How Brands Miss the Mark

There are a lot of different ways to miss the mark in branding and there are some common, industry-specific ways organizations are missing the mark.

Technology-intensive Companies

If you’re offering technical products and services your copy has to be excruciatingly clear. The reader should not be left wondering after reading your website, “What exactly do you do?”

The mantra for you is Steve Jobs’ “Simple can be harder than complex.” Make the writing simple. Make the design excruciatingly clear.

Tiny type; long line lengths; a confusing menu system; too much stuff on the page, a lack of white space, and more can all make it hard to understand what you offer. People are not likely to invest the time needed to understand what you offer if they have to navigate design obstacles to do so.

Excruciating clarity is a good look for any brand in any industry. For the tech-intensive it’s crucial.

Decades ago, Jakob Nielsen, a user experience expert was conducting research and writing about topics like “How Users Read on the Web” and “Aesthetic Minimalist Design.” His research and articles still provide sound guidance on the basics of writing and designing for the web.

Mainstream media publications have also invested heavily in “how readers read on the web.” You might notice they share common opinions on what line length, type size, and general page design principles to use online.

Property Management Companies

Property management has never been more challenging. There is an ever-lengthening list of compliance requirements, and both aging pre-war buildings and more modern ones (not built to last) all necessitating time, attention, and money.

It seems the only thing property managers and Co-op Boards can count on is that prices, across the board, will be higher next year. It’s not easy to be a property manager — or a Board; the pressure to “do more with less” is intense for both.

In a landscape characterized by change, heavier workloads, and increasing costs, property managers are dealing with the challenges and unclear expectations in different ways.

The newer players in the industry promise technology that will offer operational efficiencies but will they ever set foot in your building? Some of the more traditional players are proposing solutions that are not exactly a “win win” – the Board does even more work in their unpaid position or the building pays gargantuan fees for capital improvements and insurance claims.

In the absence of an industry-wide conversation and level-setting on how to deal with these challenges, the deep listening we do as part of a competitive differentiation would serve property managers well.

In competitive differentiation, as we look at your services and messages, we seek to articulate what’s unique, relevant to your clients, and credible.

As an industry, property management seem to have less clarity than most on what’s relevant to their clients.

What’s “unique” is also problematic to a Board choosing a manager….There are the small companies that have technology but use it to keep staffing levels down.

Purpose: What’s your purpose? In all the change, it’s important to remember why we’re here – both property managers and Boards. We both have a fiduciary responsiblity to the Co-ops and Condos we support.

Schools

It’s good that you know who you are… It’s still important for you to be cognizant of how you are perceived in the world. Without that knowledge you’re missing opportunities to reach a broader audience and fulfill your purpose.

Insularity and politics that prevent institutions from doing an objective competitive (comparative) differentiation keep them smaller than they would be otherwise and prevent them from flourishing.

In all of these cases people may be buying your products or services or attending your school. You may even be, by some measures, “succeeding” but you’re likely missing opportunities that are costing you business and preventing your from fulfilling your potential as deeply as you could be.

Refining Your Brand

To refine your brand, we work with you to conduct a competitive differentiation. We clarify what’s unique, credible (or deeply authentic), and also relevant to your audiences.

With that information we help you create a brand that has impact – that conveys the truth about who you are and what you offer and that hopefully inspires your prospects and clients to hire you and stick with you.