Because perception guides our decisions: If your brand presents as vague, generic, and disorganized, your customers assume your expertise and services are too. Good news is, the opposite applies, too.

In order to attract and persuade seamlessly, a brand needs to understand what voice and visuals resonate best with their ideal customers. Win in brand perception and you’re one step closer to authentically and consistently reach your audience.

Follow along to:

• Get ideas, strategies or tips to develop your brand or learn how to assess brands yourself using my Brand Assessment template

• Share with others or reference this series or posts if you find the content useful and insightful

• Comment on how you interpret these brands and if you think I missed something

• Ask questions, share your perspective, connect with others and keep the conversation going for more ideas and tips

I break down my brand assessment into 4 core parts where I ask 4 questions to get a quick understanding of a brand and see if there are ways to improve its presentation and perception by examining the foundations:

Part 1: Impression & Perception

What’s the vibe?

• What are my first impressions and perception of the brand based on the look and feel?

• I ask myself, what is being communicated to me through the visuals and aesthetics?

Part 2: Assessment & Research

Is this brand clear, concise, and consistent to me?

• Am I understanding the brand as intended?

• Do I understand the offer, target audience, and overall vibe?

• And is the brand consistent through all their client-facing touchpoints?

Part 3: Strategy & Solutions

Are there ways to synthesize and align this brand better?

• Whatever the unique value proposition a brand takes, does their current brand align tonally, visually, and consistently to their ideal clients across all their marketing platforms?

• Are there ways to strengthen the brand’s systems in simple, high-impact, and sustainable ways for an individual business founder?

• If so, what are they and how can they be implemented?

The 3 areas that I base my ideas and solutions are the following:

• Core Messaging: What is the core UVP/offer? Who are the customers–can I clearly describe them? How can the brand communicate with their customers better?

• Visual Brand Identity & Aesthetics: As a brand, how should they come across to attract their ideal customers? Are they visually presenting as intended?

• Simple Marketing System: How does the brand’s online presence come across? Are there any gaps? If so, what are the possible solutions?

Part 4: Implementation & Transformation

If I were to refresh this brand, how would it look?

• What is the visual brand identity?

• What is the core message and UVP?

• How will it resonate with the ideal customers?

• How will the brand be translated across all marketing channels?

My intention for this blog is to share my thought process when studying, assessing, and interpreting the brands with respect and thoughtfulness. The opinions and interpretations of a brand and their online presence at a given time are entirely my own. I created this series to support developing my brand strategy and design skills using real brands and businesses.

As stated, I do interpret parts of my assessments and designs based on perceptions and assumptions which can affect accuracy of strategies and solutions applied.

My hope is that any tips, recommendations, and visual inputs are valuable and helpful for these and any business in their brand development or for those interested in learning more about branding or improving their branding skills. I am open to any respectful and constructive questions, comments, and feedback.

No ill-will intended, just a branding nerd interpreting brands marketed to her in real life.