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iHub Consulting By Mel Mbugua / November 9, 2012

The Web 102 (DefiningThe Brand)

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By Stig Njiru

In previous posts of The Web Series we have looked at the process of understanding the purpose of a website and specific business needs. In this post we will explore the process of defining a business brand and how this applies to its digital presence.

There are tens of definitions of what a brand is. The one I prefer is that it is essentially a gut feeling and a philosophy  which an organization lives by.
Why is it important to know what brand you are dealing with? It is to make sure that the same feel and experience of the brand is replicated on digital. There are many resources to help you learn how to do this exercise extremely effectively but it will come down to personal preference. However, I recommend the following practice done by Digital Agency The Groop as it is extremely hands on and covers all the basics.

http://www.slideshare.net/thegroop/groop-skool-workbook-inception-42911

Below is a short overview of what is covered:

In short to get to know the brand, it is vital to know all the brand attributes and develop an effective statement that will be used as a guideline throughtout the web process. These main attributes are:

• Personality (What type of person is the brand? Responsible, smart, funny?)
• Culture (How do you work, collaborative, discrete, blunt?)
• Users (What are the people your are targeting like? Super tech savvy, ignorant, wealthy?)
• Benefits (What benefits do users get from working with you or consuming your products/service?)
• Value (What value do they get if they decide to go with you instead of the competition? Bang for buck, 360 solution?)

The brand statement should automatically give you the direction to take for everything (strategy & creative) thus shouldn’t be taken lightly.

The next step will be  to try to understand the market.

Stig “Searge” Njiru is a technology lead at Digital Brands Group . He takes different conceptual approaches in design and development with a gripping mastery on UX.

Author : Mel Mbugua

Mel is a thinker and doer who focuses her energy on activities which seek to find new ways of educating young people to develop their critical thinking and creativity skills. She is currently the lead at iHub Consulting. @melmbugua