FEATURE


COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING


The power of building a brand


By Matt Youdale, founder and Director of PR and marketing agency Arch Communications


Everyone likes a good story, and everyone has a story to tell. This applies as much to business as it does to other walks of life. The trick is to ensure that the story you tell is one which will make your company stand out and be noticed by those you want to reach. This is your brand narrative. It should encapsulate who you


are, articulate your unique selling point (USP) and resonate strongly with both existing and potential customers.


Matt Youdale


BUILDING YOUR BRAND Every company needs to take the trouble to think through and develop the story it wants to tell. It’s a key part of its brand and, therefore, a core component of its entire business strategy. Many enterprises start off by thinking about their brand


purely in visual terms – logo, signage, website, marketing materials and packaging. But that barely scratches the surface.


In truth, a brand is what instantly comes to mind when it


is mentioned. Is the name familiar? Does it conjure positive thoughts or negative ones? Does it have the “baggage” you want it to have? In shaping your brand, the first step is to establish what


you want your story to be. How do you aspire to be known, what makes you special? It’s a good idea to do this collaboratively, because one person cannot see the full picture. Take the woman who wanted publicity for her new cake-


making business. When I asked how it had come about, she told me she’d started making horse-shaped cakes for her horse-riding daughter. Soon she was taking orders from all her daughter’s friends too. This was the narrative – a mother’s love and creativity, applied to a specialist market. But she was too close to the story and needed help to bring it out.


36 business network November 2017


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