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How To Build A Brand in 10 Days: Tips and Tricks for the Digital Age

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With the rise of social media, our increasingly digital world has completely changed the landscape of how we think about branding today.

The concept of branding has almost always referred to a business name and logo. But times have changed, as we all know, in this digital era with lots of noise.

Consumers today are always connected, meaning brands have had to find deeper ways of connecting with them. Social media has given the world access to every success and shortcoming, with users openly promoting or denouncing brands to their followers. Wendy’s social media branding strategy has famously caught the attention and adornment of millennials and Gen Z with their quick-witted roasts of customers and brands on Twitter. Many companies have tried to accomplish brand recognition with similar strategies, only to miss the mark and have their brand trend for all the wrong reasons.

Branding strategies have had to grow and adapt to the digital age, so here is a ten-day crash course.

Day #1 — Set the groundwork

To effectively perform in your industry, you need to know your industry. Researching the brands of other key players in your sector is a great first step in your branding journey. Compare the offerings and branding of your competitors, accounting for everything from their visual aesthetic and marketing efforts to their customer feedback channels. Looking at local brands can help you define yourself in your current market, while large name brands can give you a benchmark to aspire to. Market research is an integral part of the branding process and will considerably affect the direction you decide to take once you’ve produced a tangible concept.

However, don’t just pay attention to the success stories. Consider cases where brands have failed. Compare the changes made when companies have launched a rebrand. Seeing where others made mistakes may prevent you from making similar ones in the future.

Day #2 — Define and differentiate

It sounds simple, but to be a successful brand, you need to be able to differentiate yourself from the competition. The way to do that is through defining yourself and your brand. What makes you different from your competitors? What services do you provide that other companies do not? How do your mission and values compare to other businesses in your industry? Answering these questions is key to carving out a spot for yourself among your competition.

Bernadette Jiwa, a brand strategist and blogger at The Story of Telling, says, “The difference between a good idea and a commercial success is context—The understanding about who the product or service is for, what they really want deep down and why they will care about this, more than that.”

Day #3 — Identify your audience so you can identify with them

Write down the detailed demographics of your target audience and other questions you want to consider when developing a brand for that audience.

How old are they? What gender? Are they wealthy corporate types or middle-class and family-focused? Where do they live and shop? What is it that they need? Is another company currently filling that need?

The more specifically you can identify your audience, the easier it will be to create a brand they will relate to. Karena Dawn and Katrina Hodgson of Tone It Up started by creating a YouTube channel to share their love of fitness, and today, they share over a million followers. Their ability to connect with their community was pivotal to their success, recognizing that they provided a service for consumers like themselves. Those customers recognized this connection and have now become the brand themselves, conducting worldwide meetups and creating trending hashtags on social media.

Day #4 — Find your voice

Once you’ve found your audience, you need to develop the voice that you will be speaking to that audience.

What channels do you want your brand to speak to customers through, and how do you wish to communicate to those customers? Perhaps the wealthy, corporate types prefer a more professional or service-oriented voice, whereas young, recent graduates may engage more with a conversational or friendly voice. It’s essential that your brand voice can communicate effectively with your target demographic and entice them to keep the conversation going.

Day #5 — Personality, please

Your brand represents you, so show your personality through your brand. Consumers today don’t just want the same old service from a company presented the same way as every other company. They expect their needs to be met but want those needs to be tailored to them through relatability and personal interactions.

Try looking at various personality spectrums and think about which end you want your brand to fall on. Do you want your brand to give off fun energy or stay stoic and serious? Are you looking to be modern and cutting-edge, or classic and traditional? Are you interested in accessibility for all, or is exclusivity a part of your brand’s desirability?

Day #6 — Share your story

Consumers are real people and want to be able to relate to real people, which is challenging to do when a brand is anonymous. Melissa Cassera, a marketing, communications and PR expert, advises, “Don’t edit yourself out of your brand. This is one of the most common mistakes I notice with entrepreneurs, especially in copy and content. If you tend to edit your voice and personality, then dictate what you want to say, record it, and transcribe it. It works wonders!” If your audience can connect with you or your story, they will likely join your brand.

Day #7 — Test and tweak

Receiving feedback from a trusted circle that can relate to your target demographic can provide valuable insights into aspects of branding you may have missed. Writers often say they cannot edit their own work, as it becomes harder to recognize errors in a piece the more you’ve read over it. The same can be said when developing your brand. Perhaps you missed an essential aspect of your brand story while focusing on a different aspect. It is better to catch missed opportunities and ensure you successfully serve your audience before an entire release. “Don’t just put something out there to put something out there. Make it right the first time!” designer and stylist Megan Bailey says.

Day #8 — Professionally create, integrate and replicate

When making the official assets for your brand, make sure those assets are professional. Whether they are in-house or contracted, hire a graphic designer to create your logo, website, business cards, etc. Hire a marketing expert to execute your strategy effectively. Research internal and external systems that will keep your communications with stakeholders organized and professional, and integrate your assets into those systems. Every asset you put out to consumers should represent your brand, whether digital or static. Those assets should be replicated, promoted and shared regularly in the area where you have found your niche.

Day #9 — Keep it consistent

Arguably, the most critical aspect of successful branding is ensuring your brand is consistent. Meghan Bailey also advises, “Right from the start — every single piece of material from a logo to photography to social media posts need to be consistent and professionally organized. The ultimate goal is to have people gravitate and recognize your work instantly”. The more recognizable your brand is, the more recognizable your product or service will be, and the closer you’ll become to solidifying your brand as a household name.

Day #10 — Give yourself a hand (and a break)

You’ve made it through our ten-day crash course and have hopefully developed a successful brand concept in that time. Give yourself a quick break to take pride in your work, then get out there and promote!

Feature Image Credit: Shutterstock

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Sourced from Entrepreneur

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What Colours Should You Use For Your Personal Brand? (and Why It Matters)

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When it comes to personal branding, the right colours have the power to attract clients and opportunities, while the wrong colours can do the exact opposite.

When it comes to personal branding, the right colours have the power to attract clients and opportunities, while the wrong colours can do the exact opposite. So, what’s the secret to choosing brand colours that lead you to the C-suite and closing bigger deals?

The first step in figuring this out is understanding the psychology of colour. Colour has the power to influence human behaviour. It can be utilized to induce a desired mood or emotion in someone and elicit a desired response (Masterclass Staff, 2022).

Colours are broken into several categories, the most common being primary and secondary colours. The primary colours are defined as colours from which all other colours can be created by mixing. The primary colours are:

  • Red
  • Blue
  • Yellow

Secondary colours are created by mixing two primary colours, with the most common being:

  • Green
  • Orange
  • Purple

The psychology of colour

Each colour can vary in intensity, also known as chroma (think, electric blue vs. navy blue) and its value (lightness or darkness). Here is a quick reference guide:

Red is passionate and energetic. Brands that use red in their branding are trying to communicate excitement, vibrancy and action.

Blue is calming and trustworthy. This is why many financial and healthcare services use blue in their branding.

Yellow is cheerful and optimistic — perfect for brands that want to communicate happiness and positivity.

Green is refreshing and natural, making it an excellent choice for eco-friendly and health-focused brands.

Orange is energetic and playful, often used by brands targeting younger audiences.

Purple is associated with royalty, luxury and mystery. If you want to convey a sense of sophistication and elegance in your branding, purple is the way to go.

Black, white and brown are considered neutral colours, but they also evoke emotions:

  • Black is powerful and mysterious.
  • White is pure, sophisticated and simple.
  • Brown is a mixture of all the primary colours and is natural, earthy and strong.

When it comes to personal branding, you want your brand colours to represent who you are, and authenticity is everything. Choosing your brand’s colour isn’t a game of “hope for the best.” It’s a scientific approach that starts with clarifying what you want to achieve and how you want to be perceived by your ideal audience.

For example, let’s say that you are a take-charge nurse who wants to leverage a personal brand’s power to move into an administrative role. In this case, you may lean towards choosing colours that convey compassion, excellence and leadership.

Let’s use Kaiser Permanente, a non-profit healthcare organization, as an example. The brand’s logo uses a calming blue to represent “loyalty and trust,” while the white brings balance and peace to the logo. When you look at the Kaiser logo, how do you feel? Do you see how this large organization used colour to make the brand feel “human”?

Get clear on how you want to be perceived by others

Now that you have an overview of colour psychology, it’s time to understand how you want others to see and experience you. What are three words you want people to use when they describe you? What colours come to mind when you hear the words fiery, bold and ambitious?

Ask yourself how your industry and/or niche are viewed. Would you expect to see a doctor in private practice using pink and purple in their branding? Another point to consider when thinking about industry standards is: Do you want to disrupt the industry or offer a slightly different approach?

Your primary brand colour is the colour you’ll use most often. It should demand attention. Visually, it is the star of your show and is used in your logo, website, social media and marketing materials. Your secondary brand colours are the colours you’ll use less often in your branding. They can accentuate some aspects of your website or add visual interest.

Related: Understanding the Power of Design and Branding

Consistency is key

Now that you know the psychology behind choosing the right colours for your brand, it’s essential to use your colours consistently. You’ll use your brand colours on your website and marketing materials.

Another area where your brand colours should be consistent is in your attire. So many leaders and entrepreneurs miss the mark by displaying brand presence in the way they dress. If you’re planning on doing any public speaking, attending events or networking, wear your brand colours! By showing up “on brand,” you will stand out in a crowd and make yourself unforgettable.

If advancing in your career is your goal, consider using your brand colours in your email signature, across social media and any other place you show up. To remain consistent, you also need to know the hex codes of your brand’s colour.

What is a hex code?

A hex code is a six-digit combination of numbers and letters to specify a colour. Hex codes start with a pound sign (#) and are followed by six characters, three numbers and three letters. For example, the hex code for electric blue is #00FFFF.

Hex codes are essential for personal branding, because they ensure that your brand colours are consistent across all platforms. When you use hex codes, you can be confident that the blue in your logo will match the blue on your website, and the green in your social media posts will match the green in your email signature.

A best practice is to create a guide that outlines your brand standards, including your colour palette, words that describe your brand, etc. This document is known as a brand guide, and it can also include logos, fonts and even the filters you use on social media. As your brand grows, everyone on your team will know the standards, and they can easily maintain the same level of consistency.

Colour is an essential tool that should not be overlooked for personal branding. By understanding the psychology of colour and choosing colours that align with your goals and values, you can create a strong and recognizable personal brand.

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Why experiences are the future of brand marketing

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Sourced from Creative Review

The marketing world is always evolving with new ways for brands to differentiate themselves. The importance of brands being proactive online is vital – but what can brands do offline to help their company stand out?

Experiences offer a brand the opportunity to elevate themselves beyond two-dimensional entities, allowing them to articulate personality and emotion in different ways. Through experience design, brands can take their visitors on an immersive experience that reflects their values, mission, history and so on.

At the forefront of this movement is Mather & Co, an agency that helps commercial brands across the globe to hoist their offline presence and overtake their competitors by creating experiences that showcase a unique brand story. Established in 1995 by Chris Mather, Mather & Co’s work includes the Gretna Green Experience; Downton Abbey: The Exhibition; Silverstone Interactive Museum; the R&A World Golf Museum; and The Royal Mint Experience.

Many of the best brand activations sit at the cross-section between creativity and technology, using the latter as a tool to bring great ideas to life. So, what’s the secret of successful experience-based marketing?

MAKING A GRAND STATEMENT

Projection-mapping technology can transform any irregular surface, such as the face of a building, into a canvas for breath-taking audio-visual experiences that may extend a brand’s reach. Through next-level design and production any surface may be augmented and transformed into an exciting and immersive display to communicate a story or showcase a product.

Successful examples of immersive projection mapping technologies include Wear the Rose, a 360-degree sports experience that took over London’s O2 Arena, as well as a giant installation in Saudi Arabia using the Tuwaiq Mountains as its canvas.

A recent project for the R&A World Golf Museum saw Mather & Co produce the Celebration of Light projection-mapping show across the famous Royal & Ancient Clubhouse building. This extension of the experience allowed the iconic golfing brand to reach millions of people worldwide, narrating 150 years of golfing history to mark the occasion of the 150th Open.

Photo: James Bridle

CONNECTING WITH YOUR HERITAGE

Sometimes it is the history and heritage behind a brand that steers the type of experience you need to develop. The Famous Blacksmiths Shop in Gretna Green is legendary for runaway marriages stretching back hundreds of years, but the legend is in danger of being forgotten altogether with the ageing demographic of visitors.

Here, the Mather & Co team recognised the need to reinvigorate the brand in new ways to connect with younger audiences – creating a new experience on site telling the story of romance, rebellion, and unstoppable love since 1754. The shop has been transformed into an immersive, storytelling experience at the heart of the iconic Gretna Green destination. The experience takes visitors on emotional love story and highlights the business as a whole – a family run business. It is a modern and contemporary take on a 200-year-old history.

“Before the redevelopment, Gretna Green was already a significant destination in British history – the new experience still holds the original magic and romance of the site,” says Sarah Clarke, managing director at Mather & Co. “The experience now allows visitors to delve into the heart-felt love stories and also explores Gretna Green as a brand itself.”

Gretna Green Experience; Photo: Chris Humphreys
Gretna Green Experience; Photo: Chris Humphreys

CREATING INTERACTIVE MOMENTS

The way people interact in experiences, and what they want from them, has changed dramatically over the past decade. With technology at everyone’s fingertips, people are now looking for more participatory and physical interactivity that they cannot do at home. Creating immersive and interactive experiences allows brands to connect with their audiences in different and more memorable ways.

At the home of British motor racing, the new Silverstone Interactive Museum tells the brand story of the circuit and its place in British motorsport in a fully interactive way. From taking part in tyre changes and sitting in an iconic historic F1 car, to getting involved in the tech lab and designing your own vehicle, this Mather & Co project immerses visitors in the experience – not only enhancing their understanding of the brand, but making them a vital part of it.

Photo: Peter Corcoran
Photo: Peter Corcoran

RELIVING MEMORIES

For TV programmes and films, iconic moments are there to draw on in extension experiences. No-one can deny the success of offers such as the Harry Potter Studio Tour, Game of Thrones Studio Tour and the Doctor Who Experience which are sweeping the nation and extending connections with fans of the shows.

“When it comes to designing a visitor attraction, we must understand what makes the visitors want to keep coming back for more,” continues Clarke. “It should be an extension of the brand, so the values must be translated in the experience.”

Mather & Co worked with NBCUniversal and Emmy-winning writer Julian Fellowes to create an immersive experience for the internationally acclaimed TV programme Downton Abbey and created one of the most successful studio tours in the UK around the original Coronation Street set.

For both, the key was to authentically recreate the sets, immerse ourselves fully in the brand and select the memories that resonated the most with fans. It was about taking visitors on an emotional journey beyond the fourth wall right into the beating heart of their favourite shows.

Photo: Bespoke Foundry
Photo: Bespoke Foundry

To discuss how your brand could unlock the full potential of experience design, contact Mather & Co; matherandco.com

Sourced from Creative Review

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Brandingbyexperts.com Promises To Increase Sales, ROI and Organic Traffic By Using Sponsored Posts

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Sourced from Marina Times

Before understanding how building brand equity can increase your sales, let us first understand what exactly is brand equity and what does it mean for your brand.

In the world of marketing, brand equity is something that refers to the value of a brand which is predominantly determined by how your customers perceive your brand. It can either be positive or negative. It’s all about how you present your brand or how you advertise it to the world. If your branding is good, and it is pretty famous among the customers and they regard it highly, then your brand equity is high, and thus positive.

But if not that, then it is termed negative. Meaning that if a brand fails to consistently deliver, fails to live up to the expectations of the customers, and also manages to get loads of negative word-of-mouth it has a lower brand equity or lower brand value. So, to put it in the simplest words, brand equity is the reputation of a brand. A good reputation garners good equity whereas a bad reputation garners negative equity.

What is Branding?

Branding is basically the way in which you characterize your business to yourself, to the business partners, and to your clients. Marketing alludes to giving an extraordinary character to your business that is substantially more than only addressing your organization’s name and logo. The brand character characterizes what’s really going on with your business and how it makes an incentive for other people. With a market that has developed brilliant enough to see through glossed over promoting methodologies, the requirement for a solid and veritable brand character is clear.

Branding is huge in expanding deals for a business. It works as a booster for the growth of revenue. If a brand customizes the experience for the clients, the clients associate with the brand emotionally. A solid brand personality increments client dedication and trust which thus builds the deals for your business.

Here are the key factors that influence how buyers see a brand. At the point when you dial in this large number of pieces, you can further develop brand discernment, drive deals, hold clients and increment references:

Brand message:

How buyers see your image relies a ton upon what you say and how you say it. Ensure you’re reliably conveying your brand image’s worth, vision and novel selling recommendation in a way that reverberates with your objective market across all client touchpoints.

Extraordinary items or administrations:

Make sure your items are top-notch and pertinent to your optimal clients.

Client support:

Try and establish good and strong connections with your group of clients across all channels (e.g., email, telephone, web-based entertainment, visits). This will fundamentally affect how they see your image. Convey a consistent and predictable client experience that lines up with your brand image across all touch focuses.

Trust identifications:

When selling on the web, fabricate trust and believability with customers. Sites with trust identifications cause clients to feel more certain while sharing their data (e.g., during checkout).

Virtual entertainment:

Offer client assistance via web-based entertainment stages. Furthermore, many ask their companions so that suggestions or search via virtual entertainment might see what others are talking about a brand.

Brand Equity Increasing Your Brand Sales Value

Good brand equity increases your sales. Brand equity is nothing but the financial or commercial worth of your brand based on the perception of your brand name amongst consumers or clients. If you build a good brand by indulging in various branding methods and techniques your brand equity rises and thus your sales rise as you are able to sell your product at a higher value.

Your painstakingly built brand makes a visual, profound, and social association among clients and your organization and thus builds trust. A consumer is always ready to pay a comparatively higher sum if he/she trusts the brand.

There are many examples of brands that have built a name and inculcated a trust factor amongst clients thus generating higher brand equity which in turn increased sales.

Sponsored Posts Strategy

Sponsored Posts Strategy is a sure short way to gain a lot of traffic for your brand and your page. This strategy helps you to collaborate with publications having a high amount of traffic and featuring your blog or product on their websites. This strategy is responsible for drawing a major chunk of organic traffic to your page. Sponsored posts are not like irritating ads that are dripping with sales language. Instead, these posts are finely articulated and informative posts which show your potential target audience a solution for their problems. Sponsored Posts touch the right nerve and address the issues and showcase your brand or product as a good fix for all the issues faced by your potential consumer.

BrandingByExperts

Branding Experts , as the name suggests a branding agency run by experts in the fields of digital marketing, PR and branding.  The company is dedicated to learning and understanding your business. By building a relationship with each of your clients, the company ensures that they build a marketing strategy which focuses solely on the nature of your problems and then on solving them. Each of their marketing campaigns is built with the client’s needs in mind to solve all the marketing obstacles.

The team’s expertise lies in building brand equity and formulating a reliable sponsored posts strategy to add up to the advantages of the client. This causes your sales to boom right up and increases your market value. The agency uses analytics to bring about a positive metamorphosis for your business.

The company builds your brand by distributing a press release to prominent outlets such as many local news affiliates. They give your brand in-content white hat links by reaching out to bloggers with high traffic and reach.

For more than 15 years, the platform has been providing branding solutions for businesses wanting to expand their online presence, increase leads and grow their revenue.

If you too are waiting then your wait ends here. Reach out to BrandingByExperts.com  today and increase your sales by leaps and bounds.

Sourced from Marina Times

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How To Build Your Business Brand in the Metaverse

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By Zaheer Dodhia

Is your brand ready for the metaverse? It can be a complex question — for one thing; the answer depends on what “the metaverse” refers to for you as a business owner. For another, it can depend on the type of business that you run. But, ultimately, brand owners want their companies to be ready for anything — and active growth is often top on the list.

What Is The Metaverse?

The answer to this question depends on who you ask, but a simple definition is “a collection of technologies that allows us to interact in a virtual universe.” Most commonly, those technologies involve augmented or virtual reality and video.

Technically, our ability to interact with AI or with avatar representations of others on social media is an offshoot of what the metaverse is intended to be. The function of the metaverse is to meld the physical and the virtual into one.

As technology advances, experts and innovators predict that we’ll spend more time in this digital universe than we do now — and maybe more time in our virtual world than we do in the real one. With the heightened focus on digital communications and ecommerce during the past two years, this doesn’t come as a surprise. Statistics already show the rise in interest — in 2020, almost 84 million people were using AR/VR regularly in the United States alone, with that number projected to rise to 110 million next year.

There’s endless scope for the imagination with the metaverse concept — not to mention endless scope for business growth. Big companies like Microsoft and Epic have already invested in the metaverse, aiming to stake a claim on their virtual brand. As a result, the market for augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality are projected to reach 300 billion dollars yearly by 2024.

There’s no doubt about it — the metaverse is the next significant shift in the digital world, and it’s best to be ready to take advantage of it!

Here are the top three ways to build your business brand in the new digital movement known as the metaverse.

Unified Branding

Branding is always one of the top keys to building a business. Branding not only identifies who your company is but connects it with core values, products and services on offer, and even your audience.

“Just make sure you have a brand” isn’t really the best advice, though, because inconsistent branding can actually be detrimental to your overall brand. Inconsistency can cost — 90% of consumers expect to have a consistent experience with a brand regardless of the platform, and consistent brands are more likely to have strong visibility, whereas if consumers are less aware of a brand and have less of an impression of it as a whole, they’re less likely to notice the company — and therefore less likely to engage or invest. Neglecting your colour scheme or making a logo design mistake can have serious consequences.

Along with consistency, specific elements can help with solid branding. For example, using a signature colour can boost a brand’s recognizability by up to 80%. That means that customers would be 80% more likely to recognize and interact with your brand in the metaverse if they see your signature colour.

Leitmotifs, or sonic branding, are also valuable to a complete branding package. Some statistics suggest that using audio — think jingles or recurring notes, like with MacDonald’s ba-da-ba-ba-ba — as part of your branding can increase recognition by up to 46%.

In the end, the numbers show the importance of keeping your branding steady as you move into the metaverse with your brand. Unified branding across all platforms, including print, storefront, social media, and website, has been shown to increase revenue by up to 23%. That’s significant growth, especially for a small business.

Virtual Experiences

The metaverse is all about virtual reality, and adding virtual experiences into what you offer your customers is an excellent way to get them ready for the metaverse even now. In addition, you may be able to leverage the rising sales of VR headsets, which is one of the most popular ways to explore the metaverse concept. From just under five million sets sold in the US in 2020, sales are projected to reach more than 14 million yearly in the US by 2024.

But VR headsets aren’t the only way to craft a virtual experience to share with your customers and attract them to your business. Build a digital storefront that mimics your brick-and-mortar store. Create digital tours of your products. Ikea is an excellent big-name pioneer of this, already demonstrating how to use the metaverse concept to grow a particular aspect of a brand. With virtual room design, Ikea customers can see what furniture and features will fit, how the colour scheme will turn out, and how frustrated they may get while figuring out how to put it all together.

Okay, that last part isn’t actually a feature of Ikea’s virtual experience. But it’s only a matter of time.

Video Production

A final and significant way to build your business brand in the metaverse is to incorporate videos in your marketing, website, and social media posts.

The importance of video isn’t anything new. Approximately 85% of marketers already leverage video use as an essential part of their strategy, with 92% of that number labelling it as essential to their work going forward. Video nets the most engagement on social media, especially Instagram. More than 90% of businesses point to social media videos as a key that has garnered new customers and directly caused conversion.

But with the metaverse being focused on virtual/augmented reality and video, video production is even more of a recommendation for brands that are looking to grow. Not just for marketing purposes, either — other popular kinds of videos include how-to or explainer videos and social media videos, both of which puts the focus on entertainment and education.

The more value you can provide, the more likely you will attract new interest. And with new interest, your brand is sure to grow.

To the Metaverse and Beyond

It’s challenging to get a consensus on just what the metaverse means and how far it will take us. But one thing is for sure — we’ve been spending more time in the virtual world than ever in the past few years, and it’s almost guaranteed that the trend will continue.

With essential brand-building methods, your brand will be ready to grow in the metaverse and whatever comes next.

Feature Image Credit: Julien Tromeur; Unsplash

By Zaheer Dodhia

Sourced from readwrite

 

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Why it’s a bad idea for start-ups to make their branding distinctive

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By Saskia Ketz

Fluid design is having a moment—and embracing it will save start-ups time and money in the long run.

When Google Chrome revealed its first logo refresh in nearly a decade earlier this year, the internet was left scratching its head. The change was so slight, the new logo so simple, merely removing the highlights and shadows to completely flatten the logo, slightly adjusting the proportions, and saturating the colours.

[Images: Google]

As someone who has worked in branding for more than 15 years, I don’t think this subtlety was a failure—it shows that the company is paying attention to where the design world is going. If you look at the major rebrands of 2021—from Burger King to GM—almost all of them involve paring down, flattening, or simplifying a brand’s look.

 

The driving factor is more than just a trend in our visual language—it’s about adjusting to our new normal as companies and consumers. As we’re all too aware, the world is changing at an unprecedented pace. Brands are looking for simple designs that give them flexibility to adapt across new platforms, appeal to new audiences, and pivot as things change around them. And—jokes about Chrome’s new logo aside—consumers are craving simplicity in an increasingly complex world. A 2021 study by brand strategy agency Siegel+Gale found that 76% of people are more likely to recommend a brand that delivers simple experiences.

While this shift is important for all companies to pay attention to, it presents an especially exciting opportunity for start-ups, which are constantly changing by nature. When done correctly, approaching branding with simplicity can help start-ups more easily align their brand with their strategy—and save a lot of money in the process.

Why distinctive branding doesn’t work for start-ups

Company branding used to feel permanent: You spent a lot of time and money getting it right and then didn’t change it for as long as possible. Take American Airlines, which didn’t change its branding for 40 years. While the original branding was classic, it ended up looking a little too patriotic as the world became increasingly globalized. When they addressed this issue with a major rebrand, they faced some pushback for such a drastic change. And yet, too many founders still adhere to a mindset where they see branding as a boxed-in solution that will last, even if their business changes.

The reality is exactly the opposite. There’s no way to create strong visual branding without a solid understanding of a company’s core product, purpose, and audience—something start-ups are still figuring out in the early years. As start-ups pivot their strategy to find product-market fit or appeal to different audiences, branding that used to work might not anymore. I’ve even seen designer friends work on projects where the brand is already dated by the time they’re exporting the final files (no exaggeration!) because of the speed at which the client is pivoting.

The more distinctive a brand identity, the more exaggerated this problem becomes. Foursquare is a great example: They launched over a decade ago with complex, consumer-focused branding and have had to significantly rebrand every few years as they found their footing and eventually expanded to include a B2B business model.

The evolution of Foursquare’s branding. [Images: Foursquare]

A more fluid way forward

Looking at Foursquare’s latest rebrand, you see how simplicity helps solve these issues. The company stripped its branding back to a wordmark and a few basic colours, describing the new approach as a “simple, scalable system” that allows them to appeal to the multiple audiences they’ve grown to serve.

 

[Images: Foursquare]

Simplicity not only helps growing brands be more things for more people, but it also gives them more flexibility to tweak things as they grow and evolve. I like to think of this approach as “fluid design”—start with something simple, and make subtle updates as your strategy changes or you learn more about your audience.

 

Chat app Discord took a fluid approach last year in a brand update they described as “not too different: just a little friendlier”—a move to make the product more welcoming as they expand beyond the gaming community.

[Screenshots: courtesy of the author]

Dropbox has seen a similar fluid evolution, starting with a simple logo that has seen small upgrades over the years, and more recently adding pops of colour to their traditional blue branding in order to appeal to a more creative audience. It’s still obviously the Dropbox brand—just more playful.

Save money on simplicity

So, why am I talking about this approach when there are plenty of brands—big and small—that already do it?

For one, there are still plenty of start-ups taking the old approach, looking for trendy or flashy design to help them stand out, when they should really be seeking a simple brand that gives them flexibility while they find product-market fit.

The other issue is that start-ups are hiring branding agencies at all—at great cost. Top agencies for early-stage companies typically charge $150,000–$500,000 for their branding work; even entry-level agencies often start at $50,000. At that price, growing companies (that barely have that money in the first place) feel pressure to get it perfect and never update their branding.

Instead, young companies can DIY a simple design system, with a sleek wordmark, professional fonts, and a basic color palette. Moreover, when they take the fluid approach, there’s no pressure for this early branding to be perfect: Tweaks can and should happen along the way.

I’m not saying that the work brand designers do isn’t valuable—but it’s only valuable once a company feels secure in what it’s doing and who it’s marketing to.

So, my advice for start-ups: Take advantage of this simple design trend to create something that’s good enough for now, make perhaps imperceptible changes as you learn along the way, and spend the bulk of your resources getting your product right. Once that’s in place, you can pay for all the fancy design work you want.

By Saskia Ketz

Saskia Ketz is the founder of MMarchNY, a New York City-based branding agency that’s worked with brands like Netflix, IKEA, Timberland, and Mojomox, an online wordmark builder that allows start-ups to create dynamic, professional-looking logos themselves.

Sourced from Fast Company

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How to Create Content for Different Purposes: Branding, Sales, and Retention

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By Tom Gil

Different parts of the sales funnel need different content types. Here’s how to make them.

We often talk about content creation and repurposing it using different channels, like blogs and social media. What isn’t often mentioned is how to create different types of content for different stages of the sales funnel: branding, sales, and retention.

Every end goal can call for a different kind of content. For example, you might need content that’s designed to move people closer to a sale, make you more memorable (branding), or help you maintain clients (retention). Usually, in your marketing funnel, your target audience is within one of these three stages:

  1. Awareness (made aware of your brand)
  2. Consideration (considering your solution)
  3. Decision (moving towards buying from you)

What content the customer needs to consume in each stage differs. But the first hurdle, as Devin Reed, head of content strategy at Gong, notes, is simply making all your marketing messages relevant to the consumer: “When it comes to actually creating engaging content, it needs to be relevant, insightful, and actionable. This is critical if you want to grab — and keep — their attention. Unfortunately, most B2B companies focus on themselves, specifically their product/service, and as a result, their content is boring and fails to influence how their audience thinks or acts.”

Retention

Your end goal shouldn’t be to simply make a sale. Instead, it should be to create loyal, long-term customers. Here are three methods you can implement today for better retention content:

  1. Use storytelling in your marketing: Customer-focused stories win. Describe how your product or service empowered a business with a solution that yielded results.
  2. Publish quality content consistently: Creating a blog is crucial nowadays. Aside from helping you rank higher on search engines, it enables you to build trust with your ideal customers and craft a unique voice for your brand.
  3. Continue to educate your audience: Having a separate section for unique studies and stories (not blogs) is a way to stand out, and is one of the best ways to show up for your audience consistently. Try different mediums, like podcasts, vlogs, guides, and case studies.

Now, let’s focus on a topic that is often ignored. Retention branding.

Are you pleasantly waving customers good-bye when they choose to leave or are you pointing a sword at their backs, making them walk the plank while they gaze at sharks below?

Even after you lost the battle — when a client cancels their membership or unsubscribes — the psychology of user offboarding is paramount. Just like the aftertaste a drink can leave you with, the offboarding experience can make or break your brand’s reputation. An unreasonable layer to a journey’s end can cause friction and leave a bitter taste.

Making it hard for customers to leave your product is unethical, and usually does more harm than good. There is a way to make a person smile even as they’re about to unsubscribe. AppSumo‘s messaging around cancelling a subscription is a good example: The unsubscribe screen says “It looks like you’ve had enough of us (tough but fair).” A small thing like that can take a stressful process and make it more enjoyable. It’s a reminder of what brands should do: let you leave with a smile, remembering them positively.

That’s retention branding. If you still want to leave, at least you left smiling. If you changed your mind, you stayed smiling. You smiled either way, and that matters.

Feature Image Credit: Getty Images

By Tom Gil

Certified real estate copywriter & marketing consultant

Sourced from Inc.

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Branding’s Perfect 10 – The PR Afterthought

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By Glenn Matchett

When considering the future of branding and brands, it is important to properly understand that Communications is now a fractured, complex, and diverse discipline. The challenge for a PR and brand team – and, indeed, for an entire business – is to get everyone working as one. The overarching task is to impart and nurture genuine empathy and understanding for what a brand stands for, along with the overall business goals. The next step is to plan on how that gets communicated effectively to the outside world.

In Communications, working in silos doesn’t cut it anymore. It requires complex, interwoven, and often co-dependent messaging played across advertising, branding, packaging, PR, digital, customer service, and more. Symbiotic, interlocked, and constantly evolving, there is no solitary lens for PR. Instead, there is a brand kaleidoscope that acts as an ever-changing window into how a brand is perceived through the entirety of its communications.

Social media perfectly illustrates how interlocked communications channels can be for brands. A misplaced tweet or a tone-deaf post can quickly catch fire as a PR disaster that can lose customers or have a negative commercial impact on a business. When Dulux became the sponsor of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club this year, one of the first things the paint brand’s social media manager did was engage in some Twitter banter about the club’s lack of trophies. This quite quickly whipped up into a PR storm about how a new commercial partner was making a major faux pax by denigrating its new partner. There were questions asked about the suitability of the partnership and it has resulted in the commercial relationship getting off to an unsteady start.

With an improved lens on PR, the brand would have anticipated the potential problem here. In a future, more perfect world, PR fails can be mitigated by ensuring those who are in charge of social media are adequately briefed and aware of the power of social as a communications channel.

In a future world, this sort of mistakes would be stopped at the source because companies would understand how interlocked all their messaging is with the perception of their brand. A misjudged post on social media has the potential to be just as damaging as Gerald Ratner’s quip in 1991, that the jewellery he sold was “total crap”. His tongue-in-cheek remark in front of the Institute of Directors promptly wiped £500 million from the jeweller’s valuation and nearly took the company to the wall. Reflecting on the incident in 2021, Ratner tweeted, “It is 30 years today when I made ‘that’ speech. It seems like yesterday. I wish it was tomorrow. I would cancel it.” A PR blunder can have a lasting impact. Lessons for the future are often gleaned from what has happened in the past.

In a perfect future vision, PR would always have a board-level seat at any business – helping inform and shape decisions as they are made. PR is not an afterthought. PR is not the red phone to ring in a panic when the shit is about to hit the fan further down the line. Nor is it a cherry to stick on top of a cake with a positive business announcement or new launch. It is not enough to position PR and marketing at the end of a business process. That does not work anymore and brands who do it will often come unstuck or fail to properly connect with their customers.

Another great example from the world of football this year is the abortive launch of ‘The Super League’. As the breakaway scandal unfolded, it was revealed that the organizers only decided to appoint an agency to look after PR on the day of the announcement. What they fundamentally misunderstood is that PR cannot be an afterthought. It’s not about managing a few negative headlines with the belief that today’s newspapers will be tomorrow’s chip papers. PR is vital to monitor the pulse of a brand or an idea. It is about fully understanding and communicating effectively with your customers.

PR is a pre-emptive tool that is as much about anticipation as it is about activation. Like the tip of an iceberg, with PR there is much more to it beneath the surface than you end up seeing in public. As soon as the tsunami of negative responses hit, The Super League brand was dead in the water. If the clubs had effectively engaged PR earlier in their process they would have realized the whole shebang was a bad idea a lot sooner. This whole episode serves as a lesson on why engaging with PR early is a necessity for any brand.

In recent years, technology has seen brands become more and more efficient in how they target their audience. Data-driven intelligence hoovered up from our online activities means that advertisers often seem to know us better than we know ourselves. In the early days of this tracking technology, this was hailed as new nirvana. We’d be served better because we’d get shown what we want rather than things that weren’t relevant and of interest to us. We were heading to a perfect world of branding and advertising. With minimum wastage for advertisers, you would only see the products you’re interested in.

More recently, however, that dream has turned somewhat sour. The dystopian vision in Steven Spielberg’s Minority Report, of being relentlessly targeted with ads, looms larger like a tangible reality. Documentaries like Coded Bias, The Great Hack, and The Social Dilemma each portray a dark and damaging heart at the center of this technology, purely focused on milking and manipulating consumers for all that they are worth.

From a PR point of view, consumers are waking up to how their data is being used and brands need to be mindful of this. Customers don’t like it and the resulting bad PR for their brands may be commercially damaging. From a brand perspective, we may end up shifting in a different direction, with more organic, transparent, and authentic connections being a prerequisite of brand communications. Privacy controls will be placed back into the hands of the customer and, as a result, the PR wildfire that is burning about privacy and data may start to recede. We’ve already seen this come to light with Apple’s new privacy feature, intended to put the brakes on the sharing of customer data across multiple sites. By preventing the targeting that is the bread and butter of many brands online, its introduction may be a catalyst for a dramatic change in the entire online advertising industry.

From a brand perspective, we may end up shifting in a different direction, with more organic, transparent, and authentic connections being a prerequisite of brand communications.

Brands need to continue to adapt and change in step with the world in which we live. Many cultural commentators believed that, after COVID-19, the consumer’s relationship with brands might change dramatically. Our values would shift away from a disposable, frivolous culture and brands would need to follow. The jury is still out on whether this will, in fact, come to pass. If the queues at the UK’s high-street stores, when the lockdown was lifted in April, is any barometer of a new consumer consciousness, it may not, in fact, be the case at all. The hunger to spend on a wide range of goods still appeared to be firmly intact.

It is fair to say though that brands continue to become more socially aware. As part of a brand strategy, CSR is often now firmly embedded into many companies. However, CSR is only really effective when it is integrated properly and not just used as a PR badge to appease a target market or drive sales.

In the future, unpicking the relationship between CSR and PR will be a great step forward for brands. If you consider a brand like Dove, which has ‘body positivity’ at the heart of its brand purpose, you can see how powerful this can be – not just part of a marketing strategy but an entire business philosophy. It’s not just a PR badge adopted in order to shift their products.

In summary, I feel that it is worth addressing the elephant in the room.

“What is the perfect future version of branding and brands?”

Well, there isn’t one, of course. We live in an imperfect world and nothing ever stays still. When Brandingmag launched, 10 years ago, the world was a very different place. Fast forward 10 years from today and I expect, fuelled by technology, that change will be even greater. PR, as a profession, continues to evolve and it is now part of a larger, more integrated, communications ecosystem. The days of fluffy ‘Ab Fab’ PR – with boozy lunches and ‘it’s not what you know, it’s who you know’ dynamics of doing your job – are long gone. The future vision for perfect PR and brands is to refine and adapt to the broader, interlinked way in which communications operates. It’s also imperative for PR to be positioned at the heart of every business operation. Perfect? No, it will never be perfect, but that’s what keeps the craft of communications such an engaging challenge.

By Glenn Matchett

Sourced from Brandingmag

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Branding’s Perfect 10 – The Enemy of Action

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By Chloe Schneider

Perfection is death. Reserved for gods, not mortals.

David Foster Wallace, a perfectionist, wrote a book that features a film called ‘Infinite Jest’. As a piece of perfect media, it is so soothing and answers every desire, that it is impossible to switch off. It fully absorbs the viewer’s attention so they just sit there, sunk in their seat. They watch until they die. The lesson here appears to be that even if perfection were attainable, it might lull us into inaction.

Perfection is the enemy of action.

Action is vital

There are plenty of clever abstractions in branding – and hot air. Acting and applying ideas in the real world is so often where things fall apart. Branding needs a closer resemblance and connection to life.

Applied brand strategy is essential; strategy that can be made reality, designed to take shape in the world. What’s important is not perfect brands and notions, but distinctive brands that make meaningful contributions to culture. A future where all brands act, and specifically act with a social and cultural conscience.

The climate crisis has taught us that, if the status quo isn’t working, if we don’t like what the future holds, we can’t sit around and wait for perfect, ideal solutions. Where we can start to act thoughtfully and with purpose, for environmental and social good, don’t delay. Think hard before you act, but don’t overthink it. Don’t be anxious about having to be a brand with all the perfect answers. Every active step counts.

Often, the issue is about creating cultures, rather than being passive recipients of a future or system that someone else decided or designed. Pursue a radical or reformist agenda in why, how, and what you create.

The process, how brands make things and live on in the world, is as important as the final result.

‘Perfect’ comes from the Latin for ‘completed’. It is unrealistic and dull to think of brands as complete, not as living and responsive parts of culture. It is too narrow to think only of a brand’s end product or service, its final form in isolation.

What was unusual about a Rodin exhibition at the Tate Modern this year was how few of Rodin’s perfect marble sculptures of the human body were on display. Instead, room after room was filled with plaster casts, pencil marks, and the artist’s experimental works. The exhibition firmly insisted that Rodin’s brilliance lies also in the process of creation, in the ruptures, messy complexities, and uncertainties.

“It is unrealistic and dull to think of brands as complete, not as living and responsive parts of culture. It is too narrow to think only of a brand’s end product or service, its final form in isolation.”

Brands shouldn’t be divorced from their making. They should be connected, responsible, and transparent about how something is made, materials sourced, produced, and distributed. Brands should take an empowering and caring role in the communities they draw on and are made in. Norlha is a slow, sustainable, and ethical luxury fashion and homewares brand selling items that are handwoven from Yak wool by nomads turned artisans in Tibet. Rooted in Ritoma’s community, the brand has organically led to the continuity and flourishing of craft and culture, giving people livelihoods, new futures, and a voice in a time of change.

The arts and crafts movement spoke of the joy to be found in labour for a craftsman. In The Stones of Venice, John Ruskin looked at the rough and vivid carvings of Venetian buildings and envisaged ordinary workmen being left to their own imaginations. Whether his observation was right or not, I do think that the more everyone involved in making a brand can take pleasure, pride, and creative satisfaction in their work so much the better.

The power of making something real and its impact can’t be underestimated. But it shouldn’t be limited to the brand managers, marketers, and creative agencies. Make better, empower everyone involved. How a brand gets there – the people that make it, the community it feeds back into, the creative and productive conversations had – matter as much as the final result.

There is also the question as to what ‘perfect’ branding is trying to achieve.

Infinite growth should be dethroned as an aim

This focus on good actions and on the process and getting it right help us to reprioritize.

However, the “perfect” brand and strategy are almost invariably directed towards growth. The electrifying Silicon Valley mindset of shooting into space. Does growth always have to be the goal, the pinnacle of success? Branding certainly seems to be addicted to the idea.

I can’t help but think it misses the point. Growth at the cost of what? Never-ending growth is no longer viable. It’s unsustainable. We need to be willing to sacrifice profit for the cost of building better. It is crucial that more brands act on their philosophies, and stop making empty environmental and social promises.

I’m relieved that brands like Karma Cola exist that are focused on people and the planet, on ethical behaviour, versus world domination. The brands mentioned in this article are relatively small, this enables them to maintain the integrity of their actions and be agile.

In short, be more human, not god-like in the pursuit of perfection.

Take actions that do good in the real world, and don’t be seduced by the dangers of omnipotence, omnipresence, and the divine glory of being absolutely perfect.

—
As Brandingmag reached its 10th anniversary this year, we’re putting together an original series that envisions a perfect future for branding. Ten articles will explore ten different sides of branding, each one through the eyes of an expert on the subject. Join our celebration and stay tuned for the next installment in the “Branding’s Perfect 10” series.

Feature Image Credit: Rostislav Uzunov

By Chloe Schneider

Chloe Schneider is a strategist and semiotician at Here Design. Her expertise is in analysing culture and its artefacts — objects, brands, art, films, media, spaces, iconography, and words — to inform and develop brand and design strategy.

She has unlocked new ways of thinking for Allpress, one of New Zealand’s best-loved coffee shops, Glenfiddich, one of the most globally iconic alcoholic spirits, and The Fife Arms, a hotel from the co-founders of acclaimed gallery Hauser & Wirth. A background in consumer insight and cultural strategy ensures her provocations are grounded and relevant.

Sourced from Brandingmag

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The Importance of Building Your Brand as an Entrepreneur

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Sourced from The Network Journal

You probably hear the word “branding” thrown around a lot. Branding has become a common topic of discussion in entrepreneurship – and for a good reason. Branding isn’t just a memorable logo. It’s vital to your online presence and the success of your business.

What exactly is a brand?

Put simply, a brand is a promise of a specific experience that you create through the sum of different elements, including your logo and tagline, messaging, promise, a specific personality, and visual elements.

Building a brand helps you cultivate trust in your target market, build a community, and showcase yourself as an authority in your field.

Here are additional reasons why you should build your brand as an entrepreneur:

Instant recognition. As an entrepreneur, much of your business growth depends on your getting out there and marketing. With the number of entrepreneurs on the rise, it can be hard to distinguish yourself. Wouldn’t it feel nice for people to know your company without your ever having to introduce it?

A logo is one of the key components of your brand. As the “face” of your business, it’s what people will instantly recognize. A professional logo design should be simple enough to be memorable but powerful enough to give your business the desired impression.

Increased client attraction. Do you find yourself chasing clients? Perhaps they vanish into thin air after your initial meeting. Don’t let this happen to you.

A strong brand is like a magnet for your business. When you focus on building your brand as an entrepreneur, you become exposed to a larger audience. People can find you online and interact with you easily, attracting more business than you know what to do with.

More than regular clients, your brand attracts higher-quality ones. Successful people want to do business with other successful people.

Enhanced credibility. Many smart entrepreneurs struggle to get their big break simply because they have no idea how to position and present their know-how, skills and experience. They lack credibility among those outside their traditional circle of influence.

Credibility is extremely important for entrepreneurs. The more credibility your business has, the more likely people will buy your products or services. A brand is a strategic representation of everything you embody. It expands your circle of influence and boosts your credibility.

Ability to charge more. With increased credibility, you’ll be in a better position to charge more for your product or service.

As an established brand, you may have a limited amount of time in a day to do all the work your business demands. As demand for your skills, expertise, and time increases, you can start to charge more for your time.

Charging more allows you to decide how much you want to work, meaning more freedom.

A better network. You may have heard it said, ‘who you know is crucial if you want to make it in business.’ This couldn’t be further from the truth.

As you grow your brand, you will develop an ever-growing network of heavy hitters in your industry. This network can come in handy when it comes to growing your business. It’s a beautiful cycle.

Whether you want to release a new product in the market or try another route in your business, having a network of people at your disposal can prove to be very valuable.

Inspires employees. Your employees need something to work towards – something more than work and salary. When your employees understand your business’ mission, they’re more likely to feel that they’re part of something bigger and more likely to work to attain the goals you set.

Building a strong brand is like turning the company logo into a flag your employees can rally around.

What are the best branding practices?

Become familiar with the best strategies to avoid common pitfalls when you begin to build your brand.  A single misstep can hurt your reputation and set your brand back.

Here’s how to avoid that:

  1. Harness your personality. Your personality is the most unique thing about you, setting you apart from your competitors.
  2. Believe in yourself as a brand. You become a brand the moment you start your own business.
  3. Know and embrace your strengths and weaknesses. If you want your brand to come off as authentic, you have to own your strengths and weaknesses.
  4. Build a website for your brand. Unlike social media profiles, your website is something you own. Use this personal platform to share blog posts, digital products, webinars, and any other content you deem appropriate for your audience.
  5. Provide value at every chance. The people who follow your brand are interested in learning what you already know. For this reason, try to share content that provides value for the reader.
  6. Foster relationships with other popular brands. Interacting with other well-known brands in your industry is another way to build your brand. Your competition is not always the enemy. You can find success when you partner with your competition on specific marketing campaigns.
  7. Keep reinventing yourself. If you commit mistakes while building your brand, reinventing yourself will help to present a new persona to your online audience.

Branding is not something that occurs overnight, and it’s definitely not something that you should leave to chance. If you really want to stand out from the crowd, concentrate on building your brand.

To build a successful brand, start by understanding the branding best practices. Brands do not exist in a vacuum. Build relationships with movers and shakers in your niche to stay ahead of your competitors.

Sourced from The Network Journal

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