One word; INAPPROPRIATE! Both of them are right? Let’s elaborate to find out if your brand belongs to one and if so, find a solution out of the situation.

A NUN IN A MINI SKIRT.
The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a nun as

“a woman belonging to a religious order; especially: one under solemn vows of poverty, chastity and obedience.”

A classic example will be the catholic reverend sister. Does their loooong blue/black and white gown ring a bell in your head? Now imagine them in a mini skirt.

I will be the first to admit that a brand’s visual and verbal identity (graphic design and choice/tone of words) are never enough to make the brand successful, however, no matter how fantastic your product/service is, if it is presented to your target market in an inappropriate manner, you’re not going to attract the right people to demand your product/service. Once again, picture a nun wearing a micro mini skirt preaching spirituality to you. “Is she confused?” That’s a possible reaction in your mind right?

Without doubt, with a wrong brand identity you can still attract a great deal of prospective clients but the percentage of them that will pay for your product/service will be very minimal. Why? See it this way. As inappropriate as a micro mini skirt looks on a nun, it will be a perfect identity for a call girl and that of course can be very attractive. Now imagine that all the attracted people rush to the nun with the impression that she’s a call girl and the 1st thing they hear from her is “if you’re a sinner you will go to hell”. You can imagine the greater speed at which those who rushed to her will rush away from her right?

Is your brand identity attracting the right clients to you? Yes? No? Not sure?

Solution
It is expedient you consult an experienced brand identity developer to help you communicate your brand to the public the right way. When done professionally, your brand identity serves its function of standing you out thus grabbing attention and attracting your intended market. If your identity is perfectly in conformity with what you do, then it is bound to keep those attracted coming back with others. That will definitely have a positive effect on revenue.

A THUG IN A 3 PIECE SUIT
From the parable of our adorable nun above you might already have an idea of what is wrong with this. You do right?

In as much as a great brand identity can attract loads of clients to you, if it’s not built around a great product/service, all that attraction will fade away when people discover what you offer does not live up to their expectation.

Let’s assume you meet a young man in a nice suit, prim and proper, wearing an expensive perfume and speaks queen’s and king’s English. Your impression of him will be that of a perfect gentleman right? Very attractive isn’t he? The kind of guy the men want to do business with and the women want to fall in love with. Now assume you visit the man’s office and on the wall hang the most inappropriate posters you’ve ever seen and banging out of his speakers are the most ridiculous songs you’ve ever heard. Then he crosses his legs on the table exposing a horrendous tattoo just above his ankle, gives you tattered contract papers soiled with whatever poisonous drink he’s been consuming and as he lights whatever roll he is about to smoke, he mutters the words “can we finalize the deal on me being your public relations manager?”

Are you still fascinated by his 3 piece suit?

Solution
A fantastic brand identity is not good enough. If you want to build a brand that will stand the test of time, you need to offer products/services that are valuable to a target market. You must conduct proper research to find out if there will be demand for what you offer. You need to find out the location, age and sex of the people who are likely to pay for what you offer. If you cannot define who needs what you offer, where such people are and how you are going to get it to them, then your business will not become a brand that a lot of people will easily and lovingly embrace but a commodity hoping that someone somewhere will somehow someday pay for, for a reason even you yourself cannot understand.

Finally, your offerings must be done with fantastic customer service to keep the customers coming back.

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Is Your Brand a Nun in a Mini Skirt or a Thug in a 3 Piece Suit?

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