Brand Aid 4: ‘www.w’

…It’s not the ‘www’ you were thinking of: the World Wide Web, although amazing, is NOT the most important set of ‘w’s when it comes to your business branding and marketing! OK, I hear you shouting… what IS the most important then? – It’s:

The first 2 ‘w’s: who are you? and what do you sell? should be dealt with by your logo and strapline. Every time they appear they should inform customers who you are and what you sell.

The Second 2 ‘w’s: where can customers contact you? and why should customers buy from YOU, not your competitors? Should be present on every piece of marketing communication you produce – printed or online!

Simple, logical and obvious you may think, yet it never fails to amaze me how many businesses still get it wrong!

Let’s start with the who? and what? – way back at the very beginning, 21 years ago, when I first bumped into my alien mate ‘Bruno’, (who recently landed on Earth from Mars).

Bruno has a very inquisitive mind, he wants to know all about our world and asks some very probing questions. Over the years he’s been invaluable in helping us out with design problems, in exchange for a few beers.

Here’s Bruno, his picture hangs in pride of place at the studio, as a constant reminder to us mere mortals, whilst creating solutions for our clients. Whatever is produced – we always ask “Would Bruno get it” without having to ask too many awkward questions?

The first job Bruno helped us out with, way back in the early 90’s, was a logo we designed for Ryman:

The client’s comments were: “Thank you, we love our new logo – BUT, we’re Ryman, we’ve been around a very long time, everyone knows who we are and what we do… so could you please remove the unnecessary strapline?”:

“Eye doo knot underrztannd, pleez*?^”.

OK Bruno, good point, well made – they’re Ryman, they’ve been around a long time, BUT what
do they sell – how are new customers going to understand what their offer is?

So, we politely argued our case. It wasn’t easy to convince
them to go with out our suggestion, but…

21 years later, they’re still ‘Ryman the Stationer’ and we’re proud to say that they’re still using our logo.

Here are a few more examples Bruno & I collected, whilst out and about:

OK, who? – they’re ‘One Brown Cow’ bit of a wacky name, with the word ‘brown’ written in green, tongue in cheek, on the edge, BUT “Wart doo zey doo, pleez*?^”. Yes Bruno, what do they sell? – we’ve absolutely no idea! There’s a small web address telling us where to contact them, but would customers bother to find out what they sell? – Bruno & I didn’t, I owed him a pint, so we went to ‘The Brown Cow’ pub round the corner instead.

OK, who? – they’re Walton Street Cycles, what? – they sell cycles, hooray!, we’re getting there – but no, apparently not, hang about – where? – “Ware kann eye kontakt zem, pleez*?^”. Unfortunately they’re nowhere near Walton Street, they’re on London Road. There’s no phone number, web address, e-mail address or QR code telling customers where they can be contacted.

Now on to the last, ‘w’ but probably the most important… why?

Why should customers buy from you, not you’re competitors?

This is the ‘stand out from the crowd’ bit, the thing that sets you apart from others in your field – ahhh, so you’re the ones with that ‘THINGY!’ or are you the ones who offer better value for money? – the best service? – are you the cheapest? – the huge Supermarket where ‘every little helps’? – the local Estate Agent

that want their customers to ‘Think Pink’?

Whatever your point of difference is ‘SHOUT IT LOUD’ and be very proud of your ‘thingy!’…

Please feel free to use my alien mates ‘Out of this world – would Bruno get it?’ free service, when putting your own branding and marketing to the ‘www.w’ test.

“Wart hav U gott tu looz, pleez*?^”.

If it works, just buy him a pint if you happen to see him out and about… Cheers!