Retail branding of a delivery service is a challenging but interesting task for KOLORO’s marketers. Why? Post has been around since time immemorial – when the need to transmit information and things from one person to another first arose. In various forms, postal communication has been a part of human life and eventually became an integral part of it.
A legitimate question arises: if consumers cannot do without postal services, why spend time, money and effort on branding the delivery service? In the Soviet Union, there was the Main Directorate of Postal Communications, which was in charge of all mail. Indeed, the huge organization, which was a monopolist of the industry, did not need complex branding. But today things are different: dozens of companies offer their services, and in order to stand out from the competition, it is necessary to develop a delivery service brand.
Stages of delivery service retail branding
- Marketing research.Before “breaking into” the market, you need to find out the situation: what companies will compete with you, what they offer, why consumers like them and why they scold them. For this purpose KOLORO specialists study the current market situation and make forecasts, make SWOT-analysis and identify the needs of the audience.
- Company Audit. Marketers will analyze your firm’s operations, philosophy, mission and values, and identify strengths and weaknesses. Are you new to postal services? Perhaps you need a rebranding. Ideally, it is recommended to “refresh” every 2-3 years, especially for service brands. Audience wants and demands are constantly changing, and the winner is the one who keeps up with the changes.
- Positioning. The main goal of positioning is to form in the minds of customers an attractive image of the company, which causes positive associations. That is, if a person who uses FedEx services knows that his parcel will be delivered from one country to another in a short time.
Read also: 8 winning brand positioning strategies
- A unique selling proposition. A well-thought-out UTP creates a competitive differentiator and gives consumers a compelling reason to come to you. It may be a rare service, a convenient geographic location, lightning-fast order processing, or another characteristic that other companies can’t match.
- Development of the delivery service’s identity. Identity elements help to form a holistic image of a brand, make it recognizable. They are used to design souvenir products, employee uniforms, interior and exterior, documentation, envelopes and packaging, etc.
Read also: How creating a brand identity helps increase the price of your product
- Post Office Design Development. This is the main difference between retail branding and other areas. Customers interact directly with a retail brand when they come to a store, a café or, in this case, a post office. The way the interior and exterior are decorated has a major impact on how consumers feel about the company.
- Brand promotion. Marketers develop a strategy to bring the brand to the market, determine the channels of advertising communication with consumers, as well as the tools and methods to be used for promotion.
Having ordered the service from KOLORO, at the end of the work the client will receive a marketing research report, a concept of positioning, UTP and promotion, several variants of corporate identity and logo, as well as a brandbook for the post.
Love me harder: why do consumers love delivery service brands?
The Muse, a reputable online publication, conducted audience research and found out what influences their attitudes towards the Post Office brand.
A friendly branch operator who politely greets visitors and calmly answers questions is the reason why 73% of customers would favor the brand. At the same time, 89% of respondents said they would refuse the company’s services if they encountered poor service.
Visual factors directly influence a customer’s decision – this was confirmed by 90% of respondents. Another 46% of respondents consider the design of the official website as the main criterion of the company’s credibility. And brand recognition is most influenced by the color scheme of corporate style (according to 80% of respondents).
A positive experience of interaction with a delivery service encourages 3 out of 4 consumers to contact this company in the future. That is, it is important to please the audience with “pluses”, such as promotions, a favorable discount system or a loyalty program for regular customers.
Read also: Loyalty programs: love from the first purchase
Mail branding: instructive examples
Ukrposhta
In 2017, Ukrposhta rebranded itself. The new logo of the post officehas several meanings. First, it resembles the navigation dots used on Google Maps. Second, the sign resembles a postal horn, a wind instrument used in the past to announce the arrival or departure of a letter carrier.
Considering that Ukrposhta is a national postal operator with a long history, the combination of tradition and innovation in one logo is a successful solution. However, there were those in the crowd of famous designers who accused the project of being incomplete and primitive.
The new identity is made in a color scheme familiar to Ukrposhta, which refers to the coloring of the Ukrainian flag. Yellow – the color of optimism, openness and energy – also prevails in the design of offices, i.e. the chosen shade fully reflects the updated philosophy of the company. It is noteworthy that the “sunny” design of the branches is diluted with bright details, namely multicolored symbols in the form of geotags and flowers.
New Mail
The slogan “Future Delivery” harmonizes with the brand name and identity. The logo shows the letter H surrounded by arrows that show four directions. This reflects the “ubiquity” and progressiveness of the logistics company (the message is “We are rapidly developing in different directions”).
A similar technique is used in the logo of FedEx, the world’s leading postal service provider. The space between the letters E and X forms an arrow that symbolizes forward movement. Interestingly, the logo contains only the name, with no other graphic elements. This shows that the brand is self-sufficient and confident: it does not need additional “decorations” to be known and recognizable.
The corporate style of the delivery service is based on a bright red color scheme. Red color symbolizes determination and strength, calls for action. It is believed that scarlet shades can cause negative associations with aggression, anger and irritability. However, in this case, the choice of color worked well. On the street, bright red signs are visible from afar and immediately attract the attention of passers-by.
InTime
The InTime delivery service is an example of how a prolonged lack of updates negatively affects a brand. The company appeared in the early noughties and was the first on the market to offer many services to the audience, but over time it lost ground to competitors who had conducted better branding.
Read also: 11 reasons to rebrand
The updated corporate identity is based on the yellow color. This is how the designers expressed the company’s friendliness and openness. The branding of the logistics company emphasized the most important characteristic, according to customers, which is reliability. This idea is continued by the slogan (“Reliable Delivery”) and laconic identity without excessive decorativeness.
Company representatives claim that thanks to rebranding, they managed to exceed financial indicators in the first year. This fact confirms that a positive image of a delivery service created with the help of branding tools significantly influences the audience’s attitude towards it.
Bottom line: how do you build a strong brand for the Postal Service?
Customers who use delivery services want their parcels and letters to be delivered quickly and intact. They also want quality service: affordable, prompt and courteous. Thus, a logistics company must first establish smooth internal operations and train employees, because without this, even good branding will not yield high results.
The task of retail branding is to reflect the company’s philosophy and business principles. When creating a brand for the postal service, it is the above requirements of the audience that should be focused on and embodied in the brand’s identity, naming, interior and exterior. At the same time, positioning, UTP and corporate identity should not be banal and cause direct associations with competitors. These are the tools that will help to consolidate the brand in the minds of customers and “fall in love” with your delivery service.
Read also: 10 retail trends you can’t ignore
Contact KOLORO branding agency to order retail branding for a delivery service or logistics company. We know how to build a reliable brand!
