The transformative effect of branding cannot be emphasised enough. It’s easy to make mistakes when embarking on the branding process and become a victim of bad branding. Bad branding can take on various forms; it can be a weak brand voice, visually unappealing aesthetics or inconsistent messaging. There are several pitfalls of bad branding which can hurt your business in the long run.
BDSA worked with Be Bare Waxing to understand how they were not connecting with their target audiences, their areas of weak branding and suggested strategies for overcoming these branding challenges.
Be Bare’s branding challenges
Be Bare faced several branding challenges that made it difficult for the brand to achieve brand resonance – the ability to create an emotional connection with customers through the different elements, such as a brand’s name, design, copy, mission, vision and story. Brand marketing agency based in Singapore, BDSA, worked with Be Bare to revamp their brand and create a cheeky, light-hearted, fun brand. Through BDSA’s first stage, Brand Discovery, primary research and an internal and external audit to understand the problem areas was performed.
BDSA’s solutions and strategies
1. Laying the foundation of a brand
Problem: lack of brand strategy and direction
The first question we tried to answer was, “Why did Be Bare’s target audiences have lukewarm feelings towards it?” This root issue was that it did not have a brand strategy in place to guide the operational team. Predictably, this lack of direction translated to having inconsistent design styles and a diluted brand voice across the various touchpoints of a brand, its social media, website and physical store. Not having an overall theme confused consumers and gave them the impression that the brand was inferior.
Solution: defining the brand and creating a brand strategy
Brand strategy is pivotal to the success of a brand and helps to define the essence of a brand, what its goals are and BDSA created a brand strategy that lists out key components of the Be Bare brand: its vision, mission and values. This also paves the way for other elements of the brand – its promise, pillars, positioning and personality – to also take form. With a branding strategy as a guide, Be Bare’s branding was revamped and made consistent across all customer touchpoints.
A brand’s visual identity is key as it is the outward expression of what a brand is and what customers first notice about you. Make it count. To convey a fun, cheeky brand personality, Be Bare’s visual branding was analysed and given an overhaul. Some elements of the brand, such as its ape, the brand’s original mascot and the purple brand colour, were retained. Other elements, like the sparkle and the wink were added to further bring out the brand’s personality. Also, posts that did not align with the brand’s personality were taken down.
2. Creating a top-of-mind brand that consumers love
Problem: generic branding and unclear brand positioning
The second issue Be Bare faced was that of unclear brand positioning – where branding is neither unique nor memorable, making it difficult for it to stand out amongst competitors and create a strong impression amongst its target audiences.
Solution: positioning a brand to create brand resonance
Through market research, it is clear that Be Bare’s target audiences are heartlanders who are seeking hair removal services. As such, they can seek to set themselves apart from larger, more well-established hair removal brands that are located in malls in premium neighbourhoods like Orchard or Tanjong Pagar.
To further cement the brand in the minds of consumers that Be Bare is your choice hair removal service, we also suggested that they change their name, from BB Beauty to Be Bare Waxing. This makes it clear that the core service of the brand is its hair removal waxing services. While they do offer other services, the name change is a definitive signal to consumers the unique selling point (USP) of the brand. By being clear about what their brand does, Be Bare took greater strides towards positioning the brand – making it eventually a top-of-mind choice for consumers. They are also a step closer to achieving brand resonance – loyalty towards a brand and the advocacy of it – the holy grail of branding.
3. Reaching consumers where they are
Problem: engaging in ineffective traditional marketing methods
The third issue faced by Be Bare is its choice of marketing channels and an overt emphasis on traditional marketing methods, such as flyers. In today’s world where brands can engage with consumers through digital channels, businesses need to relook how they use traditional marketing methods.
Aside from the fact that flyers are not particularly effective, they can be costly to produce and use up a large amounts of paper. This can create the impression that your brand disregards the environment, which can hurt your brand’s image. According to a survey by McKinsey & Company, 66% of respondents and 75% of millennials say they consider sustainability when making a purchase. Be on the right side of the sustainability movement by going paperless.
Solution: selecting effective marketing channels to engage audiences
Businesses need to understand first who their customers are to be able to know how to reach them. Be Bare’s target audiences are of a younger demographic. These youth are tech-savvy and spend a considerable amount of time on social media. According to a survey done by Statista, 20.3% of Instagram users are female, aged between 25 to 34 years.
Be Bare also particularly wished to target Gen Zers, those born from 1995 to 2010 – teenagers, tertiary students and those entering the workforce. This segment of the target market are looking for budget-friendly waxing services and, compared to other brands Be Bare stands out as an affordable choice. To reach these digital natives, it was imperative that Be Bare rolled out engaging social media campaigns. Through BDSA’s social media marketing services, Be Bare focused its marketing efforts on digital platforms instead of traditional methods.
Find out more about BDSA’s branding services
Intrigued and wish to learn more about how BDSA can help your brand? Along with brand consultation services, BDSA also offers assistance in applying for EDG’s SME marketing grants. Find out more now.
