What role does branding play in my AEC business?

Branding was the buzzword in business about a year or two ago, but I still find a lot of business owners misunderstanding what brand is and how it affects them. One common misconception is that their logo is their brand, when in reality, the logo is just one of many tools that help define what your brand is. Your brand is how the consumer feels about your business. The act of trying to shape that perception, is branding.

So if your logo is just one tool in your toolbox when in comes to branding, what are the others? There’s a lot that goes into defining what your brand is, and there’s a multitude of ways to do so, but generally, it’s how you speak and show up to your customer. Every touch point that a potential customer has with your brand, is an opportunity to shape their perception of you, and it’s not just how you look, but how you speak to them as well. Was your logo made in 2005, making you look antiquated when next to your competitors? is the language on your website unclear on what your offering your customer?

What does it look like if you don’t have your brand defined?

• You feel like you have to micromanage the proposal writing process.

• You have a hard time making your proposal stand out from the others.

Big business understands the value of brand. They spend millions of dollars for superbowl ads because they know that being top of mind drives sales. But what do we do if we don’t have millions of dollars to spend on a 30 second ad?

Brand strategy helps businesses nail down their brands in a way that makes sense.

So here’s

Be clear, be confident and don’t overthink it. The beauty of your story is that it’s going to continue to evolve and your site can evolve with it. Your goal should be to make it feel right for right now. Later will take care of itself. It always does.