Branding
Getting the brand back together
Your brand guide will help ensure everyone within a company as well as outside vendors (such as content writers and designers) are using the same colors, fonts, imagery, voice and editorial style to support and promote the brand and protect it from becoming blurred, or worse, completely unrecognizable.
Branding is way more than your company’s logo. It also applies to all aspects of communications, including personal interactions, imagery and all print and digital assets. Variations create confusion for your prospects and can lead to decreased brand recognition. Consistent communication of your brand is vital to positive engagement.
Without a consistent branding strategy, a client was in the habit of creating signage, advertisements and product communications on the fly. This resulted in multiple styles of communication and imaging, a variety of logos and a lack of consistent messaging.
Streamlining the company’s brand image emerged as the top goal. Guidelines for logos and typography were established, as well as outlining a guide for all future product and brand communications, giving the company a consistent set of company and product communications. Ensuring that their logos, colors, fonts and signage were presenting consistency to all customers, no matter where they were encountering them: IRL or online, was also key.
I Love You. What’s Your Name Again?
A fast-growing pet supply retailer was doing most of the right things. They had a distinct branding guide that included all of the approved colors that could be used; all variations of their logo; and a big list of best practices and “no-nos.”
With 30 locations and more on the way, the company owners also empowered their store managers to create localized signage and displays in an effort to maintain that “neighborhood pet store” vibe.
The managers were passionate about being brand ambassadors but had no access to the branding guide or even any marketing experience. When we did some random location surveying outside, we asked customers, “Where did you just shop?”
“Umm, Pet…something? My dog loves this place!”
Great. You’ve got that customer but you’ve lost a potential influencer because of poor branding choices.
You likely have some elements of branding established. But what is branding and why is it so important to your company’s marketing?
Branding is the foundation that everything else in your company is built on: your look, feel and voice. Marketing communication utilizes your branding foundation to build upward, so if your foundation is weak, you may see your business begin to crumble.
The most important element to branding is consistency. (That means no more letting your managers choose their own “fun” colors and logos and pasting it all over.)
A branding guidelines document can help ensure your company brand isn’t diluted.
See how we helped a client develop one.