We recently took on one of the biggest challenges so far: Building a solid brand and culture for our startup. We thought it could be fun to share our journey with the world and see what we learn, what we find out and how it can help others take on a journey of their own. We wrote about the importance of branding here as a first step into the journey: https://customericare.com/startup-branding-and-culture/ In these slides we focus on what makes a brand memorable. And here's the article that goes with the slides about building a memorable customer experience: https://customericare.com/create-memorable-customer-experiences/ Hope you'll like the presentation and don't hesitate to leave your thoughts in the comments! Some links to read more about building a memorable brand: - Brand archetypes: http://www.allegorystudios.com/culture-audits/12-brand-archetypes/ - Brand personalities: https://faculty-gsb.stanford.edu/aaker/PDF/Dimensions_of_Brand_Personality.pdf - Brand design tips: http://www.forbes.com/sites/johnrampton/2014/11/14/12-principles-of-great-brand-design/ - The effect of stories on our brain: https://blog.bufferapp.com/science-of-storytelling-why-telling-a-story-is-the-most-powerful-way-to-activate-our-brains

1. Our startup
branding journey
PART1
Whatmakes
abrand
memorable?

2. Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat

3. Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat
That’s us

4. Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat
That’s us
That’s who
we want
to be

5. WE NEED
A BRAND!
For that,

6. For real!
We even wrote about it:
See
CLICK TO READ

7. WHAT
IS A
BRAND?
Ok, first problem:

8. A LOGO A NAME+

9. A LOGO A NAME+
donot make a brand!
(wetried)

10. COMPLEX
A brand is a lot more

11. « Brand is just a perception, and perception
will match reality over time. Sometimes it
will be ahead, other times it will be behind.
But brand is simply a collective
impression some have about a product. »
- ELON MUSK

12. So, that’s where we’re at:
We have a name.
We have a logo.
We don’t have a brand

13. We tried things to stand out
in the live chat industry0$
Being cheaper
(read « free » here)
Being the convenient choice
(SEO + Integrations)

14. Long story short,
Being cheaper: Being convenient:
NOT A GOOD IDEA
CLICK TO READ MORE
TAKES TIME

15. Which brings us to…
…BRANDING

16. What we want to achieve here:
BECOME
MEMORABLE
STAND OUTTHINK
LONG-TERM
CREATE
CONSISTENCY
CONNECT
WITH CLIENTS

17. Yup, I know
we’re ambitious
But we’re determined to try,
and fail,
and try again.
Until we get this right.

18. share our process
with you
We thought it could be nice to
Starting with all our pre-rebranding research

19. A BRAND MEMORABLE
In this deck we’ll see what makes

20. - Simple Design
Some kind
of magic
potion
- Good story
- Unique personality
- Good knowledge of
customers

21. Some kind
of magic
potion
- Simple Design
- Good story
- Unique personality
- Good knowledge of
customers

22. No more than
2-3 main
brand colors
Unless you are selling rainbows
or your name is Google

23. A simple and
easy to
identify
symbol

24. A unique overall feel

25. That being said, here’s the most important thing we’ve learned:
Do not obsess over your logo
or brand colors…
Pick something and stick with it!

26. Some kind
of magic
potion
- Simple Design
- Good story
- Unique personality
- Good knowledge of
customers

27. When hearing or
reading a story
our brain reacts as if
we were part of it

28. Here are our 3 favorite brand
story frameworks for startups

29. 1. The PSS Story
Problem Solution Success

30. The example of Dropbox:
« Drew Houston, Dropbox’ founder, was tired of
forgetting his USB so he thought of a cloud-based file
hosting system that would solve his problem. »
The Problem The Product
as the solution
Success is pretty self explanatory

31. 2. The Underdog Story
Small business
passionate about
product and customers
VS
Big corporate business
with impersonal
customer service

32. « Snapchat entered the market with a clear goal: Fighting
privacy invading networks like Facebook with an app
where your messages aren’t kept in a database»
The Underdog
The Big Dog
The example of Snapchat:

33. 3. The Higher Purpose Story
Strong company
culture
+
A vision going way
beyond the product

34. « Buffer is a social media scheduling tool. Yet, they are also
known for their extreme transparency and journey
toward a new ways to operate as a company»
The example of Buffer:
2 elements that are visionary
and big parts of Buffer’s
culture

35. What’s right for you depends on
the actions you want to inspire
1
PSS Story
2
Underdog Story
3
Higher Purpose
Story
Mainly sales
focused. You want
people to solve their
problem using your
product.
Mainly relationship
focused. You want
people to have an
emotional connection
to your product.
Mainly inspiration
focused. You want
people to drive
change and make the
world better.

36. Some kind
of magic
potion
- Simple Design
- Good story
- Unique personality
- Good knowledge of
customers

37. The 5 dimensions of brand personality
1 2 3 4 5
Sincerity Excitement Competence Sophistication Ruggedness
Down-to-earth
Family-oriented
Small-town
Honest
Sincere
Real
Wholesome
Original
Cheerful
Sentimental
Friendly
Daring
Trendy
Exciting
Spirited
Cool
Young
Imaginative
Unique
Up-to-date
Independent
Contemporary
Reliable
Hard-working
Secure
Intelligent
Technical
Corporate
Successful
Leader
Confident
Upper-class
Glamorous
Good Looking
Charming
Feminine
Smooth
Outdoorsy
Masculine
Western
Tough
Rugged

38. The 12 main brand archetypes
The
Magician
The
Creator
The
Innocent
The
Explorer
The
Sage
The
Lover
The
Ruler
The
Hero
The
Caregiver
The
Maverick
The
Jester
The
Regular
Guy/Girl

39. The Magician
!
Understand the rules and laws to make customers’ dreams
come to life. Magicians yield miraculous results which
makes them look magical.

40. The Creator
!
Non-conformists who design products that help
customers be creative. Creators are perfectionists who
are found of good design and like thinking out-of-the-box.

41. The Innocent
!
Eternal optimists who think people are inherently good
and seek to make the world a happier place. They often
provide simple answers and have strong values.

42. The Explorer
!
They help customers cross boundaries and experience
something outside of their everyday life. Explorers love
adventure and love to learn by experience.

43. The Sage
!
Not the coolest kids on the block but certainly the
smartest. Sage brands value research and information.
They love educating customers.

44. The Lover
!
Lover brands are all about relationships and beauty. They
strive to make customers feel special and help them build
connections with others.

45. The Ruler
!
Ruler brands love being in control. They are leaders by
nature and are dedicated to make their customers feel
successful and important.

46. The Hero
!
Underdogs that end up winning using their skills and will-
power. They often have an enemy to fight against and
empower customers to achieve their full potential.

47. The Caregiver
!
Caregivers are dedicated to take the best care of their
customers. Their mission is to help others and protect
them the best they can.

48. The Maverick
!
They live to break the rules and go against established
conventions. Maverick brands are different, but they have
this cool kid image that’s oh so attractive.

49. The Jester
!
Jester brands are fun. They live in the present and want to
enjoy life and see customers have a good time. They don’t
like to take themselves seriously.

50. The Regular Guy/Girl
!
They live to keep it simple to be more accessible. All they
really want for them and their customers is to belong to a
community.

51. Some kind
of magic
potion
- Simple Design
- Good story
- Unique personality
- Good knowledge of
customers

52. Forgive me for stating the
obvious but:
You can’t build a memorable
brand if you don’t know what’s
memorable to your customers!

53. Let me give you an
example

54. Let me give you an
example Company X’ customers
are mainly young
freelance designers
like this cool handsome
young man

55. Let me give you an
example Company X’ customers
are mainly young
freelance designers
like this cool handsome
young man
This might be
memorable to them:
good & innovative
design, a dribble social
media link, references to
freelance work, good
looking mobile version of
website…

56. Now, company Y

57. Now, company Y
They mainly sell to
40+ corporate sales
VPs

58. Now, company Y
They mainly sell to
40+ corporate sales
VPs
This might be
memorable to them:
testimonials of other
enterprise customers,
strong focus on KPI, ROI
and efficiency, a
professional, formal
customer service

59. Doesn’t care much
about KPI and ROI
Doesn’t care about
your brand’s Dribble
profile

60. Cool, cool, but how do you know
what’s memorable to customers?
1. Hang-out in the same places as they do
2. Do one-on-one interviews
3. Look at the content they share
4. Study the look and feel of softwares
they use

61. Becoming memorable is our first
challenge.
!
And here’s how we are going to
achieve that!

62. What we have right now
Live chat software?
What? Looks like an
antivirus
Name is kinda generic
and hard to spell
(capital or small « i », all
together or spaces)

63. STEP 1:
New name: more catchy, less generic
New logo: more « chat like »
Real color scheme and design feel: the most
important part is to bring more design harmony to the
brand
We’re working on it and will release more info soon.
Stay tuned ;)

64. STEP 2:
What is our story and how do we tell it?
There are too many pop-ups / box based solutions
interrupting customers (live chat, marketing automation,
feedback boxes…). You can’t test them all at once and it’s
annoying to switch.Problem
Solution
Success
Build a tool that puts everything together and can
be a live chat by day, lead gen tool by night…
Time will tell :)

65. STEP 3:
We want to try a very different brand personality:

66. STEP 3:
We want to try a very different brand personality:
2
Excitement
Daring
Trendy
Exciting
Spirited
Cool
Young
Imaginative
Unique
+
The
Maverick

67. STEP 4:
Which customers will this resonate with?
Young, marketing
savvy website
designers looking
for a chat solution
for their clients
Digital marketers &
growth hackers
looking for new
ways to generate
leads

68. We’ve got memorable branding
covered
!
But that’s not all! Being memorable also means
building a memorable customer experience.
READ ABOUT IT HERE

69. That’s it for now folks!
!
Hope you enjoyed the
presentation and we’d love to
hear your thoughts!
Tweet us
@customericare
Chat with us
on customericare.com

70. Also,
!
if you you want to follow the rest
of our branding journey, you can
sign up for our newsletter
CLICK TO SIGNUP
(Next order of business: How to create consistency)

71. Aurelie Chazal
Consultant
Aurelie Chazal
Hi! Is there anything I can help you with
today?
We let you add a chat window
like this to your website
(How cool, right?!)
SOO, CHECK US OUT!