Self-design websites and kiosk printed business cards are a fantastically economical way of getting your company off the ground initially, but what happens when you need to put across an altogether more professional image for your company?
Most people think of Virgin or Coca-Cola when they think of a brand. What they are actually thinking of though is usually just a logo, not the overall brand. A brand is the personality of a company, not just the logo or company name. In today’s world it needs to be communicated across all media. It needs to work online, in print, in signage, on business stationery and in video or animation.
Multi-media is fast becoming the norm and if you can get this right then your customers and stakeholders will connect with your brand and will be able to differentiate you from your competitors. A strong brand that is accessible to customers across all types of media will ultimately drive interaction and loyalty towards your company – and it doesn’t need to cost the earth.
Knowing when to form a brand isn’t always clear. It’s worth bearing in mind though that the longer you leave it, the more likely you are going to need to re-create what you already have, which can be expensive, so consider getting it right the first time around.
A good place to start is to consider all points of communication that your customers see and hear about your company. Your brand needs to be able to grow and evolve as your business does and technology is driving more and more innovative mediums to reach audiences.
Then consider what you want your brand to say about your company? What aspects of the company’s personality do you want it to reflect? Today, a brand is more about creating an immersive experience that customers feel affiliated to and begin to feel loyalty towards.
Once you’ve considered what you want your brand to communicate and the best media to do it with, the next step is to start planning what elements you need to best do this. For instance, creating content, planning the flow of your website or style of video and where possible look for areas where content reflecting your brand can be repurposed. Worth noting is each element must communicate a personality that is fitting with your brand values.
If interpreting your personality into a tangible asset proves challenging look to a creative design professional to help you. It is worth remembering that when working with a creative professional you still need to communicate what elements of your personality you want to shine through – they will not be able to do a good job if you are unclear on what you want to portray.
Once you have a brand that you’re happy with you then need to apply it to all of your business communications. You will want your branding highly visible on all communications and the look and feel of all stationery and marketing collateral such as leaflets, brochures and your online presence to reflect the values that you have agreed on. In your written and verbal communication with customers you need to constantly ask yourself, ‘does this reflect my brand values’? Make sure that, above all else, you communicate your brand consistently.
And finally, a word of warning. There’s no point in spending time and money developing an image that you can’t live up to. Whilst there are some facets of a brand that are influenced by design, there is also an element that is made up entirely of how you behave. Don’t invest time and money in developing a brand image if your products and service ethic don’t truly reflect it. If you stick to what’s realistic and then constantly strive to live up to what you promise with your brand, you can’t go far wrong.
