Lessons in branding you can learn from travelling
Welcome, Bienvenido, Salut, Privet, Yōkoso, Willkommen!
Having recently done my first international trip in 4 years, I'd forgotten a lot of the little things that come with travelling, and more specifically… flying! The quirks, the stresses, the processes, the excitement, and the clever hacks of going through airport checks smoothly.
And with all that time spent sitting around in airport terminals and, of course, on the plane (like the 15hrs spent on the longest flight), it got me thinking about how some of these travel lessons can apply to branding and business too.
So I made them into 6 lessons about branding:
LESSON 1:
Don’t try to cram everything in
You know when you’re packing for your holiday and you want to take an outfit and pair of matching shoes for every possible weather condition and occasion, but then you only have space for the versatile essentials?
So does a brand.
In order for your brand to be memorable and easily recognisable, it needs to be simple. By packing in too many colours, fonts, photographic styles, tones of voices, brand values etc into your branding, you’ll just end up weighing down your messaging, and confusing your audience.
If in doubt, edit out.
LESSON 2:
Always be early
Ah, the number of times I had the all-too-real dreams about missing my flight… although, that’s a story for another time, because this one is not a lesson on punctuality and being on time (you should be doing that already - for good business and in life).
Rather, this is about being early and ahead of the trends.
It’s about putting your ideas or your brand out into the world without waiting around for someone else to start doing the same thing or waiting for a divine sign to tell you to do it. When you have a great idea, go for it!
When you don’t arrive early enough to the "airport of success" (lol), you'll get stuck in the crowds and in queues, end up missing your flight and staying… Right. Where. You. Are.
So, always be early. Proactivity will take you to exciting places.
LESSON 3:
Never lose sight of what matters most
When travelling to a foreign place, you become very aware of the things you need to 'survive' in any given situation: Your passport, money and bank cards, your phone, charger and the address or map of where you're meant to be heading. Having these things on hand means the difference between being stranded and stressed should anything go wrong, or having the resources to sort things out.
The same goes for branding; when you know what's most important to your brand (it could be its values, the problem it solves in the world, a unique product or service), you'll keep it close to you in everything you do. A good brand will never let what it values most, out of its sight.
Stay true to what makes your brand valuable.
LESSON 4:
People will pay extra for convenience
We humans in 2023 have very little time in our busy lives. So if your business can tailor products or services to help people save time, you'll be able to charge a premium for convenience.
You could do this by having easy online appointment booking, offering an add-on service to deliver and assemble the flat-pack furniture for the customer at home, or in this illustration’s case, selling coffee right where tired travellers are passing the time.
Busy people understand that time is worth the investment, so you'll be able to charge more because you're making someone's day that little bit easier.
LESSON 5:
Invest in good equipment (and help)
Running on from Lesson 4 that time is money, and also your most valuable asset.
If you can put money towards buying something that would help you and your business run that much faster, and smoother, and save you from a headache and avoidable stress, do it.
Don't be like this guy breaking his back carrying heavy bags over his shoulder when there are solutions specifically designed to make this task (and his life) easier! (But seriously, if you don’t have wheely bags already, just do yourself the favour…)
On a business level: invest in that faster computer, or a bookkeeper to do the time-consuming numbers, a bigger workspace as you grow, that paid subscription to organise your workflow, or a graphic designer to make your brand look its best (cough-cough…).
You'll wish you'd done it sooner! Promise.
LESSON 6:
It's a lot easier to be found when you stand out
Every time I stand at the airport luggage carousel anxiously waiting for my bag to appear, I know at least I don’t have to waste my attention on every single black or grey case that passes by because I can always spot my distinctly coloured bag far off (when it eventualllllly arrives, that is).
If your branding looks just like all the other brands on the market/ shelf/ internet/ street/ luggage carousel, how do you show that your brand is the one that people should use? That yours is better than all the rest? By differentiating yourself, of course!
While it's easier to stick to the safe or default options (e.g. if the common colours used in your industry are blue and silver) and you don't take the risk to do something differently from your competitors, you're going to have to work a lot harder to convince people to choose your brand. But if you dare to stand out, you dare to be noticed.
So to summarise the 6 things from travelling that can apply to branding:
Don’t try to cram everything in
Always be early
Never lose sight of what matters most
People will pay extra for convenience
Invest in good equipment and help
It’s a lot easier to be found when you stand out
