A better brand strategy for an online mortgage broker
In a market where all online brokers provide similar services and consumers choose products primarily on price, Better.co.uk needed to determine what they would be known for and carve out a space they could own.
Background
Better.co.uk were a mortgage broker that was struggling to differentiate themselves in a commodity market. The brand reputation they held under their former name, Trussle, had been lost following acquisition by US-based Better.com. They wanted to understand:
What their brand proposition looked like, and what it should be
How their current messaging sat within the market in relation to the competition, and what changes needed to be made
How they could move the brand forward from both a communications and visual point of view
For this project, I worked with Interim Digital who facilitated the opportunity and introduced me to the Better team.
Target audience
While there is significant commonality in audience needs across both, Better have two distinct audiences for their services:
New mortgage buyers - covering first-time buyers, customers purchasing their next home/moving from their current and buy-to-let buyers.
Remortgagers - covering those either remortgaging with a new lender or the same lender or those remortgaging to raise capital raise for a specific purpose e.g. home renovations.
Both audiences are extremely price-sensitive, particularly in the current economic climate. Beyond price, however, factors such as speed, product coverage, communication and reliability were key.
The work
During onboarding, I undertook a deep-dive into the brand to understand its current positioning, visual style and messaging outputs. I also interviewed key stakeholders within the business to better understand, from their perspective, where the company’s strengths and weaknesses lay and what they saw as being the primary drivers for customers.
Through secondary research and primary data gathering, I investigated Better’s audiences and customers to identify any challenges they faced during the mortgage purchasing process and any barriers they had to using Better/online brokers. I also looked to uncover what their primary concerns when selecting a broker were. Following that, direct and indirect competitor analysis was undertaken.
At that stage in the project, I provided recommendations for clear and concise brand positioning which would be authentic to Better’s current brand, relevant to their target audiences and, where possible, position against competitors.
Lastly, three brand territory (platform) options with which to take the positioning forward were provided for review, alongside recommendations to move the visual identity forward in line with the positioning.
Feedback
Key client contact, Jack Smithson, said: “Thank you so much for this work, the team has found it extremely valuable and it will act as a great foundation to build from.”
Interim Digital owner, Ginny Nicholls, shared the following:
“We partnered with Holly on a key client brand strategy piece and from the moment she pitched for the project to the point of delivery we were impressed at how she cut through the noise and drilled immediately down into what value she could bring to the client. From engaging to key client stakeholders to presenting an in-depth branding piece, every step was clearly defined and delivered on. We look forward to what more we can partner with Holly on in the future.”
Final deliverables
For this work, Better and Interim engaged my brand strategy services to deliver a strategy that included brand positioning and brand territories for consideration.