Why you should give a s**t about branding

There’s a lot of things I’m proud of achieving during my time at WeFlex as Founder, but one of the coolest things that ever happened was I built a really cool brand. How cool? Well, we had participants and their families asking to pay for our branded shirts, hoodies and hats. So much so that we ended up opening an online merch store. How many NDIS providers can claim THAT?! They were pumped to wear it, were proud to be associated with it and some even bragged about it at their other programs.  

Seriously cool. Unfortunately I think one of the reasons I achieved this was because the bar is pretty low.  

You look around disability expos and NDIS provider pow-wows and honestly, it’s a little depressing. We are in one of the coolest industries in the country (in my opinion), innovating cool products, accessibility in tech and changing lives and yet our brands and brand storytelling leaves no impact. Seriously. If you’ve been to a disability expo how many brands do you even remember? 

Exactly. 

Once upon a time I thought branding was a load of wank, and don’t get me wrong it’s still easy to find evidence for that being true. And in our industry, it’s easy to write it off as an exercise in vanity, excess or fall back on the ‘the brand is what you make it’ which is kinda true… I guess. What I’ve come to realise though is that the way we in the disability space and definitely the NDIS brand ourselves and what we say has a much deeper impact on society and its attitudes towards disability than we realise.  

If all the disability and NDIS brands talk to people with a disability like they are children, idiots or like they’re not there – then it’s fair to expect society to do the same. If we keep marketing the same thing in the same way “live independently” and “high quality support/care” then society will see people with disability as one-dimensional. And here lies the advantage for you disability entrepreneur – it has never been easier to stand out in this industry!  

It’s also never been easier to build a brand. A brand which means something, a brand you’re proud of and most importantly, a brand your customers are proud of. Good brand fundamentals are one of the most valuable assets a new/young/small company can have. Why? Because it is one thing they can compete with the big brands on immediately. Small brands can take risks, have an opinion and build with community.  

It gives you an opportunity to build ‘with’ not build ‘for’.

Are you ready?