Do you remember what the Instagram logo looked like before it was pink? Did you know that MasterCard used to be called Interbank?
A lot of companies redesign and re-energize their branding. Done right, it can improve customer trust and loyalty. We live in fast-changing times, and everything revolves around innovation. Businesses have to keep up with that.
Let us tell you how your brand can stay up to date with modern trends.
Purchase decisions are made with our eyes. If something looks attractive, we want to buy it. No matter how effective or innovative a product or service is, if it doesn’t look good, customers are far less inclined to get their wallet out. So next to offering quality products, you need to invest in design for your business. Bad design will end up costing you much more.
Unique and catchy design makes your company memorable, increases brand awareness, and builds trust and loyalty.
Going to a client meeting, you wouldn’t wear jandals and sweatpants, would you? If you want to convince a client you make sure you come across professional and knowledgeable. Leaving a lasting impression. Your brand and everything that goes with it needs to do the same. Your website, your marketing materials, your social media profiles, your advertising, and even your office decor need to wear a matching professional outfit. This will form a brand strategy that ultimately gets you the sale.
Your brand strategy is the foundation on which you build your entire business. Creating the plan for branding sets the course, which all other business functions will follow.
The first decisions to make to create your branding guidelines are how to represent your company’s values and qualities. You have to pick signature colours and fonts, your company's tone of voice, and your logo design. Establishing your brand identity is important. It will influence everything from how your marketing materials are presented, how your employees dress, what your packaging looks like, the look and feel of your website, to what your office decor looks like. Everything has to tell the same story and contribute to a clear and consistent image. It represents your company. A strategically planned and designed brand identity will attract buyers and turn them into devoted customers.
While creating your brand guideline follow these two questions: What do you want to achieve? Who is your brand talking to?
Summarize and explain all the parts of your corporate identity in one brand guide. This guide will leave everyone in your business on the same level of understanding of the company. They will know how and what to communicate to achieve the business’ goals.
Coming from a digital marketing perspective, we consider the “User Experience (UX)” one of the main factors for success. Aligning with your brand strategy, your website needs to visually communicate all the information your customer needs clearly and appealing. A website that can do the talking for you is a warrantor for more revenue. To successfully communicate your website needs to stay up to date with modern and innovative trends. After all, it represents your company, so an outdated website seems like an outdated business.
Let’s suppose a company developed its brand strategy about 20 years ago and hasn’t spent any time redeveloping it since. Safe to say that this brand would appear old and tired by now. Its competitors would have an easy advantage.
Our tip: keep re-evaluating your brand and branding guidelines. You can include your customers through surveys to figure out what they already see and value in your brand. This can give you a fresh perspective and focus on how and what to communicate.
Branding sets the tone of voice in which your company talks to its customers. Therefore, it lets them know who you are, what you stand for, and what you offer them. To stay appealing for your target market you might have to evolve with them. So frequent evaluations of your branding strategy are a must. Taking a broad view of your company and making sure everything that has developed over the years is in line with your vision and direction will help your business stay on track.
There are a lot of factors to take into account when creating your brand strategy. Some are more obvious than others.
Reach out today to discuss how your brand can be re-energized, to consistently communicate your story.