When you ask a jazz musician how they improvise, or what improvisation is, you might find that you might not get a satisfying answer to your question. It may end up sounding overly simple, “I just close my eyes and play.” Their answer could even sound spiritual, “The music comes from somewhere, but I don’t know where.” Regardless, most every musician will agree, that one thing you have to do is listen.
Though we may not all play an instrument, we all improvise in our lives when we use intuition. Intuition may be a mix of our thoughts, values, things we’ve learned. Each one of us relies on this intuition to suggest everything to us, from which frozen meal to buy, down to which friends to spend our time with. At Twelve12, we also recognize that intuition is crucial for Orange County companies concerned with their branding.
Customers use intuition when they choose one product over another. What does intuition mean for the customer you’re trying to attract? As a brand, you’ve got to be careful not to force your ideas on the customer; rather, you’ve got to listen, dive in, think about the choices your customer makes, and deliver on these. You’ve got to know your target customers’ intuition, and work with it. That’s intuitive branding.
Good marketing can trick us—that’s no secret. But to reap lasting, long-term benefits from your marketing push, whether it’s pushing out a new website, designing a new logo, or creating a multi-touch ad campaign, you’ve got to seek the truth of what your customer thinks, feels, and wants. It’s a collaborative listening process.
Intuitive branding as we define it at Twelve12 is a way to emphasize the human side of marketing. We don’t seek to standardize or mechanize the brand development process to make our client conform to a model that will “lure” customers in; rather, intuition plays the key part. It’s a process of listening, of adjusting, and importantly, of not being afraid to change course a little to get at the heart of what our clients are offering, as well at getting at what that client’s customer base will want to see.
Intuitive branding. It’s a process. It takes effort and communication. In the end, however, we feel that the results are more exciting, and that they better reflect our clients and their Orange County customer base.
And most importantly, it’s human.