Whether you’re introducing a completely new product or service to the marketplace or refreshing your existing brand image, getting your branding right is at the heart of your offer to your customers. But are you getting it right across every customer touch point?
Your brand sets your stall out to your customers – it’s the sum of you as a business shouting from the rooftops about who you are, who you want to be, what you are offering to your customers and how you would like to be perceived, combined with the reality of what your customers think about you and what they associate you with.
B2B customers are spending more time in digital media so we as businesses; as brands, need to be smart at devising a tailored mix of traditional and digital marketing that reflects how our customers wish to receive their information and which marketing space suits them best. Here lies the art of integrating your digital marketing strategy into your wider marketing and PR activities.
Understanding your customers is key, especially when selling into different sectors. Think about where, when and how they are likely to be most receptive to your marketing efforts. Make your digital experience lively and engaging, tailoring the right messages for the right channels.
At the heart of your brand is your logo, yet how many logos were designed in the pre-digital age, with the simple aim of looking great in print?
For example, our previous logo; our second incarnation at the time, had represented us well for 13 years but, as is the case in many companies, it had been born way before social media, in the days of the ‘brochure style’ flat website - and it was starting to show.
As the pendulum of marketing activity swings further and further over to digital, businesses need to be brave in adapting to the times, developing a multi-dimensional brand icon to give maximum impact and flexibility across all platforms.
At every touch point (we identified over 500 individual placements of our logo) your brand needs to be strong and consistent so think about developing a logo that translates well in every medium. The trick in digital is to make a short, sharp impact – to stand out in a sea of ads and in the social scroll as profile icon after icon flash past. Digital is fast moving and dynamic, so it’s an exciting, generally less expensive space to take more risks and be daring in.
Creating a new brand image offers the perfect opportunity to introduce options. A phasing strategy tied in with PR introduces a new look, initially marrying the two, but ultimately prepares your icon to go it alone across every digital and social media platform.
The sizing of your brand image is all important in digital so will your logo work in online advertising? We work with eight different display ads of varying shapes and sizes. Sonic logos and animation bring your brand to life and, with online backgrounds predominately white, don’t be afraid to go colour bold if your feel your brand can take it.
Your website is your shop front and the mainstay of your brand identity. A mobile ready site is no longer a 'nice to have', it’s a 'must have', so before you launch anything new, think about and test every element of how it will look on different devices.
Your brand guidelines, that all staff need to buy into, have to be clear on the use of your image across digital, defining how your branding and imagery seamlessly connect across every aspect of your marketing.
These are exciting times to get creative; to use every channel to market your brand and the story behind it to create a great impression and build a real personality for your business – making connections that stack up to lasting customer relationships.
By Sally Rowland, Head of Digital Marketing at Moneypenny.
PrivSec Conferences will bring together leading speakers and experts from privacy and security to deliver compelling content via solo presentations, panel discussions, debates, roundtables and workshops.
For more information on upcoming events, visit the website.
comments powered by Disqus