspire to support charities beyond writing a check. But it’s difficult to volunteer one’s time to a charity because… that, takes time. The Movember Foundation makes it easy for men to raise money and volunteer their time to support men’s health charities. All a guy has to do is answer the challenge of growing a moustache for 30 days (starting Nov. 1) by registering at Movember.org. Then, for the month of November, men become walking (and talking) billboards for the Movember cause and they encourage friends/family to make a donation online.

The branding takeaway here is simple:

Create a customer experience that is ruthlessly easy.

Make it so simple for people to do business with you that you become their only choice. The world is already complex enough. The last thing people need is to be burdened with hassles and obstacles in order to support your business and actualize their aspirations.