Hey Hot Potatoes,

Welcome to the latest edition of the Hot Potato Newsletter. Now since this newsletter has started, we’ve explored quite a few ways to grow your brand; previous editions have covered cross collaborations, leveraging customer loyalty and upselling tricks (guys I’m giving you some serious golden nuggets here). But have you ever actually taken a minute to reflect on your own brand and how it looks? Well your branding and brand image is something that has a huge impact on how recognisable you are to your customers and how successful you are as business. If its something you’ve neglected or haven’t put too much thought into, today is your lucky day, as we’ll be exploring why your brand is important, what improvements you could make and what good branding looks like to give you some inspiration. So let’s get into it!

In today’s email: Beyond the Logo: Building a Hospitality brand that stands out.

Read Time: Approx 7 mins

What is branding and what are it’s components?

Source: Branding Mag

I’ll be honest, if someone asked me a little while back ‘what is branding?’, I’d tell them it’s your logo and the colours you use. However since I’ve found myself in the world of branded packaging, I can tell you it is in fact far more than that!

Key Points:

1. Definition: According to Cambridge University, the definition of branding is, “the ongoing process of identifying, creating, and managing the cumulative assets and actions that shape stakeholders' perceptions of a brand”. Simply put, it's everything you do to influence how people think and feel about your brand, which is an ongoing process, and constantly changing as people, markets and businesses are always changing.

2. Visual Identity: One of the main components of branding is the visual elements, think of things like your logo, design and packaging… everything that your customer sees with their own eyes.

3. Non-Visual Components of Branding: This is about looking past the visual elements and focusing more on your personality as a brand. How are you coming across to your customers in terms of your tone and voice? What values do you stand for as a brand and what type of customer service do you provide?

4. Brand Identity: This encompasses all visual and non-visual elements of your brand and is a set of qualities that make a company or product distinct from others. It is how people define you as a brand and business.

5. Brand Positioning and Strategy: A big part of branding is it’s positioning and the strategy. Brand positioning looks at how your product is marketed in relation to other products and competitors, while your strategy is your detailed plan for developing and marketing your brand successfully. In simplistic terms, look at where your products or service fits in the market and how you’re going to bring it to your customers.

So we now know branding isn’t just a splash of colour here and there, it’s a far more considered and complex concept. It can take a lot of time to build and develop your brand as branding overall is an ongoing process, so don’t worry about getting it right the first time! Take it step by step, understand where and how you want to position yourself in the market, and then slowly develop your brand from your visual identity to other non-visual elements.

Benefits of a strong brand.

Source: Forbes

Having a strong brand can bring some serious advantages, some include increased customer loyalty, your staff feeling empowered and aligned to a great culture, business resilience and being attractive to new customers.

Key Points:

1. Higher Prices and Customer Loyalty: I’m not a huge fashionista myself, but you know when you go clothes shopping and see two similar t-shirts, one for £20 and one for £100? Well that’s a clear as day example of the importance of branding. Even if the competition have similar products at a lower price, brands who have developed a strong reputation are able to charge higher prices, and this is a testament to the value their brand is shown to provide and their loyal customer following.

2. Empowered Staff: Strong brands have the ability to attract the best staff… after all, why wouldn’t you want to work somewhere where you feel part of a movement with a mission, where what you do feels like more than just a job? Employees who are proud of where they work and love working there will tend to provide better service, high quality work and create a better customer experience overall.

3. Resilience: There’s no doubt the increased cost of living has made people question how often they decide to treat themselves. However it’s safe to say strong brands are able to weather these storms. That being said, customers still want the closest thing to a guarantee, so when they do spend money on an experience or meal out, they will do so with a brand that has a good reputation and one that they trust will give them a good experience.

4. Attracting New Customers: It goes without saying that a strong brand is attractive for your customers and is what can help bring more customers to your business. I mean, have you seen the constant queues at Sandwich Sandwich at any given day for lunch? Or at Dishoom for dinner? A strong brand is more memorable and acts as a differentiator amongst your competition.

It goes to show that it is worthwhile investing in your brand as it brings great benefits. It is also worth adding that you can’t compromise on your offering if you’ve got a good brand; hype fades, so ensure the quality of your food and drinks remains high.

How to improve your branding.

Source: Giantpeach

There are a number of ways to improve your branding, from staying consistent with your brand and it’s story, to having clear values that you live by. It’s also important to leverage socials, digital marketing and ask for feedback.

Key Points:

1. Be Super Consistent: Like most things in life, if you show up every day and be consistent at what you do, people will eventually notice. When it comes to branding, consistency is key… whether it’s your visual identity e.g. logo, colour, fonts, your tone of voice or your visual style across different touch points, such as website, socials and packaging. People become familiar and trust you when they know what to expect from you.

2. Define and Live by Your Values: It’s essential you understand what your brand values are and ensure that they’re clearly communicated to your staff and employees. Living by these values will then help build a strong and authentic brand. For example, if your brand cares about the environment, you could encourage your staff to cycle to work…

3. Go Big on Digital: A massive way to improve your brand is by leveraging social media and digital marketing. Using social media can be super useful for engaging with your target audience, showing off your personality and growing your brand’s presence. Implementing digital marketing strategies like SEO (Search Engine Optimisation), while having a clear and user friendly website, will help improve your brand too.

4. Ask for Feedback: We also shouldn’t underestimate how impactful feedback can be, both positive and negative. If you don’t ask for feedback, how do you know what people think about your brand? It’s important that when you do receive feedback you build on it and use it to make improvements.

Hopefully these pointers above provide a good starting point to help you develop your brand further. If you’d like more expert help, there are some great agencies I’ve come across, the likes of Good Habit Studio, White Sky Creative, 93ft and Meor Deisgn can take your branding to the next level.

What does good branding look like (in my opinion)?

Crumb Vegan have recently launched their site in Islington and are taking the cookie world by storm. I can confirm their cookies are epic and I am a huge fan of what they’ve achieved with the brand. I love their bright colours, bold logo and fun tone of voice. They teamed up with White Sky Creative and have produced an unmistakable identity.

Find them at: 8 Charlton Place, London N1 8AJ

It's Bagels have quickly become pioneers of NYC Bagels and have been driving the bagel wave we’re currently riding in the UK. Their brand pays homage to the typical bagel shops you find in New York, and everything about the brand is authentic and carefully thought out; from the shop fit-out, to the logo, packaging, uniforms and merch, I love what they’ve created.

Find them in: Primrose Hill - 65 Regent's Park Rd, London NW1 8XD, Soho - 8 D'Arblay St, London W1F 8DP and Notting Hill - 120 Kensington Park Rd, London W11 2PW.

Loafs Bakery down in Cornwall are redefining what your local bakery looks like. The family behind Loafs also own St Ives Bakery, a more traditional bakery. They knew they wanted to open a second bakery but do it in a completely different way. Their distinct cruffins, retro logo, unique packaging, no nonsense tag line ‘pastry never sleeps’, and consistent content on socials are all factors helping them build an amazing brand.

Find them at: 63 Causewayhead, Penzance TR18 2SR

Today we’ve run through all things related to branding; what it is, why it’s important, how to improve your brand and I’ve even given you insight into some of my current favourite brands. So if you’ve got this far, I want to know, what’s one thing you can do to improve your brand today?

The next question I have for you is whether you have wanted to own a restaurant but couldn’t be bothered with the hassle of creating your own brand? In next week's newsletter, we'll dive into the world of restaurant franchising, explore the pros and cons of the model and whether it's actually worth it in comparison to launching your own brand. It's not an edition to be missed!

Thanks for reading and don’t forget to subscribe to stay updated weekly on all things hospitality!

Bon appétit,

Max Shipman, Editor-in-Chief, Hot Potato

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