Your Brand Identity: The Power of First Impressions
“You never get a second chance to make a good first impression.” WILL ROGERS
Marketing material only works if you create an emotional connection with your audience. You have to make that connection at your first opportunity or you’ll miss your chance. Why? Because people do judge books by their covers, despite being told not to.
PsychCentral.com states, “New research suggests that first impressions are so powerful that they are more important than fact.” The reason this happens is because we use our gut feelings to evaluate things, not our thinking.
People will Judge Your Brand identity—your “look”—In a blink of an eye
It happens so fast there’s not enough time for thinking to take part in the decision. Various research studies suggest that first impressions are formed within a minute of an encounter with a person or a situation. In fact, one study concluded that an impression of another person is formed in just a fraction of a second—a “blink”—which leaves no time for thinking to influence the decision.
You Don’t get a Second Chance
First impressions are lasting impressions. Once formed, they’re hard to change. For example, your initial gut reaction to a person will stay with you even when contradictory evidence later presents itself. Just think about high school and some of the impressions you formed of fellow students without knowing anything about them. You just decided, almost instantly, what that person was like, and those impressions probably stayed there for a long time. You might still have those impressions today.
A good first impression will create emotional desire in your audience and tempt them to learn more about you. They might even buy right on the spot. And once someone has formed a first impression, it’s difficult to change.
what’s your Brand Identity?
Look at the ways you might make a first impression: your business card, face-to-face at a networking event, your ads, and especially your website. Each one of these is making a first impression on people. The question is, what impression are they forming of your business? Is it negative, humdrum, or love at first sight?
While all your marketing has the potential to create a positive first impression, none has the ability to do it so well and for as many people as your website. Your website isn’t just another marketing piece, it’s the online representation of your whole business.
You have the opportunity to engage visitors’ senses through the overall design, including the written word, graphics, and videos. Even the user experience of navigating the site is sensory. Never underestimate the potential your business’s website has to create a great first impression.