Brand, a Guideline (part Two)

Click here to read part one of this blog which covered understanding brand, defining stratergy and researching audience.

Document and Protect

Once your brand has been agreed on, document every aspect of it with a robust Brand Guideline. Include guidance on writing style, colour palette, create and share your brand compliant media library with familiar/ user-friendly Digital Asset Management software (eg Dropbox, Google drive or OneDrive) and make sure everyone in the company understands and uses all aspects as part of their everyday communications, consistency is key. Think of Brand as your team colours in a sports game: how will you (or your audience) know who's on your side, shooting towards the same goals with the same values versus who you are against? Circulate and enforce brand guidelines regularly, they should be second nature to everyone who represents the company, at every level.

Plan and Promote

Create a marketing plan for your brand, map out an annual, quarterly, monthly, weekly even daily schedule of the social media posts, emails, telesales, website updates and overall marketing communications (Marcoms) you plan to communicate. This will give your brand a structured and consistent outlet. Use every communication as an opportunity to drive your brand deeper into the minds of your target audience. every Marcom should promote brand awareness whether that's through the inclusion of a logo, using the agreed writing style or media and so on. There's a psychological phenomenon called the Familiarity Principle* that states that mere exposure to something increases a person's affinity to it. Take celebrities for example: advertisers alike will pay millions to ensure a familiar face is merely associated with their product. Entice influencers and brand champions to promote your brand either through paid placements or make it so alluring that they do so organically, just like creative types do with Apple MacBook’s (or Microsoft Surfaces more these days). Finally, to go full circle with the research: it is so important to remain relevant. Remaining consistent is key, but don't let that stifle innovation or allow you to fall behind the industry. Make sure you have space for your brand to evolve and adapt.

*Source https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1111/1467-8721.00154