Reading recently on the Marketing Week website that brand consultants ‘sneer at tight simplicity preferring to add layers of complexity’ I wondered how true this is; why clients might hold this opinion and what we can do about it.

It’s a criticism often thrown at marketeers – and agencies especially – that we over-complicate things and add layers of mystique and cloud what we do in smoke and mirrors.

This is not the way we do things – our aim is to create the simplest most accessible version of your brand story.

Sitting in a new business meeting a few days later where a client was asked to define their business in 3 words made the point quite succinctly. Try it for your business, it’s not always that easy…

It seems to me that most of marketing starts off with simple and direct questions – e.g. what are your key messages, what are the benefits, who is the target market – questions which need answering before any of the so called ‘complexity’ can begin.

We believe that a business proposition needs to come from within, it is the same for brands, and needs to be substantiated through the brand identity and communication.

It is the job of the brand consultant to find the value, the specialisms, and the story within a business and communicate this concisely in order to give it its point of difference and help it achieve its objectives.

Identifying this requires a broader understanding of a business’ competitive market, its aspirations and overall business strategy. A brand identity and strategy created in isolation would be lucky to succeed.

As we so often advocate brand strategy needs to be aligned with business strategy but that doesn’t mean it needs to be any more complicated and it is our job to get you to that position of clarity.

Having a clear, succinct and engaging proposition that reflects the activity of the business is the key to brand success.

As the good old marketing rule states – actual value needs to match perceived value.

Simple!