Branding your WHOLE Web site to inspire action

It’s more than just a logo

I hear a lot of business people — and a lot of branding specialist, who should know better — talk about branding as if it were just a logo, or just a visual identity for an organization. But a brand is so much more than that. It’s about the total experience of your business and how that experience connects with and appeals to your customers.

Take Apple, for instance. They don’t have a great brand because they have a great logo. They have a great brand because they offer simple, elegant experiences that work like magic. The logo is just a symbol of that experience.

A great visual identity can be an effective short-hand for a promise of a great experience. But a great brand experience can inspire people to take action. And a key element of your brand’s experience is your Web site.

3 elements of an experience

In order for your brand experience — and your Web site — to be effective it needs to connect with your customer on 3 different dimensions:

• Aesthetic – this is the sensual dimension of the brand: how it tastes, what it smells like, what it looks like.
• Meaning – this is the social impact dimension of the brand. For instance, fair trade coffee has a meaning above and beyond what the coffee tastes like or how effectively it perks you up. This can speak to people’s aspirations of who they want to be, as well.
• Benefit – this is the “what’s in it for me” dimension. How does your product or service tangibly make life easier for your customers.

So how do you get your Web site to connect with your customers? You’ve got 3 main tools:

• content (perhaps the most overlooked of the 3)
• design
• navigation.

Each of those elements has to reflect

• the sensual experience your customers want — is it fun? is it staid? is it dependable? is it innovative?
• the aspirational aspects your customers want — how does it make people or the world better or different?
• the logical, tangible immediate benefits your business can bring

If they don’t, or if they’re pulling in different directions, you’re missing an opportunity to influence and inspire and to get the full benefit your site can bring.