When it comes to branding, it's important to remember that most people aren't interested in how the software is developed, but how what you create solves their problem. Software development principles are an important issue to understand for avoiding technicalities that lead to situations that affect how people perceive your reliability, but aren't the type of topic that should be directly communicated to the buyer unless they come from a software development related background. With branding being about persuading people to have a favorable opinion of you, the type of language you use in your communications, whether it be spoken or written, is as important as anything visual. Careful consideration should be used in all of your communications, whether it be over the telephone, face to face, e-mail, newsletter, brochure, website or media published content to make sure that the style of language used, which includes the use of any jargon, is worded in a way that makes the people you are speaking to feel comfortable in dealing with you. The type of perception you may want to create could include some consideration of:
- Understandability: Special care needs to be taken for people who don't have a background in software development to make sure that they understand what you are talking about. Try to refrain from using any jargon that is likely to be outside their scope of knowledge, as this can lead to them feeling out of place or inferior, both of which can lose their attention to your communication
- Confidence: This is for confidence in themselves as well as in your capabilities. People need to feel that they are capable of using the information you are providing, as well as having confidence that the information you are providing them with is correct and of good
- Motivation: The style of communications you use should motivate and inspire people to take action, especially if that action is related to you winning or completing client projects
- Directness: Being direct on issues of importance saves time and makes the level of importance clear. The stereotype of the British being a good example of often not being direct enough, which leads to interpretations of a message as not as high priority or important; this is an example of cultural communication bias, where at one end of the spectrum, cultures such as the Finnish are not openly expressive in their wording to a point where they are perceived to be highly, while at the other end cultures such as those of Americans tend to be highly expressive to a point where they gain a stereotype of being very talkative and loud—however correct or incorrect that may be.. The ability to effectively communicate the level of importance will earn you a level of respect and trust when clients need to feel they should have someone they can rely on to keep them updated on circumstances, but at the same time knowing how to communicate urgency without causing offence
- Transparency: People never like to be lied to, and even though masking the truth may not strictly be a lie, it will cause doubt and mistrust. When people learn that you are open about what and how you provide your software, which includes providing the client with the ability to retain the rights to the code you write specifically for them, they will quickly learn to value you as someone they can trust and will give you a higher preference in future work because of this. Nobody likes to deal with people who are known to add hidden costs and clauses to contracts, so avoid this to retain good ongoing client relationships
The single most identifiable reason why Apple has risen to the successes it has is because they are very specific about how they design their products to be easily accessible to people with a minimal understanding of technology. Contrary to how technology people complain that Apple products are too restricted and limited, the point to remember is that Apple don't create their products for hardcore technology enthusiasts. If Apple were to listen to what these enthusiasts wanted, they would make themselves much less appealing to their core audience and most likely lose their unique selling point (USP) that sells their products; the main USP being that because Apple tightly control what is allowed on their devices also means that their users can be assured that they are protected against the type of poorly designed apps, malware and viruses found on less restrictive platforms such as Android and Windows.
The moral of the story is that success in developing our software comes from knowing and listening to our real customers so that we can create a solution and user experience that appeals to them. Although it's good to speak and listen to other technology people, with the exception of a minority of projects and products, it's also important to remember that we are not selling our software products and/or services to technology people, hence the need to make sure that the software and development services are presented in a way that's easy to understand, see the benefits of and gain the confidence to use without causing problems of losing credibility. When people think of what you do, your brand is to make sure you are perceived as the solution that your software or development services provide, and not merely as software.