The branding of the company is not just the look on paper or through photos and decor but it is carried out throughout the experience of the venue.
In this issue, we will see how branding and forming a brand identity can affect and potentially boost your hospitality venue's popularity.
Branding is one of the first design decisions to make as a business when in concept development. The initial business plan for any product or service requires strong branding to represent the company.
In this development stage, the company identifies the business values, what product /service they are selling, the sort of clientele they are marketing to, and the pricing for their services. Once this research has been carried out, a concise concept for your business model is formulated resulting in a target audience.
A demographic of people the company wishes to draw in, all decisions from here on out are made with the clientele in mind, what would they like and what would they want. We target our audience through marketing and word of mouth.
Now moving to brand identity, A brand should be personalised and unique to represent the new business. Starting with a name and a logo, branding helps build the identity of the company. A company may choose to share their personal stories as part of the branding or invite the clients to share an experience they have experienced as a form of nostalgia–all of these stories help form an emotional connection with the clients.
Branding is a tool that encompasses various elements that distinguish a brand from others, in turn making the brand recognizable and desirable to the target audience.
Once a brand identity is solidified, the branding lends itself as the brief or ‘bible’ for any designer to follow.
The branding of the company isn’t just the look on paper or through photos and decor but it is carried out throughout the experience of the venue.
Obvious brand elements we have already touched on like graphics, which include logos, menus, posters, adverts, merchandise, marketing and other design elements like interior design all contribute to the success of a brand; but there are other elements that help to distinguish a venue and make it memorable.
The clients' experience starts from making the reservation, again website and booking services use branding and photos to market the venue but the way we are greeted also represents the company, when training service employees for any company they need to know the company values and branding, the employees are dressed in branded uniform and greet guest in a manner suitable to the brand, the music and the journey to your table/room should embody the brand's intended experience.
Even the tableware and food plating–not to forget the food itself. All these elements can be designed with the brand identity in mind. There is a real excitement when the cocktails and platters have a signature entrance when presenting to the clients, these sorts of experiences are what can make the venue stand out from the rest.
Once a brand is recognizable it has the potential to be in-printed in the client's brain.
Now let us discuss interior design and how it can help promote your company and boost brand recognition.
Interior design houses all the elements mentioned earlier to create and host a unique experience, embodying and immersing users into the brand.
Most of us book our reservations online through a website of some sort, so our first impression of the venue options presents itself to us through photos, a still shot that embodies the comfort the venue has to offer.
The venue / interior space is where the client first physically interacts with the product and service.