Look, we get it. We’ve worked with a lot of plumbers, home remodeling companies, hvac- you name it. And sometimes people find that odd (hello preconceived notions) for a design studio like ours. 

‘Isn’t that for marketing and SEO companies?’….

Here’s the thing: all businesses need branding, design, communication, and strategy. No matter the industry, it is critical to express the heart and story of your business in the best way possible.

Every single blue collar business we have worked with has incredible origin stories, beliefs and subsequent behaviors they commit to in their communities. They are some of the most passionate business leaders out there.

And that’s all you need to be to qualify to partner with brandch: passion. These clients are often burned by marketing companies and one man bands who promise them so much only to undermine how incredible they are. Giving them a one size fits all solution because all they see them as is: blue collar.

So let’s talk about what we’ve learned working with this unique industry often disregarded as having clunky, cartoon-ish and predictable branding. Spanning over 10 clients, these are our insights

Before we get into it: some blue collar businesses we have worked with recently. You can skip reading this part and go straight to lessons if you want insights.

Glenrose Service

Located in Spokane, Washington, this plumbing & construction company on the surface looked quite bland and faceless. We’ve often seen their trucks around before we ever even worked with them, and have commented on the lack of brand presence. 

So when they approached us with a request to help them elevate their website, we knew that we had to take a step backwards and start with the brand first. After completing their Human Branding Framework call, we uncovered some key details about them that otherwise would have remained hidden.

From tales of history, legacy, nature and family, this plumbing company is unlike the rest. You can read more about their story here. 

Anderson HVAC

This Ventura, California based HVAC business has a tale quite like Glenrose. Their previous web design company spun them up a template and that was that. But Rich Valdez, (second-generation in the business) knew they needed something more. 

After completing our discovery call with them, we learned an incredible origin story that was the pinnacle of the American dream. And their brand colors reflected that, so we did our best to honor their story, their values and implement new changes as they sought to modernize their business.

You can learn about their story here, and glance around their custom site.

Rinse & Redesign

An Ohio based start up seeking to change the approach to remodels for bathrooms didn’t want to be just another drop in the bucket of local companies.

Brayden Griffin, the founder, seeking to invest in unreasonable hospitality and fast quality remodels done in less than 3 days using newly discovered processes and materials, knew that he had to take his time carefully crafting his brand.

After our Human Branding Framework call, we showed him 4 directions his brand could go based on beliefs, behaviors and axis of the brand. Bold, energetic, and personable was what he landed on. 

What We Learned

Onto the meat and potatoes, let’s talk about  the lessons learned after working with over 10 blue collar businesses.

Lesson 1: The importance of strong beliefs

It wasn’t long into any process with a client in this industry till we realized that in order to succeed, you’ve got to care a lot. But in a unique way. It’s more than just giving a great service, but it’s showcasing strong beliefs to your clients and customers by ingrained and branded behavior. Here are some beliefs we noticed the most successful clients had and how they represented it in their brand.

Family Values

This belief may seem straightforward, most blue collar companies are family run and oriented. But not all of them are great at celebrating it.

It is not enough to be family run. You have to bake that into tangible values otherwise it’s irrelevant. With successful clients often regarding their clients as if they were family, they make it a point to build trust with customers before ever servicing them. A phrase commonly repeated, “I want them to know we treat the work and their home as if it was our own or our parents’”. And you can truly see when they mean that.

Family values as belief systems and behaviors empowered a stronger brand presence, because they are focused on connecting.

Legacy

You might start to see a pattern with these beliefs in that they are all related in some way to each other. You cannot have legacy without family, and you cannot have a family without care. Let me explain to you how legacy as a belief system plays out for some of our clients and why that changes things for them.

With Anderson HVAC, legacy was more than passing a business down to their son to eventually take the reins, it superseded family. It was about leaving a lasting impact in the community around them and making sure that their 40 year trusted name stayed that way for the times to come. With Glenrose Service mirroring the same, with the business being purchased by the daughter of Mike Collett (previous owner), it was about rebuilding their name in a community and city growing too quickly. 

This means they carried out actions of commitment to the long-term viability of the business. In their minds, there was no such thing as quick fixes or fast connection. Instead a commitment to long-term relationship building. A slow and smooth process of consistently showing up with the same values as before, and caring deeply about their community and clients. 

Caring

There’s no shying away from how caring deeply empowers you and your company to strive for greater, internally and externally. This strong belief is straightforward in the eyes of blue collar.

Care enough to build something lasting, care enough to show up consistently, care enough to make things right. 

Lesson 2: Stories are powerful tools.

Origin Stories & Future Visions

For some reason, one could maybe guess its human nature to enjoy stories, but the blue collar businesses that had powerful brands often had powerful stories on how they got to where they are.

A customer expects you to complete a service. But a customer to be able to hear your powerful story on why you’re even servicing them in the first place, and how the company came to be, is a customer that stays.

We connect with stories of redemption, a passion call, and hard work earned success. If you have one, use it as a cornerstone of the building that is your brand. It is the message that carries all future actions forward and gives meaning to growth.

In order to soar high, you must have roots that run deep. 

Lesson 3: It’s about revealing, not redoing everything.

I think people can be mistaken when it comes to redesigning blue collar brands into something greater: they think it’s about changing everything and modernizing. But that’s simply not true. 

Branding a business well means discovering, not painting over muck or giving them something else entirely. As mentioned previously, these types of businesses in this industry are passion filled, rich with story, and have a deep commitment to their values and those around them. 

It becomes more about revealing what’s underneath the rust and chipped paint, and restoring it to its original vision. What’s great about their brand was already there, waiting to be found and polished up. Don’t try to come into these businesses changing it to something else, instead approach branding as a holistic ritual of removing sickness. Sounds esoteric, but mindset and attitude affect your approach.

Lesson 4: Brand is their number one edge. Don’t stifle it.

You might be tempted to think about blue collar brands as the plumber in blue cartoon with a wrench, a bob-the-builder excavator, or a pipe logo and nothing more. Here’s why that happens: most people are trying to productize blue collar services rather than lean into the ‘service’ part of the business. 

Why is that happening? Well you can ask private equity who are buying up the small businesses. But what you can do about it as a creative looking to help this industry, or a blue collar business looking to do better, is understand that your brand and what it feels like is your number one edge. Don’t try to stifle it with the same approach all other blue collar businesses take.

Be daring enough to know yourself, and portray the best version of it outward in your business. Embrace being a service based brand, and build a visual representation that is true to you.

Lesson 5 (Final): Keep it human.

You’re gonna hear it everywhere:
Have AI answer your phone calls for you.
Automate everywhere you can. 
Optimize, automate, remove yourself from the business.

You can do that. Just know you’re not going to be the business that sticks around long-term. People want to connect with people who care, not with businesses who see them as only an opportunity financially. 

Blue collar brands are about servicing real human beings. And right now they are being sold something deceitful which is to remove themselves from their business to optimize everything. What happens when you prioritize efficiency over connection, is you lose the people on the other end.

 The best brands are keeping real people answering the phone calls. Hand writing thank you cards and mailing them to customers. Going out of your way to be helpful, and embracing what makes them human. Keep it that way.

We’ve been honored to serve. 

We have been so fortunate to work with so many of these kinds of businesses to learn these lessons. They have empowered and strengthened our processes, and allowed us to tweak and change things to make branding better for all businesses that we work with.

If you’re a blue collar business who knows you’re worth a presence that truly shows your history and heart, reach out to hello@brandch.com