Scott Saunders | We all know the importance of making a great first impression. And for the most part, we are all culturally-wired to desire doing so.
Think back to when you would take the time to pick out the perfect outfit for your first day of school. Or wanting to look and act your best on Day One of your new job. Or the importance of making a good impression when meeting your (potential?!) in-laws.
There are always situations where we need to make a great first impression. But unfortunately, for many business owners, the upmost importance of that first impression when it comes to introducing their brand to market is lost. They launch their brand into the market and watch as it doesn’t make the splash they had hoped for and struggles to stay afloat. The problem was they forgot some key concepts in making a good first impression.
Extra investment is required.
Making a great impression requires some form of investment. Whether shopping for new school clothes in August, buying a new tie or suit for that Day One at the office, or taking an extra thirty-minutes in front of the mirror before meeting their folks. Launching a successful brand takes extra time, capital, resources and sweat to do so. However, many entrepreneurs cut corners when it comes to their initial brand (and rightfully so as every initial investment dollar has a higher perceived value to it). We hear the terms “next-time”, “next-year”, “next-season”, or “next-phase” quite a bit in conversations with businesses . Unfortunately, many of those “nexts” never come and that mode of thought is just plain short-sighted. Cutting corners will never take you where you want to go. Realizing the proper investment is required for your first impression means having top-notch visual branding and top-notch touchpoints.
You want to stand out.
Most of us enjoy going to the occasional social party where we are given an opportunity to mingle, meet some new people, and as imagined, be successful in making a good impression. All the more reason that it would be a mistake to find out what a few other people are going to be wearing and arrive at the party wearing the exact same outfit. Embarrassing and memorable, but not the type you were hoping for. To make a splash at the party means standing apart from the rest of the gathering. Too often when it comes to brand, businesses mimic and follow too closely to the latest trends and end up looking like everyone else. This requires you to break the “pack mentality” and find a unique way of standing out from the crowd at the party. Know who your audience is and look for the ways to make yourself visually appealing to that demographic without just doing the same thing that everyone else is. Whether it is your visual identity, an aspect of your product or service that deviates from what people expect, or how you do things, the end result will leave memorable impressions – and the type you were hoping for. When preparing for your brand to enter (or re-enter) the market ask yourself this: Would you rather be at a pool party silently slip into the shallow-end with the rest of the swimmers, or do the cannonball in the deep-end that turns everyone’s heads?
Make it a lasting impression
It would be foolish to only be concerned with the first impression and then disregard any impressions beyond that. There is a reason you don’t wear the brand new fashion trends for the first day of school only to return the next day wearing old, tattered outdated clothes. There is a reason you try to make sure your second time hanging out with the “in-laws” is as consistent as the first (and that they don’t see you on your bad-days…just yet)
So why is it that many businesses show the wisdom of properly investing in a great brand system but then stop or dial-back the investment of strategy and execution in the time that follows the brand’s launch. Again, cutting corners on any points of execution will dilute any momentum the brand built up when it launched. The point is to take that great first impression and turn it into a lasting impression…one that remains or excels. Making a lasting impression with your brand requires re-investing time, money, and strategy back into the brand. The reason for this is simple: For those of you who have been coming to the same party for a while now… You need to always re-evaluate your brand periodically and pivot your brand as needed, because your audience and market WILL BE PIVOTING… and you don’t want to show up to that party in an outdated outfit (that was clearly “yesterday’s thing”).
