pdhCreative

branding & graphic design

Patrick@PDHcreative.com | 360.609.5759

Branding

It used to be a logo and a tag line did the job for most companies.
-Then we wised up. Now we’re telling stories and connecting with our customers in ways that just a few years ago were unthinkable.

 

When you maintain a consistent emotional connection with your customers by fulfilling your promise and being authentic about it, you see big results. You turn customers into fans, and that is what branding is all about.

Some of the ways I can help you grow your brand:

Archetypal Branding

Brought to the main stream by Carl Jung, archetypes are an inherited pattern of thought or symbolic imagery pulled from past collective experience. They are the personalities, forms, images and beliefs shared by all cultures worldwide. Most people from anywhere in the world will understand the concept of the Hero or the Outlaw.

When you discover the archetype you authentically resonate with and act accordingly, it strikes a universal connection to people- it naturally establishes meaning and emotional relevance at the subconscious and unconscious levels.

12 Archetypes & Sample Attributes

There are innumerable archetypes, and every culture has their own names, but here is a list of the well known to give you the idea.

• Innocent: Pure, natural, safe, clean, happy, wholesome
• Explorer: Individualized, adventurous, exciting, self-directed, innovative
• Sage: Expert, quality oriented, teacher, smart
• Hero: winner, make a difference, competitive, be the best, provide heroic service
• Outlaw: Buck the system, rebel, shocking, counter cultural, wild man/woman
• Magician: Miracle workers, spiritual, holistic, visionary
• Regular Guy/Gal: Practical, sense of belonging, not pretentious, reliable
• Lover: Sexy, indulgence, sense of style, intimacy, sensuality, sense of belonging
• Jester: Fun, playful, impulsive, spontaneous, light hearted
• Caregiver: empathetic, altruistic, compassionate, anticipate people’s needs, nurturing
• Creator: Risk taker, willing to experiment, innovator, turn dreams into reality
• Ruler: Stable, in control, decisive action, efficient, the biggest, the best

Messaging

How well you articulate your promise to your customers can make all the difference in the world. I can help you develop the phases and words that sum it all up-in your own authentic way.

Brand Lexicon

Developing a vocabulary that fits within your brand has many benefits externally and internally as well.

Inside, the right words help your management team and staff comprehend who you are as a company and gives them consistent ways of communicating these traits- with your customers and each other.

Externally, this vocabulary can be used in your copy writing, elevator speech, advertisements, brochures, answering the phone, writing emails or just saying hello. Again, it gives you consistent and emotionally driven ways of connecting to your audience.

Positioning Statement or Brand Promise

By presenting a clear sentence or compelling word or series of words that show how you differ from your competition and what your customers can expect, you can speak to both the rational and emotional sides of the brain.

Sometimes it’s an actual promise; like Domino’s “30 minutes or it’s free”. Most often it’s a statement or series of words that create the promise in the mind of the viewer -think Kaiser’s “Thrive” or “The Ultimate Driving Machine”.

Photo Bank

A picture is worth a gazillion words. Having a large number of high quality photos that consistently convey the emotion of a your brand promise is huge. These images combined with the right words can be used in many combinations to showcase different aspects of the company depending on the audience or promotion.

Brand Guides

How do you keep it all together and consistent when there are a several people with different ideas promoting and representing the company? By creating a simple, clear set of guidelines and giving them the tools to do it right. This ensures that what’s going out is true to the brand, authentic to your company and compelling to your audience.

This could be as simple as a one page PDF, all the way to a hardcover book that explains the history of the company and it’s goals for the future.  It depends on you and how you roll.

Consulting / Brand Check Up

A fresh set of eyes can do wonders. I’m available for consulting for various aspects of brand development, website usability testing, company or program name development, domain name selection, messaging and other creative aspects of business.