Why Does Self-Reflexivity Matter in Branding?
Self-reflexivity is a term that has nothing to do with your physical reflexes. Instead, it’s a concept that looks at how we understand our sense of self and personal beliefs in relation to other people and their beliefs.
That seems simple enough, but self-reflexivity is a skill that takes practice and honing, and often gets left out of the discussion of marketing, and communications altogether.
So how does one practice being self-reflexive, and why does it matter for your branding and outreach?
Nothing is One Size Fits All
I’m a bit of a social media and tech ethics nerd. Everything from the visual branding, moderation policies, to algorithmic programming is fascinating to me. Unlike traditional media, social media involves a higher degree of reader/audience determination than say a newspaper or TV news outlet.
With social media you not only can seriously curate what information you’re getting, but you also can produce that information. With traditional media, at most your choice is buy/do not buy or watch/do not watch.
This increased audience influence also means that the content on social media is incredibly expansive. Millions of people producing content means millions of ways of looking at the world.
It also means that we can find ourselves experiencing echo chambers in a uniquely isolating way. While most of us choose to maintain close relationships with folks who share morals, ethics, and worldviews similar to our own, social media means that we can sort of isolate ourselves into experiencing only viewpoints of persons that echo our own.
Our views of what other people think becomes atrophied, and often that means a lack of awareness of how what we communicate will land.
Echo Chambers Ruin Branding
Social media’s expansiveness versus the way so many of us very tightly curate our online experiences is a prime example of how human nature tends to err towards confirmation bias. That’s neither bad nor good, but it’s something to be aware of when your work means communicating with lots of different communities.
We get used to seeing our own preferences, ideals, morals, and beliefs being shared across what can feel like millions of other people. This flattens our awareness of folks who are like us and how they still differ, and how folks who are different from us actually likely still share a lot of common ground.
And we forget that in reality people are aren’t flattened into an us/them binary reality.
Branding and Marketing with Others in Mind
In an ideal world for marketers, what we like and think is cool in our brand and collateral, everyone else would love as well. Such a world could make choosing visual branding, designing campaigns, setting up processes, and so much else infinitely easier. And probably infinitely more boring.
In order to do good work that entices, excites, and interests others, we have to be able to create with others in mind.
This tenet is built into marketing and communications. Whether it’s the practice of developing buyer personas, to sending a product campaign out for audience beta testing and feedback before the final campaign launch, good marketing seeks out a multitude of experiences and viewpoints for feedback.
Self-reflexivity makes doing this work easier. When you’re self-reflexive it means you’e aware of why you hold your personal set of beliefs, opinions, and preferences, and are able to also conceive and explore the way in which other people’s beliefs, opinions, and preferences will differ.
This doesn’t mean you’re always chasing after what someone else likes or wants.
Especially for socially-focused organizations like nonprofits, having a really clear set of values and ethics is necessary to avoid issues like mission-drift or misappropiating time, energy, and funds.
What being actively and intentionally self-reflexive does mean is that you’re hyper-aware of your own bias, and how that can keep you from seeing other avenues and opportunities to connect with stakeholders and customers.
How to Practice Self-Reflexivity in Marketing
Contrary to how it may seem, good self-reflexivity doesn’t come from denying the value of our own beliefs and preferences. Instead, you should feel encouraged to explore why you have those beliefs and preferences without judgment.
A first step to getting good at self-reflexivity is to getting to know yourself really deeply. Try to explore and examine why you have specific ideals, preferences, beliefs, dislikes, and things you’re drawn to or avoid. Then, start connecting that to who you are, have been, and want to be.
For instance, I personally don’t like super bright and busy branding visuals. This connects to the spaces in nature I prefer (rainy weather, the Oregon coast, autumn), as well as past experiences (I grew up in the early 90s when neon and multi-layered branding was everywhere, and I associate it with being outdated rather than nostalgic).
Once I understand my own response to this type of branding I can expand into why other folks might prefer it.
Perhaps they grew up in Hawai’i where nature is incredibly vibrant in terms of colors, so that feels comfortable and familiar to them. Or maybe they came of age during the late 80s and early 90s, so their association with that era of branding trends is young adulthood and nostalgia that first taste of freedom. Whatever the reasons, their association with a branding style I personally dislike and negatively associate is positive.
If the goal is to get someone to purchase something, donate, or otherwise support your organization, being able to recognize our own knee-jerk reactions to everything from a phrase to a brand palette is paramount.
Couple that with being able to empathize with differening reactions from other people, and you’ll be stronger at segmenting brand messaging, visuals, medium and channels throughout your marketing to appeal to many different groups of people.
Else Communications Can Support You with Strategy
Self-reflexivity is a lifelong skill, and especially when you’re busy running day to day operations of your business, delving into all the varied ways you could advertise and entice every type of customer can feel overwhelming.
Else Communications can help you develop a strategy to make the most of your brand. You’re free to focus on what you love, and we make sure it gets packaged and put in front of stakeholders and customers who will love it too.
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