In this episode of Group Therapy, Katie Krongard, Associate Creative Director at Marq, sits down with Brett Barlow, CEO of Everee and former Chief Brand Officer at Pluralsight. They discuss why creatives need to build stronger partnerships with cross-functional teams by investing time into sharing brand initiatives internally while learning how to support their entire organization better.

They also talk about how to build strong brand and marketing teams focusing on start-ups and the characteristics that make brands stand-out against the competition.

This is the fifth installment of Group Therapy, a content series hosted by Marq- the brand enablement platform empowers everyone within an organization to build and deliver branded content to their audience.

In this chat with Adam Gunn, SVP of Brand at Pluralsight, and Cole Parker, Senior Product Marketing Manager at Marq, they discuss the dreaded “C” word… change. Adam shares his thoughts about how brand teams can stay ahead of the curve when businesses are always changing their strategy along with some other nuggets on brand consistency and collaborating with cross-functional teams.

This is the third episode in the Group Therapy series hosted by Marq. Conversations with creative and marketing leaders about all things brand.

Creativity is a necessary component of any successful branding effort, but it is too often regarded as an elusive and intangible quality that is difficult to quantify and manage. But you don’t have to buy into the myth of the solitary genius working in mysterious ways. You can map and analyze creative processes to identify areas for improvement and optimize them for increased efficiency, productivity, and consistency.

This article will explore the benefits of creative process mapping and provide you with the key steps for efficiently leveraging this technique. You will learn: 

• What creative process mapping is
• How to gain greater control over your creative processes
• How to use creative process mapping to enhance creativity and productivity

Whether you are a seasoned creative professional or just starting out, creative process mapping can help you work smarter and faster. So, let’s dive in and discover how it can help you unleash your full potential.

What Is Creative Process Mapping?

Creative process mapping involves identifying, documenting and analyzing the steps that enable professionals to produce successful outcomes. It means looking at every part of the workflow, figuring out the deliverables for each aspect, and documenting the findings in detail so that anyone can use them as a successful guide.

The creative process can be complicated and often includes many different steps, such as brainstorming, research, prototyping, and testing. By making a map of these processes, you can find bottlenecks or inefficiencies and make changes to improve the process as a whole. 

Additionally, creative process mapping can help you identify areas where creative automation can be applied, allowing you to streamline workflows and reduce the time and effort required to complete tasks.

Why Map Your Creative Processes

As a professional, you’re always looking for ways to improve your skills, streamline your work, and get more done. Mapping your creative processes can help you achieve these goals.

Increased Creative Productivity

Creative process mapping can increase creative productivity in several ways:

• By documenting and analyzing your creative processes, you can identify redundancies, inefficiencies and other barriers to optimal productivity.
• Mapping your creative processes can help you prioritize tasks and focus on what’s most important.
• It can help you identify opportunities to enhance your skills and develop new techniques.

Creative Automation

Creative automation is the automating of repetitive and time-consuming tasks in the creative process, such as image editing, video rendering, data analysis, and content creation and distribution.

By making a map of the entire creative process, you can learn more about your workflows and figure out which tasks can be done automatically. Automation can help you get more done in less time and with less effort, so you can focus on the important and creative tasks.

Brand Consistency

Creative process mapping helps identify key elements of a brand, such as tone, style, and messaging. Once these are documented, brands can establish clear and consistent process guidelines, which will help eliminate inconsistencies in branding and ensure that everyone is working towards the same goal. 

Faster Employee Onboarding

Mapping your creative process is a powerful way to help employees and contractors get up to speed faster. Documented processes provide clarity, which empowers new hires. Having a detailed guide increases their transition into a new role while helping them gain familiarity with creative systems and processes more quickly than if they were left to their own devices. 

The 5 Steps of Creative Process Mapping

Now that you’ve learned why to map creative processes, let’s look at how to implement it for your business, your creative team, or yourself. 

1. Identify Processes and Workflows

The first step is to identify the central processes and workflows that contribute to your creative team’s outputs. What do you and your team members do to achieve the successful delivery of these outputs? One effective method is to start at the end and work your way backwards. 

For example, your team is working on a marketing campaign for a new product launch. The outputs include creative copy, a website landing page, product images, social media posts, and so on. What are all the major steps that the team does as it works towards achieving these deliverables? 

At this stage, you want to identify processes and workflows, not every little task that adds up to a workflow. It’s better to avoid zooming in too closely, too quickly—you’re looking for the main paths through the forest, not every twist and turn you take along the way. 

2. Delineate Activities and Outcomes

Once you’ve found the processes and workflows, break them down into smaller workflows, tasks, and activities. Think about the specific tasks that need to be done at each stage of the workflow in order to move the project forward. 

As you break processes down into these small sections, consider each task’s input, dependencies, activities, and outputs. Dependencies are particularly important here: What needs to be done before this task can be completed? Dependencies connect tasks into workflows, and if a dependency isn’t met, it can cause delays and reduce productivity. 

You may also want to catalog the tools used and the expected timeframe for each task.

3. Document Processes

Documentation is key to making sure that everyone on the creative team knows what is expected of them and is working toward the same goal. There are many ways to document processes: text documents, Gantt charts, flow charts, or timelines.

Whichever method you use to create process maps, make sure they are complete, detailed, and correct. These documents are the basis for future optimization, so you want them to be as thorough as possible. 

4. Identify Creative Automation Opportunities

Creative teams can access a vast array of automation tools, should they choose to use them. These range from user-friendly platforms like Zapier and Marq’s brand template and creative automation solutions to complex AI-powered content generation tools like ChatGPT or Jasper. 

5. Analyze & Optimize Creative Processes

You now have all the information you need to optimize tasks and processes. Process optimization is an art and a science, and the details differ between teams and organizations. But you should always: 

• Scrutinize your processes for bottlenecks and their causes
• Identify areas where task dependencies aren’t being delivered in a timely fashion
• Look for tasks that are unnecessary or redundant
• Identify opportunities for new tools and software
• Consider if reordering or reassigning tasks might improve productivity
• Assess how information flows from one stage in the process to another (might there be better ways to share information and assets?)

Creative Process Mapping for Happier, More Productive Teams

Creative process mapping is a powerful tool for anyone looking to enhance their creative routine. By documenting and analyzing the steps involved in the creative process, individuals and organizations can gain a better understanding of their workflows, identify areas for improvement, and optimize their processes for increased efficiency, productivity, and consistency.

Marq’s innovative brand templating platform can help your team optimize creative processes and build consistent brand experiences at scale. To find out more, request a free demo with a brand templating expert.

A brand is a funny thing. It’s not something you can hold in your hand, yet a brand is the bread and butter of an organization. Without a stable, consistent brand, your company growth will be severely stunted. Not so sure? Well, we’ve gathered some facts and statistics for you to check out. Prepare to be convinced.

Related: The impact of brand consistency [free webinar]

Let’s start by building a foundation—what is a brand, how does it relate to your consumer, and why you simply cannot ignore building a strong brand.

Brand basics

A brand is a personality that identifies a product, service or company, including a name, term, sign, symbol or design. A brand also represents the relationships between customers, staff, partners, investors, and so forth.

Boundless

A brand does not exist within a company or organization. A brand exists in the minds of your customers. A brand is the sum total of impressions a customer has, based on every interaction they have had with you, your company, and your products.

Lucidpress

Inconsistent branding doesn’t just impact your customers — it hurts employee morale too.

Lucidpress

Build brand loyalty on shared values with your consumers. It is not the number of interactions a buyer has with your brand, but the quality and relatability of the interaction.

Harvard Business Review

Successful branding yields benefits such as increased customer loyalty, an improved image, and a relatable identity.

TSL Marketing

45% of customers expect great design across marketing and sales collateral.

Lucidpress

The main benefit of branding tools, and reason to employ them, is to boost profits.

Forbes

The greatest negative impact of inconsistent brand usage is the creation of confusion in the market.

Lucidpress

Surprised yet? If not, just wait until you see what’s going on for B2B brands. In a B2B market, branding is especially crucial. If you are in the B2B realm, here are a few things you should keep in mind.

B2B branding statistics

B2B brands fare better with customers when they use emotive rather than rational marketing messages. 

MarketingWeek

B2B marketers have consistently cited brand awareness as their top goal over the last five years.

CMI and MarketingProfs

89% of B2B marketers say brand awareness is the most important goal, followed by sales and lead generation.

Content Marketing Institution

The rise in content generation is inextricably linked to the shift in customer expectations.

Lucidpress

Building an audience is more valuable than direct sales for over 70% of brand managers.

OnBrand

B2B companies with brands that are perceived as strong generate a higher EBIT margin than others.

Forbes

77% of B2B marketing leaders say branding is critical to growth.

Adience

75% of B2B buyers want branded content that helps them research business ideas, but 93% of brands focus their content on marketing their own products and services.

MarketingCharts

91% of B2B marketers use content marketing to promote brand awareness.

Content Marketing Institute

69% of companies report that brand guidelines aren’t widely adopted or don’t exist at all.

Lucidpress

Surprising, right? Regardless of whether you’re a B2B or B2C brand, a small or large business, an emerging competitor or a long-standing organization, you must maintain your audience. Here are a few stats that show how to keep their attention.

Maintaining your audience statistics

On average, 5 to 7 brand impressions are necessary before someone will remember your brand.

Pam Moore

70% of survey constituents reported that consistent branding is crucial when communicating with existing customers.

Lucidpress

Brands that are consistently presented are 3 to 4 times more likely to experience brand visibility.

Lucidpress

The average revenue increase attributed to personalized content is 48%.

Lucidpress

Color increases brand recognition by up to 80%.

University of Loyola

64% of consumers cite shared values as the primary reason they have a relationship with a brand.

Harvard Business Review

50% of people follow 1 to 4 brands on social media, 26% follow 5 to 9 brands, 22% follow 10 or more brands, and 3% follow no brands.

BuzzStream

52% of consumers expect brands to know when the right moments are to communicate.

Cube

89% of business readers say that the brand a piece of content comes from is important, and 85% of marketers say the primary reason for creating content is to build the brand and positive perceptions of the company.

The Economist Group

72% of marketers think branded content is more effective than advertising in a magazine; 62% say it is more effective than advertising on TV; 69% say it is superior to both direct mail and public relations.

The Content Council

45% of consumers will unfollow a brand on social media if their platform is dominated by self-promotion.

BuzzStream

48% of consumers expect brands to know them and help them discover new products or services that fit their needs.

Cube

Mind-blowing? We hope so. Now you’ve got a few more reasons to boost your brand and start thinking seriously about brand asset management. With your newfound knowledge, you’re prepared to wow your customers more than ever. Good luck!

As a Creative Director, you need designers to fly by the seat of their pants, take life by the horns and do whatever they need to do to get stuff done. Or, in other words, you need them to indulge their creativity, take abstract ideas and craft them into something relatable, tangible and personable — relative to a brand, of course.

But here’s the thing. 

All too often, designers and other creatives wind up with an acute case of what you might call Lone-Wolf-Tunnel-Vision-No-Don’t-Touch-My-Precious. Or non-creative folks attempt to create collateral, resulting in some seriously rogue content and off-brand hullabaloo. You’ve seen it before. And maybe you’ve experienced it yourself, too. Folks get so wrapped up in a project that it becomes difficult to remove themselves, both personally and professionally, from the execution, critique and more. 

And while either approach to design can be effective in some circumstances, it works only up till a certain point, when it can hinder your brand image.

Alternatively, steering creatives toward collaboration in design, especially when the project calls for it, can have a positive impact in a myriad of ways. 

What is design collaboration?

Simply put: design collaboration involves the collaboration between colleagues — design, dev, content and etc., — in order to bring an idea to life. 

As the name suggests, design collaboration is an immersive, collaborative experience. It relies on an innate variety of thinking, experience and more that multiple key stakeholders contribute when they, so to speak, put their heads together to problem solve and create powerful customer experiences. Ultimately, design collaboration entails a unique process in which creative teams transform an idea or a concept into a fully-fleshed out campaign or finished product. And in turn, you build a stronger team and empower them to work faster — together.

Why is design collaboration important?

Collaboration in design offers your team two critical benefits:

1. Your brand stands to gain the benefit of collaboration between creatives.
2. Your brand stands to gain the benefit of cross-functional team collaboration.

As far as creatives are concerned, collaboration in design helps empower creatives to take their blinders off and work together (as a team) to create powerful, magnetic content experiences. 

• New and unique perspectives — Each and every person brings a fresh set of eyes and a unique life experience to the table. It’s that diversity in thought and experience that allows designers and creatives to really lean into creating content that represents and resonates with customers. Furthermore, a new perspective empowers creatives to see beyond the realm of their experience and what they bring to the table, which can incite imagination and inspiration. 
• Peer-to-peer learning opportunities — There’s no better people to learn from than your very own peers. Feedback, critique and suggestions are not to be feared. They’re powerful tools that invite an individual contributor to create a more inspired, authentic content experience. Peer-to-peer learning opportunities present creatives with space to iterate and make changes as they see fit, based on feedback….Which leads to our next point.
• Safe space to try new things — Safe spaces for everyone can do a world of good. But sometimes the world isn’t too friendly to creatives. Oftentimes, the brand experience is a numbers game, which makes it easy to dismiss perhaps outlandish or risky ideas. So there’s something to be said about creating stuff in a safe space environment, especially as a team. Think of it as “I got your back.” Plus, there’s a lot of emotional and mental time and energy that goes into creating something. Giving creatives a safe space to explore, draft and more can not only build trust as a team, but it can empower them to find design solutions that create stronger customer experiences. 

As for cross-functional teams are concerned, collaboration in design allows individual contributors and teams at-large to work faster, work stronger and work together more effectively. Keep in mind, the key to a successful collaboration design process lay within managing the project itself. 

• Work efficiently and effectively — Collaboration design requires collateral to be created in sync with other important aspects of the project. For example, your UX designer can’t create a wireframe without copy. And a copywriter can’t create a UX experience without knowing what it will be laid out like. Creating partnerships and harmonious working relationships between integrated tasks allows teams to move faster and work together more effectively.
• Start projects strong — High-visibility projects, like the launch of a new product or revamping your homepage, require input and direction from key stakeholders out the gate. A collaborative design process empowers teams to start projects strong and incorporate stakeholder feedback at the start and along the way, rather than teams getting to the finish line and then feeling bottlenecked by feedback. From there, everyone gets a say where it’s most important instead of attempting to corral feedback in a democractic, timely manner. 
• Iterate, ideate and create — Again, collaboration often lends fresh perspectives and new ideas. Collaborating cross-functionally allows teams to gain access to unique experiences and thoughts, in turn nurturing a stronger content experience for your customers and for your brand. 

How to create a culture of collaboration

Creating a successful collaboration design culture is kind of like following a recipe. There are certain ingredients, so to speak, that you need in order to foster and nurture collaboration across individuals and departments. 

So, what do you need? 

The six C’s!

Common ground — Think of this as a team’s (cross-functional or not) shared values. What unites you as a group of collaborators? 

HOT TIP: Remind everyone to keep an open mind when it comes to perhaps overzealous ideas. Sometimes the most impactful experiences aren’t the most straightforward. And part of the collaborative process entails leaning into a problem-solving mentality.

Context — Think of this as your goals. Why are you all here? What are you doing?

HOT TIP: Creative briefs are excellent contextual pieces of evidence. A creative brief doesn’t have to be super heavy-handed or in-depth, but it needs to offer the guidance, context and identification of key stakeholders for the project at hand.

Clarity — Think of this as the “how” you’ll get this project done. Clarity is critical when working in a group of multifaceted people. 

HOT TIP: You need to consider project management processes, tools, roles, deadlines and so forth. The more clear you can get about who-owns-what and when-something-is-due, the stronger your project is likely to be. 

Critique — This is probably pretty self-evident. Successful collaboration requires critique and feedback. Do not shy away from it. 

HOT TIP: Facilitate peer-to-peer feedback sessions. It’s easy for anyone and everyone to get tunnel-vision when working on a project. Or, alternatively, create a big group brainstorm that encourages everyone to feel “bought-in” to an idea or concept, that way each person feels as though they contributed to the brainstorming process. 

Communication — You and all of those on the collaboration team need to have a universal language regarding the project specifics. Even if a sales agent doesn’t quite understand the ins and outs of a UX designer’s job, doesn’t mean you can’t establish a common ground of communication. 

HOT TIP: Encourage cross-functional collaboration and communication on a regular basis. Weekly or biweekly meetings are a great way to achieve this. 

Connectivity — Think of this as the “what” that connects you back to your customers. What do you know to be true, or rather, what assumptions are you making about this project and consequential experience or initiative.

HOT TIP: Create a customer roadmap of feedback or reviews. Get an inside look as to what you know is true, and perhaps where you’re being steered wrong.

Top 4 tools that foster collaboration

Collaboration design projects usually have quite a few moving parts — along with quite a few people involved. So, to keep you on track, we typically recommend using a few tools that promote and foster collaboration, and keep you organized and on-task.

• Figma — On Figma’s core landing page, you’ll see the text “where teams design together,” which should give you a pretty strong idea of what the product offers. Figma is a proper prototyping tool for designers, devs and content writers to collaborate and bring a large-scale vision to life.. The platform is primarily web-based (with some features available offline) so you can access it anytime, anywhere. 
• Quip — Quip offers seamless Salesforce integration for businesses looking to scale, transform their sales process or make sense of trying times. Within Quip, businesses can easily create and collaborate on Salesforce-related documents.
• Lucidpress — Lucidpress is a content creation platform that empowers anyone (yes, anyone) to create on-brand content. Lucidpress is entirely web-based and can easily accommodate multiple collaborators in a document at any given time. Choose from any of the professionally-designed templates to get started, or import existing ones from InDesign. Plus, Lucidpress’s locking feature allows designers to lock down specific aspects of the collateral, so you can forget about experiencing rogue brand content. 
• Slack — Slack is a team communication platform. Think of it like AOL Instant Messenger or Texting for businesses. Slack empowers individuals and teams alike to get answers quickly, or collaborate on a large project by creating project-specific channels. Slack also integrates with any variety of tech platforms, such as Lucidpress and Google Calendar. So you can stay on task quickly and easily.

You have arrived at Collaboration Design Station

It’s worth noting that not all projects require collaboration design. Some projects are better suited as partnership endeavors, whereas others, like a high-visibility ad campaign, should probably be created using a collaborative design process.

If you Google “brand definition” you’ll find forty-three different attempts on just the first page of search results alone. There are so many competing misconceptions about what a brand is that it might be simpler to say what a brand is not: A brand is not a logo. A brand is not a name. A brand is not a trademark, symbol or jingle. Yes, these things affect the brand, but a brand encompasses all of this and more.

Related: 7 key elements of brand identity design

What is branding?

To begin to understand what a brand is, you must first understand that your brand does not exist in your marketing department, your public relations team, or your CEO’s office. A brand exists only in the minds of your customers. Simply put, a brand is the sum total of all the impressions a customer has, based on every interaction they have had with you, your company and your products. Each one of these interactions tells a story to your customers. If your customer believes that a product is new and innovative, then those attributes become part of your brand in that customer’s mind. If your packaging is beautifully illustrated, then they may view your brand as sophisticated or elite. On the other hand, if your service is poor, customers might think you’re stubborn or rude. If your print materials are designed in MS Paint, you may look cheap and amateur.

Every interaction sends a message

Imagine all of these interactions as arrows, and each one points to a message. For example, your product (a big interaction) might point to the message that your company is innovative. Another arrow—your beautifully illustrated print advertisements—might point to the message that you’re sophisticated and elite. But what if an arrow—customer service—is rude and hard to contact? What if your CEO makes an off-color joke that’s caught on a news camera? Every one of these things are interactions you have with your customers, and every one of them is going to affect how they view your company.

All of these examples of interaction “arrows” point to different messages, sending a muddy overall brand message where the customer doesn’t know if you’re likable or not—whether they want to continue buying your products or go visit your competitor.

To manage your brand, you want to decide on a brand message then make sure that all of the interactions with your company—these arrows—are aimed at your brand message.

Think, for example, of Disney. Several years ago, Disney decided that their brand was “Magical Family Fun.” They now try to point all of their interaction arrows at their target brand, at every level of the company. Yes, there are the obvious examples, like their movies, and theme parks where actors at Disneyland (called “cast members”) dress up as Cinderella, Jack Sparrow and Mickey Mouse. But their brand influences the Disney Stores across the country: every morning, when the stores open, cast members select children to ceremonially unlock the stores with a special keepsake key. Even when providing customer service, the cast members integrate the Magical Family Fun brand message—aside from always sounding happy and eager to talk with you, they’ll spend extra time on the phone reminiscing about past experiences in the park, always happy to listen to customers’ stories or share their own memories. Everything they do, every one of their arrows, is aimed at Magical Family Fun.

Walmart is another interesting example, because their brand message became their slogan: “Save Money. Live Better.” Yes, they bargain hard to make sure that they have the lowest prices, but they also initiated the now-widespread $4 prescription plan, selling prescriptions for a much lower margin—or, often, no profit at all. They do everything they can to make their customers’ dollars stretch as far as possible. The company’s charitable giving is now more than a billion dollars per year.

Whatever brand message you choose, make sure that your customers’ impressions—your arrows—all point in the right direction. Remember the old marketing adage: “A bad advertisement is worse than no ad at all.” By being a brand ambassador—by sending consistent, targeted messages—your customers will understand exactly who you are and what you can do for them.

Why is branding important?

In 1975, marketers at PepsiCo started a campaign that would become a legend in the world of advertising, and would fire the first shot in the Cola Wars. The experiment was simple and effective: booths appeared in malls and supermarkets, sports arenas and state fairs; participants drank two sips of cola from unmarked cups and were asked which beverage they liked better. Overwhelmingly, the choice was clear: consumers favored Pepsi. In almost every venue, in almost every demographic, Pepsi was the winner.

But there arose the paradox: Coca-Cola was destroying Pepsi in market share. Even now, forty years later, Coke controls the largest piece of the carbonated beverage market share—seventeen percent. Diet Coke comes in second place at nine percent. And Pepsi—the clear taste favorite—languishes in third place at eight percent.

Now, there have been some attempts to explain the disparity. In his 2005 book Blink, Malcolm Gladwell suggested that the reason is due to the small amounts: that, when only drinking a sip, people prefer a sweeter drink—which Pepsi is. But studies haven’t always proven that to be true, nor has it been studied nearly as much as competing taste tests.

So what explains it? Well, a research professor at the Baylor College of Medicine decided to really put the claims to the test—to figure out, physiologically, why consumers made that choice.

He put test subjects into an fMRI, a machine that tests brain activity by watching the flow of blood from one region to another. In the first phase of the test, he had subjects drink cola while their brains were being scanned. Once again, Pepsi was chosen as the favorite. It was the ventral putamen that lit up on the scan—part of the brain that makes up the reward system. In essence, the brain was saying “I like this. It makes me happy.”

But in the next phase of the experiment, researchers altered a key component of the test: this time, they told participants what they were drinking. It changed everything. No longer was the reward system lighting up: instead, it was the cerebral cortex, the higher-level decision-making part of the brain. When people drank, their brain wasn’t evaluating flavor; it was evaluating memories and experience. And when this higher-level cognitive part of the brain was working, Coke soundly beat out Pepsi.

This, according to the researchers, was the effect of branding. When a consumer has previous impressions of a product or company, it will actually change the way their brain evaluates such straightforward decisions as “which tastes better?” Coke has a long history of standout marketing efforts. Collectors buy up old ads and bottles dating all the way back to the 1880s. People buy clothes depicting the famous Coca-Cola logo. There is even a Coke museum in Atlanta, where tourists pay $16 for the chance to view exhibits about how great Coke is. And when they look to make their purchase decisions in-store, all of that material makes for a powerful brand.

This is the strength of a good brand management strategy. Granted, Coke has more than a century behind them, and the love of the brand has been passed down from generation to generation. But while becoming the next Coke is daunting (at best), this does serve as a good aspirational lesson on why branding matters.

Key takeaways

• A brand exists only in the mind of your customers. It is the sum total of all impressions that your customer gets from all interactions with you, your product and your company.
• Every interaction sends a message—it is your job, as brand manager, to make sure all of those messages are pointing the right direction to support your brand strategy.
• Proper branding elevates your product to be more than just a sum of its parts. People make purchasing decisions based on more than just product features.

Want to know more about the impact of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

Why did you start your business? We’re pretty sure it wasn’t because you wanted to sell one product every blue moon, or because you don’t care about the services you provide.

Let’s be honest: We all want to make a difference, and we want to be recognized for delivering exceptional experiences. Without a positive reputation built on genuine feedback from satisfied customers, you can wave goodbye to local or worldwide recognition.

Related: 5 tips for building your brand with product & packaging design

You’ve probably noticed that bigger brands tend to have this nailed down. You see that red-and-white logo and instantly recognize Coca-Cola, or that blue background and yellow text belonging to IKEA. Even those multi-million-dollar brands had to start from somewhere. How on earth do you create something memorable—something that a customer will recognize and trust right away?

One answer is product packaging. Packaging is the first thing someone will notice on a shelf or when they receive a delivery to their home. The more they relate to it, the more likely it is that they’ll purchase or recommend it to others.

However, before you reach stardom, there are several ways to increase the chance of getting noticed. From the way you speak about your brand to how you package your products, here’s how to tell a memorable brand story.

Colors draw in the customer

Without color, the canvas is blank. A customer won’t look twice at your product if it doesn’t stand out to them in the first place.

Think about what feelings you want someone to get from your product. Should it make them feel like having fun, like a quirky craft beer? Should it make them feel cared for, like a health-related product? Make a list of how you want your product to make customers feel, and find ways to translate that to your packaging.

It can be easy to match colors with feelings: calming blues, bright yellows, passionate reds. A customer could be drawn to a certain color, depending on what they’re looking for. Colors can help you convey your brand identity, as well.

Who is your audience?

As with any form of marketing, keeping your audience in mind throughout the process is a must. Who will buy your product, and what product packaging will appeal most to that particular audience? Think about colors, shapes, sizes—even the wording on each individual product’s package.

Customers often read the text on a product to reinforce their purchasing decisions in their minds. [] For example, younger audiences prefer brighter, eye-catching colors with quirky shapes and blocky fonts. Older audiences who purchase luxury products prefer colors like black and gold, combined with elegant fonts and sophisticated language. It’s all about knowing who you’re selling to. Once you do, the rest will come far more easily.

Delivery boxes

No matter the size of your business, it’s not only important to have great product packaging on the shelves. When a customer makes a purchase online, they should feel the same excitement for their delivery as they do for the product in the box.

Depending on the size of your business, you might need to batch-order boxes for delivering your products. Businesses often need extra help to meet customer demand. BCS box-making machinery can help to create quality, durable boxing that makes an impact.

Consider sprucing up your boxes with custom-branded stamps, tape and delivery labels—as well as adding extra protection for your product inside each box. Think about padding, branded freebies, and money-off coupons as ways to encourage repeat purchases from your customers.

Logos & graphics

If you’re not including your logo and other branded imagery on your products, how do you expect a customer to know it’s you? When people see a familiar logo, they know almost instantly whether they trust that business enough to buy the product.

Graphics, although not always brand-specific, can often make or break your product packaging. If you’re selling healthy products, you’re more likely to succeed with a green, leafy design. Think about what works, and use a bit of common sense to gauge how you want the product to come across.

Product blurbs

Your brand story is important. So important, in fact, that many businesses make space on their product packaging to write a little about how their business started. Other companies write about their values, such as Lush and their natural, eco-friendly approach.

You can probably think of a few other examples of brands who do this well—which means they’re doing things the right way. The care and effort you take here will pay off when customers remember your story and take it to heart. Shoppers will appreciate an attractive design with an inspiring blurb more than one with a cut-and-dry description. Don’t forget that it’s often the packaging of a product that sells it, not just what’s inside.

Key takeaway

Customers need to recognize your products before building trust and loyalty in your brand. Find your brand’s voice and tell its story—your product packaging depends on it.

Like many things worth learning about these days, brand identity is a topic that sometimes gets so misconstrued and complex that the whole thing turns into a big meaningless fugazi.

For some reason, a lot of designers seem to think that making their ideas about brand identity sound more complicated will in turn make them sound like they know their stuff.

In my opinion, that couldn’t be further from the truth.

Related: Branding? Follow this template for creating a brand platform

In the famous words of Albert Einstein: “If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.”

Sadly, because many businesses have a preconception that brand identity has to be a complex affair, they make it so. But in the ever-changing, fast-paced business world of today, who’s got time for complicated?

Simplicity is key to making good decisions, fast.

So, if we were to sheer away all of the confusing fluff surrounding brand identity, what sort of beast would we be left with underneath?

Welcome to the minimalist guide to brand identity, where all of the confusing and pretentious stuff is thrown out the window and we focus solely on the stuff that really matters.

Let’s dig in.

Rule #1: If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Just take a look at Gap’s rebrand from 2010.

LOOK AT IT!

That change cost them 100 million dollars.

And, they changed it back.

The lesson? If you already have a brand that works, and no compelling reason to change it, leave it as is.

Branding (your brand’s identity) only needs to be changed when the perception of you in the market doesn’t match what you actually do and represent as a business… which leads us into the next rule.

Rule #2: Put your values first.

So, you’ve thought about the point above and decided, “Yes, we actually do need to fix our brand because it doesn’t match who we are.” Fair enough.

But, before you even start to talk about the visual stuff—fonts, colors, imagery and so on—you need to do a little soul-searching to get down on paper the values of your business.

This, in essence, is what a brand’s identity is: the values that the visuals represent. [ ]

Everything about the brand therefore needs to make sense and represent you in some way, so start by answering a few simple questions like:

• What are your business’ values?
• What values do your competitors have that you don’t want to be associated with?
• How do you want people to describe your business, product and service?

Answering those sorts of questions will help direct you in making choices about the visual aspects of the brand.

If you want your brand to be considered tough and macho, for example, you wouldn’t go for a curly, wavy font.

If you want your service to be perceived as simple and to-the-point, you wouldn’t want to go overboard with the imagery.

Once you’ve got those values nailed down, it’s much easier to say whether a visual idea is a good fit for your business.

Rule #3: Simplicity is key.

Sure, you could take a course on branding & design. You could read Pearce’s Theory of Semiotics. You could hire a team of brand consultants to come in with their chihuahuas, fedoras and turmeric lattes to give your brand “pizzazz” and make it pop.

But, why bother when you can keep the process simple?

You’d be amazed at how many companies waste weeks or months—even years in some cases—obsessing over minuscule brand details.

While it’s true that the devil is in the details, it’s also true that branding, just like any other form of art, is incredibly subjective.

Remember that, while you might get into disputes over the finer details internally, as long as the new brand looks good and represents your values, people won’t notice that your font is slightly lighter, slightly bolder, or that you’ve chosen Pool Party Valspar over Filoli Morning Valspar (yes, those are genuine Pantone colors).

In other words, don’t let your own personal ideas of perfection get in the way of progress.

Keep your decision-making system simple, while understanding that people on your team are bound to have a few ideas you don’t, and the process will be both quick and fruitful.

Rule #4: Look at your competitors.

If you want to save time while building a brand identity (and the elements to match), it’s crucial to put together a board of your competitors’ brands, including their logos and value propositions.

Why? Because a lot of businesses rush in, creating a brand they love, only to realize that it looks disappointingly similar to the competition.

Consider zagging where everyone else has zigged. If every brand in your industry is blue, pick another color that will make you more memorable and own that hue instead.

It’s far more powerful to stand out than fit in, so don’t assume that just because everyone else has done something for a reason, you should follow suit.

Looking at competitors early in the process is an easy way to guide your identity and the resulting elements. Other companies will give you insight into exactly which routes to pass by and which ones to explore.

Rule #5: Listen.

I’d strongly recommend using this exercise to build trust with your customers.

Ask them what they think your brand values are to get a picture of the way they see you.

Not only will they love that you got in touch, they’ll feel valued and potentially even become brand advocates.

This is the best and most accurate source of data when revising your brand identity.

Rule #6: Test, tweak and test again.

Once you’ve made your decisions and pushed your new brand identity out there, the key is to test and make sure the changes you hoped would be evident are the ones you actually get.

A soft launch to the same customers you spoke with can be a great way to gauge whether the decisions you’ve made are wise ones.

More often than not, some unexpected reactions and results are likely to occur. A/B testing new messaging & branding on your website and in your communications is a great way to measure whether certain tweaks are working.

When you do launch—especially with changes to messaging—it’s advisable to make incremental changes so you can track exactly what’s worked and what hasn’t. If you push ahead and change everything in one go, you’ll never know which elements are responsible for positive or negative reactions.

Key takeaway

Branding is a huge differentiator. No matter how you approach the subject internally, it’s important to keep a commercial head on your shoulders and realize that the more time & resources you sink into your new brand, the less cost-effective it becomes.

I know that’s a pretty boring thing to say when talking about something as exciting as branding, but many businesses fall into the trap of sinking so much time into brand identity work that the whole project becomes a false economy, costing you way more than it could possibly generate in revenue.

To avoid that pitfall, keep your decision-making process swift, honest, and void of too many personal preferences—and your identity project will be a flying success.

Ready to begin? Learn about the 10 assets you need to effectively manage your brand online in our free ebook.

Sometimes the best idea is the simplest one. That was certainly the case for the founder of J Dawgs, a Utah-based hot dog restaurant that recently opened its fifth location.

One day, Jayson “J” Edwards, then an unfulfilled Asian Studies major, walked past an abandoned red shack in Provo, Utah, and decided that it would make a great hot dog stand. Naturally, he dropped out of school and got to work.

Seven years later, J opened his first restaurant outside of Provo and attributed his success to a single factor: “the food.”

Related: 5 branding lessons we can learn from Metallica

J was right about one thing: the quality of a product determines whether customers will keep coming back to it. But letting a product speak for itself, alone, isn’t a very good marketing strategy—especially for a small, relatively unknown business. It might work in the long run, but it takes a very long run to get there (seven years for J, in fact).

That’s what makes a brand’s personality—the human personality traits that it projects to potential customers—so important. It introduces people to your brand so they can form a positive impression even before they take a chance on your product. (Fortunately, J’s branding has now caught up with his product: see his new page).

In this post, we’ll look at five brands that we think each exemplify one of the dimensions of great brand personality.

1. Sincerity — lululemon

In order for customers to trust a brand with their business, they must first believe that the company actually desires their well-being.

That’s exactly how lululemon comes across with its lowercase, low-key approach to branding. It’s got all the passion of other brands without the tension that comes from trying too hard to impress. Lululemon’s straightforward approach convinces users that this brand has nothing to hide, that it is exactly what it professes to be.

The lululemon blog’s focus on real stories about real people, such as those who participate in yoga on Canada’s Parliament Hill, reinforces its sincerity.

Businesses can develop a similarly sincere brand by setting realistic expectations with customers from the start instead of overhyping a product to force a sale.

2. Excitement — Johnny Cupcakes

While we all value our sincere friends for their truthfulness, they aren’t always the ones we turn to for fun on a Friday night—which is where excitement comes in.

Energy and inventiveness are at the heart of a brand’s excitement. Those are both strong suites of Johnny Cupcakes, a one-of-a-kind “t-shirt bakery” whose designs all manage to look vintage and fresh at the same time. We particularly admire the shaking cupcake-and-crossbones logo that appears whenever you’re waiting for another page to load: its movement suggests the energy underlying the whole establishment.

Companies wanting to give off exciting vibes should look for ways to incorporate pop culture references into their marketing. Such trendiness won’t just earn them more clicks—it will also convey to customers the thrill of buying and using their products.

3. Competence — Genius

A brand is considered competent if consumers perceive it to be dependable, intelligent and successful.

Genius.com manages to convey dependability with its barebones design, intelligence with its no-nonsense moderating system, and success with its insightful explanations of the history and vision of the site. Originally launched as a meeting ground for people to interpret rap lyrics, Genius is now home to helpfully annotated texts ranging from literary classics to fast food menus.

Takeaways for your business:

• Be sure to maintain a consistent brand identity as your business expands.
• Share customer success stories with your users to further cement brand competence.

4. Sophistication — Vango Art

Not every customer is looking for the pure functionality offered by competent brands. Sophisticated brands like Vango appeal to their clients’ more refined sensibilities.

Everything from Vango’s cursive slogan (“Be original”) to the muted background colors contributes to a general sense of delicacy, balance and restraint. The real draw, of course, is the art itself, most of which appears to be the very soul of elegance.

To develop your brand’s sophistication, make it your goal to inspire, soothe and console your clients. For example, you might start a social media campaign, complete with a hashtag inviting users to share relevant, uplifting stories.

5. Ruggedness — Pebble Smartwatch

While a sophisticated approach might appeal to artistic types, it could just as easily leave behind the rough-and-tumble rovers.

In fact, a brand’s ruggedness can deliberately challenge the overblown sophistication of other brands. That’s exactly the case for Pebble, which produces a smartwatch that’s in direct competition with more expensive (and more indulgent) high-end watches. The ad below, with its retro pixel artwork and sassy tone, makes a strong appeal for getting back to basics. This tongue-in-cheek branding helps Pebble tap into the trend of anti-consumerism—without making you think it’s just a cheap watch.

To build up a rugged brand personality, emphasize outdoor use cases and functionality over appearance. That’s not to say that your product should look bad; just don’t make it showy.

What does this mean for my brand?

While we’ve picked out brands that we think exemplify each of these characteristics, no brand can or should fit perfectly into a single category. Instead, you may blend several of these characteristics together for optimum results.

If you’re unsure where to begin, consider listing what you know about your audience. Your brand personality should be a response to their needs and interests. Once you know what speaks to them, you’ll begin to understand what kind of brand personality they will appreciate.

Learn more: Do you know the 10 essential brand assets for digital success?

With the right slogan, you can make people giggle at a pun, ponder the mysteries of the universe, or even experience a powerful craving. A poor slogan, on the other hand, risks making customers cringe. And forking over cash is usually the last thing someone wants to do after cringing.

This post will give you a 5-step guide to writing great slogans. So whether you need a brand new idea or you’re refining an existing slogan, you’ll be in business. Let’s get started!

Related: Learn more about the 10 assets you need to effectively manage your brand online in our free eBook.

1. Make your slogan ABC: Ambitious But Credible

Believability is the first test of a good slogan, because a customer’s belief or lack thereof largely determines how he or she will respond, and that response could very well be the difference between buying and walking away. No matter how much fun your slogan is to say, or how good it looks next to your logo, it won’t do any good if your customers don’t believe it. []

For example, Nike’s command to “find your fast” comes across as completely believable. While having the right equipment isn’t the only factor in athletic success, it is a factor. Slogans like this one invite consumers to put their trust in a brand, which is a big plus.

Some key questions to ask about your slogan:

• Do I believe it?
• Is there good reason for my customers to believe it?
• Does it set a high standard for the product?

2. Appeal to emotional needs

Making a purchase is often an emotional experience. If a slogan can incite a strong positive emotion (think joy, excitement, sympathy, etc.), it stands a better chance of connecting people with the products and services that aim to fill those needs.

For example, major hotel chains go out of their way to convey comfort: Hilton claims to be “filling the earth with light and warmth of hospitality,” while Aston bids “welcome home” to each traveler who sets foot on their premises.

You can also tug at the heart strings without being sappy. When Kleenex launched a video ad about a boy who gives a tissue to a girl he spots crying on the school bus, the closing observation that “someone needs one” positioned Kleenexes as the universal response to tears everywhere.

Questions to consider about your slogan:

• What emotions does it invoke?
• Which of my target audience’s needs does it relate to?

3. Stand out with clever wordplay

Your slogan ought to be tricky or clever enough to make most readers think about your slogan for a minute or two, which makes it more likely that they’ll remember it. If it’s too tricky, however, it can go right over their heads and leave them confused.

There’s no easy way to come up with a clever saying, but you can start by listing words that have to do with your product, then searching for rhymes, synonyms, and alternate definitions for puns.

Those aren’t the only ways to make your slogan stand out—in fact, sounding too catchy in a clichéd way could be counterproductive. Reese’s “two great tastes that taste great together” follows an A-B-B-A structure that, intentionally or not, imitates the peanut-butter filled structure of the candy itself.

Nor does it have to be complicated to sound good. “Ace is the place with the helpful hardware folks” isn’t just easy on the tongue; it’s also a straightforward slogan that goes well with the down-to-earth nature of hardware stores.

https://youtu.be/KNo9lW6SIOI

Ask yourself:

• Are consumers likely to understand the slogan’s wordplay?
• Does the cleverness of the slogan distract from or reinforce its overall message and effect?

4. Just say no to clichés and superlatives

How do you know when you’ve crossed the line from catchy to corny?

If people can sarcastically cite your slogan to disprove it when they experience setbacks, you’ve probably crossed that line. []

Another sign you may have gone too far is the use of tired clichés. Phrases such as “we do X so you don’t have to”; “for x, by x”; and “x of the future” are all used so frequently that consumers are used to tuning them out. If you really want to express the sentiment embodied in these phrases, find a unique way of doing so.

Some key questions to consider are:

• In what ways is my slogan different from most slogans?
• In what ways is it similar, possibly too similar, to most slogans?
• How likely are customers to roll their eyes at it?

5. Maintain a strong connection to your business

Can you match the following slogans to the product they represent?

1. Made like no otherA. beverages2. Rethink the daily grindB. women’s deodorant3. Live loudC. toilet paper4. Live life in full colourD. denture fixatives5. Bend the rulesE. 3D desktop scanners6. Designed to be forgottenF. ice cream

Having trouble making the connection? The point is that a slogan should strongly relate to the product it promotes. It if doesn’t, then it might catch people’s attention momentarily, but it won’t stay with them.

It’s best if there’s a strong, interesting link between your slogan and your product. For instance, Aquafina’s insistence that their water is “for happy bodies” makes good sense. Sunchips’ claim to be “unique in every wave” distinguishes their chips from their less curvy competitors. Finally, Paper & Packaging Board’s assertion that their products are at the heart of “how life unfolds” wouldn’t make much sense for, say, a burger stand.

(And if you want to know the quiz answers, here they are: 1. F, 2. A, 3. D, 4. B, 5. E, 6. C.)

Congratulations! You made it through Business Slogans 101. Once you’ve written a killer slogan of your own, be sure to sell it visually as well as verbally. Lucidpress templates can help you incorporate your new slogan into all kinds of marketing materials: social media graphics, digital magazines, company newsletters, and much more.

We love stories. We use them to understand our world, to make connections with others, and to find meaning in our lives. Ever notice how, at a party with a lot of loud conversations, when someone starts getting into a great story, the conversation dies down and everyone turns to listen? That’s the power of stories. We can’t resist the good ones.

That being said, it’s no surprise that the brands who tell great stories are being noticed. At its best and most powerful, content marketing is storytelling. [] That’s what the phrase “storytelling marketing” is getting at—a story-focused approach to your marketing and brand building.

Related: How to use storytelling to raise conversion rates

In this post, I’ll cover four examples of brand storytelling from top companies and talk about how all of us can learn from and apply their best practices. So keep reading to see what Apple, Airbnb, John Deere, and Jell-O can teach us about storytelling marketing and building a brand.

1. Apple and Steve Jobs

Apple was destined to make it onto this list. Ever since my family got our first Mac, I’ve been a fanboy. And as for Steve Jobs, his life and work have inspired me personally and professionally in deeply affecting ways. He’s one of my superheroes. Personal stakes aside, Apple can tell a great story. And often, Steve Jobs was the one who told those stories.

Jobs’ introduction of the first iPhone in 2007 is the stuff of legend. I still get goosebumps watching it and basking in the masterful storytelling. Steve begins by telling the audience why they should care about what he’s about to tell them. Because of what Apple had done before, and because Apple knew their market so well, it was almost a given that people were invested in Steve’s presentation. But he doesn’t make that an excuse to ignore good storytelling principles.

Steve begins the presentation by masterfully building suspense. A touchscreen iPod? A phone? An internet communicator? What is he up to? Then, even as the audience is starting to catch on, he lingers in the suspense a bit longer before making the reveal: a three-in-one mobile phone that would change the world forever.

Jobs was building the iPhone’s brand even before the audience had seen it, and the story was consistent with the company brand Apple had already built. Apple knew they’d made something exceptional. It was up to Steve to tell the best story, and he did.

Today, Apple continues Steve Jobs’ tradition of storytelling marketing. They do a great job of telling a story about what it looks like for customers to successfully use their products. Apple weaves their products seamlessly into the story. They also show how their products help people create their own stories, and Apple highlights the stories people create.

An example of this is the “Start Something New” initiative that showcases art people are creating with Apple products. With this page, Apple is providing a platform for their customers to tell the brand’s story, a technique that can produce the most authentic and engaging results.

I will say that this site has some big UX issues, which is uncharacteristic of Apple, but I love the idea. Apple’s TV spots for the iPhone 6S also follow this principle. The spots don’t linger on gratuitous close-up shots of the iPhone and how pretty it is (though boy are Apple products pretty). They show relatable but slightly-cooler-than-is-realistic people using the iPhone to do really cool things.

What can we learn from Apple?

• Hook the audience first, introduce your product second
• Build suspense
• Focus your story on customers successfully using your product

2. Airbnb

I’ll just come right out and say it: Airbnb blew me away with their content. It’s the kind of stuff I would enjoy reading just because. After browsing the content for a bit, I was totally hooked. And I never once felt like I was being marketed to. But I can say that I definitely wanted to go stay somewhere with Airbnb after reading.

So their approach works. Airbnb’s content is totally focused on people—on the people who own the homes listed and the travelers who go there. They show how connecting with others is important to their brand and how their brand makes that possible. It’s a very human approach, and it works perfectly. In a very clear statement about the importance of stories to the Airbnb brand, there’s an entire page on their website labeled airbnb.com/stories.

This page has videos and little bios of Airbnb hosts around the world. It was one of my favorite things I found on the site.

Here’s one of the stories that I especially enjoyed. Airbnb is also experimenting with a brand magazine called Pineapple. On their website, Airbnb describes Pineapple as “a platform for the incredible stories from Airbnb’s extended family to be shared; it is somewhere for readers to see how people live and create connections in cities today.”

This meshes perfectly with the rest of Airbnb’s approach. They focus on the stories and on the people, recognizing that this is the language by which humans communicate, so that is the approach that will attract more customers. There is also a truly genuine element running through Airbnb’s content.

At least I got the sense that they really do care about their communities and the impact that Airbnb has on them. They are invested in the lives of these people. They care. Content marketing best practice? Care about your customers. []

What can we learn from Airbnb?

• Ask yourself, “Would people pick up my content from their coffee table and read it?”
• Always bring it back to the human element
• Be sincere

Note: I found a lot of the information about Airbnb from this post.

3. John Deere

Believe it or not, John Deere is pretty darn good at content. And they’ve been putting an emphasis on content since before most other brands even existed. For some context, let’s take a quick look at the history.

In 1895, John Deere printed the first issue of The Furrow, their brand magazine. This was long before anyone had even mentioned the phrase “content marketing.” By 1912, the magazine was being distributed to 4 million readers. John Deere still produces The Furrow today, which is received by about 2 million global readers.

It may not have been hard for the folks at John Deere to realize that agriculture is important to their customers, and, predictably, agriculture is the focus of The Furrow. But it’s the diversity of the topics and stories covered that really makes this magazine stand out. It may be tempting to group all farmers into one category, but from what I’ve seen, they’re a diverse group. In speaking to farmers generally, John Deere has the difficult task of telling stories that a lot of different people will care about.

This is reflected on the topics that are featured in The Furrow. They run the gamut from a piece on the beef industry to coverage of gourmet chocolate production in St. Lucia. Both of these stories are focused on agriculture, but in very different ways. Even so, because they’re interesting, well-written stories, they have a broad appeal that transcends differences in the agricultural community.

I also really like the fact that The Furrow is a magazine, and even more, I like that it’s distributed digitally. Using Lucidpress, your brand can follow John Deere’s lead and create digital magazines to present your story and build your brand. Lucidpress has a great collection of online magazine templates that make the process fast and easy. Lucidpress also has collaboration features that allow a team to work together on the same project at the same time. If stories enhance human connection, then it’s also true that the best stories come from humans working together.

What can we learn from John Deere?

• Utilize the digital magazine medium
• Know what connects your customers to you
• Don’t get stuck telling just one story

Note: The historical information about The Furrow is from this blog post.

4. Jell-O

I thought it’d be nice to wrap this post up with a fun example. Who doesn’t love Jell-O, right? Ok, a lot of you probably don’t like to eat Jell-O, but I dare you to tell me that you don’t find joy in this:

And then there’s this classic scene from Jurassic Park:

Never gets old. But in addition to providing endless entertainment without ever leaving us too full, Jell-O does a good job of brand building with storytelling marketing. The story Jell-O has focused on is people successfully making delicious desserts using their product (a similar approach to Apple, but with gelatin instead of hard drives).

Half of their website is devoted to easy-to-make recipes, and the photos of the finished products come together to form a great example of visual storytelling. Take a look:

What this page illustrates is that you can get creative with brand storytelling. Recipes might not be the first thing that comes to mind when you talk about storytelling marketing, but because of the way Jell-O presents their recipes, it becomes a story about all the things that you can do with Jell-O. Sure, they left out this application:

But they told a good story, regardless.

What we can learn from Jell-O?

• Think outside of the box when deciding how to Kraft (couldn’t resist) your story
• Make your story actionable—what are customers going to do because of it?
• Don’t forget to make it look good

So now what?

Brands live or die on their ability to enhance human connection. And stories, I have found, are the best way to build connections. So, take a look at your brand. Find the human element, and ask yourself, “How can I make people’s lives better? What story would they like to hear?”

You can jump on a call with some of your customers or maybe send out a survey to find the answers to these questions. Once your brand’s story begins to take shape, you can use Lucidpress to present your story in the best possible way. Whether that’s a magazine, a monthly newsletter, an eBook, or something else entirely. If your customers feel that your brand improves their lives, then they’ll want to be a part of your story. And in the end, your story is your brand. So make sure it’s a good one.

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Download our free ebook on how to build a brand in 2020.

Put simply, the difference between corporate branding and product branding is that corporate branding represents an entire company and its complete portfolio of products, while product branding focuses on a single product. Orville Redenbacher’s popcorn is a product brand. ConAgra Foods is a corporate brand.

Related: What is branding, and why is branding important?

Let’s take a quick step back to a recent blog where we defined what branding is: a brand is the sum total of the impressions of all interactions that your customer has with you. If it’s product branding, it’s all the interactions with your product—the packaging, commercials, quality, and so on. If it’s corporate branding or corporate identity it’s all the interactions they have with your company.

How visible is your corporation?

Depending on your company, the corporation may be virtually unknown—everyone knows about Twinkies, but few have ever heard that they’re owned by Flowers Foods. On the other hand, your corporate brand may be front and center for your consumers.

For example, Procter & Gamble was an official sponsor of the Rio Olympics. Their individual products were mentioned, but the focus of their ad campaign focused on P&G as a whole, continuing the mom-oriented messaging they’ve used in recent Olympic games. The campaign focuses on the strength that moms pass onto their kids, and how P&G is an ally in that goal. They cite several of their products: Tide detergent, Bounty paper towels, Pampers diapers, and more. But those products are seen very briefly; this is about corporate branding, and it’s the P&G logo that is displayed proudly at the end of the commercial.

https://youtu.be/1SwFso7NeuA

When corporate branding replaces product branding

Of course, Procter & Gamble doesn’t usually advertise the company as a whole (because their products are so many and so varied—from Dolce & Gabbana perfume to Pepto-Bismol to Febreze—that it’s hard to lump them together and promote them as a block), but other multi-brand companies choose to brand the company instead of the individual products. GE is a good example: they sell microwaves and ovens, but they also make MRI machines, wind turbines, light bulbs and mining equipment.

So, when GE advertises, they’ve made a decision to promote the entire company. A new ad campaign titled “What’s the Matter with Owen?” is a self-deprecating series in which a young college grad gets hired by GE and, instead of congratulations, he gets sympathy from his uninformed friends. He has to explain to them (and to us, the viewers) that GE is a great company for developers like him. They’re a “digital industrial” company.

When your product portfolio needs to be split up

Recently on this blog, we talked about Disney’s brand message: “Magical Family Fun.” It’s a message that defines its theme parks, movies, stores and merchandising. But The Walt Disney Company consists of much more than just magical family fun. They own other family fun brands like Lucasfilm and Marvel, the ABC Television Group (with channels like A&E, the History Channel and Lifetime), and ESPN with its many spin-off channels.

In this case, all of these disparate brands under The Walt Disney Company’s umbrella don’t get into corporate branding the same way that consumer-packaged goods conglomerates like Procter & Gamble do. They occasionally work together (ABC collaborates with ESPN during March Madness, for example), but ESPN never raises the Disney flag.

Your corporation has a brand whether you manage it or not

But here’s the thing about branding: you have a corporate brand, whether you are managing it or not. Your company’s products do not exist in a vacuum. Disney has suffered lawsuits and boycotts against one subsidiary because of the actions of another.

The Southern Baptist Convention voted to boycott Disney’s theme parks and movies because ABC was airing Ellen, the show in which Ellen DeGeneres came out as lesbian. The Catholic League called for a boycott of Disney when Miramax (a movie studio owned by The Walt Disney Company until 2010) released Dogma, a movie where God is played by Alanis Morissette. Because Disney owned all of these things, people chose to boycott more than just the properties which offended them.

When brands clash

A similar thing happened with the large brand conglomerate Unilever: Dove soap began the “Dove Campaign for Real Beauty,” a marketing campaign which focused on non-Photoshopped models and women who were comfortable in their own skin. It was, and is, a beloved campaign for Dove beauty products, but it was cited as hypocritical by some who realized that Unilever also owned the Axe brand—a brand that, according to protesters, objectified women. (Ads for Axe showed airbrushed models unable to resist men who had used the body spray.)

Protesters added that, if Unilever would show gratuitously sexual ads, then the “Dove Campaign for Real Beauty” is not a true value of the brand or the leadership at Unilever, but a simple marketing ploy.

Key takeaway

Not every conglomerate has to behave like Procter & Gamble, advertising its products together as a group with a single focus. Nor does a company need to be like GE, uniting all of its products under the same brand. But whenever you are interacting with your customers, you are sending a message. Corporate branding is happening whether it’s directed by the company or not.

Magazines have found new life on the web, where old brands have undergone a digital transformation to stay relevant and compete with myriad newcomers both fragile and nimble. A look at the newsstand might make one wonder where all the magazines have gone—but often, a simple Google search reveals the answer.

Related: How to make a magazine in 12 steps

We love magazines here at Lucidpress, which is one reason why we make it easy to design and share your own. Gorgeous and informational, magazines are an enjoyable way to connect with a lifestyle, hobby or industry—such as brand management, for example. Here’s our roundup of the 8 best free magazines online for brand marketers.

1. Branding Magazine

With the tagline “Narrating the discussion,” Branding Magazine covers thought leadership and conversations happening in the branding and marketing industries across the globe. Data and case studies combine to create compelling How-To guides and other advice. Articles are beautifully designed and free to read online.

Recommended first read: The Erotics of Branding in Design and Relationships

In this evocative article, design strategist Jonathan Ford speaks with relationship expert Esther Perel about brand desirability and devotion, and why we find ourselves drawn to some brands but not others.

Subscribe: http://www.brandingmagazine.com/

2. Brand Quarterly

Brand Quarterly takes a holistic approach to brand management, pulling in relevant stories and data from various sectors of the marketing world. A quick glance at their latest articles reveals insights about multigenerational marketing, inbound strategies, and even personal branding tips.

Recommended first read: The White Space Is Where Your Brand Lives

In this article, author Adam Pierno reminds us that there is more to our brands than logos and messaging; context beyond our control contributes to brand perception as well.

Subscribe: http://www.brandquarterly.com/the-magazine

3. Brand Packaging

Brand Packaging puts a special focus on how brands present their physical products—that is, product packaging. However, it is so much more than that. In this magazine are important discussions about what makes a brand resonate, what keeps it relevant, and why consumers behave the way they do.

Recommended first read: Culture at the Core of Design

In this article, author Ted Mininni examines what makes a brand culturally relevant, and how one brand in particular—Monster Jam—became a unique cultural phenomenon.

Subscribe: http://www.brandpackaging.com/publications/3

4. Onbrand Magazine

With a sharp focus on the outer edges of technology, Onbrand Magazine features contemporary discussions about the future of brand management. From virtual reality to the latest social media development, Onbrand raises questions and offers advice on how to move your brand forward.

Recommended first read: It’s Time for Brands to Walk the Talk

In this article, author Rob Coke wonders whether “brand” has become a redundant concept—or worse, conflated with the worst of sleazy advertising techniques. How can brands adjust to show their genuine, honest purpose?

Subscribe: https://www.onbrand.me/

5. UX Magazine

Although it’s primarily focused on user experience design, UX Magazine has a robust “Marketing and Brand” section, dedicated to content that lives in that shared Venn diagram space where UX and branding meet. If you aim to be a well-rounded brand manager, it pays to check in here once in a while.

Recommended first read: Why Visual Design Is More Than Meets the Eye

In this article, author David Rhyne examines the who, when and why of visual design—and how good visual design is part of a well-thought out product and an effective brand.

Subscribe: https://uxmag.com/topics/marketing-and-brand

6. Transform Magazine

Calling itself the only global magazine dedicated to rebranding and brand development, Transform Magazine puts the spotlight on an area of branding that is often overlooked. Successful brands evolve and change with the times, and you can learn important lessons by hearing their stories.

Recommended first read: Embracing the Power of Digital Nostalgia

In this opinion article, CEO Simon Massey of the Gild takes a look at nostalgia in the digital age, and how brands can build a bridge between the digital and the physical.

Subscribe: http://www.transformmagazine.net/

7. Harvard Business Review

Just because you’ve graduated college doesn’t mean you should leave this gem behind. Harvard Business Review has an impeccable reputation for providing practical case studies and actionable advice. Check out the Branding section—you can read 4 articles for free each month, or register to read 4 more.

Recommended first read: Branding in the Age of Social Media

In this long-form article, brand expert Douglas Holt dives into the success and failure of brands on social media, and how a concept called “crowdculture” changes the rules of branding online.

Subscribe: https://hbr.org/topic/marketing

8. Chief Content Officer

This magazine published by the Content Marketing Institute is uniquely focused on content marketing, a relatively new industry which grew out of SEO. Content is vital to brand messaging, making this publication a valuable read for brand managers.

Recommended first read: How to Tell Stories Your Readers Crave: Ideas From a Content Powerhouse

In this article, CCO editor Clare McDermott takes us behind the scenes at Autodesk, a 3D design & engineering company that took content marketing to heart and launched a highly successful content program which bolstered its brand.

Subscribe: http://contentmarketinginstitute.com/chief-content-officer/

What do you think? Will you be adding any of these to your must-read list, and are there important titles we’ve missed? Feel free to share your favorites in the comments section below.

First it was smartphones, quickly followed by tablets and now smartwatches. The move towards mobile devices is quickening, and marketers are following suit. In 2016, they spent $101 billion on mobile internet ads worldwide, $40 billion in the U.S. alone. From 2013 to 2019, there will be an estimated tenfold increase in mobile advertising spending.

Related: 10 digital trends that are transforming marketing in 2018

So how can your brand benefit from mobile spending? And how can you make sure that your mobile customers keep coming back?

Here are some ways marketers are using mobile to increase brand loyalty and cash in on mobile success.

Mobile pay creates loyal customers

No, mobile pay is not the leading form of payment. Not yet. But things are heading in that direction. In 2014, mobile pay accounted for $4 billion of in-store purchases. By 2019, it’s expected to increase to $34 billion. Though still lagging way behind plastic with only 13% of smartphone owners having used it to make a purchase, that number will rise. Especially since marketers for companies such as Android and Samsung are starting to offer incentives like loyalty cards for customers who use their mobile pay platforms.

Retailers like Starbucks and Dunkin’ Donuts offer mobile pay through their apps and reward customers who use it. The Starbucks mobile pay program via its app has been so successful that over 21% of all U.S. Starbucks store purchases come from it. There’s an expectation that in a few short years, the app payments will account for 50% of business.

Richard Crone, CEO of mobile-strategy company Crone Consulting LLC said the Starbucks mobile pay app was “the most successful launch of a new payment type in history.” Marketers, take note.

You can improve customer targeting with mobile ads

Mobile is on the cutting edge of marketing technology. Where else can you seamlessly integrate geofencing, purchase preferences and history, and social media interaction with your brand? Mobile lets you isolate essential customer information to offer the most personalized and targeted marketing in history.

Mark Ghermezian of Appboy says about the future of mobile marketing:

“Brands must understand how to strategically connect with customers on a personal basis and encourage engagement, based on customer behavior, to transform them into long-lasting users. Mobile marketing automation will allow companies to collect and use data in a more actionable way and deliver personalized and timely messages to their customers.”

Companies who effectively harness mobile tools create stronger relationships with their customers by anticipating their needs, stimulating their desires, and rewarding them with exclusive offers and promotions.

Customers like to shop on mobile devices

Consumers interact with brands through their smartphones in a number of ways. They look up brick-and-mortar store locations, search for coupons and make purchases. Anna Bager, senior vice president of mobile and video at the IAB (Interactive Advertising Bureau) says:

“Pressing the ‘buy’ button on mobile devices is now a regular occurrence the world over. […] Marketers and media agencies need to fully embrace smartphones and tablets as a critical pathway for all shopping activities and increase investment if they want to build meaningful relationships with mobile consumers, driving them from discovery to purchase.”

The fact is that customers like to shop on their mobiles. In a study involving mobile users in 19 different countries, 80% said they had a positive experience with mobile shopping. Also, consumers engage more proactively with mobile apps than with traditional forms of advertising. The ability to take advantage of deals and shop at their own convenience are key factors in mobile shopping’s popularity.

Mobile apps increase your brand frequency

Mobile apps not only incorporate all of the above principals, but they also effectively increase a customer’s exposure to your brand. Americans spend on average 4.7 hours a day looking at their smartphones. Factoring in sleep, that means that people are spending about a third of their day on mobile. If your brand is on their device, they’re being exposed to it constantly.

The marketing term “effective frequency” suggests that the more frequently a consumer is exposed to your brand, the higher their intent to purchase becomes. When you adopt a mobile marketing strategy, you’re exponentially increasing your brand’s visibility.

Dick Stroud, Managing Director at 20plus30 said it best when he remarked, “At the birth of the web, companies aimed to get their website bookmarked. Marketers should be in a race to get their apps on the home screen of consumers’ smart devices.”

Ignoring mobile is a big risk.

As the trend towards personalization and targeting through mobile increases, customers are changing their expectations of interactions with brands. 54% of consumers say that a poor mobile app experience would make it less likely for them to patronize that business again, and 27% of consumers say that it would give them a negative view of the brand’s products.

Marketers ignore the mobile trend at their peril. It was estimated that the UK retail industry loses a potential 6.6 billion GBP due to lack of investment in mobile. Jamie Turner of 60SecondMarketer warns: “If you’re not using mobile marketing to attract new customers to your business, don’t worry—your competitors are already using it and are getting those customers instead.”

An investment in mobile marketing is an investment in brand loyalty. Even fringe technologies like mobile pay are on the rise and some early adopters have already seen great success in using it to increase customer loyalty. Your mobile presence has a great deal to do with consumer perception of your brand. Bottom line: use mobile or lose customers.

Physics is to Albert Einstein as branding is to David Brier.

A walking, talking brand himself, David Brier graced our screens three weeks ago for a webinar that divulged the 19 questions every organization should ask before rebranding.

I have to admit, I expected all the cliché questions: Who is our audience? What is our core strength? Yadda, yadda, yadda. But David proved he isn’t a world-renowned rebrand expert for simply stating what I already learned in Marketing 101… he’s world-renowned for asking the kind of questions that require intense (organizational) introspection. Questions that actually make you think.

Intrigued? Watch the full webinar here and read to follow along.

David Brier’s draw can probably be attributed to his three decades of branding experience, but on a personal note, I think the bold, in-your-face personality may have a little something to do with it too. Case in point? “I’ve been compared to a triple-shot espresso.”

His words, not mine!

Now… sit back, relax, and let me take you on a journey through David’s mega-marketing mind as I summarize some of the insights we learned during his webinar. And remember, you can always just watch the recorded webinar in full if you’d rather hear it straight from him.

Why do companies rebrand?

Here’s a shocking fact:

For some reason, we as marketers can forget this minor detail. Entire populations who were once our brand loyalists don’t stay that way forever. They’re replaced by an entirely new generation of new human beings with new opinions and needs. Which means you need new messaging.

In David’s words: “With today’s technology, these changes are happening faster than ever. To stay relevant, sometimes the correct strategy is a rebrand.”

So we embrace the fact that the world constantly changes, we stay relevant, and we resonate with the new generations as they come. Easy, right?

Well, as David points out, companies repeatedly struggle to pull off an effective rebrand.

It’s that wall. No matter how hard you market and how targeted your campaigns are, there still seems to be a disconnect between you and potential customers.

The problem? Clichés.

David explained how certain phrases like “state of the art,” “knowledgable staff,” and “caring customer service” (who talks like that, anyway?) can alienate companies from their audience and be too predictable to hold interest.

More importantly, clichés distract from good branding.

Branding the right way

According to David, the definition of good branding is good differentiating. No surprise there, right? Stand out from the competition and potential customers will notice you more. As David reminds us: “Differentiating is not a luxury. You differentiate if you want to survive.”

You differentiate if you want to survive.

Now that’s a bold statement.

He’s got a point, though. The great thing about David is that he doesn’t make a bold statement without something to back it up. In this case, that something is a slew of real-world examples. Real brands that had real problems until he swooped in and differentiated the heck out of them. I’ll let you discover the intriguing before-and-after brand transformations when you watch webinar in full.

The 19 rebranding questions

The stage has been set. We understand why companies rebrand, what branding is, and why it matters. Now for the hard part—how to actually go through with a rebrand.

It’s about time we dive into the 19 questions, isn’t it?

I’ll cover the first five questions here. If you want the remaining 14, I’ll let you watch David reveal the rest himself.

Rebranding question #1: Why are we doing a rebrand?

Seems like an obvious question, but as David points out, many companies make the mistake of rebranding simply to rebrand—to be “prettier” and to change things up. But rebranding is not worth the time and money if it doesn’t revolve around strategy and relevancy.

Rebranding question #2: What problem are we attempting to solve?

Does your packaging get lost on the shelf? Is your product not valuable to customers once they get it? Figure out the problem you are trying to solve, and let rebranding help fix that problem. If you don’t have a clear objective to your rebrand, rebranding really won’t do you much good.

Rebranding question #3: Has there been a change in the competitive landscape that is impacting your growth potential?

As much as we’d like to think our brand isn’t impacted by the decisions of other brands, it is. No brand exists as an island. You always have to be watching the landscape around you, and be nimble and fluid in response.

Rebranding question #4: Has our customer profile changed?

Yesterday’s innovation becomes today’s normal, and new innovations can drastically change our customer profile. Don’t blindly base your strategy on information that could have been relevant for your audience five years ago but has no place in your brand today.

Rebranding question #5: Are we pigeonholed as something that we (and our customers) have outgrown?

Many times, businesses evolve as they grow. They start out with a certain focus, then shift that focus as time goes on. For example, a 25-year-old dance institution that still used a ballet dancer in their logo admitted to David that ballet now accounted for only 15% of their training. It’s a prime example of a brand pigeonholing themselves by not keeping up with their own evolution and growth in their branding.

As for the last 14 questions, they really are worth reviewing. David’s tips are chock-full of insights that get you to fight for your rebranding strategy—to really have a reason for how and why you’re doing it. A true rebrand should be hard—it should challenge your fundamental beliefs about your organization and spark new ideas of how to better hone in on the core value it provides.

Thinking about a rebrand? If it’s time for a brand intervention, you won’t want to miss our webinar with branding expert David Brier.

A good logo represents the brand positively to the world, which is one reason why there are so many agencies dedicated to designing outstanding logos. Although the names and objectives of many organizations remain unchanged for many years, their logos are often renewed periodically.

Rebranding is sometimes necessary for shaping the future of the company, but you can reap some of the benefits simply by improving your logo design. A redesigned logo goes a long way in attracting and influencing customers. Here are 9 great examples of famous brands who have successfully redesigned their logos.

Related: 8 tips for designing logos that don’t suck

Pizza Hut

Since Pizza Hut’s opening in 1958, its logo has been redesigned many times. From the original mascot Pete holding the words “Pizza” and “Hut” in both hands, the logo has evolved to feature an iconic hut-shaped roof as its main element. With this redesign, Pizza Hut has stamped its signature slanted roof in sauce—to match an upgraded menu with bold sauces and premium ingredients.

Pizza Hut’s renewed logo is simple and classically designed with a minimal color combo of red and white. Developed as a flat design, this red logo still inspires hunger.

MailChimp

This example comes from Jessica Hische, the designer of the revamped MailChimp logo. The redesign looks quite similar to the previous version; there are minor improvements rather than a complete change.

MailChimp’s old and new logos may look alike at first glance, but there’s a difference in typography which makes the new logo cleaner and easier to read. Redesigning your logo doesn’t always mean a total overhaul. In fact, improving the look and feel of an existing logo can preserve and enhance the brand identity you’ve already built.

Firefox

Firefox, the open-source internet browser, uses a logo which has gone through several iterations since 2004—but the imagery and symbolism remain the same. This logo features a dark blue globe (the web) with a bright orange fox speeding around it.

The logo design team at Mozilla have modernized the existing logo by changing several visual elements. The glossy touch on top of the globe has been removed, while the contrast of the fox’s tail has been heightened. It’s a flatter design that’s still as vibrant and fiery as ever.

Mall of America

The launch of the Mall of America’s new logo is a perfect example of rebranding. The largest retail and entertainment complex since 1992, the Mall of America has recently upgraded from its older, nostalgic brand to something new, modern and dynamic.

Before, its logo recalled the American flag with its star shape, color scheme, and waving lines. An old-fashioned serif font proclaimed “MALL OF AMERICA” at the bottom.

In contrast, the revamped logo features a multicolored star made of ribbons, along with the company’s name in a sans-serif font. This represents the changing vision and diversity of the mall, while still retaining its recognizable American star.

Motorola

Motorola’s new logo first debuted in Techweek back in 2013. Motorola was acquired by Google, and its redesigned logo represents this merger well. The flat design and letter “M” are common to both versions, but the font has changed and the colors are aligned more closely with Google’s branding. And in case that isn’t clear enough, the tagline “a Google company” is added below the Motorola brand name.

Google

Speaking of Google, its current logo was unveiled in 2015. Its original logo was designed in 1997 and digitized by founder Larry Page. In 1999, further visual elements were integrated into the logo such as an exclamation symbol, enhanced hues, and a background shadow.

Like many of today’s modern logos, the current Google logo is a flat design. There have been minor changes to Google’s logo throughout its journey, but it has always retained its classic serif typography and bold colors.

Tampa Bay Buccaneers

Illustrations can certainly make your logo more visually interesting, but they can also become too complicated. Thus, the recently redesigned logo of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers was simplified to look more polished but still feature the same pirate imagery.

The colors here are smartly used—a brighter, richer red calls attention to the flag, and black outlines the illustration without overpowering it. Redesigning a sports logo can be tricky business because fans are so attached to their team, but this logo retains all the crucial elements of the original, right down to the flag’s sword handle.

eBay

The disordered arrangement of letters in eBay’s logo were the main target of this redesign. eBay’s new logo looks modern, featuring a flat design with no letters overlapping. The colors have been lightened to make them easier on the eyes, as well. In this svelte version, eBay has elevated its brand from the wild early days of internet commerce to a long-standing and trusted online marketplace.

Facebook

Facebook occasionally launches different logos with new versions of its site. As the most popular social network, Facebook must keep up with its users and reflect the latest design trends—but its identity is always the same.

This new logo, like many of its digital peers, is designed in flat format with the bottom line removed. Also, the “f” now extends all the way to the edge. With its navy blue background and bold letter “f,” Facebook’s rounded square icon is still instantly recognizable across the web.

So there you have it—9 examples of logo redesigns from some of today’s successful brands. Trends like flat design and bright colors can bring new life into an old logo. As the market changes and evolves, these logos will change again, too. But most importantly, they will continue to represent and build a strong, consistent brand identity that resonates with their customers.

Wondering whether it’s time to rebrand your own business or organization? Learn more in our free eBook: How and Why to Rebrand Your Company

Your brand is your promise, and it’s important that you build it thoughtfully and deliberately. A brand has never been successfully established by simply uploading a good-looking logo and writing a few lines on social platforms. To create a real identity, brands have to invest a lot of time and effort. There’s research to be done, competitors to be identified, and expert professionals to be consulted. Every business should learn what branding is and why it’s needed. Whether you’re starting a new business or have already established one, mistakes are unavoidable. However, here are 7 mistakes brands make that you’d be wise to avoid.

Brand management is evolving rapidly. Are you prepared? Learn more in our free eBook.

1. Failure to research the competition

This is especially important if you are a new business. Researching the competition helps you understand what established businesses in your industry have done: where they have failed, where they have succeeded and where you can give your brand an advantage. Your research should include products, services, target audiences, websites and social platforms. If you don’t, this could trip you up in two ways: first, being unable to judge the competition properly and second, replicating a competitor’s strategies without truly understanding them.

2. Failure to understand your target audience

Before you start selling or even pitching, you’ve got to understand what kind of audience you’re speaking to. You should understand their demands, their expectations, the things they identify with and the kinds of brands they favor. Once you do find your target audience, branding and messaging will get a lot easier.

3. Taking feedback from the wrong sources

Depending on the type of product or service you’re looking to sell and the market you want to cover, you’ll need to take feedback from the right sources. Limiting your sources to positive reviews won’t help you set or measure appropriate goals. Friends, family members, employees and relatives might give you positive reviews no matter what, so think before accepting reviews from them. For any modern brand, the best platform for reviews includes both social media and review sites.

4. It’s not just about logo redesign

As already stated, branding’s not just about a logo or a tagline. Branding constitutes everything that you represent—even your company’s voice and the style of content you create. You will find an audience when you have a competitive advantage and a distinct style. Without that, there’s no value!

Some companies rebrand and spend thousands of dollars on logo redesign but not enough on other brand assets. For example, an online fashion brand can’t boost sales by just changing its logo design. To build a profitable e-commerce brand, it should focus on its customer care team, product quality, advertising (both online and offline), competitive pricing, and many other factors.

Here’s a real-world example. When Marissa Mayer became Yahoo’s CEO, she decided to change the logo of the company. It made for big hype among the users, marketers, bloggers and everyone else. But when Yahoo finally unveiled its new logo, all expectations were crushed. It wasn’t terrible… but it wasn’t exciting, either. It turned out to be just a minor change that didn’t bring any significant growth to the Yahoo brand.

5. Inconsistency

Brand consistency has a tremendous impact on your business. Consistency helps build familiarity, loyalty and eventually, credibility. Be consistent with your promotions, personality, communication and every other interaction you make with your audience.

For example, Coca-Cola might just be the most consistent brand in history. Its logo has hardly changed in 130 years. Everyone recognizes its fun-in-the-sun summer campaigns and heartwarming Christmas campaigns. The brand has built such loyalty that no other soda can beat it—even when Pepsi famously won blind taste tests with consumers. Now in the digital age, Coca-Cola has built a huge audience of followers on social media, so it’s quite easy to reach its target audience wherever they may be.

6. Not focusing on first impressions

A brand with clunky design is a brand that will go unnoticed. You could have an amazing product, great messaging and outstanding customer service, but without a visually appealing presentation, people may never pay attention.

Some larger companies that gained popularity before the internet still get away with bad design, but any brand created after the mid-2000s should know better. A modern, user-friendly design will build your brand’s credibility and bolster its overall appeal.

The fix: You don’t get a second chance at a first impression, so if your brand’s design or website needs a facelift, make it a priority. There are plenty of business resources out there to help direct your efforts, as well as tools like Lucidpress that can make visual design easy and effective.

Poor customer service

Whether you realize it or not, poor customer service can be a huge detriment to your brand. People are more likely to talk about their experience with a product if the experience was negative, which is why the customer experience should be your brand’s No. 1 priority.

United Airlines had a rocky time for customer service last year, for instance, as a video of a passenger being dragged off a flight went viral in April 2017. Adding insult to injury, the CEO’s delayed response felt cold and unapologetic. These incidents caused United’s stock to drop drastically and skewed the country’s perception of this brand altogether.

The fix: Apply the tried-and-true saying: “The customer is always right.” You need to meet your users where they are, even if you have to go out of your way to do it. Examples of brands with exceptional customer service include Costco, Marriott and JetBlue. Companies that offer satisfaction guarantees, provide incentives and make up for mishaps build a strong loyal customer base.

Misusing (or not using) social media

Neglecting social media is another way to hurt your brand and diminish customer satisfaction.

A lot of social media fails simply stem from good intentions, like when Cinnabon attempted to honor Carrie Fisher with a tacky image or when Crocs tried to tribute David Bowie—both insensitivity issues that were magnified by their wide social media reach.

Other times, brands simply fail to invest enough time and money into social media efforts at all. Keeping up with various social sites shows consumers that you care about them, especially when you’re able to reply to questions and complaints promptly.

The fix: Devote actual time and resources to building a social media strategy. If you’re looking for a brand to follow, Wendy’s is a great example of social media use. With almost 2.5 million followers on Twitter, more than 8.5 million likes on Facebook and over 700,000 followers on Instagram, the brand has a consistent image, posts often and interacts with its fan base. The company’s social media team also keeps up with current events and pop culture—a great way to engage with followers.

7. Not having a Plan B

There are many businesses that think a brand is something you establish and then it takes care of itself. Today, that’s completely untrue. You should constantly refine and revise your offerings to deliver better quality and adapt to the changing needs of the market. Not all branding strategies will work the first time. In those instances, you need to be ready with a second plan to ensure that recovery is immediate.

One of the most visible examples of a brand refusing to adapt to change is Blockbuster. In 2000, Netflix’s founder approached Blockbuster offering to sell his relatively small company that rented movies online through a mail subscription service. As the popular movie store was making most of its revenue through late fees, Blockbuster turned Netflix down, unable to see the potential.

Today, Netflix continues to be a model for adapting to change as it has transitioned from mail-order DVDs to streaming, and the brand now produces hundreds of original shows and movies. Meanwhile, Blockbuster is survived by just a handful of stores in Alaska.

The fix: Listen to your consumer base. When they push for greater convenience or more options, adjust your strategy to give them what they’re asking for. If you don’t, another brand surely will. [ ]

 8. Insensitivity

Insensitivity in branding is a major issue. Companies make headlines all the time for creating well-meaning ads that turn into PR nightmares. Take the Kendall Jenner Pepsi commercial debacle of 2017. Rather than striking a chord of solidarity, it left viewers either laughing at the poor execution or feeling angry at the commodification of the Black Lives Matter movement.

Another prime example of insensitivity is the Filet-o-Fish ad from McDonald’s in the U.K. The spot featured a boy asking his mom about his deceased father, only to find out the one thing they had in common was their affinity for McDonald’s. Using such a grave subject to sell fish sandwiches felt emotionally manipulative to many consumers, and the company took down the ad shortly after the backlash.

The fix: Before delving into any controversial or sensitive topics, consider how your brand fits into the issue. An honest attempt at sparking emotion in viewers can quickly turn into exploitation. Learn where to draw the line.

9. Selling the “what” instead of the “why”

A common mistake in branding is selling your company’s features rather than a big idea. As Simon Sinek says, “People don’t buy what you do; people buy why you do it.”

Sinek references TiVo as an example of a company that led with its features—being able to pause and rewind live TV—and failed to really capture its users’ attention.

On the other hand, Apple is one of the most successful brands because the company sold a big idea by telling the world to “think different” about computers. It sold a mindset and lifestyle instead of some technical specifications.

The fix: Find something you believe in, focus on that value, and build your brand around it. Coke sells happiness in a bottle. Nike sells motivation. Rather than focusing on dry, explanatory messaging, your brand should have a nearly tangible energy.

Managing a brand is not an easy thing. But you must always understand that your business is more than just its products and services. Success depends on the way you shape the experience of your customers. This is what defines your brand identity. Once you’ve established trust in your brand, you’ll never want to look back.

Building a brand is easy to do. Building a strong, sucessful brand that stands the test of time, people, and competitors? Now that’s a different story. Here is an 8-step guide to building a brand development strategy.

Your brand comprises essential elements like positioning, personality, logo design, color scheme, tagline, etc.

All components are crucial to thoughtfully building your brand to stand against competitors and win.

Related: The 7 key elements of brand identity design 

It can feel overwhelming but before you start to panic about the sustainability of your small business and your brand equity, keep in mind that developing a lasting brand strategy is within reach, you just have to know the right formula. Read on to learn how to develop a strong brand strategy

Brand building is the process of shaping customers’ emotions, feelings, memories, and opinions associated with your brand through a strategy-driven plan that stands the test of time and people.

Brand Development Process and Strategies:

Step 1: Establish what your brand represents, at its core.

Create a list of your business’s core strengths. Why was the business started to begin with? What problem did the founder (you?) set out to solve?

One great way to succinctly summarize your brand’s purpose is to create a mission statement. Airbnb for example does a great job of providing a mission statement that clearly defines values, benefits, and quality all at once.

Your mission statement doesn’t even have to be displayed to the public for it to be impactful. Using one as an internal guiding light can still provide the vision and inspiration your employees need to know exactly what the company stands for and how their work should reflect that on a daily basis.

Step 2: Keep your brand distinct from its competitors.

Is it possible to sell the exact same product as competitors but still differentiate somehow? Yes. And companies do it all the time.

In the endless Apple vs. Android wars, the brands continue to differentiate themselves through strong branding, campaign messaging, and product offerings. You know them and you are likely very familiar with the ongoing competition.

The secret to competitive marketing is in your brand. It’s not just your product; it’s how you position your brand personality compared to everyone else. 

Take a deep look at the competitive field, find out how others are marketing their successful brands, then throw it all out the window and get creative.

Step 3: Determine your target audience.

As good as your intentions may be, your business simply can’t be everything to everyone.

Don’t be afraid to get specific and think about exactly the kind of person that would most benefit from your product or service. The more specific, the easier it is to target them with messaging that resonates.

It may be tempting to skip this part of the process (or to continue ignoring it if your business already seems to be doing well), but brand building is about building for the long term, and the more generic your targeting is… the more generic your brand becomes down the road.

Step 4: Create an elevator pitch.

At Marq, we have messaging that answers what we are, what we do, and the problems we solve for.

Here is an example:

For marketing and brand leaders who need to drive business growth, Marq is the brand-templating platform that enables businesses to deliver relevant content to their audience faster, by empowering everyone in the organization to build on-brand content. Unlike desktop publishing software or design tools built for individuals, Marq is built for enterprise readiness with lockable brand templates, creative automation, and highly customizable team management.

The value in having a well-thought-out statement that everyone can access, which quickly explains exactly what we do, enables everyone to clearly understand our brand positioning.

Step 5: Build out your brand.

Now that you’ve determined the foundation of your brand and what it stands for, it’s time to put everything into action. That means creating a style guide, determining your brand personality, formulating your brand’s strategy, and making sure everyone is on the same page. 

Food for thought: Broadway productions don’t tell great stories by simply creating ravishing brochures, and businesses don’t tell great stories by simply designing clever logos.

Your brand is the feeling your ads evoke, the kind of people you hire, the friendliness of your support team, your brand’s voice, your brand’s visuals, your business’s values… your brand is everything your business produces and represents. Make this step of the brand building process priority from the beginning and your brand will have the life and depth it needs to strengthen your business’s image.

Step 6: Promote away.

This is the fun part. We all know what promotion means, but the right promotion can mean different things for different businesses. So whether it’s social media, radio ads, magazine covers, YouTube videos, billboards, PPC, content marketing, or guerrilla marketing — figure out where your target market already is and then go to them. A whole article could be dedicated to this subject, but for now just make note that this step is important for raising brand awareness, and you should dedicate a lot of time to it.

Step 7: Personalize, personalize, personalize.

As much as you can, at least. It’s 2023 and consumers expect their products and businesses to get smarter about how they speak to them. That means understanding your target audience’s pain points, getting on social media, using their first name in emails, etc. are examples of content personalization. Robotic language, over-enthusiasm, and baby talking are looked down on and feel inauthentic. So get real, and find out the tone of voice your customers most appreciate.

Step 8: Consistency is key.

You can build a brand for the books, but it’s not going to last long if you don’t figure out a way to guarantee it stays consistent. What happens when Sandra from Sales stretches your logo? Or Evan from Events changes the color scheme on a branded flyer to orange and pink? 

Zillions (to be exact) of brand managers face these harrowing situations every day and watch their strategically-built brands fall apart in the hands of well-intentioned employees.

One of the best ways to protect your brand from rogue content and inconsistencies is with web-based lockable templates. That way, beautiful branded content can start with your graphic designers and still look just as beautifully on-brand by the time it reaches your customers.

Your graphic designers can lock down the elements of your brand that should never be changed (logo, fonts, images, etc.) before sending the template off to other employees in the company to put to use. Pretty enticing, right? Saying goodbye to brand inconsistencies forever is one massive sigh of relief for brand managers, and anyone who cares about properly building your brand equity, for that matter.

If brand consistency is something your business could stand to improve as part of your brand management strategy, consider trying Marq. With Marq, you can import your business-branded templates (or create them directly in Marq), and share them across teams. Lockdown critical brand elements and no longer worry about content being produced that is off-brand.

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Schedule a 1:1 with one of our brand-templating experts. Say goodbye to rogue content and hello to brand consistency.

Branding your office can have a positive impact both on employees and on clients who visit, so it is well worth the time and effort to do it right. Yet, many businesses fail to do so, leaving their employees to work in uninspiring office buildings. Here, we present five office design tips to ensure your brand stands out.

Related: How to use print materials in the age of paperless offices

Photo from Unsplash

1. Define your brand values

Prior to starting any office interior design work, it is important that you and your design team establish exactly what your brand values are. In addition to obvious things like logos, slogans, color schemes and trademarks, you need to think of your business as having its own personality.

Ask yourself how your business helps people and what associations you would like customers to draw. One of the best ways to truly get to the core of your brand identity is to ask those working on the project to think of five words that describe your business and five words that describe your customers.

2. Differentiate between staff and client spaces

When planning your office design, it’s important to differentiate between client spaces and staff-only spaces. After all, employees and clients will likely view your business differently—and you may actually want them to do so.

Your staff can sometimes see through the branding that is aimed at customers, because they witness the everyday realities of the business. During the design phase, try to come up with appropriate branding ideas for the two different types of office spaces, so that you send the right messages.

Photo from Unsplash

3. Focus on key touchpoints

Office branding can be a balancing act, and it is certainly possible to overdo it. One of the best tips for getting the balance right is to focus on the areas where your branding will have the biggest impact.

An obvious client touchpoint is the reception area, so this should be branded to clearly state who you are and what you do. However, you should also identify what the most important employee areas are in your office and consider which behaviors you want to encourage or discourage there.

4. Include your products

Depending on the nature of your brand, one of the most effective office interior design techniques you could employ is to showcase your own products. After all, nothing tells the story of your brand quite like your products do.

“If you’re a company with a great product, then think about how you can bring this to the fore,” says Peter Ames, writing for Office Genie. “For example, John West’s Liverpool HQ has its testing kitchen as a central hub. What better way for a food company to demonstrate what it’s all about?”

5. Pay attention to color schemes

Last, but by no means least, you need to think carefully about the color scheme you use in your office and consider how it relates to your brand. Assuming the colors associated with your brand are not too outlandish, it may be appropriate to use them to decorate your office.

Alternatively, if using company colors would be too distracting, consider the nature of your business and decorate accordingly. If your staff works under high pressure, you probably don’t want to worsen this by using intense colors. At the same time, if creativity is at the heart of your brand, plain white walls will not suffice.

Photo from Unsplash

I’ve been writing page titles incorrectly my entire career.

Google has provided best practices for constructing page titles, including:

• Describe the content on the page.
• Create unique title tags for each page.
• Use brief but descriptive titles.

These are all great practices to follow on every page of your site. But I’ve recently learned that there’s something else just as important as the best practices Google provides:

Don’t just optimize titles. Optimize thought sequences.

Your page title serves three primary purposes:

1. To provide searchers with a description of your page.
2. To provide Google with information that helps it determine how relevant your page is to a search query.
3. To provide messaging to searchers that drives them to click on your result.

Succeeding in this final purpose will determine whether your pages achieve click-through rates that outperform average rates in Google. With page titles, I found an easy technique for presenting the right messaging to searchers: brand positioning.

Related: 8 best practices of high-converting websites

Why brand positioning?

Phillip Kotler, Professor of International Marketing at Northwestern University, defines brand positioning as “the art of designing the company’s offering and image to occupy a distinctive place in the target market’s mind.”

Occupying a space in the searcher’s mind is how you compel them to click on your result instead of your competitors’.

A case study

Here’s an example from a page on our site targeting the keyword “ebook templates.”

The original title for our eBook templates page was the following:

Free eBook Templates & Examples | Lucidpress

This title follows Google’s best practices: it accurately describes the page, it’s unique, and it’s brief but descriptive.

It also meets the first two purposes of a page title: it provides searchers with a description of the page, and it provides Google with information to determine how relevant your page is to a search query.

What it lacked was messaging that compelled searchers to click on our link. Nothing in the original title helped “occupy a distinctive place in the target market’s mind.”

Our hypothesis was this: If we could help searchers imagine how our eBook templates would help them grow their brands, then we’d be able to compel them to click on our result over the others.

Keeping this brand positioning in mind, here’s the new title:

Free eBook Templates & Examples to Help Build Your Brand

The result: a 118% increase in the click-through rate for the keyword “ebook templates.”

Incorporate brand positioning into your page titles

To incorporate brand positioning into your page titles, I’ve found it helpful to create a brand positioning statement for each page:

Our [subject] page helps [the audience] [achieve a result] so they can [benefit].

In the example for our eBook template page, here’s the statement we came up with:

Our eBook templates page helps small business owners position themselves as an authority so they can grow their brands.

Bonus: The power of branding

According to Marty Neumeier, author of The Brand Gap: How to Bridge the Distance Between Business Strategy and Design: “Brand will become the most powerful strategic tool since the spreadsheet.”

Data from a study we conducted at Lucidpress with the global marketing research & advisory firm Demand Metric seems to back up this statement.

In this study, we found that the average revenue increase attributed to having a consistent brand is 23%.

[Click here to view our full report on how brand consistency can help drive your company’s growth.]

We also found that brands with consistent presentation are 3-4 times more likely to enjoy excellent brand visibility than inconsistent ones.

This is the power of branding—the ability to improve organic search performance for your website and drive revenue growth for your organization. Try it on your page titles to see if it holds true for you, too.

Next steps

Ready to create compelling page titles?

1. Create brand positioning statements for your high-priority pages.
2. Incorporate your positioning statements into your titles.
3. Track changes in click-through rates and rankings using Google’s Search Console.

Feel free to leave a comment below and tell us how it went.

Learn more about how brand consistency impacts your business in our free report.

Whether you’re a recently funded startup or a business that has been operating for years, building brand awareness will always be a top priority.

According to one recent study, 89% of B2B manufacturing marketers said increasing brand awareness was a primary goal for their content marketing tactics—edging out both sales and lead generation.

In startup marketing, in particular, brand awareness is everything. Think about it from the perspective of your reputation: you’re the new kid on the block, entering a crowded marketplace and trying to serve an audience with increasingly fractured attention.

You’ve got to do anything you can to stand out, and marketing is the best way to do it. But in addition to carving out a space in your industry, building brand awareness also brings an additional benefit: anticipation.

People won’t just take your word for it and immediately buy your product or service. They need to be convinced. If you can make them legitimately excited for the idea—if you can start before your product is even released and get them to mark “launch day” on their calendars—you’ll come out all the better for it.

Your brand’s image is long-lasting

Simply put, your brand is your promise. There’s a reason why studies estimate that 45% of a brand’s image can be attributed to not just what it says, but how it chooses to say it.

For a startup, creating an awareness campaign that both a) lets people know you’re coming and b) tells them what you plan to do when you get there checks the boxes of “brand awareness” and “anticipation” at the exact same time.

Remember that your brand is going to outlive whatever your initial offering is. You’re not just trying to sell today’s idea; you’re trying to sell tomorrow’s, too. You need people to stay with you long after they’ve made their first sale, which is why the “brand awareness” side of the coin is so important.

Anticipation builds momentum

To say you’ll be strapped for cash as a startup is quite an understatement. You’re living in a world where every cent counts.

Even so, people are going to need time to discover your product or service. If you wait until launch day to begin this process, you might get where you need to be eventually—but it’s going to take a lot longer. Momentum doesn’t just happen; it needs to build. If you time things right, you can make sure you hit your crescendo on launch day (or as close to it as possible).

Focus on creating visual marketing collateral that doesn’t just “engage” people but actually gets them excited. Build presentations and other visual collateral that contrasts their life before your brand and after it. How will the “after” be better? How will the “after” be easier? These are the questions you need to answer to build excitement.

Think about what you’re trying to do as a Venn diagram. The circle on the left is your product or service. The circle on the right is the daily life of your ideal customer. That space in the middle where the two overlap? That’s the sweet spot you’re trying to fill. If you can find innovative ways to communicate that in the run-up, you’ll make people aware of your brand and get them excited for your launch at the same time.

Guide the court of public opinion

Give your new followers a place where they can discuss what you and they have to say. Whether they’re responding to your launch campaign in a positive or negative way, you need to know what the general response is. Plus, there’s never a better chance to do some course correcting than when you hear feedback straight from the horse’s mouth.

In terms of brand awareness and anticipation, this also creates something of an echo chamber effect. After a certain point, excited customers become brand ambassadors and start spreading your message alongside you. This takes some pressure off your organization while customers do some heavy lifting for you.

Prime your audience

At its core, building brand anticipation is about priming your audience before you launch your business. It’s a strategy with two goals: let people know you exist and tell them how you’re going to change their lives.

Rather than wait until your product/service is absolutely perfect before doing any marketing, you should start thinking (and acting) on this as soon as you can. It’s far better to have a preemptive awareness campaign, even a small one, than to keep everyone in the dark until you’re “ready.”

Why? Because the dirty little secret of entrepreneurship is that you’ll never be ready. Your product or service will never be perfect. To think otherwise is a fool’s errand. Fortune favors those who boldly strike out where others are too scared to try. []

Instead, start building brand awareness as soon as you can. Today. Right now. Don’t just sell the product—sell the benefits your brand will bring. Then by the time your product is ready, your customers will be, too.

To the average person, designing logos seems like a simple task—you just make a small circle or rectangle and put the brand name on it. But of course, it’s not nearly that easy.

Related: 9 excellent logo redesigns for famous brands

To help a brand capture its personality and really stand out takes a lot of careful consideration and design iteration. If you’re new to the field of logo design, here are 8 tips for designing logos that don’t tread on overly well-worn ground.

1. Avoid clichés

Every year, we see innovative trends in logo design. It’s good to keep up with trends and experiment with them for yourself, but don’t fall into the trap of using the same idea over and over.

For a few years, the “hipster” logo was very popular. Featuring a pseudo-vintage look, these logos eschewed simplicity in favor of lots of text and symbols. This look became so ubiquitous that it became a joke within the design community, spawning satirical sites like Hipster Logo Generator.

A current design trend to keep an eye on is gradients. Gradients have been a big no-no for at least two decades, but they’re now enjoying life in the limelight again. You don’t have to look any further than the recent Instagram rebrand to see it in action.

In the long run, it’s a better idea to stick to solid design principles and avoid clichés.

2. Embrace unique design

Originality and uniqueness make it easier to catch a viewer’s eye, and custom lettering is a great way to embody both traits. Additionally, it’s harder to copy than a commonplace font.

The quintessential example of custom lettering is, of course, Coca-Cola’s logo. As one of the world’s oldest and most established brands, Coca-Cola’s logo has stood the test of time and continues to be instantly recognizable.

3. Create a visual double entendre

What’s a visual double entendre? Essentially, it’s a double meaning. If designed in this way, a single logo can give the impression of two different images.

For example, in this logo for Lion Bird, you can see two animals: a bird opening its wings and the face of a lion. Viewers love designs like these because, once they discover the double meaning, they feel like they’re in on a secret.

4. Don’t underestimate color

Color plays an integral role in logo design, and its importance cannot be understated. A brand’s color palette sets the tone for its communications, and people often remember a logo by its colors.

You know these by heart: Home Depot is orange, Target is red, Starbucks is Green, Facebook is blue, UPS is brown, and Apple is white. While colors are shared with countless other brands, these brands have been able to lock down these colors in consumers’ minds.

5. Create a sense of motion

It’s possible to create dynamic logos that invoke a sense of motion without actually moving. The advantage of this over, say, a GIF design is that GIFs aren’t supported in every medium—like print, for example. Creating a sense of motion in a still image will help to preserve the brand message everywhere.

Twitter’s logo is a great example of this. In the past, the bird was sitting down in a passive stance. Now it’s moving upward in flight, reflecting Twitter’s speed and its evolving technology. This tactic works well for brands which have mascots.

6. Keep it simple

In logo design, simplicity is certainly the best policy. Simple, powerful logos are often the winners in the long run. For example, Apple and Nike’s logos are simple but well-known among millions of people.

Remember: even though simple design is the goal, it’s still important to be unique. Would Nike still have succeeded with a traditional check mark? Would Apple’s logo still be as compelling without that bite taken out?

7. Remember balance & symmetry

Keeping the previous examples in mind, you can see that balance and symmetry are vital factors in logo design. Look at how Apple’s logo employs proportionate circles along with symmetry to maintain balance and aesthetic quality.

8. Tell the story behind your logo

Every logo has its own story. In some cases, the story is almost as interesting as the logo itself. Either way, storytelling can draw people into your brand, so make it count.

Do you know the story behind Apple’s logo? Ronald Wayne (sometimes called Apple’s third founder) designed a logo in which Isaac Newton sat under a tree with a bright apple shining above his head. A year later, Steve Jobs commissioned another logo. The reason? He thought people might confuse the original image for a tomato. Thus, the apple with a bite was born.

We hope these simple tips offer a peak into the complex world of logo design. By following this advice and avoiding the pitfalls, you should be well on your way to brainstorming a compelling logo for your brand or business.

Learn more: Do you know the 10 essential brand assets for digital success?

Studies show that the average consumer is exposed to up to 10,000 brand messages a day.

To break through the noise, your brand image should be powerful and to the point, like an elevator pitch—an quick and accurate expression of your key values, unique benefits and mission. Delivering it successfully has never been easy, especially if you work with tech brands, which can often be hard to describe succinctly.

Does this sound scary? Probably. Should that be motivating? Surely!

Related: Tech marketing best practices

So what does a tech company brand consist of? What are the steps tech companies take to create a brand that reflects their values and appeals to their target audience?

We talked to 5 experts—startup founders, marketers and designers—about the answers to these questions and about their own brand-building experiences.

Here are the questions we asked:

• How did you come up with the idea of the logo?
• Why did you choose the colors you’re using now?
• What is the key message you wanted this design to convey?
• What are the general impressions and associations you think users get from the brand?
• What advice would you give to a startup working on their own branding?
• How do the current logo, design and tagline reflect the core values of your company?

Here are the insights they shared.

Markus Pirker, co-founder of Userbrain

Userbrain is a subscription-based tool that helps website owners, designers and developers improve their products by providing first-hand feedback from real users.

Before starting work on our logo, we made sure the whole team was aligned with our core values and beliefs. I don’t think you can create something as important as your brand image starting with the details like color choice—you have to work from inside out to create something authentic.

In the process of fine-tuning our core values, mission and vision, we decided to lead with the promise of effortless, ongoing user testing. This inspired the design and served as a baseline to assess the quality of different logo suggestions.

We went through a couple iterations before we decided to go with the current logo. Past suggestions used additional elements, and we tried to narrow everything down to a very simple logo which could be used across different platforms without substantial alterations.

User testing is often regarded as a tool for experts only, which it really isn’t. If you get the basics right, testing your own product with other people will always deliver valuable insights.

There are already several user testing services out there using subtle colors and an enterprise-like look in their branding. As a startup, you always have to fight for attention, so we wanted to stand out by using bright colors.

The Userbrain iOS app icon

We used two different color palettes and paired the main colors of our logo with shiny, vibrant colors like orange and violet.

The vision of Userbrain is to help people build better products by bringing them closer to their users. This is something we wanted to reflect in our logo, with the two circles depicting users and customers blending together.

As in sports, continuity in testing your products is the secret ingredient of user testing. We really wanted to embed the idea of ongoing user testing in our branding.

We ran a couple of user tests on our marketing site to learn more about how people reacted to our branding and service in general.

We had several people mention that it was fun navigating around our site, and they captured the basic idea of our service within a couple of seconds, so I guess we got the basics right here.

However, our branding is always adapting to the new needs—I think that perfect branding is something that evolves over time—you can’t get everything right with the very first version.

Maybe this sounds a little counterproductive, but I’d advise startups not to worry too much too early about their own branding. Startups should focus their early efforts on getting something really minimal yet valuable out in front of people.

This is not meant as an excuse for bad design, but if your product provides value to people and is a clever solution to a real problem they face every day, they will overlook your crappy logo.

The old, quite simple, Userbrain logo

The Userbrain logo has been the word “Userbrain” written in Open sans and uppercase for the first year and a half, and we’ve had customers sign up with no branding at all.

The promise of our service is effortless and ongoing user testing. I think that our team did a great job communicating this idea in a simple yet effective logo.

Tim Sae Koo, CEO at TINT

TINT is a content marketing platform that allows brands to source authentic community content from social media, new and review sites, then integrate it dynamically into any digital channel.

TINT’s logo is a powerful symbol that was designed back in 2012. It represents the connections between brands and their audiences. The intersecting lines resemble customer touchpoints and the circle that surrounds these connections represents our product, implying that these connections are the center of our product.

Warm red is our primary color. It’s meant to signify clearness and power—our brand essence.

The key message is meant to signify that we speak less and say more with design. We use simple and clear design that allows us to speak from the heart. We are direct, consistent, compelling and inviting. We are grateful. We are compassionate.

Start with why you started the company, and translate it into a physical manifestation via logo and branding. The logo reflects our personalities, which stood as the baseline for creating our core company values.

Hayley Snow, Marketing Project Manager at ContentCal

ContentCal is a simple tool to create, plan and publish compelling social media content.

Our logo was born from one of ContentCal’s core components: the approval flow UI. This UI consists of multiple dots on an axis, one for each step of the approval flow.

We started playing around with the concept of dots in a line in all different ways, then started to realize the potential in the idea. With some tweaks to its form, the graphic could morph into a line chart, process circle or share icon.

The flexibility of its form won over our team in an internal design critique. We developed the logo further to give it the form of a system, and after multiple iterations, the new ContentCal logo was born.

There are four brand colors used in our logo. The original UI colors in the ContentCal product were blue and “zing blue” (a very bright cyan), so these became two of the four colors used. We then added green and red, which are the ‘approve’ and ‘deny’ action colors within the product. So the logo looks like a system, and the colors are the ones used in that system.

Our logo doesn’t have a strong key message other than for it to represent our core values and to feel at home in the tech startup world.

General feedback has been that the logo works well in its environment, it feels associated with digital technology, which is definitely what we wanted to achieve. We also have great feedback about our logo being used at a large scale—for example, in exhibition spaces.

My advice to a young startup would be to stay agile with your branding. Branding in tech startups is predominantly used online now, so there are more opportunities to tweak and adapt over time. I also would suggest not worrying too much about brand guidelines at an early stage. Your company should constantly be adapting and growing, and so should your branding.

We’ve made many incremental improvements to the branding both on our website and in printed documents. It’s always adapting, and I think this is the best approach.

Our core values are Flexible, Dynamic, Together and Consistent. Our whole brand is built around these values. As we grow, staying true to this will become more and more important.

Nick Kamyshan, CEO at Chanty

Chanty is a fast and simple AI-powered business messenger designed to increase team productivity.

The idea was to make a dead simple symbol which clearly shows the letter “C” for Chanty and a dot in the middle to emphasize a human being in the center of information flow.

We decided to go for a high-quality logo and hired top-ten Dribble logo designers. After several months of their work and multiple iterations, our tests showed that none of the logo designs satisfied our target audience. Our founder and product owner was extremely frustrated with the low-quality results and came up with our current logo while on a plane.

We’ve tested a lot of color schemes, and it turned out that the color combination we chose is the most attractive to our target audience. It also has the highest conversion rate. I should highlight, however, that this color scheme is mostly used for marketing resources at Chanty, not for the software product.

Laconic is the exact word to describe the look and feel we’ve worked so hard to achieve. We believe that things should be simple. On top of that, laconic crystal clear designs are easy to remember.

Experiment until you die or succeed. Find out which colors really work for your target audience by constantly testing different color schemes via various marketing channels (e.g. launching ad campaigns in Facebook).

Listen a lot. But don’t listen even more. Make discovery a part of your workflow. The more informed you are, the more confident you become.

Be unique, develop your own style, and go in a different direction than your competitors when it comes to branding.

Ksenia Levoshko, UI/UX Designer at Daxx

Daxx is a nearshore staffing company that helps companies hire talented developers.

Tech company branding is more than just the logo or color scheme on a website. The product or service a company sells is the foundational element upon which all branding is built. As your company’s offerings evolve, so should your branding.

The product I worked on consisted of several parts: a wearable device (bracelet or ring), an app, and a web portal. The wearable collected data on vital signs then transferred it to the app, which sent notifications motivating people to take action and pay attention to their health.

The primary objective of the project was quite ambitious: We needed to inspire users to change their behavior. As it turned out, the strongest motivator was the user’s desire for tangible, positive change and the use of personalized data.

That’s why we made a U-turn from a fear-based approach to a new, engaging one. We made it into a game, where at the beginning you see your current health state and set custom goals.

We used points to track users’ success and implemented badges and stickers as gamification elements. Each badge or sticker marked a small achievement that greatly motivated users and helped maintain their enthusiasm.

If you want to ask your audience about something, you have to give them something first. Early on, we asked our users for personal medical data and gave nothing in return. Now, we clearly explain why it’s necessary and how it’s going to change their lives for the better.

Understanding a user’s motivation is crucial. Once you realize what your users need, you can help change their behavior.

Key takeaways

Tech branding is not limited to logo design and a color scheme. Branding also includes the way a company communicates its values and mission, internal company culture, and customer relationships.

In an age of information overload, companies do their best to communicate brand messages as clearly as possible. This includes visual representation: as we saw, most experts prioritize simplicity—minimizing clutter and leaving only the key, nuclear elements that convey their message. Then, they make sure it’s 100% authentic and reflects their ideas and goals.

The experts also agree that designing brand elements is just the beginning of a long path—finalizing and polishing them requires a lot of experimenting and user testing. The branding process is never really complete. As a business evolves over time, the brand image should stay aligned by adapting to changing market requirements and business needs.

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Download our free ebook on how to build a brand in 2020.

The internet has made brand management much more involved now that there are so many digital channels for customers to communicate through.

Customers now have the ability to voice their opinions—and they really want to be heard. In essence, brand management is about managing those conversations while nurturing a positive perception at the same time.

Related: Brand building 101—8 steps to building a brand that lasts

Consider this: 93% of customers read online reviews regularly, and nearly 80% of those customers are actually influenced by this online research.

Your online presence is a powerful weapon for your brand. Are you wielding it responsibly? Here are 4 tips for managing an online brand effectively.

1. Actively monitor your brand

You can’t participate in conversations that you don’t know are happening. It’s important to actively monitor what’s being said about you online, along with metrics that provide a broad overview of how your brand is doing.

Luckily, there are a lot of tools out there that will alert you when your brand is mentioned.

From setting up classic Google Alerts to more in-depth tools like BuzzSumo’s brand monitoring feature, there are plenty of ways to make sure you’re part of the conversation.

Additionally, keep a close eye on the first page of Google results when you type in your brand name.

The other critical piece of active monitoring is that you actually respond when your brand is mentioned, especially when it comes to negative criticism. Respond quickly and honestly, keeping in mind that it’s just as important to be authentically human as it is to maintain brand voice.

Keep track of your online analytics, both for your website and your social media pages. Together, this will give you fuller insight into how your content is performing and whether it’s truly resonating with your audience. Traffic, time on page, and bounce rate are all good indicators to keep an eye on. Be on the watch for any negative fluctuations or downward trends.

2. Continuously encourage customers to write reviews

As we know, customer reviews are hugely influential in shoppers’ buying decisions and for your brand overall. Remember, nearly 85% of people trust reviews as much as a personal recommendation.

Let your customers become your brand ambassadors by continuously seeking out more customer reviews.

Some brands—especially startups—are hesitant about asking for customer reviews because they’re afraid of criticism that could hurt their growth in its early stages.

By and large, if you offer a solid product or service and provide great customer service, negative reviews won’t be the norm. But, when you are met with negative feedback, do your best to welcome it. Though it may seem counter-intuitive, negative feedback can be the most valuable feedback you get—if you let it. It provides insight into areas of your business that need improvement. Again, responding quickly and honestly can do a lot to sway a customer back into your good graces.

Overall, the more reviews you have, the better. Unfortunately, 77% of customers think that reviews older than 3 months are no longer relevant. Gathering reviews has to be a continuous process on your part.

Don’t hesitate to ask customers for reviews; most will be happy to provide one when asked. But, you must be proactive and ask. One great way to do this is to set up an automated system that periodically emails your customers to ask for a review—for example, after they’ve made a purchase. This is a great way to earn reviews and increase positive perceptions of your brand.

3. Always address customer concerns on social media

A surprising number of businesses don’t address customer complaints on social media and elsewhere. This is a potentially deadly mistake, not only when it comes to addressing that individual customer but many potential customers who are watching these interactions online.

The risk of ignoring that customer? There’s a 27% chance they may never do business with you again.

The same survey linked above found that 88% of customers would be less likely to buy from a company who has unanswered complaints on social media.

Silence can be deadly for your brand, so respond quickly.

4. Brand consistency is key, even online

Your website and social media profiles are extensions of your brand—for some, they may represent the entire business. The importance of brand consistency transcends the physical world and extends to your online presence.

The brand is often a company’s biggest asset, and a lack of consistency will make your brand less memorable and less trustworthy.

Keep everyone on the same page with clear guidelines regarding design elements, fonts, colors, logos and so on, and make it easy to maintain brand compliance. Don’t forget, your brand is also communicated in the content your employees create. So, whether it’s through a brand style guide or through branded templates, empower everyone on your team to maintain consistency.

Your employees can be very powerful brand ambassadors, but they must have the support, tools and know-how to do it.

Key takeaway

Customer voices are becoming louder. This is a good thing.

At the same time, it’s vital for brands to manage their online presences effectively. Ignoring complaints or participating poorly in conversations is not a sustainable strategy. You must be a strong, active advocate for your brand—and give your customers and employees the power to become brand advocates as well.

Some businesses naturally lend themselves to sharp design. Walk down any street in a hip neighborhood and you’ll see fashion boutiques, cafes and gastropubs displaying beautiful branding. Stylish typography, trendy color palettes—the kind of design that creates an enviable brand image.

Related: Building a local brand—5 essential things to know

When it comes to the service brands of the world—your plumbers, HVAC, pest control, any “man-in-a-van” type of business—design and branding are often an afterthought. The service comes first.

After all, there’s nothing cool about getting your drains snaked or having rat traps set up. Service brands don’t cater to a specific set of people the way a bar or boutique does. They sell a skill that everyone needs, not another form of self-expression. Beyond providing the best service possible, it’s hard to find ways to differentiate yourself from all the other service brands out there.

The result? Barebones websites, a lack of stand-out branding, and an endless supply of boring marketing materials. But it doesn’t have to be this way. In fact, investing in some simple branding & design can help your business stand out from the pack.

Why: The market is crowded

Service businesses, particularly in major urban areas, are incredibly competitive. A search for “plumber” on Yelp in Chicago will yield more than 2,000 results. In New York, that same search turns up over 6,000 results. Local plumbing businesses, nationwide franchise networks, and general service companies are all competing for the same work.

In a market that’s so incredibly competitive, you need a way to stand out from the crowd. When you ask a service brand what makes them unique, and how they’re different from competitors, you tend to get answers like “We’re really knowledgeable and honest with our customers.” Which is probably true. For them and just about everyone else.

That’s a great business model, but it doesn’t captivate the imagination. Before you can display your expertise, you have to get someone’s attention—and tradesmen, not being particularly design-focused, often overlook that the path to new revenue starts with awareness.

If your business has a bland website with sparse information, and you’re driving a white van in a city full of service vans, trucks and dispatch cars… how are you standing out? If you’re mailing brochures to potential clients, what saves that brochure from ending up in the trash?

In order to thrive in these competitive markets, you need to capture that initial attention. Marketing alone isn’t enough—you can drive visits to your website all day, and you can mail a flyer to every homeowner in town. On average, you have 8.25 seconds of their attention. Do you really think someone is going to look at a white-and-blue website that says “We’re trustworthy!” for more than 8 seconds?

Probably not. But then, how do you do it?

How: Color, design & user intent

So now, let’s welcome design back into the picture. We need it to capture the attention of potential customers, to stand out from the 2,000 other plumbing businesses in Chicago. But service brands don’t always have graphic designers—or even the budget to hire one. It’s tough to even know where to start.

Color

• A good starting point for service brands is color. Color has the power to influence user behavior. Often, service brands default to black & blues: simple, safe color choices that don’t stand out. That gives you an opportunity to choose something different.
   * Color increases brand recognition by 80%. Some of the most notable service brands employ unique colors as part of their brand. Take Mosquito Joe as an example—the fastest-growing service franchise in the United States. Their bold green & yellow branding extends from their trucks to their uniforms. These eye-catching colors no doubt play a huge role in attracting new customers and franchisees.

Design

• Give your colors the chance to shine with some great design. Aim for a professional appearance, from the website to the trucks to the polo shirts your technicians wear. Every piece of your business should align with your branding to give your customers a consistent experience every time.
   * This can sound like a daunting task to a non-designer, but it’s definitely achievable with the right tools. For example, Marq was designed with non-designers in mind, so anyone can quickly create attractive, on-brand content. You can create templates (or use pre-made ones) to publish and print
  • flyers
  • brochures
  • business cards
  • newsletters
  • banners
  • social media graphics
  • and much more.

User intent

• Finally, consider user intent. Who is your customer base, and what do they care about? What information do they need to make a purchase decision?
• Web accessibility: How easy is it to find the information they need on your website?
• Social proof: Do you provide ratings, testimonials, accreditations?
• Call-to-action: What can you say that persuades them to contact you?

When: Right now

It’s easy to put off projects like updating a website, improving flyers or repainting trucks. But, the sooner you can develop strong branding, the better off you’ll be down the road.

For many service businesses, winter represents downtime, which offers the perfect chance to brush up on your design skills and revamp your brand’s image. Imagine starting the next busy season with the right collateral in place to drive more sales. It’s within your grasp, and easier than you think.

See how Marq makes it easy to create attractive, professional marketing materials—no expert design skills required.

Sometimes, change is a good thing.

A fresh lick of paint can revive a dull living room, a new haircut can boost self-esteem, and a rejuvenated image can bring life back to an outdated brand.

The catch is that, unlike changing your hairstyle, a brand refresh isn’t something to do on a whim because you’re bored or haven’t had a chance to play with your design software in a while. Without a solid strategy, your renovation could turn into a DIY disaster.

Related: 10 best branding & corporate identity design examples

When you’re considering a brand refresh, start by asking a few honest questions:

• Why does the brand need a new image?
• How will a refresh help the business?
• What’s involved in a refresh, and what resources will you need?

Let’s take a look at a few reasons why a brand refresh might be the right choice for your company today.

Is my brand outdated? Separating the dynamite from the dinosaurs

Perhaps the most obvious reason to refresh a brand is that its image has simply outgrown its effectiveness. IBM is a great example of a brand that’s successfully evolved its image to match the changing nature of its product portfolio. By adapting its visual identity and voice throughout the decades, IBM has shown it can stand up against modern competitors.

This IBM logo offers a look back at the brand’s history

A selection of icons designed for IBM’s centennial

Many enterprises struggle to make changes because an old brand can gradually start to feel like an old pair of shoes-sturdy and comfortable. Unfortunately, you will need to make changes eventually if you want to be seen as an authority in your space, rather than a relic. Here are a few ways to check whether your brand is becoming outdated:

• Is your visual identity fresh and modern? Look at your logo, website, and any other visual media you use to connect with customers.
• When was your branding designed? If your logo is more than 20 years old, it’s probably time to revisit it.
• Is your brand getting the right results? Are you still marketing to the right audiences?
• Does your messaging and positioning accurately reflect your current value proposition and customer pain points?

A timeline of Microsoft’s evolving logo design

Refreshing vs. rebranding

It’s easy to confuse a rebrand with a brand refresh, but ultimately, they serve two different purposes. A company rebrand is an extensive endeavor that involves completely removing the basic structure of the brand and starting over. A company typically only pursues this strategy if the current brand identity is confusing, contradictory or misrepresents the core of the company’s mission. A brand refresh, however, involves updating and building upon the brand structure that is already known and loved. Rather than a complete overhaul, it involves an update to visual elements, tweaks to messaging or changes to other differentiators.

5 practical reasons to refresh your brand

A brand is more than just a name and a logo. It’s also your company’s reputation, identity, and public perception. In many cases, companies recognize the need for change but want to preserve the brand’s positive aspects. With that thought in mind, here are 5 reasons you might consider updating the brand rather than undergoing a full rebrand.

1. You aren’t getting enough attention

A great brand doesn’t just generate an image for your company; it gives your customers a reason to sit up and take notice. There are plenty of ways to tell whether your audience has moved on from your message, and the first is that you’ve seen a steady decline in sales.

If people are just as happy with your products as they’ve always been, but you’re not gaining ground in the market, this could be a sign that your brand has lost its selling potential.

Remember, refreshing your brand doesn’t involve turning your identity upside down. Instead, it can be something as simple as redesigning your logo, unrolling a new slogan, or switching to a new color palette. It’s giving your audience something new to chew on while sticking to your brand’s core values. []

The power is completely in your hands.

2. You don’t stand out from the competition any more

Making an impact is hard in today’s saturated online marketplace—and copycats are running wild. Even if you have a great product or service, it won’t be enough if customers can’t distinguish your brand from the other players in your niche. You’ve got to stay ahead of the pack.

If your brand image is starting to feel like a copy-paste job, then you’re going to need new and unique ways to recapture your audience’s interest.

This can be a complex process because it means getting to the bottom of what your company stands for, what it can do today, and how it outshines your competitors. If you can find a way to differentiate yourself, you’ll find it much easier to drive brand awareness and loyalty.

3. Your company has changed

A founder’s initial vision and the company that grows out of it aren’t always one and the same. Sometimes, a brand is born with a particular product in mind—like Starbucks and its signature coffee. Then, as the business continues to grow, it’ll develop new products to better serve its audience.

Over the years, Starbucks has updated its product list to include everything from sandwiches to iced tea. These changes meant that the company had to reimagine the brand’s image based on what they could offer customers in a new marketplace.

As the business evolves, keep an eye on your brand and take note of any constraints that might make it difficult to branch out into new areas.

Starbucks has evolved to serve much more than coffee

4. Your message is inconsistent

For most companies, building a brand is about refining ideas and values into a voice and image that they can project to the world. As you can imagine, this is a complicated process that even the best of intentions can belie.

A brand refresh can help to realign your company’s values when they start to lose their way. After all, we know how valuable brand consistency is—not just to your customers’ experience, but also to your bottom line. If you want your brand to become a trusted name, then you’ve got to deliver the same, familiar experience whenever customers interact with you.

5. You want to attract new customers

When a brand is just getting started, it’s often easier to target a small, niche audience. However, as the brand grows, it’ll find opportunities to expand into different areas that offer new sources of revenue.

Sometimes, tapping into a new share of the market requires changing your voice or image so it’s more likely to appeal to a wider range of customers. A brand refresh can help you reimagine what the future looks like for the company.

Apple excels at making its brand & products feel fresh. Remember these?

Is it time to refresh your brand?

Ultimately, the decision to refresh your brand can be a difficult one, but it’s worth thinking about when your current image isn’t delivering the results you need.

In severe cases, you might discover that the best way to bring your company back to life is a complete rebrand, where you go back to the drawing board and start fresh. While a rebrand is a more dramatic approach, a refresh allows companies to make tweaks over time that help their brand evolve with the market.

Considering a brand overhaul? Grab a free guide to conducting a rebrand

Jeff Bezos once said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”

Your brand identity is the essence of your brand. It’s who you are, what you do, and how people describe your brand, based on the way you make them feel.

Related: 5 content tactics to ignite brand engagement with millennials

The problem is, people don’t always trust brands. They inherently don’t believe the identity you’re selling them is who you really are. That’s why you need to reach out to relevant influencers to validate the brand identity you’ve built.

Influencers reflect your brand identity

Just as you use a consistent voice and imagery across your content, the way influencers talk about your brand should sound like they are talking about the same person.

If multiple friends shared posts about a single friend online, you’d be able to tell who that person is. Likewise, when multiple influencers share posts about your brand, your brand identity should be clear.

When a person zooms out and views your various influencers as a group, the picture should make sense. Maybe they are all in the same age group, from the same city, or share a similar interest.

The most basic influencer marketing program would have a Venn diagram with one thing in the middle that all the influencers share. However, as your influencer marketing program grows and matures, you can envision several chains of interconnected circles that all tie together.

Lululemon’s ambassador program includes a diverse group of individuals from foodies to snowboarders to dance instructors, but they all share one thing in common: a life devoted to being fit.

Work with the right influencers

You know the saying, “You can tell a lot about a person by the company they keep”? The same goes for brands. None of your influencer choices should seem jarring to someone who heard about you from another influencer.

That’s why it’s critical to do your research up front. This keeps you from running into problems of discrepancy; if you sell business software, it will come off as insincere—or worse, desperate—if you have a fashion blogger chatting you up. Your influencer’s personality and niche should match, or at least mesh with your brand, as someone you would associate with.

If your brand was a person, would they run in the same social circles as your influencer? Even if they might not do everything together, it makes sense for a fitness vlogger to promote a pet-sitting service if they regularly travel to weightlifting competitions.

Align your brand with specific types of influencers

If your brand is suffering from a case of poor brand identity, one way to fix that is strategically partnering with a targeted set of influencers. Of course, these influencers should overlap with your customer audience, and their values should jibe with your brand’s. But, a focused campaign can help your brand become known as “that one all the [fill-in-the-blank] bloggers love.”

This is a good strategy for breaking into a new niche or vertical. If your product is extremely specific, this strategy can work wonders. Your association with a niche set of influencers will quickly spread your name among potential customers and solidify your legitimacy within the community.

Take Royal Caribbean for example. Cruises have traditionally been viewed as a travel option for the over-50 age set. The cruise line wanted to attract more millennials, so they partnered with Periscoping travel bloggers via an influencer livestream campaign.

Give influencers what they need

The better that influencers understand your goals, as well as the ins and outs of your service, the better they can promote you. Give them what they need to understand your product. Then, they can create promotional content that feels authentic, rather than a one-size-fits-all sales pitch slapped on a pretty picture. You can guess which one is more effective.

Use influencers to make your brand real. Ask them to highlight how your free sample felt personalized to their needs or was delivered in a special way. Suggest that they talk about how your product solved a specific problem for them, or request that they mention an employee they spoke with at a store or over the phone.

Just as the laughs you share with a new friend help your relationship blossom, these little details are what shape a consumer’s relationship with your brand.

Key takeaway

The great thing about brand identity is that the more people talk about it, the stronger it becomes. [] And when those people are influencers, it becomes stronger even faster. If you have a solid brand identity, it might be time to find influencers who can help you drive awareness and adoption.

For brands, few objectives matter more than creating an impactful, positive impression. Because, if you can make a favorable first impression, it’s inevitable that good conversation — about your brand — will follow.

Now, keeping that conversation in your favor can be tricky. Ultimately, you want to maintain a consistent brand message and voice across all content. If the tone, voice, or visual experience is at all inconsistent, your target audience will likely become confused and you’ll lose their attention, thus impacting sales and customer retention. When your target audience doesn’t know who you are or what you do, it’s tough to expect them to remember or come back to you.

So what should you do to make sure your brand doesn’t take an unintended fork in the road? Well, here are a few strategies that make developing brand consistency easy for your sales organization.

Share a message that resonates

Want to stand out from the crowd? Start by zeroing in on your target audience with a message that speaks directly to what they want and what they need. Take customer feedback, pushback, pain points and reviews seriously — these are all goldmines for messaging information.

Communicate a clear brand message across the board with marketing (from print ads to social media) to sales (from initial pitch to closing time). Figure out who you want to reach with your message, then focus your energies on reaching that audience again and again.

Once you find a message that works, you ought to stick with it. Oftentimes, brands will tinker with a message too much and everything gets lost in translation, meaning the messaging loses focus and purpose. 

Personalize the content experience

You want to highlight why your brand is uniquely positioned to solve the problem your prospective customer is experiencing. In other words, you want to give your customers good reasons to go with your brand over a competitor. 

For instance, if your brand voice feels unique, you can progress up the sales food chain. If you don’t find ways to be unique, you get devoured by the latest trendy new thing. Alternatively, we’d recommend personalizing your customer’s content experience. Not only does this help you stand out in a crowd, but it showcases that you “see” your customers. 

In your sales enablement content, be sure to focus on your strengths. A big mistake with branding is trying to do too much. It isn’t an effective strategy to be a jack-of-all-trades with all people. Your brand’s voice and content experience should be clear, compelling, unique and believable in each interaction with its target audience.

Offer influence and support outside of the buyer’s journey

Your brand voice is defined by how people see it. Influencing how people perceive your organization or your products is as important as getting consumers to buy from you — everything from demos to packaging impacts your brand’s overall perception.

Social media can be a powerful tool for crafting and shaping your relationships. Interacting with consumers and potential consumers can make it easier for you to create a conversation or gain quick insights about what you can do better. Social media channels are an incubator for ideas and will spur growth for your organization if used in the right way. They’re a great way to engage with customers and make your brand feel accessible.

Be prepared to enforce brand guidelines

If your marketing team is worth its snuff, it’s already created brand style and usage guidelines to ensure all messaging and visuals stay consistent. These guides cover how to use various brand assets in internal and external communications — including which fonts and colors to use, or the correct logos and slogans. 

Guides like these not only help your organization’s marketing team, but they also serve as a useful reference for other employees, managers and departments — including sales — looking to create their own content. Ultimately, brand guides should align with your organization’s overall vision and mission. Brand consistency is much easier to achieve when grounded in the core principles that drive your organization.

So, always refer back to your brand guidelines and be prepared to enforce them when developing sales content and planning your outreach efforts. Customers will find you through more than one channel, which means multiple avenues exist to make an excellent first impression. Creating brand consistency across all of these channels is essential to ensure your brand stays memorable and top of mind.

Streamline branded content creation with Lucidpress

Lucidpress makes it a simple task to create a uniform brand identity and empower others in your sales org to create on-brand, professional-looking content. Plus, easy-to-use features like a drag-and-drop editor and advanced template locking take the learning curve out of designing. 

So whether you’re publishing or updating a brochure, newsletter, one-pager, slide deck — or any other material your sales team needs — you can count on Lucidpress to ensure materials get to where they need to go, quickly.

Learn more about how to achieve consistent storytelling across your sales org in our free sales enablement workbook.

Perception determines reality with branding. The impression you make with customers and potential customers ultimately influences the overall strength of your brand. That’s why even simple mistakes with brand consistency can create costly headaches.

Branding mistakes aren’t simply a concern affecting novice entrepreneurs taking their first steps into the marketplace. Businesses of all shapes and sizes can take missteps with their branding and lack a consistent voice or direction in their products and services.

Large companies can be especially vulnerable to the impact of brand inconsistency. It can lead to lost revenue and diminished customer loyalty. Those companies will end up yielding ground to more savvy competitors and often struggle to create a positive image and voice for their brand.

Here are 7 common brand consistency mistakes that large companies typically make. The good news is many of these mistakes are fixable or can be avoided.

1. Slow content creation

It’s no coincidence that new content seems to pop up on websites and social media channels at the speed of light. The digital age has revolutionized how we acquire information and put it right at our fingertips. Taking a slow and steady approach may win the race for the tortoise, but it doesn’t work with content creation.

If your brand is locked down to the point that it stifles new content creation, corporate marketing will turn into a bottleneck. Your brand will acquire a perception of being outdated and irrelevant within your industry. Timely and relevant content creation, on the other hand, will help put your company forward as a subject-matter expert and establishes it as a voice that customers can trust.

2. Wasted designer time

Do your designers work overtime making mundane updates to existing content, like a brochure or flyer? If that’s the case, they’re not properly utilizing their talents — and it could be limiting your company’s reach and costing you on the bottom line.

Burdening designers with too many small tasks causes the focus to slip from the bigger picture. Free them up to work on projects that incorporate their creative talents. Those creative juices flow when a designer isn’t handcuffed to simply doing brand housekeeping. Their minds are less cluttered and have room for dynamic ideas to emerge.

3. Off-brand content

Going rogue works when it comes to stealing Death Star plans. It doesn’t work with creating content. [] Brand guidelines need to be in place for a reason. If a department is creating rogue content that doesn’t follow established brand guidelines, it can spell disaster for your company in a hurry.

Establish your brand identity and create a branding guide that adheres to that vision. Educate individual employees and managers across all departments on these guidelines, so they understand how to communicate with your target audience without going off the rails. Permitting individuals or entire departments to tweak your brand to fit their whims will undermine the brand’s integrity. Offer them plenty of resources to help them keep content on target with your brand’s voice.

4. Outdated brand assets

Few things are more embarrassing than taking the time to update your company’s logo, slogan or other key brand assets… only to see the old assets show up in your company’s messaging. That’s the risk of not keeping everyone on the same page. It can make your brand appear indecisive, outdated or out of touch.

Each department and employee should have a working knowledge of which brand assets and templates are in current use. Store these things in a central, online place and make them easily accessible for all of your brand marketing efforts. Each brand asset should be reviewed periodically to ensure it remains uniform with the core brand messaging.

5. No brand champion

Creating a consistent brand voice starts at the top. Your CMO is like the pace car leading the rest of the pack to the starting line. It falls on their shoulders to be a brand champion. Without their voice leading the way, employees will not understand the importance of strong branding and your brand will end up veering off course.

An effective brand champion at the top can steer your marketing efforts in the right direction. They set the tone for what works and what doesn’t by establishing a core vision and identity. This makes it easier to identify a natural target audience then build branding efforts around appealing to that group.

6. Branding is over-complicated

Flashier isn’t always better. Some of the most iconic brand logos, like McDonald’s or Fed-Ex, are memorable because they use a simple and clean look that’s easily identifiable. Throwing more bells and whistles into the mix isn’t going to make you stand out from the crowd. If it does draw extra attention, it could be for the wrong reasons.

Avoid tossing in complicated graphics and color schemes that distract from your core message. Don’t clutter your brand. Keep it simple by using simple colors and symbols. This will give your brand a chance to communicate quality and authenticity and increase the possibility that it can stick with a person long after they are introduced to it. Using branded templates can make this an easier task to check off your company’s to-do list.

7. Not understanding your audience

Your brand will only stand out when it offers something fresh and unique. If your target audience can’t tell you apart from competitors in a meaningful way, what incentive do they have to embrace your brand, products or services? Failing to understand what makes them tick or what they want can lead to your brand’s death knell.

Make your brand timeless by building to your brand strengths. Avoid being too trendy. Embrace market research and communicate regularly with customers and potential customers alike. Resist the temptation to put your brand everywhere, and instead, focus on being sincere with what your brand does and how it can positively impact the lives of your target audience.

Want to know more about the power of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

At one point in time, a recognizable brand was all that was needed for a business to thrive. But now, that brand must be accompanied by trust because modern consumers are different than they were several decades ago. Today, there’s the internet and consumers can easily conduct research on a brand before they make a purchase.

In fact, they often do. Some stats suggest that 61% of consumers read reviews before they complete a purchase. They look for a reason to trust your brand before investing their hard-earned money in your product or service.

Related: 4 easy tips for effective online brand management

62% of Americans actually believe corruption is widespread in corporate America, so it’s safe to say that trust in corporations and big brands is lacking. Companies need to be careful so that they earn a trusted reputation. But there are also great opportunities to amplify what consumers are saying online to build trust for your brand.

Here’s some ways you can build brand trust online.

Provide valuable content

As the saying goes: content is king. Quality content can do a lot for a company, whether it’s on your website, blog or social media. It sets you up as an authoritative voice and, hopefully, a thought leader.

To write content that will benefit your brand, do some research to see what your competitors are doing. Then, create content that fills in the gaps they’ve left. Make your content more detailed, engaging and better in any way you can. This will prove you are the authority in the industry.

Keep in mind the 80/20 rule for your content creation: 80% of your content should be useful and non-promotional while the other 20% can talk about your product. This will engage consumers and prove to them that their wants and needs are a priority for you. Keep this in mind when posting to social media, writing a blog post or creating a video.

By providing reliable and insightful content, rather than a sales pitch, you’ll nurture a sense of trust in your brand.

Dove’s viral campaign “Dove Real Beauty Sketches” is an excellent example of this concept. Most of the video is about how women perceive themselves. The ad doesn’t mention Dove products, it simply finishes with the brand’s logo as a reminder of the company behind the message.

Source: Dove.com

IKEA is another example of a company creating useful content. The authentic Swedish brand added to its trusted reputation with its “Make Small Spaces Big” campaign, which provided tips and creative ideas to make better use of small spaces… information that is both valuable and relevant to its audience.

Engage customers in two-way communication

Consumers today like to be engaged and have relationships with brands. If you can do this, you’ll build trust. Social media is a way for modern companies to respond personally to individual consumers, and by doing so, these companies contribute to their own mouth-to-mouth marketing. One consumer impressed by a company’s communication can quickly go viral and generate positive press coverage.

Source: Twitter

To engage customers successfully, you need to interact with them on a regular basis. You must have a solid, active presence on social media. You need to monitor your pages for comments, questions or complaints and respond personally and appropriately. Be responsive and start conversations, and you’ll be able to build a positive relationship with consumers.

The IT networking company Cisco understands the importance of online engagement and offers its customers various avenues for interaction. In fact, the company claims it saved $200 million annually by moving its engagement efforts online. Cisco blogs, chats via Google+, has a full Facebook support page with more than 800,000 followers, uses LinkedIn and has even won awards for its customer support.

Building this rapport and being within reach of your customers is important to building a reputation as a trusted brand.

Host live video events

Whether you host a Q&A on Facebook Live, a demo on Periscope, or a webinar on your own website, live video events are a great way to build trust online. They require a lot of planning but can be very effective. There’s something about the unedited aspect that really motivates interest. Customers can engage and ask questions while they watch. And as it’s live, they know the answer they’re getting hasn’t been given a stamp of approval by the PR department, so it’s a great way to build trust with fans.

Keep your brand consistent

There’s nothing like going off-message to destroy a brand. From your logo and brand colors, to your tone and personality, you must be consistent in everything you do and say. [] A brand playbook can help you maintain the right voice, while brand management tools like Lucidpress can help your documents and content look consistent all the time, no matter how many people are on your marketing team. Consistency is also great for building brand awareness and recognition, as people will come to recognize your brand’s unique style.

Encourage user-generated content

Today, millennials in particular are using social media to discuss brands they like, and this can be important for companies looking to build trust. In one survey, 76% of millennial consumers said that content shared by average people is more trustworthy than what brands share. In another study, 92% of people said they trust the recommendations of other people, even ones they don’t know, over branded content.

User-generated content is a great opportunity for your business to show how real people are enjoying your products and build some serious brand trust.

Make sure to share these endorsements on social—Starbucks is constantly doing this. You can also actively highlight this content on your testimonials page, blog or, like Zappos, create a specific destination for this content.

Source: Twitter

Beyond your everyday customers, let other trusted sources advocate for you. You can highlight collaborations with other trusted brands, work with an influencer relevant to your industry, or share media coverage from reputable sources to build trust.

Share trustworthy links

Links are an important asset for any business as they connect your brand with the online world. Whatever link you’re sharing, make sure it leads to a reputable website. Refer to fact-driven sources in your blog posts, industry favorites for your curated content, and always use branded links on social media so followers have an indication of what it is they’re clicking on.

Branded links are made up of a custom domain name and a keyword in the slashtag. By associating your links with your brand, users know it won’t lead to spam or phishing sites and this increased trust can boost click-through rates by up to 39%.

Encourage user reviews

You should encourage your customers to provide reviews of your products or services online. Even a bad review can be used as an opportunity to testify to your company’s transparency and demonstrate your responsiveness and willingness to turn that negative customer experience into a positive one.

By encouraging reviews, your brand will show you care about what your customers think and are confident in the quality of what you’re selling. Often, before committing to a purchase, consumers will check how your company is rated on Facebook, Yelp and other review sites. If they can see at a glance that you’re close to a 5-star rating, they’ll be converted in seconds.

Make sure your brand acts responsibly

According to Forbes, millennials feel strongly about affecting change, and a lot of this is done online. They expect companies to be socially responsible, too, so if your brand is doing its part, make sure you let your audience know. Whether you’re reducing your carbon footprint, taking steps to ensure gender equality, or raising funds for a good cause, share the news online. This will build your image as a noble brand that can be trusted by its customers.

Key takeaway

Providing compelling content, interacting with customers, and maintaining brand consistency is essential to building a brand that people trust.

Today, your brand isn’t simply what you say it is, but rather a reflection of consumer trust in your product or service. You have the ability to develop that trust online and turn it into a powerful marketing tool for your business. It takes work and planning, getting involved and interacting, but it has the potential to cultivate lasting trust that will build brand loyalty and benefit your business into the future.

Want to know more about the power of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

Three years ago, Gartner predicted that 30% of our interactions with technology today would happen via conversations with smart machines—and mainstream adoption would be just around the corner.

Related: 10 digital trends that are transforming marketing in 2018

We can see the evidence of this change all around us, from Siri and Cortana to Alexa and Google Home. And while we haven’t reached mainstream adoption quite yet, marketers shouldn’t wait for the masses to catch up before grappling with the implications of voice search.

In particular, voice search represents a move from the abstract to the physical. Certain aspects of your brand—voice, tone, personality—will soon become real in ways they never have before. Just like mass marketing has shifted into digital marketing, we’re now seeing the dawn of conversational marketing with voice search. Here are five factors that show how voice search will impact your brand.

1. Copy that can be read aloud

As more people turn to smart machines to ask questions, brands should be prepared to respond in kind. Creatives will have to write copy that sounds good when read out loud—often in the form of answering a question. Offer the most important information first (remember the inverted pyramid?), and for goodness sakes, keep it brief and unambiguous.

For example, in an older blog post of ours, we discuss the definition of branding. If someone were to ask “What is branding?” today, our blog post would respond like this:

To begin to understand what a brand is, you must first understand that your brand does not exist in your marketing department, your public relations team, or your CEO’s office…

And as pretty as it looks on the page, no one is going to stick around to listen to that. Instead, our response should get straight to the point. Again, from the post:

A brand is the sum total of all the impressions a customer has, based on every interaction they have had with you, your company and your products.

If we wanted to optimize this content for voice search, we could restructure it intelligently by putting the important data first. Then, we have plenty of space for the kind of writing that’s meant to be read rather than spoken aloud.

Finally, keep in mind that voice search is more conversational than traditional search. The queries are longer, and they’re often localized (e.g. “What’s the weather like today?” or “When does The Copper Onion close tonight?”). Your responses should follow suit, mimicking how real people talk (including conversational phrases).

2. New advertising rules

With new advertising mediums come new advertising guidelines. This doesn’t just mean best practices, like we see with paid and organic digital search. We’ll also see big players in voice search (like Google) establishing new rules for brands who want in.

Remember this voice ad from Burger King last year? The commercial was designed to hijack your Google Home device by asking “What is the Whopper burger?” This request prompts devices to begin reading the Wikipedia entry for the Whopper—which, of course, Burger King had edited to their benefit.

The Whopper is a burger, consisting of a flame-grilled patty made with 100 percent beef with no preservatives or fillers, topped with sliced tomatoes, onions, lettuce, pickles, ketchup, and mayonnaise, served on a sesame-seed bun.

Oh, be quiet, already!

My feelings exactly.

Not only did this violate Wikipedia’s terms because it so clearly sounds like ad copy, it also left open the door to vandalism. People were quick to edit the Wikipedia entry to include phrases like “cancer-causing” and ingredients like “toenail clippings.” Not exactly what the fine folks at Burger King had in mind.

Even when the ad worked as intended, people were annoyed by the tactic—but online trolls had made it so, so much worse. It should come as no surprise that Google shut down the ad 3 hours later, and Burger King pulled it entirely.

Consumers aren’t used to advertising in voice search yet. Take care not to annoy them with lengthy descriptions or aggressive sales pitches—and follow the terms and guidelines of the services you use.

3. What does my brand sound like?

Today, Alexa always sounds like Alexa, but it’s not hard to imagine a future where voice search becomes highly customized. Brands will be able to choose their own vocal characteristics, which opens up a world of questions and considerations.

If your brand was a real person, what would they sound like? How would you determine:

• Gender
• Age
• Language or dialect
• Accent
• Conversational tone
• Conversational speed
• Personality

Source: Pexels

Some of these characteristics even raise ethical considerations—like gender, for example. According to OnBrand’s State of Branding report, 54% of marketers prefer a female voice assistant (while only 17% prefer a male). Nearly all the voice assistants we’re familiar with today default to female voices, which raises the question why.

“The simplest explanation is that people are conditioned to expect women, not men, to be in administrative roles—and that the makers of digital assistants are influenced by these social expectations,” says Adrienne Lafrance in an article for The Atlantic. Power structures influence our technology all the time, and it’s important for brands to consider these traits (and their impact) carefully.

In the mean time, it’s likely that female voices will continue to answer most consumers’ vocal commands. How can masculine brands compensate for this—punch up their language, perhaps?

4. Consistency matters

Voice search does not alter the impact of brand consistency, but it does present new channels to manage. Once you’ve decided what your brand sounds like, it’s important to convey that across all channels and communication. Voice and tone need to remain consistent for the brand to be distinct and recognizable.

After you’ve set the tone and refined your brand voice, go back and make sure it’s reflected everywhere:

• Voice-optimized content on webpages (especially Q&A format)
• Voice-optimized ad copy
• Product descriptions
• Social media posts (hashtags & emoji don’t always translate)
• Program dialog
• Chatbot dialog

Interesting note about chatbots: If your brand already has one, you might be ahead of the game. Because chatbots are designed to be conversational, they can help to inform your strategy for voice search. Look to them for guidance as you explore this brave new world!

5. First-mover advantages

And now, the good news. Because voice search has yet to reach mass adoption, there’s still plenty of time to move into the space before other brands catch up. It’s a rare opportunity to reap first-mover advantages without being one of the big, established brands.

“Given that many people are currently rather disappointed with their voice search interactions, the first brand to create a genuinely standout experience is going to garner a lot of excitement,” says Rob Curran in this article for Campaign. And like we’ve seen with other new mediums like augmented reality, it’s only a matter of time before someone does. Could it be you?

Key takeaway

Equal parts scary and exciting, the adoption of voice search represents enormous opportunity for savvy marketers. With it, you can deliver a digital brand experience that’s more personal and human-like than ever before—and hopefully, one that’s consistent with your brand messaging. Drive the conversation and address these factors now to enjoy the benefits while we head into the next decade.

Want to know more about the power of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

Bonus: Voice search infographic

Want to share these insights with your followers? We’ve adapted the main points of this article into a sharable infographic perfect for Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Pinterest.

Are you emotionally connected to a particular brand? Maybe it’s the design of its packaging. Maybe it’s the colors they use or the shapes that remind you of something good. Maybe it’s the smell of the store. When you go into a small fragrance boutique, you’re mesmerized by a unique scent that sticks in your memory. Whenever you decide to buy perfume in future, you’ll prefer going to that specific store.

Why does this happen? When you understand the psychological theory behind the human senses, you’ll realize why sensory marketing is so important. Our senses are our connection to the outside world. Our brain interprets the messages they send and forms its perception of the world in accordance with those interpretations.

Related: The subtle art of using emotion in your visual content

Marketers can implement sensory experiences to make their campaigns more effective. With sensory marketing techniques, you lay the foundation for a positive brand impression. Let’s see how our senses influence our perception of a brand, so we’ll understand this approach a bit better.

1. Taste

Unless you own a restaurant or coffee shop, this is the sense you can influence the least. However, taste can still become an important aspect of your marketing strategy. For example, if you’re promoting an Italian brand of jewelry, you could organize a cocktail for your most faithful customers where you serve Italian gelato and wine. These tastes will remind people of the Italian lifestyle, and they’ll see how your jewelry fits in.

The sense of taste can deeply influence our memories, emotions and moods. A savvy marketer will find ways to use that fact to the campaign’s advantage.

2. Sound

You already have experience with sound affecting your perception of a brand. When you dine in a fancy restaurant, you want slow, calm music in the background, right? When you’re at a nightclub, the music that’s being played affects your experience. When you enter a store, the music can make you feel energized or relaxed, depending on the selection.

But it’s not limited to in-store experiences. Daniel Monroe of BestEssays explains how sounds are important even for online services: “The element of sound was crucial when we were designing the live chat. We didn’t want our website visitors to be disturbed, which is why the live chat is never activated without their request. When they drop us a message, however, they surely want to be notified when the agent sends a response, so the sound has to be noticeable yet subtle. It has to create a sense of urgency without making the website user nervous.”

Think: what behavior are you trying to encourage in your target audience? What kind of music would promote such behavior? Once you answer this question, it becomes easier to implement music and sound effectively in your brand experiences.

3. Touch

The sense of touch also influences our behavior. Research has shown that touching rough or smooth objects has an effect on our decisions. Hard surfaces, for example, evoke the impression of firmness, stability and security. However, they also impose a sense of strictness. They might be great for offices or banks, but you’d want to include a bit of softness in a store that sells products for kids, right?

Many brands neglect the sense of touch in their campaigns, mainly because they’re selling products that already have a particular structure. The way you design the packaging and space around the products, however, will have a huge effect on the brand experience.

4. Sight

This is probably the sense that affects our brand perception the most, since we first see a product before involving any other senses in the experience. That’s why brands invest so much effort and resource in visual content.

When you’re presenting your brand to the world, advertising and packaging have a huge impact on audience perception. This effect is heightened when all your branding is consistent and cohesive. Posters, social media posts, flyers, newsletters and other promotional materials should all share a similar design and color scheme. After all, those colors are rarely chosen by accident.

For example, when we’re trying to evoke optimism, warmth and clarity, we often reach for the color yellow. Orange is cheerful and fun (like Fanta), and red is bold and exciting (like Virgin). Blue evokes trust, strength and dependability—think Dell and HP. Green is peaceful and symbolizes growth and health, which is why you’ll find it in the logos and marketing of many environmentally friendly or healthy lifestyle brands.

5. Smell

Have you ever wondered why brands like L’Occitane and Lush sell their products in specialized boutiques? It’s because their marketing campaigns are based on the sense of smell, and they don’t want their scents being diluted by other products in the store. When you get to the Lush store, you’re so mesmerized by the smells that you simply cannot leave without a new bar of soap. That’s how powerful scents can be.

Even if your brand is not related to scents, you can still benefit from sensory marketing. Researchers found that the smell of chocolate can boost sales in bookstores. They observed the behavior of the customers and concluded that when the bookstore smelled like chocolate, people were more engaged with the staff and the books. They looked more closely at books, read the summaries, and lingered in the store. That’s not a coincidence.

The smell of chocolate is comforting and inviting. It’s no wonder why many real estate agents like to bake something in the kitchen before showing the property to a potential customer. They also make sure the property is clean and smells nice in every room.

Just as a pleasant scent promotes better behavior, an unpleasant odor will have a negative effect. If the store is dusty or smells funky, it won’t matter how awesome your brand and products are. The smell will distract visitors from taking the action you want to encourage.

Key takeaway

Our senses have a major impact on our purchasing decisions. Sensory branding is a well-established practice in some industries, such as cosmetics and food. However, brands from all other industries can benefit from this approach, too. Which sensory marketing techniques could you take advantage of in your next branding campaign?

Protecting your brand—not only how it looks but also how it’s perceived—is essential.

Your brand is everything that makes up how your customers see you, and if you’re not presenting a consistent message across the board, you run the risk of confusing, alienating or even frustrating your customers. On top of that, you’re missing out on the opportunity to establish your brand and grow recognition, authority and trust.

If you’re operating in a multi-location company with staff working in various departments, establishing a process to ensure brand compliance is key.

Related: 10 examples of great brand guidelines

Where once a central marketing team might have created and controlled all marketing output, we’re now working in a much more democratic and fast-paced world. Branding, content and communications can’t just sit with one team anymore; it’s become a multi-player, multi-platform game that almost everyone in your company is involved in.

So when artistic license, so to speak, is given far and wide, how do you ensure consistency across the board—especially when it comes to multi-location branding?

How to ensure brand compliance

For many companies, frequent barriers to brand compliance include:

• Overworked designers with too many requests and slow workflows
• Wasted time for designers when things move too quickly or changes aren’t communicated
• Content that isn’t on-brand (usually arising from the need for a quick turnaround by a rogue team or individual)
• Outdated brand assets where the latest versions haven’t been made available, aren’t centrally stored, or don’t exist
• No brand manager who’s enforcing the guidelines and implementing smarter processes
• Over-complicated branding that’s difficult to follow

Luckily, with a growing list of new approaches to these old problems, the future of your brand looks bright.

Ramp up your brand compliance efforts by employing these two fail-safe strategies.

Create and implement brand compliance guidelines

With the creation of effective and detailed brand compliance guidelines, you’re dramatically improving your company’s chances of consistency.

Our report on the importance of brand consistency revealed that companies are twice as likely to see a consistent presentation of their brand when formal brand guidelines are in place and enforced.

A typical set of brand guidelines will cover:

• Logo variations & dimensions, plus details on when and how to use them
• Brand colors for both digital & print
• Brand fonts, sizes & suggested uses
• Tone of voice & brand messaging

The goal with your brand guidelines isn’t to limit the creativity of your marketers and designers, but to give them a set of guidelines to work within. There should still be plenty of opportunity for them to come up with new and exciting ideas that comply.

When it comes to enforcing brand guidelines, you’ll do a whole lot better if you can take away the challenges your people face.

As an absolute minimum, make sure the guidelines are easy to follow and centrally stored so that everyone—including partners—can access them without hassle.

The next step is to support all your people (not just your designers) by providing the resources they need to comply. With clear guidelines and easy processes, you’re leaving little room for error.

Create shared resources & customizable content templates

This strategy—known as distributed marketing management—is becoming an increasingly popular option for growing organizations who take brand compliance seriously.

Rather than relying on an overworked design team to churn out request after request (often with a lengthy turnaround time), customizable templates put some of the responsibility back with the individual or local team.

A modern brand management system such as Marq will empower local marketers and salespeople to create their own content and campaigns that still adhere to brand guidelines.

With the introduction of innovative software like Marq, you’ll get the following benefits:

• Shared access to a single platform with permission controls
• A central resource bank where only the latest versions are available
• Access from anywhere with cloud-based storage
• Lockable templates, so edits can be made without compromising branding
• Intuitive software that’s easy for everyone
• Simple multi-channel distribution across print & digital

With a system like this in place, you’re giving your people the power to act quickly and take advantage of local opportunities without compromising brand compliance.

Further, by opening this process up to your partners and affiliates, you see even more rewards. When you can give them access to brand guidelines and templates that are locked down, they’ll have more independence when it comes to collaborating and cross-promoting. All without putting extra pressure on your marketing team.

Sounds like a dream, doesn’t it?

Key takeaway

Total brand compliance is achievable, but it takes forward-planning, smart software and well-thought-out processes. To give your brand the best chance of success, create and enforce formal brand guidelines and implement a central system for sharing on-brand resources and customizable templates.

Instead of trying (and failing) to do everything for your people, give them the guidance and tools they need to do things for themselves.

Newcomers to the world of brand awareness marketing often feel overwhelmed or utterly lost. There’s a veritable plethora of channels, tactics & tools to explore. To make things even more difficult, some make much more sense for your business than others, depending on a matrix of circumstances.

Related: 7 things to consider before your next social media campaign

Before jumping into a brand awareness campaign, remember to ask yourself these key questions.

Is your content tailored to the right people?

You’re pretty sure you wrote compelling content… but is that actually the case? It’s time for a bit of self-reflection and honesty, which—while sometimes tough to swallow—is vital to the refocusing process.

One of the easiest mistakes to make in brand awareness campaigns is tailoring the content towards current customers. In reality, you’re targeting potential customers instead. []

The people you’re targeting likely have no idea who you are prior to seeing your ad. This is why the content has to be super compelling, either to draw them into visiting your site right away or ensuring that when they need a service or product like yours, you’re at the front of their mind.

The main things you need to include within the copy are:

1. The unique selling points of your business—what makes you different from all of your competitors?
2. How you can solve their problems—most consumers have some sort of problem (which is why they purchase services/products), so tell them how you can be the answer they’re looking for.
3. A convincing call to action—whether this is telling them to visit your site, sign up for your newsletter or take advantage of a limited-time promotion or discount, tell people why they should act on their impulses now.

Put yourself in the shoes of your potential customers. What would you want to read? What would convince you to use your own product or service?

Marketers often forget to place themselves in the shoes of their target market and instead take a product-oriented approach.

Are you targeting the correct people?

Next, examine your target audience. Are you completely confident that you targeted the correct people? If your brand awareness campaign failed, then it’s possible you performed for the wrong audience.

Basing your target audience on your current customers seems like the place to start. They clearly love your brand, so people who share the same interests are your perfect target, right? Not necessarily.

In most cases, the audience you want to target is going to be slightly different. Before your current customer base found you, they were high-intent users actively searching for an answer to their problems.

In a brand awareness campaign, however, your audience isn’t likely to be high-intent when they first see your ads.

This is where you have to be creative; think about the types of people who may have pain points you can solve but don’t quite know it yet.

Think about the age range that’s most likely to face these pain points soon. Are there any geographical areas more likely to need your help? Are there any interests people have that could likely lead to needing you?

For example, if your brand specializes in decorating services, based on intent and life event options, you can target people who are moving soon or have recently moved. This would be more effective than simply targeting people who love decorating.

Are you tracking success correctly?

Finally, let’s review how you measure your brand awareness campaign’s success. You could run a hugely beneficial campaign, but if you’re focused on the wrong metrics, you may see it as a failure and not capitalize on it.

There are so many metrics you can use to gauge the success of a campaign that it can be difficult to know exactly what you should be looking for.

Success metrics should be chosen during the planning stage of your campaign, to give you a clear view of how the campaign should be structured and how you can get a sensible idea of the performance.

When you sit down to decide these metrics, use SMART goals and objectives. Many of you have probably already heard this acronym, but just in case, it stands for specific, measurable, attainable, realistic and timely.

Setting your goals this way will help you get an in-depth understanding of which metrics to evaluate when measuring the campaign’s success.

And when it comes to brand awareness campaigns, success can be harder to measure. Focus on top-of-funnel metrics rather than sales or conversions. When it’s over, don’t stop reporting just because the initial boost of traffic and engagement has died down. Remember that these campaigns can continue to pay off with gradual increases over time.

Common brand awareness mistakes

With so much on the line, you can’t afford to dive in unprepared. Here are 7 rookie mistakes that often fly under the radar yet profoundly impact your brand awareness strategies and goals.

Mistake #1: Scattergun approach

Spreading yourself too thin is an easy trap to fall into. You can’t please and cater to everyone—and you shouldn’t. In fact, attempting this futile endeavor will result in satisfying no one.

Case in point: many startups establish accounts on every social network they can, only to find that managing them all is virtually impossible. Even if you do post to every network with the help of automation, you’re not delivering a great experience tailored to that platform—and you’re likely missing out on a lot of engagement.

Instead, do your research to find a highly targeted market. Know who they are and understand their habits, wants & needs. You have to find where they are and spend time there, not in a hundred places where you desperately hope to stumble upon them.

Mistake #2: Passive social presence

A “build it and they will come” mentality does not work on today’s internet. You can’t just set up a website or social media page and hope to see customers eagerly interacting with your brand. First, you have to engage the audience. Responding to comments in a timely manner is a good place to start… but it’s only a start.

Come up with a content calendar and post on a regular basis. Talk to users and influencers, and ask them for opinions. Use your social presence to carry out customer service around the clock via instant messaging and other channels. Social media is about building lasting, meaningful connections that strengthen brand loyalty. You can’t simply stuff your messages with hashtags and expect magic to happen.

Mistake #3: Incoherent cross-channel strategy

Rookie marketers tend to lose sight of the big picture and how coherent their messages appear across different channels. This is not the way to build strong credibility and inspire trust. Successful brand marketing is deeply rooted in consistency.

This journey calls for much more than investing in a decent logo and slapping it everywhere you can. You will need to use elements like the color palette, fonts, visual identity, images, and voice to set the tone for your marketing campaigns. Tailor to the medium and the platform, of course—but never lose the integral pieces of your brand’s identity. [ ]

Mistake #4: Overcommitting to digital

Cost-effective digital platforms have unparalleled reach, but they are not be-all and end-all of brand marketing. Not everyone is tuned in to social media, apps and online search. Depending on your target market, you could work wonders with print collateral or merchandising.

In other words, you can let human psychology work to your advantage and leave a lasting impression by giving away branded office supplies, quality printed shirts, and other handouts. Don’t overlook the potential of printed media. You could reach a lot of people via brochures, business cards, flyers, newsletters, and other printed marketing materials. In the digital era, print is personal and memorable.

Mistake #5: Going all-in on advertising

Advertising is the mainstay of many brand awareness campaigns. However, it’s generally a bad idea to put all your eggs in one basket-especially if you’re a rookie who’s worried about wasting your budget.

What’s more, people have grown weary of aggressive pop-ups & ads, even when they’re targeted with laser-like precision. They install ad-blockers to completely shut them down.

Instead, try to start small and set aside a limited ad budget. Test your awareness campaigns over a course of few weeks and evaluate the results. Paid marketing works best when you prioritize ROI, so as you learn the ropes, gather data and scale your campaigns based on your insights.

Mistake #6: Misunderstanding content marketing

Viral marketing is one way to enter with a big bang, but directing all your efforts there is a double-edged sword. If you win, you win big. If you don’t, you get nothing. You’re probably better off crafting compelling, quality content on a consistent basis. Be entertaining, educational, and add value to people’s lives.

Once you start producing a stream of relevant content, you have to promote it. Bear in mind that you might not achieve immediate success. Don’t cut corners, and show patience. It takes time to gain momentum and traction. In due time, your efforts will start to snowball via word-of-mouth and social signals.

Mistake #7: Disregarding or copying the competition

It always pays off to scope out the competition. Doing this homework will show you what works for them—and what doesn’t. You gain valuable insights that help you set your brand apart. You should always keep an eye on what others are doing, but refrain from imitating them.

Looking and feeling like another business stirs brand confusion and slows the development of your own reputation. Instead, being genuine is the best way to win people over and keep them in your camp. That being said, you can still borrow good ideas and implement them in your marketing strategy. Just make sure you’re doing it in a way that’s fresh and authentic to your brand.

Key takeaway: Brand awareness by design

Effective brand awareness campaigns are hard to pull off. You have to put the right messages in the right place and serve it to the right people. Much easier said than done. There’s a lot of ground to cover without losing your footing and plenty of tools to consider.

Right away, put a sound strategy in place and let it guide your efforts across channels and platforms. Steer away from common mistakes that can bite off a big chunk of your budget and hinder your brand. Concentrate on turning curious visitors into prospects, prospects into customers, and customers into satisfied brand ambassadors.

In 2014, Marketing Sherpa published a report on customer acquisition costs (CAC) in e-commerce. According to this report, the median CAC is somewhere between $12 to $25. These costs add a lot of overhead to your business. If you’re a low-margin business, like most e-commerce stores, high customer acquisition costs can sink you fast.

Related: 8 killer email marketing tools for e-commerce

One way to bring CAC down is by building a bigger brand for your business. Branded e-commerce stores attract a lot of loyal customers. Such customers tend to shop several times throughout the year and are instrumental in improving profitability.

Let’s take a look at some strategies that can help e-commerce businesses establish themselves as a brand.

Establish stringent brand guidelines

The first step in the brand-building process is to establish stringent brand guidelines. These guidelines must include parameters like the “tone of voice” used in your messaging, logos, color palettes, fonts, photography style, and so on. Basically, it should cover anything used in your marketing materials.

To establish better brand equity, it’s important to accomplish two specific objectives. First, invest in building a style guide that will set you apart from the competition. This includes picking unique fonts and colors that aren’t common in your industry. You could also invest in creating unique image filters that will give your photos a distinct identity. Second, follow these guidelines across all your marketing channels: social media, website, TV, print and any other form of marketing.

A good example of this is Frooti, an India-based fruit juice brand. Although it’s not strictly an e-commerce brand, you can see that all their visuals adhere to a brand philosophy that includes flat design and a limited color palette.

Source: Instagram

The reason this works is because your target audience tends to associate these visuals with your brand. This contributes to better recall and builds loyalty over time.

Pro tip: Lucidpress has a template-locking system that can help you adhere to brand guidelines consistently. Read more about it here.

Find your competitive advantage

There are many factors that contribute to an e-commerce sale. One of the most powerful ways to establish a brand is by identifying one factor where the rest of your competition sucks and mastering it. For instance, if you’re in a niche where the leading sellers take at least a couple days to ship, you might invest in overnight shipping. Alternatively, if all your major competitors charge for shipping, you could choose to offer free shipping.

This is exactly what Zappos did to establish themselves as the online shoe seller of choice. CEO Tony Hsieh realized early on that customers tend to have unique tastes for shoes, and in order to succeed, they’d have to make the return process ridiculously simple. The company provided its customers with prepaid return shipping labels that they could print for free returns. In doing so, Zappos outdid all competitors and established the most well-known brand in online shoe commerce.

The reason this works is because doing something better than others gets noticed by customers who then associate your brand with it. [] In addition to bringing word-of-mouth publicity, this strategy also gets your customers to return for future purchases. While such strategies can cost a lot of money, they also help to establish a brand name and improve customer loyalty.

Know your customers’ values

Learning your customers’ values means building a relationship with them that goes deeper than just producer/consumer. When people recognize and trust your brand, it’s because they see their own values reflected in it.

One of the easiest ways to learn about your customers’ values is simply to ask them. You could do some informal research on social media (or your blog) by covering certain topics and testing the engagement. Or, you could be even more scientific by conducting surveys and focus groups to learn more about the audience you’re pursuing.

After you’ve done this research, look back at your company. What do you already do that’s aligned with the values of your customers? These are the messages that will ring out the loudest.

When you can back up what you say with what you do, people will trust you and be drawn to your brand. [ ] Begin by looking for the values you already share with your target audience, then find ways to embody the others.

Know your brand story

For as much as things have changed in the world, people still love a good story. Whether it’s the story of a hero, an underdog, or simply the shared challenges and pleasures of the human experience, a good story moves people’s hearts and minds.

Every brand out there has a story—every one. The challenge is to share that story in a way that’s authentic and relatable. It might take some time to discover the best way to communicate your story to your target audience.

Start by zeroing in on your company’s purpose, or more specifically, the problem you solve. Let’s consider an example.

Say you manage an e-commerce brand that sells eco-friendly furniture and clothing. What’s your story? In short, you provide people with comfort and security in an environmentally friendly way.

But there’s something larger going on: climate change and the movement to address it. Your role in this global story is to meet people’s basic needs at a significantly lower cost to the environment. Your brand creates better harmony between humans and the earth, and people who care about the planet will want to help your cause.

In this example, your story represents and exemplifies your brand’s values. Positioning your brand as an environmental activist, or as a lover and defender of nature, will help you connect with your target audience. This powerful brand image comes from digging into the story, bringing to light what it really is.

L.L. Bean is a good real-life example of this. It started with a man designing his own pair of boots to make it easier and more enjoyable to walk around outside. But the larger story is about humanity’s love of nature. Through this narrative lens, you can easily recognize L.L. Bean’s brand. This is no coincidence.

Of course, your history might not be as deep as L.L. Bean’s, but it’s still meaningful. Take some time to find the best way to communicate your story, and it will clarify and reinforce your brand in the eyes of your customers.

Investigate influencer marketing

When it comes to ecommerce branding, customer trust is heavily influenced by the testimonials and referrals your business receives. Influencer marketing is one of the most effective ways to impact trust. This strategy involves hiring niche influencers (that is, social media users with thousands of followers in your industry) to spread the word about your brand.

Success with this marketing strategy relies on how targeted your influencers are. It’s a good idea to start small and reach out to influencers who have small audiences of less than 10,000—such influencers cost less and have a highly targeted audience.

Measure the impact of such a campaign and use the lessons to deploy larger campaigns. While partnering with large influencers outright might seem like a good idea to scale fast, these influencers appeal to multiple demographics and are thus not as targeted. The conversion rate from such campaigns tends to be lower.

The reason influencer marketing works is that prospective buyers tend to associate the credibility of the influencer with the brand they endorse. This makes it a much quicker way to establish a brand presence than growing your followers organically.

Pay attention to content authority

A typical customer goes through several stages of research before they land in your store for a purchase. Your store could miss on some real branding opportunities by not investing in content that the prospective buyer uses for research.

So, why is this important? First, it helps establish your brand as an authority in the industry. Customers trust authority sites which they return to for future product research. A comprehensive directory of articles could potentially make your website their “go-to” source.

It also provides your brand the opportunity to shape readers’ opinions and nudge them towards products in your store. Additionally, a comprehensive content directory helps your business rank better in Google searches, which reinforces your brand authority.

One of the best ways to do this is called the pair-up strategy. Essentially, marketers are advised to create a comprehensive content page that’s mapped to each of their product pages. Prospective buyers land on this central page during their research phase and are nudged toward the product pages through the content.

Key takeaway

Building a brand for your e-commerce business is an investment, but it’s one with dividends. By enforcing brand guidelines, finding your competitive advantage, and influencing buyers with great content, you’ll lower customer acquisition costs and develop an impressive reputation for your brand in the process.

Where to go next? Learn more about building & managing an online brand in our free eBook: How to build your brand in 2020

Think of some of the most iconic brands all time. What comes to mind? Nike? Apple? Disney?

Most likely you think about a logo, a slogan, or a general aesthetic that is unique to the brand. Whether sleek, futuristic or full of princesses, you should be able to conjure up some visual.

Related: How to maintain brand consistency in a sales organization

Why do these brands leave such a strong impression? Because they have been able to craft a consistent, creative message that sticks with you.

Any company will benefit from brand consistency in all touchpoints along the funnel. But before we talk about how they benefit, let’s break down what this really means.

What are the touchpoints?

According to Salesforce, consumers interact with 6 to 8 touchpoints just to get to sales in the funnel. That’s a lot of times to touch one brand before you commit to a conversation. And that’s only the top of the funnel.

As someone is transitioning from an unknown prospect to a customer (and an advocate), these are some of the touchpoints they encounter.

• Before purchase: website, blog, emails, social media, paid ads, public relations, sponsorships, event booths
• During purchase: website (again), local branches, delivery methods, e-commerce cart
• After purchase: customer support, knowledge base, customer surveys
• Bonus funnel: job postings, candidate communications

As you put effort into each of these touchpoints, you want your audience to connect the dots. This saves you time, effort and money down the road.

What do we mean by creative consistency?

The Oxford English Dictionary defines consistency as “the quality of achieving a level of performance which does not vary greatly over time.”

In a creative sense, that’s assuring your logos, design elements, messaging, tone and imagery stay the same from one touchpoint to the next.

This is often achieved by first implementing a brand style guide and templates across teams, then maintaining open lines of communication and support with other teams creating touchpoints.

Creative consistency means a level of work with your brand over time which does not vary greatly, such that people will recognize your brand from one interaction to the next.

Why is this important?

Creating a consistent brand image from one touchpoint to the next is important to for both psychological and economic reasons within your organization. It can help your company achieve the following results.

1. Makes your brand easily recognizable

Humans are hard-wired to look for patterns. Since the beginning of time, we’ve looked for patterns as a way to survive. We’ve used them to speed up our information processing, as well as look for dangers in our environment.

Creating a consistent brand helps people easily recognize and place your brand over time. It also helps people be more comfortable interacting with your brand along different touchpoints because they know what to expect.

2. Builds trust across channels

Have you ever gotten an email that just doesn’t look right because it’s different than what you expected? If so, it’s entirely possible that was a dangerous phishing email—and hopefully, you deleted it. Remember our reliance on recognizing patterns to survive? The same goes for building trust.

Since humans are hard-wired to look for patterns, we’re also wired to be suspicious of anything that deviates from the norm. Keeping your logos, colors and messaging consistent helps people see that they can trust your brand.

This goes double for any communications from your support and services teams. Since people reach out to those teams when they’re vulnerable and need help, creating a pattern of trust gives them reason to be comfortable working and sharing with your team.

3. Sets expectations with users

Have you ever clicked an ad for an article, only to find out the article was not what you expected to read? It doesn’t feel good for the user. How do you know you won’t be disappointed again the next time you click? Users want their expectations met as they click from one touchpoint to the next.

As users progress through your brand’s touchpoints, they’ll start to recognize each one as part of a larger picture. Everything you create will be part of that story. Creating consistency across everything from ad copy to messages from sales reps will reinforce the customer’s expectations as they move from one phase to the next in your sales process.

4. Lays a good foundation for content

Before you build a solid marketing plan, you have to start with a few building blocks—create some personas, map your customer journeys, inventory your assets and resources. Imagine how hard it would be to produce creative brand content when you’re missing those pieces.

To build an effective campaign, you have to know what imagery and messaging resonate, and what your audience expects to see. Do you have a quirky mascot, tagline or hashtag that you can build on? Then you can iterate on that concept’s success to tell a better story.

5. Promotes effective storytelling

One-off, single-channel interactions are out. Omni-channel, multi-touch processes are in. This is why we use techniques like ad re-targeting and marketing automation. As a marketer, you must connect the dots from one channel to another.

Consistency across these marketing touchpoints builds a story over time. They may not see the pieces all at once, but they will feel their cumulative effects. You’re more likely to respond to retargeting ads when the brand is one you recognize and trust.

6. Links everything together to create a single brand experience

Think of how much money you spend to acquire a single customer. Almost always, that acquisition is not done as a single event, but done over the course of multiple touches. Each of those touches costs money to create (either in dollars or in time). To maximize that investment, potential customers should feel these touchpoints form a single experience.

Don’t try to reinvent the wheel with every project or campaign. While we should always be improving and building better campaigns than the last, it helps to start with a consistent design, template or ad, rather than continuously spending time or bandwidth to re-design it.

Key takeaway

Building touchpoints with creative consistency leads to an effective, cohesive, trustworthy brand, and the more time your company can spend on the same page working towards that vision, the better.

Want to know more about the impact of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

When we consider brand-customer relationships and interactions, many of us instantly think of viral examples of “brands behaving badly”—like a tweet about a lost online order or a post about terrible airline service. And then there’s the aftermath of such an interaction, where the brand scrambles to do damage control by pledging to do better next time and make changes going forward.

Related: 5 situations that can damage your brand—and how to respond

But, what if there was a way companies and brands could respond to every customer in real time with a completely personalized approach? There is a new way of cultivating and maintaining customer relationships. It’s faster, easier and cheaper than any call center.

Enter chatbots

First, what are chatbots? Chatbots complete automated tasks and services via messaging apps. They also respond to users by pulling answers from a database and relying on pre-programmed phrases. Some bots employ artificial intelligence (AI) to learn and get “smarter” with each interaction, like voice assistants Siri and Alexa.

Because of their ability to interact and provide instant answers to users’ questions, bots are uniquely suited for improving customer service. Here are just a few ways chatbots can benefit brands.

Chatbots are available 24/7/365

Thanks to apps like Lyft and Uber Eats, our society has become even more accustomed to instant gratification. We want everything right here and now; it’s the definition of the on-demand economy that apps and bots helped to create. So, it makes sense that bots would step in to fulfill our need for immediate interaction with brands and companies.

Protecting your brand’s reputation for stellar customer service could be as simple as deploying an after-hours chatbot for your website. Long after your human customer service reps have clocked out and gone home, your bot is hard at work fielding questions from customers.

Additionally, since bots are designed to complete tasks and gather information, brands are positioned to solve some of their unique customer service challenges with the implementation of chatbots.

One thing to note: Be upfront when customers are communicating with a bot. In other words, don’t disguise the chatbot as a real person. In fact, bots are favored over humans when it comes to answering quick questions. So, let customers know that after-hours customer service is handled by chatbots.

Chatbots are proactive

Browse through any e-commerce website, and you’re likely to encounter a bot in the form of a helpful personal shopper. More brands are using chatbots to interact with customers and establish contact proactively in anticipation of shopper needs.

Why the shift? A recent poll found a whopping 83% of shoppers say they need help while shopping online. The thought behind this strategy is that not connecting with a shopper until they actively reach out with a question often results in the loss of a sale. But, if a brand can reach out and start a conversation with a customer at the beginning of their shopping experience, there’s a better chance of keeping them on the website.

Brands like Aerie and Whole Foods are using chatbots exceptionally well to proactively engage with customers and offer things like discounts and recipes.

Think of all the possible ways a bot could help a browsing customer before they even know they need help:

• Advising on size, fit & color
• Answering FAQs faster
• Fulfilling inventory checks
• Assisting with account questions
• Facilitating returns or exchanges

Chatbots are more consistent, faster & cheaper

Humans get burnt out, have bad days, and need to take breaks. Bots have no such problems. Bots can work around the clock and never waiver in the level of customer service they provide. Humans have a limit to how many people they can realistically help during a shift, while bots are not beholden to any such rules. Because bots are inherently adaptive and exist solely to help users, they can even build relationships more efficiently than humans. (That is, to a degree.)

Chatbots are great at collecting data from their interactions with customers, which can then be used to improve or personalize future communication. Instead of a customer starting over each time they visit your site, a bot can pick up right where they left off and build upon the previously established relationship.

Bots can handle tedious tasks (like gathering and verifying account information) much faster than a human employee, and they do it all without the need for a paycheck. Plus, the overhead required to staff a 24-hour call center far outweighs the cost of programming a chatbot.

What’s next?

Humans will never be fully replaced by chatbots for meaningful interaction, especially in face-to-face instances. But, as engineers fine-tune their programming to become more sophisticated and handle increasingly complex requests, more brands will use chatbots as a way to stay “always on.”

Every business owners’ hope is that their business will grow. Whether it’s a small, medium or large business, there’s always room for growth. It’s an exciting process, but it might be short-lived if you’re unable to manage your brand consistently.

Related: Brand consistency—the competitive advantage and how to achieve it

As you add more people to your team and start producing more content (such as landing pages, social media posts and ads), how do you keep everyone on the same page? How do you maintain brand consistency to keep your brand’s message clear and strong?

Here are five tips on how to do just that.

1. Create a brand style guide

With more employees and less time to look over every piece of content, it’s difficult to catch off-brand materials before they go out.

Create a brand style guide that shows employees how to use your branding properly. This will help your employees create on-brand content that shares a consistent look and feel.

Your brand is more than just the logo and colors that you use, so naturally, your brand style guide will cover more ground than that. Here’s a list of useful sections to include.

Mission

What does your company do? Lay the foundation for your style guide by first addressing your company’s goals and what you hope to accomplish in the future.

If you haven’t written a mission statement or want to spice yours up, here are some powerful examples.

• Patagonia: “Build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.”
• Walmart: “Saving people money so they can live better.”
• Wendy’s: “To deliver superior quality products and services for our customers and communities through leadership, innovation and partnerships.”

Target audience

Discuss who your target audience is. What’s most important to them, and why do they use your product? This will help your employees better understand who they’re talking to and why it’s important to communicate with your audience in a consistent way.

Values

When someone reads through your brand style guide, they should be able to relate to your brand and anticipate how your brand will respond in certain situations. This is why it’s important to have a section dedicated to the values of the company.

What values must come first in your company? By including these, your employees will know how to communicate with your customers.

Brand personality

Your brand personality comprises the characteristics you use to describe it. If your brand was a person, what would they be like? Professional, witty, funny?

If you’re struggling to think of characteristics that describe your company, survey your customers and ask them what personality traits they feel your brand has.

This helps bring your brand to life and give better depth to your brand’s voice, tone, messaging, and even its visual elements.

Visual elements

This section is where you put all the specifics regarding your logo, colors, typography and imagery. Provide as much direction with these elements as possible. For example, show each version of your company’s logo and describe how it should be used, where it should be located, when to use certain colors, etc.

For more help in setting up your brand style guide, check out our post on great examples of brand guidelines. You can also look at this 99designs blog post that goes into more detail about brand guidelines.

2. Pay attention to messaging & tone

Communicating with customers is often achieved through writing. Text appears on your advertisements, in your product, in blog posts and on your website—just to name a few examples.

Imagine how confusing it would be if you had a friend who always spoke with a Midwestern accent, but then one day, they showed up talking like a Californian surfer or a seasoned New Yorker? All of these accents are great, but you’d be pretty confused about what was going on with your friend. Could you even trust them anymore?

This is why consistent messaging is important for your customers. If the writing on your website uses a formal tone, but they receive emails from you that sound like a casual conversation, they’ll be wary—and rightfully so.

While creating your brand style guide, focus on describing your company’s tone and provide writing examples that fit your company’s voice.

When you read what other employees have written, give specific feedback about what is on-brand and what is not. Over time, they’ll learn which words, phrases and punctuation are appropriate for the brand.

3. Regularly train your team

Now that you have a brand guide for your employees, show them how to use it. If you don’t, your brand style guide will likely end up being ignored. If you can get your employees excited about your brand, they’ll be inspired to represent it well by following your style guide.

The opposite is also true. If you fail to get your employees onboard with your branding efforts, they may reject these new “restrictions.” This will promote more inconsistency and upset employees.

Keeping your brand consistent is a team effort that requires everyone to be onboard. Prepare an engaging presentation to introduce the brand style guide and strategy. Listen to their feedback, but make sure everyone understands the importance of consistency.

There might be a need for additional training for employees who are more involved in branding efforts such as writers, designers, marketers, customer service reps and managers. Once these employees are ready to build up your brand, ask them to share the same training with new employees as they onboard.

Keep an eye on the enthusiasm surrounding your brand. As it fades, you’ll have to recalibrate with reminders and additional training. It’s important for employees to know that you will champion the brand over the long term.

Key takeaway

When you focus on building a brand, the most important thing is to commit to it. No matter how well thought-out your brand is or how clever your messaging is, if it’s inconsistent, consumers will lose trust in you.

Create your brand guidelines, train your employees, find the right messaging and stick to it. The best companies in the world have championed their brands for decades. This consistency is part of their success—they’ve become familiar, beloved names for millions of customers. Lay the foundation for your brand today, so it can reap the benefits for years to come.

Want to know more about the impact of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

When you’re fine-tuning your brand, it’s important for everyone in your company to be on-board.

Let’s face it: Keeping your brand consistent is a tricky task—but it’s one that’s almost impossible if your staff aren’t fully educated about the strong brand you’re trying to create.

Related—Brand building 101: An 8-step brand development strategy

But, how can you keep everyone up to speed with the branding guidelines you’ve put together? In the modern age, when teams are becoming increasingly tech-savvy, an old Word document with a bulleted list of brand elements isn’t the way forward.

There’s one not-so-tiny thing that can help: a brand platform.

Here’s how you can create your own brand platform, and a free template to help you get started.

What is a brand platform?

Acting as the overarching document that includes important details about your business, a brand platform typically includes:

• Your mission statement: What are you hoping to accomplish through the products or services you’re offering?
• Your key values: What do you stand for as a company?
• Your brand’s tone of voice: Do you use slang in your communications with customers or stick to industry jargon?
• Your brand personality guidelines: Are you a fun and friendly brand, or do you talk to your customers professionally?
• Your visual branding elements: Which logos, fonts & colors are you using on your website and marketing collateral?

Every company, no matter what industry they’re operating in, should have a brand platform.

Why do I need a brand platform for my business?

It’s all well and good for me to harp on about brand platforms, but you want to know why this document is so important for businesses, right?

Here’s your answer: This central document helps to make sure everyone in your business is on the same page. From sales and marketing teams to creative departments, your business’s brand platform should be accessible by all employees, and clearly understood before undertaking any new marketing strategy or messaging.

This helps to keep your brand consistent—a tactic that has been proven to influence a 23% increase in revenue, on average.

In short: You’d be foolish to neglect it!

The perfect template for creating a brand platform

While brand platforms are critical, creating a document that is well-received by all members of your team isn’t an easy task.

However, we’ve created this brand platform template to provide inspiration for your own development. Simply open the template in Lucidpress and edit each element to match your brand.

Download this free brand platform template.

3 tips for adding your own identity to this template

Now that you’ve got a template to base your brand platform on, use these three tips to add your own identity.

1. Dig deep into your business’s true values

Certain sections of this template require you to dig deep into the core of your brand—including the mission statement and brand personality sections.

So, avoid filling this section of your template with fluff. Remember: A strong brand has a strong reason behind the things they’re doing.

You could gain valuable insights for this section of your brand platform by:

• Interviewing your CEO or founder to discover why the company started, what problem it was created to solve, and what aim it means to accomplish.
• Asking co-workers why they enjoy working at the company.
• Surveying previous customers to unveil which company value prompted them to purchase.

The latter option is fantastic because you’re able to identify which of your branded elements have worked previously. For example, if you notice an overwhelming number of customers purchased because of your company-wide passion against animal testing, don’t miss out by failing to include this in your brand platform. It’s already proven to be effective.

2. Use your brand platform for every type of marketing activity

Planning to launch a Facebook advertising campaign? Looking to use Google Ads to sell more products? Gearing up to attend an industry trade show?

In any of these occasions, your brand platform is critical.

Why? Because a powerful brand is consistent. Think about it: One of the most recognizable brands in the world is Nike. I’ll bet their signature checkmark logo wouldn’t be as iconic if it wasn’t plastered across their sneakers, website and social media profiles.

So, use this consistency concept when doing any type of marketing activity. Encourage all members of staff to refer back to the brand platform when representing your company, and you’ll be on the road to a strong, powerful brand in no time at all.

3. Don’t try to be something you’re not

Did you know that 94% of all consumers are more likely to be loyal to a brand when they commit to transparency? Attempting to be something you’re not isn’t going to sit well with the people you’re working so hard to win over.

Going back to our tip on digging deep into your brand’s true values, pretending to be something you’re not—and fabricating your values to seem more interesting—shouldn’t be part of your brand platform creation process.

Instead, be true to your brand. Marketing to the beat of your own drum is much better than following the crowd. 

Final thoughts on creating a brand platform

Are you ready to make a start on your brand platform and experience the benefits of consistent branding?

That’s great, but don’t let your hard work go to waste.

Make sure every member of your team is fully on-board with your brand platform before publishing any marketing materials—including social media posts, online ads or blog posts.

Whether you’re printing out the template and pinning it to your office wall or holding a company-wide meeting to explain each element, your new brand platform won’t be effective if it’s not being taken seriously. Be the champion your brand platform needs, and you’ll see results in no time.

Customer loyalty separates historically successful brands from the rest. Why do people consistently drink Coca-Cola or wear Nike sneakers? The answer is a simple one: Those brands have earned trust from their customers. Their products are of high quality, and their brand messaging has remained consistent, making it easy to cultivate brand integrity with customers.

Building integrity through your brand requires following the correct blueprint. You can’t build an entire house by following instructions on how to assemble a new sofa. In the same vein, building and maintaining brand integrity starts by using strategies that help you stay on-message and foster loyalty and recognition.

If you’re looking for the right blueprint, consider following these five guidelines to build and maintain your company’s brand integrity.

1. Choose the right products

One misstep can create a long-lasting negative impression for a brand. IHOP drove this lesson home when the company changed its name and logo to IHOB to announce new burger offerings on its menu. Customers and critics alike lampooned the decision, stating that the company had strayed from its breakfast roots. IHOP reverted to its old name and logo, and it claimed the move was only a temporary promotional stunt. Even if that’s true, it didn’t undo the negative publicity the brand endured.

The lesson here is simple: Choose the right products to maintain consistency in your brand message. Trying to go “off the menu” to deliver what you think is a better product could confuse customers, employees, vendors and other parties. Products should always feel cohesive and congruent with your overall brand identity. That consistency lays the foundation for brand trust.

2. Make customers your top priority

Customer engagement forms the backbone of any successful business. Your company gains strength by offering high-quality products and reliable services to its customers time and time again. It’s the cornerstone for building relationships of trust with those customers.

Dropping the ball can be a disaster. Customers notice when your company makes mistakes, such as producing inferior products or offering poor customer service. Such slip-ups can convince them to leave, which ultimately hurts your brand reputation and negatively impacts your bottom line.

One of the best things your business can do is to fulfill what your brand promises by putting your customers first. Start by

• Identifying their needs.
• Create solutions tailored to meet their needs.
• Keep communication open by hiring a dedicated customer support team and maintaining an active presence on social media. 

Because when your business is approachable, customers are more likely to trust your brand to find solutions for their problems as they arise.

3. Be honest

Chances are, when you see an infomercial pop up on TV, you quickly change the channel. Why is that such a common reaction? The simple answer is that no one likes feeling manipulated.

Infomercials have a lousy reputation partly because the products featured are often long on promises and short on results. From cookware guaranteed to never wear out to miracle cures for a host of ailments, these products are often too good to be true. No customers enjoy feeling misled, and the brands associated with “As Seen on TV,” products often suffer the results of negative perception.

Your business should be wary of falling into the same trap. Always be truthful in advertising and other forms of communication with customers — respect their intelligence. Be honest about what your products and services can do, and play to their natural strengths.

Fostering integrity with your brand starts with honesty. If a customer can’t trust your brand messaging, how can you expect them to trust your business?

4. Employ realistic marketing strategies

Reckless marketing campaigns give the wrong impression about your brand to customers and employees alike. It’s tempting to kick the hype machine into overdrive whenever you roll out a new product or service. But bigger isn’t always better. If your marketing veers into uncharted territory by making promises your business can’t keep, the road back to restoring brand integrity can be long and treacherous.

How do you feel when a product works as advertised? It’s amazing! You want to give that same feeling to your customers and employees. Give them a reason to feel excited, of course, but make sure you’re still coloring within the lines. Focus on the real benefits and results of your products, rather than allowing your creative energy to devise claims that aren’t achievable.

5. Maintain a consistent moral code

Doing the right thing for the right reasons is not an antiquated virtue. Businesses who play dirty often end up looking dirty in the eyes of the customers they want to attract.

Understanding which values your customers cherish is essential. Take enough time to learn what those values meanwhile you’re conducting market research. Then, take it a step further and weave those values into the fabric of your brand.

If your brand has core values that define your company’s culture, stick to those values. Doing so fosters an authentic and favorable brand image. Betraying those values can do more to undermine your brand’s integrity than just about anything else. The last thing you need to do in a crowded marketplace gives customers and employees a reason to turn away and march into the arms of a competitor.

Key takeaway

Building and maintaining brand integrity is a long-term strategy for success, but the results are well worth the investment. By choosing the right products, putting customers first, making promises your brand can keep, and sticking to your company’s values, you build a long-lasting brand that customers and employees are proud to support.

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Download our free ebook on how to build a brand in 2020.

Do you want to learn how you can make your company stand out from the crowd?

Or how to position your company so a prospect sees you as the only viable option when choosing between you and a competitor?

And finally, do you want to learn some little-known tricks that some of the biggest companies in the world use to turn people into loyal fans?

You’re in the right place.

Related: The 7 key elements of corporate and brand identity design

By the end of this article, you’ll understand what digital branding is, why it’s important, and how you can adapt the methods big brands like Nike & Apple use to sell more products.

You’ll see concrete examples of how to plant in your prospects’ minds the brand image you want them to perceive.

Whether you want your company to be seen as the best, the cheapest, the fastest or the best customer experience, these actionable techniques will help you.

But before getting into the strategy, let’s cover the basics.

What is branding?

How would you describe this shape? It’s called a swoosh. But, you know what’s really interesting?

Most people don’t know what a swoosh is. And most people don’t know why Nike adopted it as a logo or what this shape is supposed to convey.

Still, we’re willing to pay more for a T-shirt with this shape on it than for a plain T-shirt made with the same cotton.

Nike isn’t the only example, of course. Take Mercedes or BMW—or any other well-known brand. Do you know what their logo means? Their history? Why they’re better than their rivals?

If you’re a huge fan, maybe. But, most people don’t.

Still, we have preferences. When it’s time to open our pockets, we eventually choose one over the other. How and why do we choose one over the other if we don’t know that much about either?

The answer might seem a little obvious: because they made us feel something.

When you buy a Mercedes, you aren’t just buying a car. You’re buying status. When people see you driving it, you feel accomplished, educated, wealthy and so on.

When you buy a fresh pair of Nike Jordans, you feel empowered like a great athlete, you feel like you’re going for it, and you almost feel like a star.

Why do we feel that way? Because that’s how brands are telling us to feel.

Branding is not what people know about your company, products or service. It’s not a static set of characteristics to remember about you. It’s not your content marketing, social media or creative advertising.

Branding is everything you do to make people feel a certain way.

This leads us to our next question.

Why is digital branding so important?

Why should you put a lot of effort into making people feel a certain way about your brand?

Imagine you go into a sports store to buy a T-shirt. You have three brands sitting in front of you: Nike, Adidas and a generic brand. All the same color. All the same fabric.

You don’t care about the material since they’re all made of basically the same fabric. They look the same. They feel the same. The only difference is the logo and the price.

But in a matter of seconds, you make a decision. You decide intuitively that brand A is better than brand B. And that’s why branding is important.

Branding is a promise that buying a product from brand A will give you more benefits than buying a product from brand B.

Now, how do you plant the perception in people’s minds that your brand is better than your competition?

This leads us to our next section.

Essential digital brand management tips

Branding shares similar principles whether it’s happening online or offline. Your goal is to make people feel a certain way about you, no matter what channel you’re using.

Since everything is shifting towards the digital world, below you’ll find mainly digital brand management tips that will help you build your online identity and stand out from the crowd.

1. Find your core values. What do you stand for?

If you want to build a strong, lasting brand, you need a strong, lasting strategy. Any powerful branding strategy starts with the company’s core values.

Here’s Apple’s mission statement from 2017:

“Apple designs Macs, the best personal computers in the world, along with OS X, iLife, iWork and professional software. Apple leads the digital music revolution with its iPods and iTunes online store. Apple has reinvented the mobile phone with its revolutionary iPhone and App Store, and is defining the future of mobile media and computing devices with iPad.”

Words like “the best,” “leads,” “revolution” and “reinvented” clearly tell you that creativity, innovation and being different are things Apple cares deeply about. And we’ll see in a minute how they express that.

But first, let’s return to a previous example: Nike. What does Nike stand for?

It isn’t about the shoes. It’s about great athletes, striving and going for it. It’s about being the best version of yourself. Or, to put it in their words:

“Our mission is what drives us to do everything possible to expand human potential. We do that by creating groundbreaking sport innovations, by making our products more sustainably, by building a creative and diverse global team and by making a positive impact in communities where we live and work.”

Considering these two examples for reference, how do you want to be perceived by people?

• Are you the best?
• The fastest?
• The cheapest?
• The most luxurious?
• The most reliable?

At Lucidpress, our mission is to make creating beautiful, on-brand content quick and easy for everyone. We believe each brand has a story, and our graphic design software exists to make it easy for brands to tell their stories visually. You can see how this mission influenced our homepage design:

2. Express those values consistently in everything you do

If you want people to feel about you in the way you decided, you have to keep representing those values in everything that you do.

Let me give you some examples to show what I mean.

We mentioned earlier that Apple stands for creativity, innovation, and being different, right? Here’s how they express it, even in the small details.

Not that many years ago, there were only black headphones. That was the norm.

When Apple released the iPod, they had a problem. The device lived in people’s pockets, so no one could tell you were listening to an iPod just by the sight of your black headphones.

What did Apple do?

They designed white headphones.

As psychologists and business experts have noted since the iPod’s release, the decision to make its earbuds white sent Apple’s reputation as an uber-cool company into the stratosphere.

That’s an offline branding example. Here’s how they deal with digital branding on their website.

• “A beautiful mind.” —> creativity
• “The world’s most popular camera” —> excellence, the best
• “The most powerful and smartest chip ever in a smartphone.” —> excellence, the best
• “And augmented reality experiences never before possible” —> innovation

In every aspect of its communication, Apple keeps repeating its core values.

Even if it’s not explicitly stated, they suggest them to you, which is often more powerful than just saying it.

Let’s return to Nike. As stated earlier, they don’t just sell shoes. They celebrate great athletes, and they want to expand human potential.

If you look at their digital branding, you rarely see pictures or videos showing off their shoes. Instead, you see athletes and performers being the best version of themselves, exemplifying one of Nike’s core values.

3. Keep your style & communication consistent

If you want people to recognize your brand instantly, then keep your style consistent across all channels, including digital branding and offline branding.

What do I mean by style?

It’s the fonts you use. The colors. The tone of voice. The choice of words. Your logo. Everything that defines what your brand is. This area of branding is also known as brand identity design.

Here’s a digital branding example from Carlsberg. If you take a look at this post, you’ll see that they’ve repeated part of their value proposition: probably the best beer in the world.

For more, head over to their Instagram profile. Almost every post uses green, and they use their value proposition innovatively to describe experiences related to enjoying a beer.

Or on this real-world banner where they don’t even show the bottle, but you can instantly recognize it’s about Carlsberg.

This consistency builds recognition and trust, because the brand has become a familiar personality people can relate to.

4. Make it easy for people to understand

Find a way to concisely tell customers who you are. And I’m not referring just to the tagline here, but to your communications as a whole.

Don’t try to play clever word games that become too complicated. Don’t try to use big words and phrases that have no real meaning.

Your message should be closely associated with your brand’s values, and you should condense it into one or two sentences.

This part of the brand building process goes beyond your logo and tagline to define:

• who you are
• what you offer
• why people should care

To summarize, your definition should be instantly understandable while simultaneously striking an emotional chord. Make it resonant.

Think about it this way: You don’t have half an hour to explain to your customer what your company does. In most situations, especially if we’re talking about digital branding, you barely have half a minute.

Carlsberg is probably (see what I did there) one of the best examples of a clear value proposition.

But as I mentioned earlier, it doesn’t have to be about the tagline. Effective digital branding can be done in the details, like your website’s headline, the signature of your email or a short description on your business card.

Okay, so we’ve reviewed a few crucial digital branding tips. But, how do you make sure your brand stays consistent throughout all your marketing channels?

What if you go through a rebrand? What if your marketing team goes through some personnel changes? How do you make sure your brand maintains its style and core values?

Fortunately, we’ve got some tips here, too.

5. Establish brand guidelines with a clear identity

To make sure everyone is on the same page, you need to have documented brand guidelines that anyone in the company can find and use.

It’s a document that contains all the rules for composition, design, and general look-and-feel of all a brand’s collateral.

For ideas and inspiration, here are a few great brand guideline examples.

Medium

See the full brand guide here.

Skype

See the full brand guide here.

Scrimshaw Coffee

See the full brand guide here.

If you want a few more great examples, check out our post: 10 best corporate identity design examples

And if you’re ready to create your own brand guidelines, we’ve got a handy template to help you get started: Brand style guide template

Speaking of templates, let’s move onto our next point.

6. Invest in templates which reflect your brand’s aesthetic

Ok, so you have the guidelines. But, what if a new person joins the team and hasn’t managed to get a solid grasp of them yet?

One easy way to minimize errors is to invest in a designer who can create “best practice” templates that are in line with your brand’s ethos and aesthetic.

This ensures no one in your company has to take matters into their own hands, because they can draw on templates that reflect your brand every time they create a new document.

If you’re using Lucidpress, you can customize templates to easily create stunning content without having to start from scratch every time. And because of its innovative Brand Assets feature, you can make sure everyone is using the latest version of your branding elements. Fonts, colors and logos are all pre-loaded and ready to go.

7. Make sure you update your brand messaging & visuals everywhere

At this point, you have (or will have) a brand manual and a handful of templates that are in line with your brand aesthetic.

But, what if you go through a rebranding? What if your designer has to make a small change to your logo—how do you ensure your team uses the right version?

There are two ways to avoid this.

The hard way: You create a spreadsheet where you keep track of every edit you’ve ever made. Of course, you realize how tedious this can be—not to mention this method isn’t foolproof.

The easy way: You can use brand management software to make things much easier, and you can be 100% sure there are no errors.

Of course, we’re biased here, but with Lucidpress, your team has access to all brand assets in one place. Beyond that, you can lock down branded elements in your templates that should never be changed.

Lucidpress also offers real-time collaboration, which makes it easy for anyone on the team to work together and make sure your brand stays consistent throughout every channel.

Key takeaways

There are two main things I would like you to remember from this article.

1. Consistency is key to building a strong brand.

A strong, lasting brand takes years to be developed. Just look at the big brands out there. There’s no such thing as an overnight success. That’s why consistency is key.

2. Start with your company’s core values.

Before starting any brand marketing, make sure you clearly define your company’s brand identity. Your values, who you want to be, how you want people to perceive your company.

Because if it’s not very clear for you, don’t expect it to be clear to customers—no matter how often you’re communicating with them.

When you know exactly what you want to communicate, you’ll easily find ways to convey that message, and your audience will notice.

Want to know more about the impact of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

It’s something you’ve been told to do for years, as far back as your high school English classes: Define your voice. Voice is sometimes talked about as some ineffable je ne sais quoi. It’s something that’s felt more than defined.

Related: Branding? Follow this template for creating a brand platform

But in reality, voice—the elements of personality that make a brand or person so distinctly themselves—can and should be defined. In fact, according to the Nielsen Norman Group, voice can have a huge impact on how much consumers trust or care about a brand. And that matters, because customers are far more likely to spend money with a reliable brand than an unreliable one.

What is brand voice?

Brand voice specifically refers to the content your business publishes online, in print, and anywhere else. It’s made up of the words you use and how you choose to use them—in other words, it’s the voice with which your business speaks.

Not sure what your brand’s personality is or should be? Here are five tips to help you define and sustain your brand’s voice.

1. Spend time putting words to your brand voice

While this step might look simple on the surface, it’s something a lot of companies overlook. If you want your brand’s voice to be consistent and scalable for growth, you have to clearly document it.

Begin with a voice tool as a starting point, or simply play through a few improv-style scenarios, feeling out how you and other stakeholders would expect the brand to respond in a given situation. As you launch new products, would your brand message contain more excitement or confidence? When customers write in for support, is it more important for your staff to be appeasing or authoritative? Which main values or interests do you want your messaging to regularly drive home?

Carefully document the responses, then identify any patterns or trends. Narrow down your list to a core set of descriptors (between three and five). From there, you can construct statements highlighting what your brand identity is and isn’t. By establishing and documenting the foundation of your company’s voice, you have a point of reference for any future communication or branding.

MailChimp’s voice and tone guidelines are a great point of reference for how to do this. The description is fairly brief, but each word gets a lot of work done.

2. Create consistency in every bit of content and copy

A truly effective voice requires consistency across all messaging. No piece of copy, content or communication should stray from that core persona, or you risk hurting how consistent your brand is perceived. And given that consistency can provide a 23% revenue increase over brands that lack it, inconsistency is one mistake you really can’t afford to make.

Take Cards Against Humanity. Every piece of writing in its games and on its website bursts with snarky sarcasm. The company has even set up training to ensure that support staff can meet customer needs without losing the signature sass that has come to define the brand’s voice.

If you want to follow this model, share the brand guidelines you established in the point above so all staff members know what is and isn’t allowed. Set up QA processes to make sure that everything aligns, from your social voice to your customer support voice. Specific tone can differ to suit different situations, but the central voice that defines your brand should remain constant across all communications and posts.

3. Raise your brand’s voice through proper channels

Everyone has that one extended relative—a grandma or a great aunt—who uses Facebook in a way that’s just a little bit off. And that’s exactly what you want to avoid. Because in a lot of ways, where you share your message matters almost as much as what you’re sharing.

The reason for this is twofold: First, it makes good financial sense to put brand resources and time where they will have the most impact. Second, and maybe more importantly, the platforms you use can impact how your brand’s voice is perceived. A teen-focused brand posting primarily on LinkedIn will confuse a lot of people; the platform lends itself to more formal business voices. Forcing a casual, slangy brand into that mold could be a recipe for failure.

Influencer marketing and advertising deserve attention here, too. If your strategy involves partnering with influencers or celebrities to sell a product—and there are plenty of good reasons to go this route—pay careful attention to how and where they share their messages. You can’t demand that an influencer change their persona to advertise your product without defeating the point of influencer marketing. Instead, spend some time listening to and watching the people you want to partner with to find someone who naturally matches your brand’s voice.

For a great example, look to underwear brand TomboyX. The brand works hard to speak to the LGBTQ+ community in a voice that feels human, confident and aware. TomboyX found an ideal voice pairing in Cameron Esposito, with an influencer-esque ad that plays during Esposito’s podcast, QUEERY. The ad, which involves Esposito giving a positive review of her own experience with the brand’s product, sounds genuine and real, perfectly harmonizing with TomboyX’s voice.

4. Walk the talk

As we’ve discussed, content and copy are huge parts of brand voice definition—but that’s not where consistency ends. For a voice to feel honest and genuine, it has to be backed up by other brand elements, including visuals and products.

A lot of beauty and fashion brands have pivoted to include more “natural” messaging in recent years. “Organic,” “pure,” “unretouched” and similar terms have gone beyond slogans and now feel baked into brand personas. But, how many brands succeed when it comes to backing up those words with concrete action, both in terms of visual advertising and product offerings? Not many.

That’s part of what made American Eagle’s recent #AerieREAL campaign so refreshing: The brand translated its voice and values into its ad campaign photography. For many consumers, this was the first fashion campaign they’d seen that included models with disabilities—real bodies wearing the product they were advertising.

If you really want to sell your brand voice, you have to back it up. Otherwise, even the strongest voice will start to ring hollow.

5. Don’t be afraid to—consciously—grow and adapt

Finally, adjust your voice as your brand grows.

That’s not a call to revamp everything at the drop of a hat—constant rebranding won’t do much to help encourage company recognition or loyalty. But an occasional and purposeful shift to respond to a growing market or changing attitude can and should be encouraged.

A particularly relevant example of voice evolution is Soylent. It started out as a niche, DIY-focused product with a voice that spoke primarily to busy engineers and developers who cared more about the function than the form of what they were eating. The creator himself said that even the brand name was designed for “encouraging further discussion and thought,” solidifying the brand’s methodical, analytical voice.

However, as the product picked up new followers and expanded into new markets, that voice changed. It holds on to some of its original directness but now brings friendlier reassurance to the table. What once read as intentional austerity now feels more palatable.

Since the change, Soylent has seen more commercial success, moving into markets on Amazon and college campuses. It’s unlikely that it would have seen that level of success without some voice adjustment to better speak to its newer, larger audience.

Key takeaway

There’s no denying that it can feel daunting to establish your brand’s voice in a world that already seems saturated with a lot of noise. But, it’s not all about volume. Use the tips above to build a voice that resonates with your audience, and reap the benefits of better brand recognition and a better bottom line.

Why did you start your business? We’re pretty sure it wasn’t because you wanted to sell one product every blue moon, or because you don’t care about the services you provide.

Let’s be honest: We all want to make a difference, and we want to be recognized for delivering exceptional experiences. Without a positive reputation built on genuine feedback from satisfied customers, you can wave goodbye to local or worldwide recognition.

You’ve probably noticed that bigger brands tend to have this nailed down. You see that red-and-white logo and instantly recognize Coca-Cola, or that blue background and yellow text belonging to IKEA. Even those multi-million-dollar brands had to start from somewhere. How on earth do you create something memorable—something that a customer will recognize and trust right away?

One answer is product packaging. Packaging is the first thing someone will notice on a shelf or when they receive a delivery to their home. The more they relate to it, the more likely it is that they’ll purchase or recommend it to others.

However, before you reach stardom, there are several ways to increase the chance of getting noticed. From the way you speak about your brand to how you package your products, here’s how to tell a memorable brand story.

Write your story early on

Before you get too far in with your products, button up your brand story. Keep in mind that a business is generic and faceless without its history, values, mission, vision and personality.

To refine the story you’d like to convey to the public, ask yourself some of these questions:

• What beliefs drive you and your company?
• What makes your business and product unique?
• How would like to see the business a few (or many) years from now?
• How can your products change the lives of your consumers?

Once you’ve answered these, it’ll be easier to focus your brand story—and that story can inform the choices you make with product development and package design.

Give your product a persona

Don’t think of package design as just a way to deliver your product. To truly convey a message, a story or a brand identity through your product, you should think of it as a person. That’s right, just like in marketing, you’re creating a persona—but this time, it’s for your product. This is where brand personality comes in.

By thinking of your product as a person, it’ll be easier to design packaging that reflects the brand personality and resonates with your target audience. Potential buyers will notice that authenticity and gravitate toward the product before they even realize what it is. They’ll know that it’s been designed for them.

Colors draw in the customer

Without color, the canvas is blank. A customer won’t look twice at your product if it doesn’t stand out to them in the first place.

Think about what feelings you want someone to get from your product. Should it make them feel like having fun, like a quirky craft beer? Should it make them feel cared for, like a health-related product? Make a list of how you want your product to make customers feel, and find ways to translate that to your packaging.

It can be easy to match colors with feelings: calming blues, bright yellows, passionate reds. A customer could be drawn to a certain color, depending on what they’re looking for. Colors can help you convey your brand identity, as well.

Who is your audience?

As with any form of marketing, keeping your audience in mind throughout the process is a must. Who will buy your product, and what product packaging will appeal most to that particular audience? Think about colors, shapes, sizes—even the wording on each individual product’s package.

Customers often read the text on a product to reinforce their purchasing decisions in their minds. [ ] For example, younger audiences prefer brighter, eye-catching colors with quirky shapes and blocky fonts. Older audiences who purchase luxury products prefer colors like black and gold, combined with elegant fonts and sophisticated language. It’s all about knowing who you’re selling to. Once you do, the rest will come far more easily.

Delivery boxes

No matter the size of your business, it’s not only important to have great product packaging on the shelves. When a customer makes a purchase online, they should feel the same excitement for their delivery as they do for the product in the box.

Depending on the size of your business, you might need to batch-order boxes for delivering your products. Businesses often need extra help to meet customer demand. BCS box-making machinery can help to create quality, durable boxing that makes an impact.

Consider sprucing up your boxes with custom-branded stamps, tape and delivery labels—as well as adding extra protection for your product inside each box. Think about padding, branded freebies, and money-off coupons as ways to encourage repeat purchases from your customers.

Logos & graphics

If you’re not including your logo and other branded imagery on your packaging, how do you expect a customer to know it’s you? When people see a familiar logo, they know almost instantly whether they trust that business enough to buy the product.

Graphics, although not always brand-specific, can often make or break your product packaging. If you’re selling healthy products, you’re more likely to succeed with a green, leafy design. Think about what works, and use a bit of common sense to gauge how you want the product to come across.

Product blurbs

Your brand story is important. So important, in fact, that many businesses make space on their product packaging to write a little about how their business started. Other companies write about their values, such as Lush and their natural, eco-friendly approach.

You can probably think of a few other examples of brands who do this well—which means they’re doing things the right way. The care and effort you take here will pay off when customers remember your story and take it to heart. Shoppers will appreciate an attractive design with an inspiring blurb more than one with a cut-and-dry description. Don’t forget that it’s often the packaging of a product that sells it, not just what’s inside.

Don’t over-design it

It’s easy to succumb to this temptation. In trying to make a product the most eye-catching or unique, some companies over-complicate the packing design. Sometimes, these products luck out and sell well, but they do little to build or reinforce the company’s brand.

Don’t get too carried away with embellishing your packaging designs. Stick with simple, clear concepts that your audience will easily understand. Often, it’s the most simple and well-thought design that wins out in the hearts and minds of customers. []

Be consistent

According to famous designer and author Robert Brunner, “Everything you do creates the brand experience. Ergo, design is your brand.”

Just as it’s important to maintain brand consistency in your marketing, it’s important to design product packaging that’s consistent with your brand’s identity and values.

We’re not saying you should slap your logo on everything. But you do need to design concepts that reflect your brand—concepts that could be informed by the logo, typography, color, etc. Even if your product doesn’t share the aesthetic characteristics of your brand, it should feel congruent with its values.

Invest in packaging

Don’t underestimate the power that packaging design can have on your brand. Because your packaging often sparks the first connection between a customer and your product, it’s often the first experience they’ll have with your brand.

On top of the time and money spent on product design, you should also carefully consider your packaging. Design packaging that stirs up emotions of excitement, joy, delight or amazement. Once you’ve created packaging that instantly connects with your customers, your brand awareness and recognition will benefit.

Key takeaway

An effective brand will help sell products and attract customers. If you want your customers to get excited about your new products before they’re even announced, build a strong brand using these concepts.

Bonus: Product packaging infographic

Want a few more tips and pointers on the importance of product packaging? Check out this data-packed infographic from our friends at Uppercut Box.

Why talk about sustainability?

You’re probably fed up with the terms “millennial” and “Generation Y,” but they’re still helpful when describing that particular group of consumers.

For example, one trend that keeps popping up is their desire to buy from brands brave enough to set standards of behavior and live by a set of principles.

Related: 5 content tactics to ignite brand engagement with millennials

I’m a millennial, and for the first time this year, I was able to go to my local zero-waste store and buy travel toiletries for my summer vacation. I even paid a lot more for the privilege and left the store with a fuzzy feeling and a huge smile. Does this sound unusual? Trust me—I’m not the only one in my peer group who looks for opportunities like this.

If you’re looking for more reasons to build your brand around sustainability—and examples of brands that are doing just that—read on.

Boosting that bottom line

If you want to show the market that your company is in it for the long haul, having a sustainability strategy is a case of when, not if.

We know that 75% of millennials millennials say sustainability is a shopping priority, more than any other group. [] Yes, we came of age during the Great Recession and aren’t the richest generation (hello Boomers), but we are getting wealthier. And, importantly, we are willing to pay more for things that matter.

The problem with sustainable business practices is the misconception that being good equals less revenue.

Even Forbes agrees that you can earn better returns from investing in good companies. If you’re not positioning your company to look after the planet and its people, you’re already behind. The time is now.

Leading from the front

Do you want your brand to be on the cutting edge, forming relationships with international audiences? Or do you want to be trying to figure out why your quirky social media campaigns aren’t getting the engagement they used to?

The United Nations are fully focused on achieving their Sustainable Development Goals by 2030, and your brand can be part of that through the work of the Global Compact division.

Of course, this is step one in the process. Your brand won’t survive on goodwill alone. It has to produce a steady profit to grow and spread your positive message further.

Step two is telling your story, integrating sustainability into your brand and making sure the entire company is on board and proud of the work you’re all doing.

Telling your “triple bottom line” story

If you’re not familiar with the triple bottom line, it’s the idea that your business should be measuring and reporting not just a financial bottom line, but social and environmental bottom lines, too.

This is how you truly integrate your business with sustainability. There are several ways to get started on this, but some useful resources are:

• B-Corporation. This is a framework any business can pick up and follow. It guides you on best practices for triple-bottom-line business plans, and you get a certification at the end.
• Global Reporting Initiative. The GRI is the go-to resource for sustainability reporting. Using GRI, you can easily figure out what you can report and how to report it.
• Integrated Reporting Council. Integrated reports are becoming increasingly necessary, bringing together financial and non-financial data in one place. It helps your stakeholders get a fuller picture of your company’s performance.

You can use these frameworks that are already created and layer them throughout your business. It’s a time-consuming process to get all of the data in place, but once you have it set up, it’s well-worth the effort.

What’s important to you?

The next part is understanding which issues are important to you and your audience. For smaller brands, your audience will include customers, employees and management teams. For bigger brands, that list might also include governments, local residents and other organizations.

A great place to start with your sustainability efforts is to pick an issue that you all feel strongly about. This will get everyone excited to transition, and while we all know that change can be difficult, successfully launching one project makes it easier to do more.

If you’re thinking of starting a business or just launched one recently, this can still apply to you. Think about your processes as you build them, and ask the question: “Can I repeat this action for the next five years and feel good about it?” If the answer is no, then you have an opportunity to future-proof.

Now that you have an amazing project going on—whether you’re off-setting your carbon output, adding mental health support to your team’s healthcare packages, or engaging your local community in a social development project—it’s time to tell the world.

Using social media

We’re past the point of debating whether social media is relevant. It is. It’s also a fantastic place to tell your brand story in an authentic and engaging way.

The number-one rule here is not to just throw out a few posts about sustainability and expect them to get the engagement they should. Create a new marketing plan with your project at the heart of it, and find ways to tie more of your posts back to sustainability.

The power of Instagram and live-streaming

For Instagram, consider using longer captions. If you have a good reason for a long post, then don’t be afraid. Yes, social media is often about standing out, but that in itself is not a sustainable business practice. If you’re just using pictures of puppies because research shows that puppies get the most likes, then you’ve missed the point of marketing.

Make your social media pages (especially Instagram) reflect your authentic self. Check out @ErinOutdoors or @SophieHellyer, who’ve both attracted loyal communities with their authenticity. Let it showcase the values of your brand so you can attract an audience who cares about those same things.

A post shared by Erin Sullivan (@erinoutdoors) on Oct 12, 2018 at 8:00pm PDT

If you have someone who’s particularly good on camera, give them a platform to talk about your project in a live stream. Most social platforms now have a solid live-streaming option. Take advantage and give your audience access to backstage conversations about your brand. Be brave and be there for your community.

Building a community

Having worked in marketing for a long time now, the most common thing I see is a fear to stand up for something important because it might upset some of your customers. You could sell anything to anyone, but that’s not building a brand legacy—that’s trying to make a quick buck.

If you consider community-building to be part of your marketing strategy, then you need to have a positive message. Brands that build positive messaging in their content and communication are the ones that stand out against the negative cycle of mainstream news.

Examples of great sustainable storytelling

There’s nothing like seeing examples that work, so we’ve curated a few samples of brands we absolutely love.

TRIBE — Sports nutrition with a conscience

At Conscious Creatives, we try to encourage physical activity as part of a healthy lifestyle, getting our team healthy through running, cycling, surfing and more. One of our biggest forms of inspiration in this respect is Tribe—a brand dedicated to making sports nutrition products with natural ingredients.

What we love about Tribe is that their marketing plans are based on creating a community. They’re a collection of people who love being outdoors, brought together by sporting events all over the world and a combined effort to rid the world of human trafficking.

A post shared by TRIBE (@the_tribe_way) on Oct 15, 2018 at 12:46pm PDT

Tribe is a community of nutrition experts who care about the world. It just so happens that they also sell nutrition products.

Lewis Pugh — Swimming to save the seas

An example of someone who definitely fits the definition of inspirational is Lewis Pugh: swimmer, speaker and general mind-boggling human being.

He’s just completed The Long Swim, a 560-kilometer effort spanning the length of the English Channel.

Why would a person attempt such a thing? To raise awareness of the sorry state of our oceans. Lewis’s feat is the start of a worldwide campaign that aims to fully protect 30% of our oceans by 2030.

A real-life hero and conservationist, Lewis defies all logic and pushes himself to the limits to earn media coverage of the cause. See this photo of his encounter with a plastic bag during his long swim. He used a powerful image, a long caption and specific instructions to make our oceans cleaner.

A post shared by Lewis Pugh (@lewis.pugh) on Aug 22, 2018 at 7:19am PDT

That is how sustainable marketing will change the world.

rCUP — Recycling reusable cups

I am proud to share a hometown with these folks. They discovered that only 0.4% of recyclable coffee cups were actually being recycled. So, they set about designing a product made from precisely those cups.

The rCUP is a reusable coffee cup that is affordable, looks great and has some wonderful little design elements that make it really easy to use.

A post shared by rCUP (@rcuponeplanet) on Jul 21, 2018 at 11:32am PDT

Sustainable marketing is so much easier when you’ve got products that make a real difference.

How to get started

If you’re reading this and are equal parts excited and confused, you are not alone. I suggest finding a community of like-minded business folks who are also looking to make more money by doing the right thing.

LinkedIn is a great resource for finding sustainability professionals, and our community is strong in voice. We’re all so proud of the work our peers are doing and the causes that we stand for.

Look into your industry to see which organizations support sustainability. You’ll be surprised to discover wonderful groups ready and willing to help, no matter what stage you’re at. For example, if you work in fashion, the Ethical Fashion Initiative is a wonderful example.

The key, though, is to start.

Don’t be afraid to try. Know you aren’t going to do it perfectly, but also know that simply trying is a great thing. Watch as your community grows and rallies around your brand for years to come.

In the digital age, we are constantly surrounded by bleeping phones and notification alerts. The onslaught of incoming communications can seem incessant and unceasing. Most modern consumers are surrounded by distractions, and marketers have a tough job helping their brands catch the attention of prospects.

Related: Create strong emotional connections with your brand story

Often, an effective approach is to add to the stream of information and hope to outdo competitors by offering big discounts and exclusive deals. These quick wins can help your business reach its short-term goals, but they won’t lead to long-term loyalty from consumers. Brands need to build trust with customers so they come back time and again—a one-off discount can’t achieve this.

Instead, the best-known and longest-surviving brands create and nurture emotional connections with their customers—turning them into faithful followers. To do this, marketers use emotional branding. It can take some time to reach the point where your customers’ actions are fueled by emotion, but it is worth the investment, as repeat customers are extremely valuable.

Why invest in emotional branding?

It costs more to acquire a new customer than it does to keep one. The exact figures vary, with different studies suggesting it can be between 5-25x more costly to attract a new buyer than to retain one. One Harvard Business School study suggests that improving customer retention by 5% will increase a company’s profits by between 25% and 95%.

Every marketer knows that building a strong brand is hugely important in distinguishing a business from its competitors. But, they may not realize just how much it can impact their bottom line. A successful brand goes much deeper than its logo; it creates an emotional connection with customers.

Emotional branding defined

Emotional branding is about building a brand that appeals directly to consumers’ emotions, needs and ambitions. With emotional branding, marketers aim to trigger an emotional response in consumers.

By provoking emotions, marketers can create a bond which disrupts traditional consumer decision-making models. These models are largely based around the idea that consumers make a purchase based purely on logic, but these models are changing.

Quizlet’s rational decision-making model,lovingly recreated in Lucidpress

When emotional branding comes into play, decisions can become irrational. When given the choice between two similar products, a consumer may simply follow logic and choose the cheapest or most convenient option. However, when emotion is in the mix, they may choose to buy the brand they relate to most.

It’s easy to see how building an emotional bond with consumers can increase profits and why premium brands like Nespresso and Coca-Cola engage in building emotional connections with their customers.

Often, people choose purchases based on ego rather than necessity. Consumers can show who they are through the brands they choose—and they are willing to pay more and go out of their way to do this. It is up to marketers to position their brands in a way that will connect and resonate with their target audience. When done right, cutting through the distractions of the modern world will come easy.

How to incorporate emotional branding in your marketing strategy

The likes of McDonalds, KFC and Disney employ a number of methods to connect in a meaningful way with consumers. The longer a business is around, the easier this becomes, and many brands take advantage of anniversaries and nostalgia to bond with their market.

But, newly founded businesses don’t need to miss out. Here are just some of the approaches to emotional branding that can be used to bond with consumers.

1. Show your customers you care

To succeed at emotional branding, it’s essential to thoroughly know your audience. You need to treat your customers as people rather than faceless consumers. Do your research, conduct surveys, then decide how you can connect with your audience.

What do they value? What triggers them emotionally?

Once you’ve decided which emotion you want to tap into, this should consistently be evident in your marketing messages. From social media to customer care, a brand should constantly address customers’ emotional needs.

Over the years, e-commerce site Zappos endeared itself to customers by going above and beyond to provide great service. From providing free overnight delivery to a customer in a sticky situation to assisting a hungry helpline caller in need of pizza, the site has built up a loyal following.

While Zappos provides an extreme example of customer care, creating an emotional connection by meeting and exceeding customer service expectations doesn’t have to be so extravagant.

Apple has built a cult following simply by demonstrating that it understands the needs of its users. Nike recognizes its customers’ dreams and ambitions, and the brand uses marketing to show how it can help with the journey.

French beauty brand L’Occitane simply provides customers with beautifully presented deliveries and free gift-wrapping—making a memorable impression which, for many of its customers, is more appreciated than a discount.

2. Be consistent

For online marketers, consistency is key. Sharing content which demonstrates a consistent tone and style builds both visibility and trust for a brand.

Without the trust of your audience, there is no way you’ll be able to build a strong emotional bond that will keep customers coming back.

Here are some practical ways to ensure brand consistency:

• Set out your brand values. Share them with the whole team to help employees at every level stay on-brand and make decisions that reflect your brand’s true personality.
• Create a set of brand guidelines. Outline your brand’s tone of voice and key design elements like font, color palettes and correct presentation of the logo.
• Put together a social media style guide. This will reinforce some of the elements set out in the brand guidelines, but it will also advise the social media team on which content they should post and how to respond to criticism.
• Use a branded URL shortener. Customize your short links so they are on-brand. This will improve brand consistency and build trust with your audience. For example, Rebrandly links receive up to 39% more click-throughs because consumers trust them.
• Create design templates. From presentations to social media images, make it simple for everyone to create high-quality, on-brand content. Then, make them accessible to the whole organization through a brand templating platform like Lucidpress.
• Monitor brand mentions. Keep an eye on what’s being said about your brand online using Google Alerts or another brand monitoring tool. Determine if your brand is coming across as intended and connecting emotionally with consumers.

3. Give customers an experience they won’t forget

Beyond providing great customer care, consider what other kind of experiences your brand can use to build an emotional connection with customers. Big brands often sponsor concerts and sporting events—or run their own. What could be your brand’s Disneyland?

If you have a brick-and-mortar location, could you host an entertaining event? If you’re working with a smaller budget, could you provide an Instagrammable installation in-store? This is a simple, but impactful, way to connect with consumers in today’s digital world.

Source: Redemption Bar

Provide a positive experience as customers use your product or service wherever possible. UX is growing in importance for online businesses and is intertwined with the overall brand experience.

Companies like Slack impress customers by providing a helpful and supportive experience through friendly reminders, convenient app integrations, and cleverly auto-populated gifs.

Alternatively, you can use marketing campaigns to align your brand with a particular lifestyle or emotional experience. Coca-Cola’s “Open Happiness” campaign is a clear example of this.

4. Put a friendly face at the center of your brand

Whether it’s a celeb, an Instagram influencer, or an employee-turned-brand-ambassador, sometimes the best way to connect with consumers on an emotional level is through a warm human personality.

Female consumers don’t go through enormous lengths to get one of Kylie Jenner’s lip kits just because of the product’s quality. They do this because of their love for the company’s CEO.

You don’t have to have a famous face to build a close relationship with your audience. Many charismatic CEOs have become the heart of their company’s brands.

Think of Gary Vaynerchuk or Neil Patel, who have both built strong personal brands and businesses through social media. Their willingness to share knowledge and expertise with consumers has helped them to connect with audiences on an emotional level.

On a smaller scale, it’s very possible for a friendly waiter to drive customer retention by creating personal connections with diners. Brand ambassadors can come in many forms, and they’re a great way to reinforce brand values and build rapport with customers.

Key takeaway

Emotional branding builds lasting relationships with your audience and can improve the profitability and longevity of your business. You want to bring your customers to a point where they can’t imagine going to anyone else to get the products or services you provide.

Big brands are leading in this area, but small businesses can get in on emotional branding through the smallest of gestures and actions. As social media algorithms change and internet browsers seek out online communities, connecting emotionally will become a key strategy for cutting through the distractions of the modern world and reaching audiences.

Learn more about the power of emotional branding & storytelling in our webinar with branding expert David Brier.

Taking your brand global is an exciting prospect but also a significant challenge. Establishing and growing your brand in your own country is challenging enough, but expanding it into other parts of the world will present hurdles different from any you’ve experienced before.

Related: The brand manager’s guide to brand extension

One of the principal challenges is maintaining consistency as the brand spreads into other cultures and regions. Being consistent, though, is key to success. That’s not to say you should ignore the differences between customers in different markets—you need to meet customer needs while still keeping your brand consistent, which is easier said than done.

Maintaining a strong brand while going global requires substantial research and planning, as well as careful monitoring. Here are 6 branding tips to remember when you’re going global.

1. Establish brand guidelines

Before attempting to expand a brand globally, the company should have well-established, consistent brand guidelines. It needs to distribute these guidelines to everyone who will represent the brand in any way and ensure adherence.

What should be included in brand guidelines? They cover the overall definition of the brand, visual style and content style. That’s not to say all of these elements need to be included in the same document, but they should all be well-defined. The guideline should define the brand’s values, mission and vision statement and include a description of the key messages you want to send, as well as the brand’s personality.

These guidelines should include rules for using the company’s logos, colors, fonts and any other visual elements. They should also describe its preferred voice and tone, any words that should be used and any to be avoided. The use of these guidelines must be enforced throughout the company to keep the brand consistent. This will be of immense value, since research shows that consistent brands expect to earn 23% more revenue annually than inconsistent brands.

2. Emphasize your values

Your brand guidelines should include a description of company values, but they should be emphasized through every aspect of the global expansion. This strategy consists of both customer-facing and internal elements and will help the brand maintain its essence, even if the details of how the company operates are different in new markets.

Making sure everyone in the company understands its values is crucial to consistency. Brand values can serve as a guidepost when trying to determine whether something is on brand or not. While representations of the brands should still be subject to review, understanding brand values can help keep ideas on track in the early stages.

3. Be aware of culture & language differences

Before expanding into a new region, a company should take time to research any aspects of culture or language that may affect how their brand is perceived. The business should also conduct a legal assessment to avoid inadvertently breaking any rules or regulations.

If your company is seeking to form partnerships and make business acquaintances overseas, it’s important to have a thorough understanding of the country’s business culture. For example, in Singapore, it’s important to talk about any successes as a team effort. The interests of the group as a whole are generally put ahead of individual interests there—something you’d want to keep in mind if you were trying to create a mutually beneficial partnership.

When translating a brand into another language and culture, miscommunications are easily possible.

If a company doesn’t take sufficient precautions, it risks making a faux pas that could damage the brand. KFC fell victim to this issue when it expanded into China in the 80s. The company translated its slogan “finger-lickin’ good” to “eat your fingers off.” While KFC eventually recovered from the mistake, this slogan did not send the right message.

4. Keep it customer-focused

While you need to maintain brand consistency, you also need to ensure that you communicate your brand in a way that will resonate with the new customers you’re attempting to reach. You may need to make small adjustments to better appeal to customers in different regions, as well.

Determining what you can change to appeal to a new set of customers and what you can’t alter without sacrificing brand consistency is critical.

KFC provides us another example—but this time, in a positive way. In the 70s, KFC created a campaign in Japan called “Kentucky for Christmas” that encouraged Japanese customers to go to KFC on the holiday.

The campaign was a huge success because it capitalized on the fact that there weren’t many established Christmas traditions in the country. KFC still catered to one of the traditions that did exist in Japan, however, by including a special cake in its Christmas meal bundles.

5. Optimize your approval process

Companies should have an established approval process in place before expanding globally. This process helps employees to easily submit materials and enables company leadership to ensure brand consistency.

A complicated process can lead to off-brand materials slipping through the cracks. Once they do, these misbranded materials can spread, because people who see them will assume they’re acceptable.

Using a brand templating platform like Lucidpress can streamline the approval process, which encourages employees to get quick approval of their materials and move their projects forward.

6. Promote consistent internal communications

To orchestrate a global brand expansion, a company needs a strong internal communications system to ensure that all offices, departments and employees are on the same page.

You need a reliable communications system to inform everyone in the company of updates to branding guidelines, information about new products, details about new promotional products and more. Internal disconnect creates a risk of brand inconsistency.

Businesses should create an internal communications plan that includes information about communication objectives, target audiences, available channels and more. They must then monitor their progress to ensure that their internal communications are effective.

Also, everyone within a company who needs access to logos and other brand materials should have access to them. Using a cloud-based system like Lucidpress (through which employees can download logos from anywhere at any time) can resolve this issue seamlessly.

Key takeaway

Expanding a brand globally is, of course, no small feat. A global brand has many moving parts that all face different challenges based on their location. Despite these differences, the branding must be consistent throughout the entire company.

Achieving this kind of cohesiveness requires a well-defined brand and open communication about what the brand is to everyone in the company. That information and meaning can then be communicated effectively to customers across the globe.

Want to know more about the power of brand consistency? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

To get people interested in your brand and have them become loyal customers, it’s no longer enough to simply produce a good product or provide a great service.

Related: 4 easy tips for effective online brand management

What buyers are looking for today is an impeccable user experience—one that really makes them feel like they’re getting their money’s worth. This is why top brands appeal to their customers’ emotions; they realize most purchases aren’t rational. Your brand exists in the minds of your audience as all the experiences, impressions and interactions they’ve had with you, both positive and negative.

The power of branding is so incredible that 72% of marketers say branded content is more effective than print advertising. To help you harness that power, here’s our list of 9 ways to make people fall in love with your brand.

1. Focus on user needs, not features

This is where many brands go wrong. They choose to toot their own horn and go on about how great their product is, when in reality, the market couldn’t care less about it. What they really care about (whether they’re looking to buy a lawnmower or reaching out to cheap writing services) is what the brand and its product can do for them.

Make sure your brand focuses on how buying your product will solve a particular issue for your audience or address a particular pain point. Make them feel like the hero for choosing you.

2. Research what your target audience wants

While it’s fairly easy to assume that the attention span of most millennials is only a few seconds or that older generations are not present on social media… If you’re basing your branding strategy on these assumptions, you have failed spectacularly right off the bat.

Researching your target audience and identifying their needs is crucial if you want your brand to connect with them on an emotional level. Find ways to speak to your customers—and ideal customers—about what really matters to them.

3. Respond to consumer feedback whenever possible

According to research, 57% of consumers say that brand’s failure to respond to negative feedback is a good reason to cut ties with that brand. Responding to user feedback and acknowledging it, even if it’s negative, can help turn things around if you try your best to remedy the issue.

By responding to customer reviews and feedback, you’re showing that communication is a two-way street, and that your brand is not generic and faceless like all the others out there.

4. Provide a free solution

Obviously, the whole point of marketing and building your brand is to get potential customers to purchase from you—but getting there doesn’t have to involve you pushing for a sale. For example, you can provide your audience with helpful, applicable, free content that will help them overcome a particular problem.

What this does is inspire trust and establish you as an authoritative resource. When they’re ready to make a real purchase, your brand will be their first choice.

5. Deliver more than you’ve promised

One of the most effective ways to create a positive brand experience is to delight customers by delivering more than you initially promised. For instance, if you surprise them with a discount or throw in a free sample, they’ll be thrilled.

While it might be a sizable investment on your part, keep in mind that customer loyalty can be worth ten times more than a single purchase.

6. Find the right distribution channel

While mobile advertising and branding are the trend of the moment, how successfully you’re going to reach your consumer audience depends on how well you’ve done your research.

For instance, if you’re trying to reach older people with your brand, you might assume mobile advertising is off-limits. And while it’s true many of them don’t use social media, they do still use smartphones—which would mean that your brand might benefit from SMS marketing.

Think carefully about all your options, and don’t take any off the table before giving them proper consideration.

7. Tell a story

It’s pretty easy to fall into the trap of making your brand’s message too salesy. A much better strategy is to tell a story with your message. For example, if you’re trying to sell an espresso machine, don’t talk about how it’s made of stainless steel or how it can make you a cup of coffee in less than 30 seconds…

Instead, focus on how amazing that first cup of freshly brewed coffee feels on a lazy Sunday while the kids are still in bed. You’re selling a better quality of life, and your product can make that happen. Figure out how to tell a story that captures what your brand can really do for your ideal customer.

8. Pay attention to the visuals

Up to 90% of purchases are influenced by visual factors—especially color, which can increase brand recognition by up to 80%. Having a website which features eye-catching responsive design is a must, but your brand identify should also extend to your social media, marketing materials and product packaging.

Every visual touchpoint is an opportunity to tell your brand story, so don’t let them go to waste.

9. Find out where your audience hangs out

Make peace with the fact that your brand cannot be all things to all people. While casting a wide net might help you attract a bigger audience, it might not be worth it when you take into account all the marketing expenses.

Instead, find your intended audience online and figure out what they want. Regardless of what your product or service is, there’s a target audience for it out there. It’s up to you to find out where they are, how they communicate, and what they value.

Key takeaway

These techniques will not only make people fall in love with your brand—they will keep them coming back for more. And when it comes to building brand loyalty and driving growth, that’s really the best-case scenario, isn’t it?

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Download our free ebook on how to build a brand in 2020.

At the onset of building a business, branding might not seem like the first thing to conceptualize. Establishing the foundations of your brand by creating a brand book could be a tedious process, but its long-term benefits are well worth the effort.

Related: Branding? Follow this template for creating a brand platform

To help you get started, let’s review what a brand book is, what it does, why you should take the time to build one, and how to best go about it.

What is a brand book?

A brand book can also be called a brand bible, a brand style guide or a brand guide, among other similar terms. Essentially, it’s the document that sets distinct guidelines for maintaining brand identity across all aspects of the business.

From designers to marketers to sales teams, a brand book helps align different departments in communicating consistent messaging.

Some of the things included in a brand book are:

• logos
• color palette
• typography
• design system
• imagery
• tone of voice

Why do you need one?

One of the biggest benefits of having a brand book is that it gives the business a framework of consistency and cohesion. This consistency and cohesive messaging serve as great tools for defining your company’s personality—which, when committed to over a period of time, breeds trust. Strong, consistent brands are valuable; we know from our research that consistent brands expect to earn 23% more revenue annually.

When your audience sees that there is consistency in color scheme, tone of voice, and logo usage across all platforms, it delivers a level of professionalism that tells your customers you’re a brand they can trust.

Pros of having a brand book

As pointed out by Mayven, having a detailed brand book establishes the voice and personality of a company, governing virtually every aspect of company communication. From in-house communications to marketing messaging, having a well-made brand book ensures everyone is on the same page, consistently delivering a unified message that’s always on-brand.

Cons of not having a brand book

On the flip side, the inconsistency that easily creeps up when you don’t take the time to create a brand book can confuse and, eventually, alienate your customers.

Imagine a coworker who’s always well put-together: perfectly ironed shirt, neat haircut, clean shoes. Now imagine if, out of nowhere, that same person came to work with unkempt hair, ripped jeans and a neck tattoo. You’ll inevitably feel uncomfortable because it’s just not something you’re used to from that person. Chances are, you’ll be wondering if everything was okay with that coworker or if there’s some inner turmoil going on.

Essentially, the same instinct applies to brands and the way they present themselves to their audiences. You don’t want to confuse your audience with mixed messages.

How to create a brand book: Setting up the brand

Before you create a brand book that guides all aspects of the business, you need to envision what you want the brand to be. This means understanding four key components: the brand’s mission, its vision (which includes core values), target audience and brand persona.

Mission

When you’re crafting your brand mission statement, don’t fall into the trap of stringing together buzzwords that merely result in empty concepts and vague statements. As noted by Branding Strategy Insider, settling for a mission statement of that ilk does little to guide the company or employees toward having and maintaining a competitive edge. On top of that, it doesn’t provide motivation or a daily mission to make each workday matter.

Instead of vague concepts, your mission statement should clearly establish:

• your company’s purpose
• its reason for existing
• the difference it strives to make in the world

Establishing these does a number of things for your business: it immediately helps employees figure out whether they fit what the company wants to be, it creates strong brand differentiation from competition, and it inspires consumer passion and engagement.

Vision

As noted by Goalcast, a strong vision statement will serve as a guiding force for all of your business decisions. It’s a virtual compass that points the company towards where it wants to be and what it wants to become.

To help craft your vision statement, you can ask questions like:

• How big do you want your company to get?
• Do you plan to branch out with products and services not currently offered?
• What kind of legacy do you want your business to leave behind?

Paired together, your mission and vision statements serve as important start and stop points—tools that will guide you as you make strategic business decisions that refine your brand.

Brand persona

Establishing a brand personality is a key element in setting the tone for your brand messaging across all communication channels. Mixed messages make it harder for customers to connect and identify with your brand.

One age-old practice is thinking about what kind of person your brand would be. Do you want your brand to be straightforward and to-the-point? Or would you rather it be playful and witty?

There’s also the old is/is not exercise. This involves listing three to five adjectives that your brand is and three to five adjectives that it is not.

Whatever collection of traits you decide to incorporate into your brand persona, it’s best to turn those into a statement that guides your overall messaging.

Lucidpress—a brand templating platform—uses this:

Lucidpress is the intuitive brand templating platform that empowers anyone to easily create on-brand materials.

In this statement, you can see a number of descriptive branding words:

• intuitive
• empowering
• easily
• on-brand

These traits drive our messaging and many other branding decisions, from how our software should feel to who would benefit from using our platform. Speaking of which…

Target audience

Just as you need to understand your brand, it’s likewise important to understand your target market. What types of people do you want using your products? Which ones do you want to visit your website, consume your content or subscribe to your emails?

To identify your audience, you need to have a solid understanding of what their needs, wants and values are—and how you factor into all of those.

The process of identifying and understanding your target market allows you to narrow down your audience focus. Your messages are always tailored to your audience, and it gives you a clear picture of what you need to be for a specific group of people.

How to create a brand book: Visual guidelines

Logo usage

Coming up with a distinct, identifiable logo is one thing. Ensuring that it remains optimized in different environments is another. This part of your brand book should include all approved versions of your logo and how it will be used in different platforms, from placement to acceptable alterations.

Source: Design Shack

As you can see with Adobe’s brand guidelines, it’s very clear how the logo should be used, including its placement, size and white space.

Color palette

Your brand’s color palette is another element that gives your business a consistent look and feel. Most brands choose four or fewer main colors that don’t stray too far from the hues of their logo. As you can see with Heineken’s color palette, they picked one light color for backgrounds, a darker color for text, a neutral hue, and one that gives design elements a bit of pop.

Source: 99designs

And just as it is with your logo, you need to outline how and when each color should be used (Which ones are for text and design elements? Which are for the logo, and which are for backgrounds?). Mayven also points out that you should define the following:

• color names
• color values (CMYK for print, RGB & HEX codes for digital, and PANTONE name & number)
• primary, secondary & alternate colors

Typography

Similarly, there should be a defined font style for both print & digital applications. In your brand book, typography should cover how and when certain fonts are used, which typefaces are acceptable, as well as guidelines for additional styling, size, and use of color.

As pointed out by Mayven, most brands use one or two primary typefaces, a complementary typeface, and substitute typefaces.

Tone of voice

As with all the other elements on this list, your tone of voice needs to be consistent across all communication channels—email, social media, press releases, blog posts, ads, etc. Your voice should be aligned with your brand’s persona, mission, vision, values and target audience.

Source: 99designs

You can start by identifying words you like and don’t like to be associated with. Then, decide what type of language fits your brand persona and your target audience. Go back to your list of adjectives describing your brand personality to come up with language that is on-brand.

Source: Design Shack

Imagery

Apart from indicating whether you’ll be using photos, illustrations and other types of graphics (as well as when and how you’ll be using them), your brand book should also detail how images will be edited, which colors to place them with, and any other design elements related to image use.

Collect inspiration from successful brands, particularly those that have similar brand messaging as yours. You can also create a mood board with images that convey the feelings you want people to get when they interact with your brand.

Key takeaway

A thoughtfully crafted brand book will bring your business consistency, alignment and cohesion. To avoid confusion, your brand book needs to be detailed, covering all possible bases to ensure everyone’s on the same page. It will give every employee in the company a concrete framework to work with, while still giving them the freedom to do what they do best.

What is brand authenticity? Well, generally speaking, it’s when brands act, illustrate and feel (or be) genuine to their customers. 

The byproduct of brand authenticity is more important than brand authenticity itself — i.e., brand loyalty. Brand loyalty is the emotional affirmation of your brand’s authenticity. And brand loyalty is what drives your revenue. 

Related: 7 Key Elements of Brand Identity Design

But brand loyalty requires hard work and patience. And it involves understanding your customers’ core values and delivering on them. 

So, what makes a brand authentic? 

• Reliability
• Respect
• Realness

Brands that do all three are brands that customers prefer and trust. How can you adopt these qualities and make your brand more authentic? 

We gotcha!

TIP 1: Be reliable – Quality over quantity, and keep your promises

Seems like a no-brainer, right? Unfortunately, there’s an authenticity deficit in the global marketplace today. Not all brands keep the promises they make, not all communicate honestly, and not enough place the customer’s interests above their own. 

Take any variety of tech companies for instance (with admittedly the exception of large-scale corporations like Google, Facebook and so forth… kindly ignore those!) PayPal comms SVP Franz Paasche said: “Tech brands combine the excitement of innovation with [making] the everyday living of life easier, and that gives you a trusted role in people’s lives.”

For example, even when Microsoft felt customers brand loyalty wane after the launch of its disastrous Vista operating system, they hit the ground running to find out why it let their customers down and focused its efforts on trying to right the wrong.

Kathleen Hall, advertising and marketing VP of Microsoft, said: “We went back to our consumers and did a global study, visualizing what the brand meant to them. There was consistency worldwide: Microsoft means opportunity, access and connection, a combination of strength and possibility.”

Ten years later, the company is still enjoying the fruits of that study. The idea is to take stock of what people need and expect from you, then deliver on your promises. What you do on the ground can sometimes speak more than your marketing dollars ever could.

TIP 2: Be respectful — Customer-centricity is key to revenue growth

By far, the most important aspect of a brand’s authenticity is its customer-centricity.

It’s crucial to treat your customers as the most pivotal part of your business. You don’t need a major PR push to show the world how much you care, instead what you need are genuine efforts to deliver the basics and help your customers.

Take the Patagonia brand as an example. The company mission statement is to “build the best product, cause no unnecessary harm, use business to inspire and implement solutions to the environmental crisis.” To that end, the company has many checks in place to ensure it hits on that mission statement. Such as:

• Environmentally-friendly production practices
• Educational programs and initiatives for the public
• Fair pay and wages for it direct employees and partner employees

Now, that’s just the beginning. To see for yourself, check out Patagonia’s core value page!

TIP 3: Be real – Personalize customer communications

Authenticity doesn’t come from the product or service you sell, but from how, why and where you sell it. 

Winning brands take great pains to communicate with customers in ways that feel personal. They see themselves as a productive part of the customer’s life, and each marketing message is personalized for them. They nail practices like cross-cultural marketing, localization, creating dedicated websites for different countries, and identifying as a local brand despite being a global brand.

By being real, you inevitably build trust and rapport with your customers. And to establish that trust, you need to be honest in your words and actions. Michael Boychuk, the former executive creative director of Amazon, said: “You can say whatever you want, however, you want to say it, but if you’re not interacting with people authentically, advertising is nothing.”

Be really reliable, respectful — and really real

Be reliable, be respectful and be real. That’s what gets customers to trust you and perceive you as an authentic brand. Revenue and profits are a byproduct of customer-centricity. Always remember that a good brand serves the customer. If you can take these ideas to heart, you’ll build better brand authenticity than millions of marketing dollars ever could.

Want to know more about the power of a strong brand? Download our free 32-page report, chock full of stats & great insights.

“We need a logo” is a loaded request that designers and creative agencies hear from their clients. High expectations are always involved—that’s a fact. Every client wants a remarkable logo for their brand, and they’re counting on you to create it.

Related: 9 excellent logo redesigns for famous brands

How do you deliver an innovative, impactful design on demand? If you’re running low on creativity, we’re here to fill in for your muse as she turns a blind eye to your deadline. Load up on logo design inspiration from the guidelines and examples below to get those juices flowing again.

Logo design examples for your inspiration

Consulting Logos

Consulting logo idea #1: Accenture

Accenture is one of the biggest management consulting firms. The company offers strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations services. Their revenue was around $40 billion in 2018, so we could definitely learn some design lessons from them.

Consulting logo idea #2: Capgemini

Capgemini is another consulting giant that can teach us a valuable design lesson.

The key lesson here is that you can build a financial empire… even if your logo isn’t closely related to the services you’re selling.

The Ace of Spades has been present in their logo since its inception, but it has little to do with their business. In fact, it refers to bridge—a card game that the founder of the company, Serge Kampf, enjoys. In bridge, the Ace of Spades is the highest-value card.

Consulting logo idea #3: DLA Piper

If you’re offering legal consulting services, here’s what you can learn from one of the biggest global law firms. (How big? DLA Piper has lawyers in more than 40 countries and over $2 billion in revenue—that’s how big.)

The open-ended shapes represent out-of-the-box thinking. Something you might actually want from a lawyer, right?

If you look at it from a different angle, the logo seems like a talking bubble, which shows they value the art of communication… or that they’re friendly. You decide.

Lucidpress: Click the image to use the template

Use one of our consulting logo templates as inspiration for your own logo. Switch out colors, fonts and texts to create your logo in seconds.

Browse all logo templates

Real estate logos

1. Smith Mountain Homes

First up is this beautiful logo from Smith Mountain Homes.

2. Cabo Cribs

If you’re looking to buy property in Cabo, I’ll bet Cabo Cribs’ logo catches your attention.

3. Williams & Williams

If you’re in the market for a luxury property, you’ll love Williams & Williams’ logo.

Lucidpress: Click the image to use the template

Use one of our real estate logo templates as inspiration for your own logo. Switch out colors, fonts and texts to create your logo in seconds.

Browse all logo templates

Health and fitness logos

1. Heavy Mettle Fitness

When you have too many ideas, just stick to the basics, even if it’s cliché.

Source: GLDesigns

2. Peachy

What’s that number-one thing your audience wants? Point it out, and people will remember you as that gym or that fitness instructor or that nutritionist who can help them get it.

Source: 99designs

3. Necessary Payne

If your ideal audience is into hardcore training, a logo like the one below could be a great strategic move.

Source: Design your way

Lucidpress: Click the image to use the template

Use one of our health and fitness logo templates as inspiration for your own logo. Switch out colors, fonts and texts to create your logo in seconds.

Browse all logo templates

Striking use of color

Powerful colors make a logo vibrant and eye-catching. In recent years, logo design trends favored simple and spirited colors that appeal to new generations of customers.

It’s interesting to see the process behind this logo and Volusion’s brand identity design.

TeleMadrid’s rebranding is another example of a colorful and adaptable logo design.

And Duolingo’s 2019 logo update builds on their playful and energetic brand.

Memorable use of layout

Another way to make your logo unforgettable is to surprise people with an unexpected layout.

This example from Bajo Protección invites a second look with its 3D effect.

The Dutch National Opera & Ballet logo has us peeking from the balcony.

And Moonpig champions creativity by updating their logo to match their surreal name.

Beautiful use of typography

Fonts are another excellent source of inspiration.

Typography can help you balance simplicity and intricacy in logo design. It’s also an essential element for your brand creation process.

Typography was just what Tom Sands needed to make this logo a timeless presence on their acoustic guitars.

Typography can also create a sense of motion, as it does in this example.

And sometimes, like in the case of UK-based creative agency Dry, fonts are all you need to capture your brand spirit.

Clever use of symbols

The symbols you include in your logo give people a glimpse into the brand’s spirit and generate emotional connectivity.

This redesign concept uses the nave ship, a historical symbol of Paris.

Airbnb logo redesign is a great example of mixing various symbols into a memorable logo.

Chairish provides an honest and straightforward testimony of their dedication to their craft.

Creative use of patterns

You can incorporate different patterns into logos while still maintaining brand consistency—and these examples are proof.

The redesign of Melbourne’s logo provides a playful space for patterns and placements.

The German Historical Museum’s logo uses juxtaposed shapes that can fit well in intricate contexts.

In this example, patterns and negative space convey a message of unity.

Surprising use of negative space

“In the end, creativity isn’t just the things we choose to put in, it’s the things we choose to leave out.”

Austin Kleon

In this quote from his book Steal Like an Artist: 10 Things Nobody Told You About Being Creative, author Austin Kleon captures the inspiration negative space can unleash.

The Swan & Mallard logo challenges you to find the intertwined characters.

Whether you’re into cats or bears, you can’t help but spot the figures that hide behind this typeface.

This Flight Finder logo creates a sense of motion and pleases the eye with its symmetry.

Surprising use of animation

We live in the golden age of GIFs, and their cultural impact now influences logo design ideas as well. These examples show how you can add animation to a professional logo.

PetCloud’s logo has adorable spelled all over it, wouldn’t you agree?

I bet the designer behind this logo knew his clients would be over the moon with its design.

And this creative used animation to deliver his logo design with a bang!

Before you go, remember this

As a designer, you know coming up with cool logo ideas is a complex process. What helps is to lead with a deep understanding of your client’s business and brand values.

It’s equally useful to draw inspiration from diverse sources and experiment with your ideas until you find the right fit. Play with colors, layout, typography & symbols to design the creative, custom logo your client expects.

Once you have it, use the logo to build branding that’s consistent across all channels. Give customers a familiar and reliable presence to count on and build meaning with.

Use this 5-step process to design creative logos

Unfortunately, a clear creative brief for logo makers is a rare occurrence. That’s why designers and agencies explore, select and clarify ideas before proposing anything.

Here’s a secret experienced creatives know: Sometimes you can reach your best ideas by using a systematic approach.

Whether you’re building a brand from scratch or planning a thorough rebranding, this 5-step process can help you come up with cool logo ideas.

1. Understand the customer’s business

The logo is central to a brand’s identity. In fact, the best of them are deeply rooted in the company’s mission. If you’re lucky, your customer has their mission clearly articulated. If not, roll up your sleeves and focus on research.

First, observe and analyze how their customers talk about them.

Explore:

• Testimonials & reviews that highlight their best features (for B2B, try G2Crowd or Clutch; for B2C, try TrustPilot or Google Places)
• Answers to surveys that show how customers feel about the business
• Case studies that reflect their process and results

Source: TrustPilot

For brand new businesses, you can look for similar details in their competitors’ activity to give you a starting point.

2. Map out the brand’s values

The best branding relies on a deep understanding of what people want when they buy something. 

A custom logo that builds differentiation has to speak to customers’ psychological needs. A powerful design triggers a reaction and influences the choices consumers make when they see it.

Define what the business stands for to ensure your logo design speaks to the brand’s values.

For example, Patagonia strives to “build the best product.” They aim to “use business to protect nature” and do so in a way that’s “not bound by convention.”

Buffer commits to “default to transparency,” “cultivate positivity” and “improve consistently,” among other values.

Source: Buffer

Using your customer’s brand values to guide your logo design can be incredibly inspiring.

3. Choose a series of adjectives

Now that you know what the business is all about, you use this information to pin down specifics. Make a list of adjectives that capture the brand personality.

For example, when you think of Patagonia, words like humble, altruistic & adventurous may come to mind. Buffer inspires words such as helpful, calm & dependable.

Examples of adjectives you could use:

1. Bold
2. Serious
3. Rational
4. Imaginative
5. Idealistic
6. Generous
7. Clever
8. Humorous
9. Whimsical
10. Luxurious
11. Glamorous
12. Rugged
13. Brave
14. Rebellious
15. Cooperative
16. Edgy
17. Gentle
18. Playful
19. Old-fashioned
20. Youthful

Want to go the extra mile? Analyze the vocabulary customers use when they talk about your client and dig up adjectives from it.

Single out associations that point to what makes the company different. Narrow your list down to 3. Now you have the emotional substance that fuels your logo.

4. Collect inspiring ideas

Logo design ideas often come from unexpected sources. Take it from people who faced the same challenges as you do now:

“I use weird sources for inspiration. I look at forms in nature and try to reduce them to basic shapes. I’m always trying to invoke a sense of humanity to a logo.”

Josh Baron, Media Art Director at Sparxoo

Multiply the opportunities for creative inspiration to kick in and increase the chances to get that grand idea. Look for compelling symbols, icons and patterns.

Check out fresh photography from sites that offer free stock images. Peruse design websites like Dribbble, Behance, Designspiration & Dunked.

Even better, browse countless logo examples on Logoed, Logospire, Logo Gallery, Brand New, Logo Moose & Logo Design Love.

Collect fonts & color options to create a mood board. This collage of elements helps define your concept at this stage. Include notes to explain your thought process so you can give your client a consistent overview of your creative direction.

Source: Dribbble

Ask for feedback at this stage. Get input from your client to save you time and energy down the road. For example, knowing which elements your client notices can help you come up with better, more relevant logo design proposals.

Feedback in hand, it’s time to create the best logo you can.

5. Choose & validate the best ideas

Fast forward through dozens of iterations to logo_v27_final_FINAL.indd.

You’ve received feedback, integrated it and designed (what you assume will be) the final version.

Source: Tubik Studio

Your moment of glory awaits, and so does your deadline.

Use this time constraint to strengthen your creative process. Stop before you get caught up in a never-ending cycle of “I know I can do better.”

Instead, focus on shaping a logo that can outlive design trends. Give people a chance to build meaning into your logo over time. 

Here’s what experienced creatives recommend:

“All logos should be four things: simple, memorable, timeless and flexible.”

Cory Schearer, Creative Director at Ferebee Lane

Keep in mind adaptability when you design your client’s logo. Your creation will be used in print, in emails, on social media, on websites and digital advertisements.

Wherever it may be featured, the logo’s role is to get an emotional reaction.

Ready to design your logo? Give us a try.

There’s more to crafting a memorable brand than putting together a quick logo and color palette. Instead of calling it a day there, successful brands take the time to design a well rounded brand identity – one that combines a strong purpose with intentional visual and written elements. 

Here, you’ll learn the seven key elements of brand identity design, and how they work together to build a consistent brand your audience will love. 

New to the branding game? Let’s go over some important context.

What is brand identity?

A brand is the sum of how a person, product, or business is viewed by its audience and/or customers. 

Brand identity is how a business wants to be viewed. 

These two ideas often go hand in hand, but can sometimes be at odds, depending on how well a brand is able to cultivate and maintain their brand identity. 

If we zoom in a bit, brand identity design includes everything from logos, and typography to colors, packaging, and messaging. Ultimately, the goal here is to create an ecosystem of visual and written elements that complement and reinforce your brand’s ‘why’. Once established, your brand identity can both attract new customers and help your current customers feel at home.

That’s why It’s vital that your brand identity stays consistent. Because they represent and reinforce your brand’s purpose, your brand identity elements need to be clear and consistent wherever they might appear. 

Why is brand identity important?

If you were about to interview for a big new job, you wouldn’t show up in sweatpants. You’d want to present yourself as a well put together, competent, and approachable candidate. 

The same idea applies to your brand. Your brand identity is the face of your business, and you want to put your best face forward for your audience. 

Along with building credibility and trust, a strong and consistent brand design should also give people insight into what your brand is all about. For example, do you use bright, pastel colors to convey a cheerful, playful tone, or do you employ detailed line art in your logo to imply an artisanal level of quality? When you’re thinking about what you want your brand identity design to look like, consider what it will feel like as well. 

To give you a better idea of what we mean, take a look at these three brilliant examples of brand identity: 

3 examples of strong brand identity design

When you’re designing your own brand identity, there’s no need to start from scratch. Here are just a few examples of great brand identity design to get some inspiration from. 

And while it’s important to create something that’s uniquely your own, there’s nothing wrong with taking a note from some of the greats.

Hootsuite

If you look at a lot of tech brands today, you’ll notice that many tend to use similar no-fluff, utilitarian branding principles. While there’s nothing inherently wrong with this, it can become hard to differentiate brands after a while. 

We like how Hootsuite’s redesigned logo injects some new color and personality into the social media marketing platform. It’s friendlier, more approachable, and most importantly, more human. 

Kodak

Sometimes, the best rebrands happen when you go back to your roots. In 2006, the company had already eliminated the big red “K” block in favor of a simpler wordmark, but then they decided to reverse the decision. Using a fresh sans-serif font, they were able to create a simple and fresh new take on their logo and typography. It just goes to show that sometimes the smallest of changes can have a big impact. 

We love how easy these guidelines make it to view the history of Kodak’s branding, along with the when/how/why to use each design.

Burt’s Bees

In a beauty industry full of incredibly bright, futuristic, or luxurious branding, Burt’s Bees stands out for its humble, down-to-earth aesthetic. With muted colors and thoughtful artwork depicting the brand’s founder, the brand calls back to its purpose – to honor the natural world by creating environmentally-conscious products.

How to build a successful brand identity

Now that we’ve taken a closer look at some great examples of brand identity design, let’s dive into the seven elements you’ll need to build a brand identity your audience will love.

1. Establish a clear purpose and position

The first part of establishing a brand identity is determining your purpose and goals. Brand purpose is the ‘why?’ behind everything you do. Why does my brand exist? Why is my product or service better than the competition? Why does our brand look/feel/communicate the way it does?

According to Arielle Jackson, startup founder, and Google veteran: “Your purpose is how you want to change the world for the better.” Jackson also recommends this diagram as a guide for determining your purpose:

Jackson explains the diagram like this: “In one circle, you have cultural tension. This is what is happening in the world that’s relevant to you. In the other circle is your brand’s best self. This is what your company delivers at its prime,” says Jackson. “The intersection of these two areas is… ‘the big ideal’ — or your purpose.”

For a great example of a succinct, tangible corporate purpose, check out this statement from Apple:

Not too shabby, right?

You’ll also want to spend some time thinking about brand positioning, or the unique value that your brand brings your audience. Think of this as your brand’s ‘elevator pitch’. All the work done here will inform your strategy as you create a logo, decide on a color palette, etc. 

Zooming out, brand positioning is the process of making your purpose actionable. By naming your target customer and differentiating yourself from the competition, you’ll lay the groundwork for your brand to accomplish your purpose.

2. Conduct thorough market research

A brand’s purpose and positioning can (and should be) informed, at least in part, by market and customer research. Research is crucial to understand the “cultural tension” described in the previous section. For beginners to market research, there’s a wealth of content online to help get you started.

Oftentimes, one of the best ways to conduct market research is to simply talk to a lot of people. For example, phone interviews allow your teams to have detailed, human-driven discussions with your customers – something that could be helpful if you want to appeal emotionally to your audience.

Beyond phone interviews, online survey tools, like Survey Monkey, are a fast way to gather a lot of information. Don’t forget to look into available government resources too, like this helpful toolkit from the US Small Business Association.

Good market research can also help you determine your main customer personas, a term that is a slightly different concept than “target customers.” Your customer persona(s) go beyond just defining what problem a customer has and gets into the nitty gritty details behind your focus customers’ professional and personal traits. Defining these traits will help you know what kind of personality your brand should have to appeal to customers, which brings us to our next point.

3. Craft a loveable brand personality

“If your brand were a person, what would they be like?” It might be a bit cliché, but this is a smart way to think about brand personality.

If you get your brand’s personality right, it will shine through in every part of your brand identity. Brand personality greatly impacts the voice and tone used in your marketing materials and other communications. Why is this important? Your customers will get mixed messages if your brand’s personality isn’t well established, and they may have trouble connecting emotionally with your brand.

If you’re having a hard time getting started, here’s an exercise to try: Which celebrities or fictional characters best represent your brand? Is there an actor or actress, musician, or public personality that embodies the same traits as your brand? This could be a good starting point for nailing down different aspects of your brand’s personality.

Once you’ve pictured the kind of person your brand would be and listed off a few attributes they have, it’s helpful to think about how your brand will come to life through your voice and tone.

Here is how we defined Marq’s brand personality.

How did we do?

4. Make a memorable logo

Your logo is central to your brand identity design. It’s the piece of your brand identity that most people will be exposed to. It needs to line up with all the other elements of your brand identity and the broader emotional appeal of your brand.

A few guidelines Marq CEO, Owen Fuller suggests on making a logo with an impact:

1. Make it memorable. Are there unique elements/colors/etc that make it stand out?
2. Make it simple. Can a 3rd grader draw it?
3. Make it versatile. Can you apply it across multiple mediums and channels?
4. Make it evocative. Does it make you something?
5. Make it timeless. Will it work as your brand grows?

For example, we all know this logo:

Disney has built a brand that evokes nostalgia and magic. The playful script oozes creativity and fun, which tracks with the overall brand Disney has established over the decades.

A memorable brand is often the simplest brand. Take a look at the logos of the world’s top 3 brands (according to Kantar):

What do all three have in common? Intentionality in color, design, and simplicity. 

Speaking of simplicity, choosing a simple logo makes it easier to apply to different mediums. Whether you’re designing for a product, digital marketing, or print, actively designing with every channel in mind will ensure a successful logo development from the very start.

5. Choose an attractive color palette

Evocative and full of emotional potential, your brand colors are often just as memorable as the logo design. Consider looking into the dynamics of color theory when choosing the palette that best represents your brand.

A lot of color psychology is intuitive, like blue expressing calm and red and yellow expressing passion and energy. Depending on the tint or shade of a color you use, that emotion can be adjusted. A tint is a color mixed with white, making it lighter, and a shade is a color mixed with black, making it darker. A lighter tint of blue conveys tranquility, while a darker shade of blue often conveys trust, an effect that many banks use in their color schemes.

Be aware though that color connotations can differ wildly between cultures. For example, while yellow is often seen as a bright, happy color in the US, it is linked with mourning and death in places like Latin America and Egypt. If your brand plans to do business internationally, it’s important to double check that the colors you want to use don’t have any unintended meanings.

When it comes to creating a workable color palette, designers should select a set of primary and secondary colors to be used for specific purposes. Staying  consistent with this palette is key – the more you use it in the same way, the more you’ll be able to build brand equity over time.

A few more considerations on picking a great color scheme:

• Make sure your palette has enough contrast when paired with text. This ensures all your marketing materials are easy to read and accessible. Use this tool to double check your palette. 
• Double check that your palette reinforces the emotions you want to evoke. If your brand is all about health and wellbeing, strong colors like burgundy or magenta might be at odds with your intended brand identity design.

6. Pick the right typography

Stressing about finding just the right font may lead others to brand you as a “typography nerd,” but you’ll come out ahead when you pick a font that works in harmony with your logo and colors.

Fonts are powerful. The most famous fonts are recognizable even when taken out of context. You’ll want a single primary typeface to lead your brand design, which should work well with your logo and color palette. It should also, like your logo and color palette, be simple.

Here are a few tips to keep in mind when choosing brand fonts:

• Don’t use overly intricate fonts that are hard to read.
• Provide font guidelines for headlines and body text.
• Don’t use more than two font families on a single document. (If it feels like it’s too much, it’s probably too much)
• Do mix contrasting fonts (such as a serif and a sans-serif).
• Give guidelines on font size and line length in your brand guide.

For example, here are several font pairings that work well together:

7. Leverage on-brand graphics and photography

The final step in creating a brand identity is to build an extended visual language with supporting graphics, design assets, iconography, and photographs.

Take a look at Google’s Visual Assets Guidelines to see how they carefully explain their take on icon design.

They cover a whole range of brand design considerations:

• A reductive (or “flat”) approach
• A preference for geometric shapes
• Icons always face front
• Straight, hard shadows as opposed to curved, soft ones
• Standard background colors
• Icons align to the pixel grid
• Icon padding according to shape

Because of Google’s close attention to their extended visual language, when you see a Google icon, you know it’s a Google icon.

Perusing other brand visual guides can help you get a better idea of what potential visual elements could work for your brand.

Maintaining a brand identity

Once you’ve got the perfect brand elements to work with, it’s time to secure your brand identity together with a comprehensive set of brand guidelines. 

Brand guidelines offer an easily accessible playbook to educate your teams on how, when, where, and why to use each of your brand identity elements. With these guidelines, anyone from your company should be able to put your brand to work in a consistent way.

Once you have these guidelines in place, using customizable templates can help save your team valuable time. Instead of creating every piece of marketing collateral from scratch, leveraging custom templates makes it easy to quickly create on-brand materials, even if you’re not a graphic designer.

Key Takeaways

While there’s always the possibility of redesigns and re-evaluation ahead, starting off with a strong, confident brand design and unified brand identity will add clarity and consistency to everything you do. Over time, your unique brand identity will be the one that pops into people’s heads when they have a problem you can solve. 

Ready to start building on brand? Sign up for free and explore our brand template library today.

Are you sitting at your desk waiting for that sweet, sweet logo inspiration to strike?

No matter whether you’re a consultant looking to brand your business or a designer looking for new ideas, this article will get you unstuck.

Related: 9 excellent logo redesigns for famous brands

Below, you’ll discover different types of consulting logo ideas from some of the biggest consulting brands in the world.

Whether you’re looking for designs with hidden meanings or something more traditional, the examples below are bound to stir up some creative juices.

Before diving into our pool of inspiration, though, let’s see what makes a good consulting logo and what mistakes you should avoid.

3 golden rules to create a modern consulting logo that stands out

Make sure your logo doesn’t misrepresent your business

The color, the weight of your fonts, the spacing between the letters—everything stirs an emotion.

You have to make sure your logo conveys the right story, the right emotion and the right voice for your brand.

For instance, if you want to be perceived as an expert, you wouldn’t want an overly playful design.

Make sure your logo is clear and not too complicated

Yes, it’s true, your logo should tell a story. But, this doesn’t mean a person should figure it out in the blink of an eye.

Here’s what I mean. If you look carefully at Amazon’s logo, you’ll see an arrow pointing from A to Z. This is because they want to show people that they can find almost any product on their platform.

This story now makes sense because I’ve just told it to you. It only took a few seconds, and a logo which was already effective before now seems even more so. It goes to show that you don’t need to overcomplicate your logo to tell a story.

Make sure your logo doesn’t look old or outdated

What would be your first impression if you saw a consulting logo like this? (Yes, we know Hot Wheels is not particularly known for its consulting prowess, but please bear with us for the sake of example.)

A vintage font combined with a childish design… If this actually were a consulting company, you’d probably think they don’t care about how they look—and maybe they don’t care about their customers either, right? Not great.

Of course, this doesn’t mean you have to update your logo every year just to keep up with the trends. You just have to make sure you’re not hanging on to outdated design elements that were only trendy 20 years ago.

And with that, let’s move on to our round-up of consulting logo ideas.

Consulting logo idea #1: Accenture

Accenture is one of the biggest management consulting firms. The company offers strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations services. Their revenue was around $40 billion in 2018, so we could definitely learn some design lessons from them.

The sign for “greater than” is placed above the letter t to represent the future—a future where you’ve ascended and grown to be greater (>) than (t) you (u) are (re).

As you can see, your next consulting logo can be clean & simple and still have a deeper message to communicate.

Consulting logo idea #2: Capgemini

Capgemini is another consulting giant that can teach us a valuable design lesson.

The key lesson here is that you can build a financial empire… even if your logo isn’t closely related to the services you’re selling.

The Ace of Spades has been present in their logo since its inception, but it has little to do with their business. In fact, it refers to bridge—a card game that the founder of the company, Serge Kampf, enjoys. In bridge, the Ace of Spades is the highest-value card.

It’s simple, it’s sweet, and it works. The lesson? You don’t necessarily need to hire an expensive designer to create a custom logo that’s meaningful to your brand. There are plenty of free logo makers out there that can help you get started.

Consulting logo idea #3: DLA Piper

If you’re offering legal consulting services, here’s what you can learn from one of the biggest global law firms. (How big? DLA Piper has lawyers in more than 40 countries and over $2 billion in revenue—that’s how big.)

The open-ended shapes represent out-of-the-box thinking. Something you might actually want from a lawyer, right?

If you look at it from a different angle, the logo seems like a talking bubble, which shows they value the art of communication… or that they’re friendly. You decide.

Do you see how the story starts to make sense after you receive more information? And how quickly this story can change, depending on the interpretation?

The point is this: If you’re just starting out and you’re not a giant corporation, don’t fret too much on pinpointing the right story behind your logo. You can refresh the design and infuse more meaning as your brand grows and develops.

Consulting logo idea #4: Deloitte

Deloitte’s revenue was over $40 billion in 2018, and they use one of the most basic design elements in their logo: a dot.

What could we possibly learn from this? Actually, it makes a great point. (Ha!)

Timeless shapes (like the point) and simplicity will never go out of style. You don’t need an overwhelming design that distracts people from getting your message.

Plus, a simple logo will be much easier to integrate in almost any sales collateral or marketing material you develop later.

If you need further proof, just study the logos of some of the biggest brands out there: Nike, Apple, Adidas, Dell, Intel, etc. Enough said.

Consulting logo idea #5: McKinsey & Company

McKinsey & Company is undoubtedly one of the biggest consulting firms you can study and look to for inspiration.

And it can teach you two important lessons.

The first is that you don’t need a fancy or even a creative logo to express professionalism or extensive experience within a field.

In fact, quite the opposite is true. If you study successful companies, you’ll see that most of them refined their logos into simpler, cleaner versions as they matured.

The second lesson here is that even your choice of font can tell a story.

At its core, McKinsey & Company uses a classic custom font because experience, heritage and legacy are what represent them best.

Consulting logo idea #6: L.E.K. Consulting

Want to make your consulting logo stand out while still maintaining a professional, bold look?

Here’s a key takeaway from L.E.K. Consulting, a global company established in 1983.

Their logo stands out because of some basic design elements and principles like composition, contrast and negative space.

For instance, they draw attention to their logo by using the contrast between the negative space in the top-left corner and the logo in the bottom-right corner.

They also give a bold look to the whole design by leveraging one of the most basic elements—the rectangle—all in combination with a deep-colored background.

Consulting logo idea #7: KPMG

If you’re afraid that your consulting logo won’t be perfect right away, don’t fret.

KPMG proves that no design should be set in stone, even if it’s a logo. You can always change it, and there’s no tragedy in doing that. It doesn’t mean you have to lose sales or credibility.

For instance, here’s how many iterations their logo’s had throughout the years:

Source: KPMG

As you can see, these weren’t minor changes—in fact, many were radical redesigns. Even its name changed each time the company got a new partner or the shares were redistributed.

Still, the company is one of the largest professional services companies in the world with over $28 billion in revenue for 2018.

Consulting logo idea #8: FedEx

FedEx isn’t a consulting company, but if you want your consulting logo to be more creative and have a hidden meaning, it’s a good example to follow.

If you look carefully, there’s a hidden arrow that communicates speed and accuracy to those in-the-know.

Of course, now the question is, how do you come up with such clever ideas?

It’s simple. It all starts with your unique value proposition, the core message you want to communicate.

Find out that one thing, that most important thing that makes people want to do business with you. Then, incorporate it in your design.

Consulting logo idea #9: Sony Vaio

Sometimes, the hidden meaning in a logo can come from the product itself.

Here’s a clever logo idea from Sony Vaio. Even though it’s not a consulting company, it’s worth mentioning because they managed to create such a simple logo with a hidden meaning behind it. Take a look:

Consulting logo idea #10: Eighty20

If you’re looking for creative consulting logo ideas, Eighty20 is probably one of the best examples you can use for inspiration.

Eighty20 is a business consulting company that uses big data to inform its market research, then they use these insights to help marketers and companies better sell their services.

Their brand is a combination of geeky and creative, and they express that well in their logo. How? Each of the horizontal lines represents a binary sequence. The blue squares represent 1s, and the grey squares represent 0s.

In binary sequence, the top row is 1010000, while the bottom one is 0010100. If you transform these numbers from binary to decimal, it reads… you guessed it: 80 and 20. Pretty clever, right?

Before designing your next consulting logo, do this

There are thousands of logo design ideas out there. The problem is, the more you see, the harder it is to choose one.

Here’s a method professional designers use to come up with great ideas quickly (and easily decide on the right one).

First, stop looking for ideas. Then, define the core message you want to communicate.

Are you fast and precise? Do you offer a complete range of services? Do you have the most innovative solutions or the most comprehensive research? Are you affordable for SMBs, or do you only serve large enterprises?

Only after you define your core message should you start looking for inspiration. Don’t worry—we’ll be right here when you come back.

Ready to start exploring your new brand identity? Try creating a few logo variations in Lucidpress, using your brand colors.

Not sure how your next fitness logo should look and want a few examples to get your imagination’s wheels in motion?

Maybe you want to see some design ideas from well-known brands in the fitness industry. Or, perhaps you’re looking for creative logo ideas that stand out from the crowd.

Related: Best logo design ideas for your inspiration

No matter whether you’re a fitness consultant, own a gym or have any other fitness business, by the end of this article, you’ll have plenty of ideas to get you started.

But, first, let’s see what makes a good fitness logo and what mistakes you should avoid.

3 fundamental rules to create a fitness logo people will remember

1. Make sure your logo doesn’t communicate the wrong message

Every aspect of your future fitness logo will evoke an emotion, from the colors to the fonts and shapes you choose.

This is why you have to be careful about the first impression your visual identity makes.

For instance, a dark, sober color isn’t something you might want for a fitness logo if you’re also helping people keep a balanced, fresh and healthy diet.

2. Keep your logo simple and clean

Ideally, your logo should tell a story. Maybe the origins or the philosophy of your brand. Or, maybe just your unique selling proposition.

This doesn’t mean you have to overcrowd your logo with all kinds of elements in order for people to get your message. When you try to convey too much in a single logo, it comes overly complex and difficult to recognize and replicate.

3. Avoid using outdated design trends

Imagine someone hands you a business card with a logo that looks like this:

What’s your first impression? Other than nostalgia, probably not a good one, right?

Of course, you don’t have to update your logo every time a new design trend comes along. Just make sure your logo doesn’t look like it’s stuck in the ’90s.

These are three critical aspects you should take into account when creating a logo. Now, let’s dive into our pool of fitness logo ideas and see what you can learn from each one of them.

Fitness logo design ideas for your inspiration

When you have too many ideas, just stick to the basics, even if it’s cliché

Sometimes we spend too much time brainstorming and browsing through thousands of logo ideas just to find that “perfect one.”

And, too often, the result is a complicated design that few will remember.

When this is the case, it’s better to stick to something classic that anyone can recognize as a fitness business.

Plus, you have the advantage that most free logo makers have these elements in their gallery so you won’t have to customize your design too much.

Source: GLDesigns

If you want to be compelling, point out something your audience wants

What’s that number-one thing your audience wants? Point it out, and people will remember you as that gym or that fitness instructor or that nutritionist who can help them get it.

Notice how, in a second, you know this fitness business can help you just by looking at their logo. Then, note how it brings us nicely to our next point…

Source: 99designs

Make sure your fitness logo doesn’t drive away parts of your audience

Let’s say you’re a fitness trainer, and you chose the logo below to represent your business.

Source: Design your way

It’s great for people who are looking for hardcore training. But, there are lots of people who just want to stay in shape. Your logo might tell them that you’re not a good fit for them.

Of course, if your ideal audience is into hardcore training, this could be a great strategic move. What’s important is for you to think through these considerations before you make your final decision. For example, take a look at our next point.

Make sure your logo isn’t limiting future expansion of your fitness business

Let’s say that you start out as a yoga fitness trainer, but you plan to grow your business beyond the yoga niche.

Unless you go through a complete rebranding, your logo will limit the growth of your business.

When you’re looking for design inspiration for your logo, make sure you also take into account any future plans. If you can spot them now, ahead of time, you’ll save yourself an expensive and time-consuming rebrand in the future.

Use a well-known symbol

Sometimes keeping a logo simple and clean can be most effective at showing what your brand is about.

Source: Lucidpress

Incorporate a top benefit into a classic fitness logo design

In logo design, it’s efficient to incorporate an element that people can easily recognize, such as a gear or muscles if you’re in the fitness business.

But, these elements are also a bit overused, and you might want something more creative for your logo.

Well, why not incorporate additional benefits that your brand has to offer—such as good music, for example. Now people have two reasons to choose you over the competition instead of one.

Source: Design your way

Your fitness logo doesn’t necessarily have to be related to fitness

Apple’s logo has nothing to do with phones. Nike’s logo doesn’t represent shoes, clothes or sports gear. Subway doesn’t have a sandwich in their logo.

Your fitness logo doesn’t have to be related to muscles, fit bodies or any kind of elements related to sports. It could be something as simple as two shapes that convey motion.

Source: Design your way

Use a color combination that stands out

Even if you don’t have a super creative logo layered with hidden meaning, you can still stand out from the crowd by using a powerful color combination.

Take Google, for example, or FedEx. Or, this fitness logo below.

Source: Logojoy

Think about all the different ways you’ll use your logo

A highly detailed concept might look great on a large banner.

Source: 99designs

But, how would this logo look on a small business card? Would it be as effective?

Suddenly, all those details become so small that people can’t recognize them.

Before you finalize your logo design, make sure you test it in all the different scenarios you know you’re going to use it.

Try to include a special meaning behind your logo

Let’s review a classic example for this one. FedEx uses negative space to hide an arrow that subliminally conveys speed and accuracy.

Source: Pixellogo

You, too, can use different elements in a clever way to give your logo a double meaning. For instance, here’s a clever way to incorporate the infinity symbol as a yoga fitness instructor.

Source: BrandCrowd

Incorporate a sense of motion

As a species, we seem wired to detect motion, thanks to our neural underpinnings.

And since motion is a key aspect of your business, why not include it in your fitness logo? A dynamic design attracts attention and motivates people to get more active.

Source: Design your way

Before you create your next fitness logo, do this

If you want your next logo to be something creative or to have a special meaning, you first have to understand your brand’s identity. What is the most important message you want your business to communicate?

Only after you answer this crucial question can you start looking for ideas for your next fitness logo. Otherwise, you might find some good inspiration, but it won’t represent your business. So, take your time and do your research—then try out a few ideas.

Ready to start exploring your new brand identity? Try creating a few logo variations in Lucidpress, using your brand colors.

You likely already know that a logo is an important part of any business’s branding. Not only does it make your modern real estate company stand out from the competition, but a solid logo can attract and win over new customers. That’s what we’re always aiming for, right?

Related: Real estate branding—a comprehensive guide

But, it’s tricky to design a custom logo for your real estate firm. You’ll need to think about the colors, fonts and shapes you’re using—not to mention arranging each individual element to create an impressive design.

So, we collected eight of the best real estate logos to help inspire your own.

What makes a good real estate logo?

The logo you’re creating for your real estate agency is one of the first things you’ll need to nail. But before we share some of our favorite modern real estate logos, let’s chat about what makes a logo so great.

A strong logo usually is:

• bold
• unique
• easy to understand

Yet above all, the logo you’re creating for your real estate company needs to be on-brand. There’s no use in having a bright and colorful logo if your website, social media channels and letterheads are black and white.

Your audience won’t understand it, and you won’t see the 23% average revenue increase that businesses with consistent branding experience.

(Remember, that’s the aim of a logo: to make your business stand out.)

8 awesome real estate logos to inspire your own

You don’t have to start from scratch when you’re creating your own real estate logo. Take a look at these examples, pick out the ideas or concepts you like, and find a way to work them into your custom logo.

However, we’re coming at you with a word of warning: Please don’t directly copy these logo examples. The best logos are unique, innovative and stand out from the crowd, so take these ideas and try to put your own spin on them.

1. Smith Mountain Homes

First up is this beautiful logo from Smith Mountain Homes.

You can quickly understand the type of homes they sell, right? And it’s not just because the word “mountain” features in the brand name; they’ve used graphics to signal the type of property they sell.

Granted, the design and font choices are simple—but that’s often the best way to create a memorable logo.

2. Cabo Cribs

If you’re looking to buy property in Cabo, I’ll bet Cabo Cribs’ logo catches your attention.

Similar to the real estate logo above, this design is simplistic, but it doesn’t scrimp on the essentials of a good logo. It’s easy to understand, elegant, and has a small graphic that makes it obvious they’re selling homes.

3. Williams & Williams

If you’re in the market for a luxury property, you’ll love Williams & Williams’ logo.

Take one glance at this logo and tell me what you interpret. It’s gold-themed, has elegant writing, and shows palm trees with the properties they’re managing. It ticks one huge element of a great logo: It’s perfectly on-brand for their commercial real estate company.

4. Compass

Who said a logo had to contain words?

Think of the world’s most recognizable logos. McDonald’s, Nike or Adidas will likely make their way onto that list—and none of them have a brand name in their logo.

Real estate firm Compass looks like they’ve drawn inspiration from those huge brands with their word-free logo. Although you can’t clearly see they’re selling properties, it’s a great way to make their audience stop and pay attention. After all, what are realtors for if not providing their clients with valuable guidance and direction?

5. Blue Key Property Management

I’ve included this logo concept for Blue Key Property Management here purely because it’s so simple, yet so effective.

You might’ve seen by now that many real estate logos contain property-related graphics. But instead of taking the standard route of a house, this firm opted to use keys—a factor that helps them stand out from the competition.

6. Delicious Real Estate

A simple—yet effective—way to build your real estate logo is to think about your buyer personas and their pain points. What are they looking for when they’re purchasing or renting a home from your firm?

It seems like Delicious Real Estate think it’s a reasonably-sized home. That’s why they’ve portrayed the situation their customers are usually stuck in through their logo.

7. Crown Real Estate

Remember how we mentioned real estate logos should be simple and easy to understand? Take a look at Crown Real Estate’s logo, which does exactly that while using simplistic fonts, a black-and-white color scheme, and a basic crown icon to match their brand name.

8. Live Dubai

The final logo on our list comes from Live Dubai.

Much like the other real estate logos we’ve listed, this one is simple. But, what we really love about this design is the way lettering is used to create an interesting logo that’s totally unique to their brand name.

This gives them two options: use the graphic & text together as their logo or crop the image just to use the lettered graphic.

How to create your own real estate logo

Feeling inspired and ready to start designing a new logo for your real estate company?

You don’t have to hire an expensive graphic designer to create a custom logo design. There are thousands of templates you can customize, making a DIY logo the best way to create a professional brand for your real estate business—even if you’re on a tight budget.

However, if you do have some cash to splash on a fancy real estate agency logo, hiring a graphic designer is a great way to make sure your logo is unique. …Just make sure they’re sticking with your brand guidelines.

Key takeaways

As you can see, there are tons of incredible real estate logos that can inspire your own.

Remember, the most effective logos are unique, bold and easy to understand. And while each real estate logo design we’ve listed here ticks those boxes, you’ll need to add your own spin to each design when you’re creating your own.

Ready to start exploring your new brand identity? Try creating a few logo variations in Lucidpress, using your brand colors.

Color is a big part of our world.

The colors we surround ourselves with can impact our mood, change our energy levels, invoke memories, and even influence our decisions. As you can imagine, color is a powerful player in people’s perceptions of your brand as well.

A blog post on Elle & Co. says 60% of people decide whether they’re attracted to a message based on the color alone — and color reinforces brand recognition by up to 80%.

Point is, color makes a big impact on customers.

This is why Google has reportedly tested 41 different shades of blue in its logo to see which blue performed best. The winning color, according to dozens of charts and graphs, was not too green and not too red.

“It’s interesting to see how you can change the way that people respond to the Web in ways that are not intuitive,” Google executive Marissa Meyer explained.

Color branding is about your customers

Many brands have a signature color (or colors) that makes them easily recognizable.

In many cases, it would be odd to see their logo in a different color. Can you imagine McDonald’s golden arches in a bright purple instead? What if Starbucks’ logo wasn’t green & white, Pepsi’s logo wasn’t blue & red, and Target’s wasn’t red all around?

When we see that bubblegum-pink writing, we know it’s Barbie — and when we see the tiny blue f, we know it’s Facebook.

But, it’s not just the logo. As an article on SpellBrand suggests, there are many ways to incorporate color into your branding:

• advertising
• business cards
• employee uniforms
• interior design at retail locations (and in the office)
• letterhead
• marketing materials
• product packaging
• signage
• social media graphics
• website

According to Aprimo, marketing activities should focus on customers to create positive experiences each time they interact with your brand. Color will be part of those interactions, so deciding which color to use often comes down to who your customers are.

Emma Foley, design lead at Clique Studios, says, “As much as you might want them to, everyone is not going to be your audience. So, if you focus in and build a strong community of people you want to talk to, you can do a lot with using color as the first interaction with those people.”

For example, color has the power to make your website stand out among similar websites.

“One of your website visitors might think, ‘They are using this hot pink in a world of traditional blue and that’s really interesting. I want to learn more about this company’,” Emma explains.

She says there are really two schools of thought about how companies should manage color: 1) this is our brand color so we have to use it or 2) play around with colors because the rest of the brand is strong.

Before deciding which color makes sense for your brand, it’s important to take a step back and think about what colors mean.

What is color psychology?

Simply put, color psychology is the study of colors and their impact on human behavior. Sometimes color can influence unexpected things like our sense of taste. According to Neil Patel, “Color is 85% of the reason you purchased a specific product.” Sounds like good enough reason to implement a couple color psychology tricks into your own branding efforts.

However, keep in mind that our feelings about certain colors are personal and depend on both life experience and culture. For example, while the color white is used in the Western world to represent purity & innocence, in Eastern countries white is a symbol of death & mourning.

Types of colors and their impact on human behavior

The color wheel features two types of colors: warm tones & cool tones. Warm colors include red, orange & yellow and are associated with energy, passion & creativity. These tones are great for adding life to your designs. Cold colors include green, purple & blue and have a calming, soothing effect on people. (This is why you never see flashy colors in hospitals and waiting rooms.)

There’s another type of color which isn’t represented on the traditional color wheel: neutral tones. Neutral tones include white, grey & brown. In design, these colors are mostly used for backgrounds. To make those colors stand out more, you can add texture to your artwork.

Color psychology in branding

The concept of branding is based on the belief that colors (and other design choices) can evoke specific reactions & feelings. Despite the ubiquitous use of color in marketing, there’s not enough research to back up every assumption. However, over the years, marketers & designers have identified patterns that appear to influence customers’ purchase decisions.

If chosen correctly, your color palette can influence how customers feel about your brand.

Red

Source: Unsplash

The color red is associated with intensity, emotion, and a sense of urgency. It can invoke feelings of active energy, passion, trust, love, intensity, aggression, excitement and appetite.

McDonald’s uses red to provoke the appetite and a feeling of urgency. (Good move for a fast-food chain.)

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use red: McDonald’s, Audi, Coca-Cola, CNN, Lego, Canon, KFC, TLC, ESPN, Target, Levi’s, Virgin and Netflix.

Blue

Source: Unsplash

While there are many shades of blue that mean different things, blue is generally associated with depth and stability. It’s associated with conservative judgment, confidence, truth, order and understanding.

Invoking feelings of peacefulness & reliability, blue is the favorite color of tech & finance companies. For example, look at Facebook and Twitter. Those two companies use different shades of blue to portray trustworthiness & authority.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use blue: United Airlines, Chase Bank, Dell, Ford, General Electric, Twitter, Oreo, Lowe’s, AT&T and Samsung.

Yellow

Source: Unsplash

Yellow is a bright & vivid color associated with positive energy, sunshine and freshness. It can make people feel alive, energetic, cheerful and optimistic. In branding, yellow tends to grab attention as a very bright color that stands out. Snapchat uses yellow to appeal to younger generations and make their experience light & fun.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use yellow: Subway, Shell, Post-it, Lay’s, Denny’s, Hertz and Snapchat.

Beige & ivory

Source: Unsplash

While it’s not used too often, beige and ivory can invoke a feeling of simplicity, calm and pleasant stability.

Tilemark is a great example of a brand that uses beige & ivory.

Source: Tilemark

Gray

Source: Unsplash

Gray is associated with security, reliability, dignity, practicality, conservative judgment, calm and intelligence.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use gray: Wikipedia, Swarovski, Lexus and Nissan.

Green

Source: Unsplash

The color green is associated with the harmony of nature, the environment and renewal. When looking at green, people often feel calm, relaxed, trusting, peaceful, hopeful and healthy.

Green is all about nature and is used by bio-friendly, organic and sustainable brands. If you want to portray your services as environmentally safe, green is your color of choice.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use green: Holiday Inn, Starbucks, Animal Planet, Spotify, Land Rover, John Deere, Tropicana, Tic Tac and Hulu.

Purple

Source: Unsplash

Purple is symbolic of luxury, royalty, glamour, power, nostalgia, romance, introspection, nobility, spirituality and wisdom. It also stimulates creativity and problem-solving.

For centuries, purple has been the color of royalty. (Before the modern age, purple dyes and fabrics were both expensive and rare.) With its history, it’s not surprising that companies use purple to portray their brands as expensive & luxurious.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use purple: Yahoo, Marketo, FedEx, Syfy, Taco Bell, Purplebricks, Purple, Hallmark and Wonka.

Orange

Source: Unsplash

The color orange is associated with happiness, sunshine, citrus and the tropics. Orange is a playful color that makes people feel enthusiastic, creative and determined. It stimulates mental activity and supports energy, vibrancy and warmth.

Orange can be also associated with fire, combining the warmth of red with the happy brilliance of yellow. Orange tends to communicate energy & optimism. Usually, orange is associated with youth and creativity. If you want to look adventurous & competitive, orange is your color!

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use orange: The Home Depot, Nickelodeon, Firefox, Izze, Amazon, Fanta, Payless and Harley Davidson.

White

Source: Unsplash

White symbolizes cleanliness, peace, innocence, youth, simplicity, purity and safety. As a reminder that colors mean different things in different cultures, it’s interesting to note that white carries connotations of death and mourning in many Asian cultures.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use white: The North Face, Tesla and Vans.

Black

Source: Unsplash

Black symbolizes luxury and the mystery of the night. It’s bold, serious, powerful, elegant, wealthy, stylish and sophisticated.

Like red, black can convey both positive & negative emotions. It can invoke associations of power & minimalism, or on the other hand, it can portray something dangerous or gloomy. Depending on the context, its meaning can differ. In branding, however, black usually comes across as exclusive & luxurious.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use black: Chanel, Nike, Adidas, Louis Vuitton, Prada, Puma and Lamborghini.

Pink

Source: Unsplash

Pink symbolizes love, romance, tenderness, caring, sweetness, warmth and youthful fun.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use pink: Barbie, Baskin Robbins, T-Mobile, Lyft, LG and PINK.

Brown

Source: Unsplash

Brown is associated with the earth, reliability, support, dependability, the outdoors, simplicity, endurance and support.

Made in Lucidpress

Brands that use brown: UPS, Hershey’s, M&Ms, Gloria Jean’s Coffee and Cracker Barrel.

Key takeaway

While color has the power to affect people’s moods, choosing your brand colors shouldn’t be based on emotional response alone. As Emma Foley of Clinique says, “There’s so much more that goes into a brand than a logo and color.” Once you understand your brand’s customers and values, you can create a brand color palette that speaks to them.

Ready to start testing your new brand identity? Try creating a few logo variations in Lucidpress, using your brand colors.

Someone who cares.

When it comes down to life essentials, that’s all us humans need besides food, water, and shelter.

Our need for connection is wired into our brain because our own survival depends on it. As a result, we respond to and connect with other people who satisfy this fundamental need of ours.

Related: Brand archetypes — Which of these 12 brand archetypes fit your brand?

There’s a big opportunity for brands to differentiate themselves not by being “the best” or “the first”, but the ones who care the most.

Is your company’s mission driven by the desire to help and support others?

If this your dominant characteristic, consider embracing the caregiver brand archetype. As the examples below reveal, there’s a lot you can achieve by growing into this narrative.

Does your brand fit the caregiver archetype?

As customers, we have an inevitable tendency to personify brands. This goes to show just how strong our need for emotional connection is.

If your brand personality already favors building relationships instead of coldly communicating product features, then you are already on track to become a caregiver.

Specifically, the characteristics of the caregiver archetype include:

• Sustained focus on the customers’ needs that’s visible throughout the company
• A proclivity for volunteering time, energy, and resources to assisting customers
• The ability to notice when someone needs help and the ability to provide it
• A responsible and benevolent way of conducting business
• A constructive approach to community involvement
• A track record of dependability and being supportive of others.

Traditionally, these traits have been associated with NGOs, but there are several commercial brands that are true caregivers too.

In recent years, an increasing number of companies have grown based on these exact features. This strong foundation allowed them to develop a strong, recognizable brand with clarity and confidence.

The caregiver archetype examples below show exactly how they achieved this.

Truthful brand positioning has a ripple effect

We long for loving, secure relationships not only with people, but with other entities we interact. The more we depend on a company — for our water, safe travels or most sensitive data, the more we need to be able to trust it.

Organisations that embrace the caregiver archetype inspire trust due to their brand mission to help, protect, and care for others in ways they cannot do so themselves.

For example, Johnson & Johnson articulate mission clearly on their about page: “130 Years of Caring”.

In 2018, Johnson’s Baby (no affiliation with J&J) launched a campaign called “Choose gentle” that states their commitment to a similar idea:

“We believe in the immense, transformative power of gentle. Gentle is something the world can’t ever have too much of. #ChooseGentle”

P&G taps into similar values to articulate their mission:

“We will provide branded products and services of superior quality and value that improve the lives of the world’s consumers, now and for generations to come.”

Another brand from the same industry, Honest, tells their story along the same lines:

“Our story began with a simple desire: to make the right choices for our families. We were parents in search of safe options, but unsure of where to turn. We needed one brand that we could go to for trusted products and information. And when we couldn’t find what we were looking for — and realized we weren’t alone — the idea for Honest was born.”

As you can notice, brands that fit the caregiver archetype seek to inspire others to act on the same nurturing tendencies. They do so by acting on their brand values and operating from a posture of:

• Generosity
• Humility
• Empathy
• Compassion
• Trust
• Kindness
• Openness
• Optimism
• Transparency
• Integrity

NGOs are the best equipped to harness the power of this brand archetype in a significant, impactful way.

Unicef’s USP — “For every child” — speaks to their dedication of working to improve the wellbeing of children around the world.

“We campaign for a world where human rights are enjoyed by all” states Amnesty International, pointing to the bigger picture and inspiring others to join their pursuit.

The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has a similar position dedicated to selfless service:

“All Lives Have Equal Valuewe are impatient optimists working to reduce inequity”

For a caregiving brand, the core strategy is to do things for others. This can mean facilitating shared experiences or aligning people around common ideals. Also, this brand archetype excels at creating a feeling of belonging to something greater than oneself.

In this context, you can also achieve more clarity by assign a role for your brand to play in the market or in the community. You can be:

• An altruist
• A nurturer
• An advocate
• A helper
• A supporter
• Or even a mentor.

Developing your caregiver features can prove especially powerful for new brands seeking to build a recognizable personality. It can be equally helpful to companies trying to break out of their industry and reach a wider audience.

Being a constantly nurturing, supportive company creates a strong, consistent brand that customers are excited to endorse. That’s because these characteristics appeal to the universal values deeply embedded into our humanity.

Caregiver brands are good for everyone

When your company embodies the caregiver archetype, it:

• Fosters authentic connections between the brand and its customers and partners
• Builds loyalty among customers, reducing churn, and cultivating a constant interest in your products and services
• Empowers vocal advocates that carry your message forward and generates word-of-mouth promotion
• Lowers your cost of acquisition based on empathy and affinity for your brand
• Creates long-term value by helping people make better choices and care about others.

To achieve these goals, pay attention to your brand voice. The caregiver is usually considerate, thoughtful, kind, positive, calm, and supportive. Can you identify these features in your communication?

Next, evaluate your visual identity. Do your color scheme, font choices, and layouts create experiences that reflect kindness and gentle understanding?

For example, Headspace — “Your guide to health and happiness” — breathes positivity into their users’ lives through their website, app, and all channels they use for communication.

As you can see, their branding is remarkably consistent, albeit adapted to each channel’s specific communication style.

Another equally captivating example is Wistia, whose brand positioning empowers their customers to thrive: “Create, host, share, and measure your videos like the human you are. ?”.

Their branding is colorful but in a gentle, inviting way that combines feelings of calm and excitement in a way that feels healthy and balanced.

Wistia has also been recognized for their exceptional customer service which goes to strengthen their brand’s focus on helping others succeed.

Loyal followers will amplify your mission

Being a caregiver brand gives your customers a competitive advantage that’s associated with a powerful positive message.

Whether through shows kindness or empowering people to care for themselves, you will most likely attract people who value connection.

Those who have a lot of responsibility will naturally gravitate towards your brand as their tendency to look after other people is stronger.

If you make these customers feel loved, safe, taken care of, they will soon become thankful for your support. Nurturing that feeling of “we’re in this together” can lead to them becoming strong advocates for your mission who carry your message to their own circles of influence.

For example, The Salvation Army is top of mind for those who want to extend a helping hand to people across the world. When it comes to donations, they are also the first to come to mind.

Volvo launched in early 2019 the E.V.A. initiative which entailed sharing over 40 years of their own safety research so other car manufacturers can provide an equal level of safety for both men and women (who are at a disadvantage).

To make it easier for your followers to share your call to action, make sure you provide them with up to date, eye-catching brand assets they can use on their own channels.

Visuals always work best, especially when you combine them with a clear and compelling message. AVAAZ does a great job at this:

Ready to embrace the caregiver brand archetype and make the most of your resources to help others?

Start by unifying your communication around a clear set of values that will guide your strategy. Choose the role you want your brand to play in your community. Give it a voice, using words, visual assets, text and/or audio, and start attracting more loyal customers and supporters.

Strengthening your relationship with them puts you on a growth path that greatly benefits from the compound effect these acts of kindness have on everyone’s lives.

Is it time to update or refresh your brand’s identity? Learn more in our free ebook: How and why to rebrand your company

The main goal of your brand, as it is of any brand, is to make a profit and perhaps change some lives in the process.

But what if we said that every brand – whether intentional or not – has an underlying brand personality? And that this personality, sometimes referred to as a brand archetype, can actually be used to build deeper connections and drive more sales?

Related: Brand archetypes — Which of these 12 brand archetypes fit your brand?

In this post, we’ll discuss the concept of brand archetypes. We’ll then highlight one archetype in particular – the magician.

Finally, we’ll show you how Lucidpress can help you to maintain a consistent brand personality across all of your campaigns and platforms. Let’s begin!

Why your brand archetype matters

The personality traits and characteristics of the magician archetype are well and good, but what does this matter to your brand?

It helps if you think of your brand as your company’s personality.

How do you want customers, potential customers, investors, and competitors to see you?

This is where the brand archetype comes in.

Humans like to connect with other humans. An archetype, then, helps your brand to appear more human. And this connection can lead to deeper, more fulfilling relationships.

Even further, this humanness can lead to more sales and higher profits.

The magician brand archetype

As the name suggests, the magician archetype is mysterious and somewhat elusive. They’re also incredibly persuasive and driven by the need to make positive change.

The magician archetype is far from the only one that exists, though. There are twelve brand archetypes in total. They are the:

1. Caregiver.

2. Creator.

3. Entertainer.

4. Explorer.

5. Girl/guy next door.

6. Hero.

7. Innocent.

8. Lover.

9. Magician.

10. Maverick.

11. Royalty.

12. Sage.

And while we’d love to dig deep into each one, we’ll be focusing on just one of these today: the magician.

A brand with the magician archetype is one that has lofty goals, but that also has the power and drive to attain those goals.

There are those who may say that the magician can even be a manipulator, but as with all things, balance is key.

Are you in need of brand inspiration? Let’s take a look at just three of popular brands with the magician archetype.

Example: Tesla

When you think of mystery and innovation, which brand comes to mind? For us, it’s Tesla.

Tesla is the American automotive and energy company owned by Elon Musk. Their goal? To change the world.

In fact, innovation and positive change seems to drive everything they do.

From mock-ups of their next vehicle model to their Instagram feed, Tesla is all about making an impact.

Example: Disney

When it comes to creating magical moments, who does it better than Disney?

Whether you’re watching their movies, cruising the seven seas on their liners, or strolling through their parks and chatting with your favorite characters come to life — Disney makes the impossible, possible.

Example: Red Bull

The owner of Red Bull doesn’t have plans to go to Mars (that we know of, anyway!), and they don’t own and operate the happiest place on Earth. But where Red Bull gets it right is in it’s lofty approach to brand marketing.

The brand’s slogan is simple, but explicit: “Red Bull gives you wings!”

In essence, they claim their drink is the magic potion that will help you to achieve your goals and even make a dream come true.

Which businesses would benefit from the archetype

You may have aggressive goals, and perhaps you even hope to change the world. But that’s not all it takes to become a standout brand that falls under the magician archetype.

Just as with the other archetypes, there are those that would benefit more from this angle. They include brands that:

• Create/promote a transformative experience.
• Offers clarity and knowledge.
• Design and sell contemporary, new-age products.
• Have a spiritual or conciousness-expanding angle.

That’s not to say that you can’t incorporate bits of the magician archetype into your overall brand strategy. But this is definitely not an archetype for the weak at heart!

How Lucidpress can help you to design your brand

A consistent brand design is crucial, but also difficult to achieve in reality.

That’s where Lucidpress can help.

Lucidpress is an online print and digital software program that helps you achieve your brand goals. How? Well, one way is with our brand management software.

As a brand templating platform, Lucidpress is a great way to help your marketing team stay on brand and generate the exact marketing content you need.

First and foremost, Lucidpress offers you one centralized location to store and manage all of your digital brand files. From anywhere in the world, your team members can access anything they need.

But Lucidpress is also a secure place to store your brand assets, including logos, fonts, and templates.

With Lucidpress, you don’t have to worry about finding the latest version of a logo on your computer, or uploading your brand-approved font for each digital design task. Just upload them once, and you’re all set!

And finally, Lucidpress enables you to design and distribute your branded content across numerous channels.

The drag-and-drop editor makes it easy to build brand templates, and you can then share with your team – or the world – with just a few clicks.

So, what are you waiting for? It’s time to bring your brand to life with the help of Lucidpress.

Your brand is one of your company’s most powerful assets. It encapsulates everything you want people to know about the business—what you value, what you stand for, and what you’re trying to do.

Related: 6 important branding tips to keep in mind when going global

Which is why brand extension can be such a stressful process. Using the strength of your brand to enter a new market gives you a headstart that new companies can’t match.

Understanding how to extend your brand is crucial for engaging markets. Before you launch a new product or adopt a new strategy, you’ll need to think about a few things.

Before we get into those things, though, let’s agree on a brand extension definition.

What is brand extension?

Brand extension is the use of an existing brand name and logo on a new product. The original brand identity is called the parent brand, and the new products are called spin-offs. Companies use this strategy to capitalize on the brand equity of their existing brand to launch new products and enter new markets.

Let’s look at Apple. For 25 years, the company built personal computers. And they were good at it. That’s what they were known for—powerful, attractive computers that were easy to use.

And then they entered an entirely new industry: personal music devices. The iPod was an immediate and immense success. We’ll talk about how Apple pulled this off in a bit. First, let’s talk about why it was a good idea.

Why brand extension is so powerful

Apple had built a very strong brand over 25 years of making personal computers. Why would they risk diluting that brand by entering a new industry? The stakes are high, and the chance of failure keeps many business owners from even considering a big move like this one.

But Apple knew that building on their brand would be immeasurably valuable if they did it right.

Companies spend years and millions of dollars solidifying their brand. Marketing campaigns, social media interactions, advertising, public relations, and product development all contribute to a brand’s strength.

Why? Because consumers recognize and value brands. People are more likely to buy products from brands they know, whether they feel explicit brand loyalty or not.

This type of brand recognition means that the presence of a strong parent brand—like Apple—can significantly boost the sales of new products. Introducing a completely new product is hard. It’s much easier when that product is backed by a recognizable brand.

But sometimes his type of thinking can get companies into trouble.

Where brand extension goes wrong

Not every brand extension builds on a strong brand to create huge sales. Let’s look at an entertaining brand extension failure: Zippo Fragrances.

Zippo is a very strong brand in the world of cigarette lighters. Their name, design, and even the sound of the product is very distinctive. If you see a Zippo, you know it. Can you name another brand of non-disposable lighter? Probably not.

This is a strong brand. Zippo wanted to use their brand equity to enter a new field.

Why they picked perfumery is anyone’s guess.

The company actually used some good brand extension tactics. They kept the brand name and even used their distinctive lighter design for the perfume and cologne bottles.

But absolutely no one thinks of Zippo when they think of perfumery. Instead of seeing the brand and thinking, “I trust Zippo,” people think “Why would Zippo make a cologne?” That’s a failed brand extension.

Zippo missed a crucial ingredient of the brand extension recipe.

How to get it right

If you’re thinking about extending your brand, it’s worth looking at some recent successes. Look at Tesla’s expansion into trucking, for example. O, Oprah Winfrey’s magazine. Tootsie Pops. Virgin Airlines (and dozens of other Virgin-branded forays).

What do these brand extensions have in common? Above all, they play to the parent brand’s strengths. Tesla already knows how to build great vehicles. Oprah knows how to tell stories that capture the hearts and minds of her audience. Tootsie Roll knows how to make a candy that people love. Virgin knows customer service better than almost anyone.

Successful brand extension strategies place the new product as a logical extension of previous ones. That’s why Zippo perfume isn’t a household name. Everyone knows Zippo for their lighters. Their brand equity didn’t transfer to their beauty products.

Apple knew their brand equity would transfer to the iPod because their brand was already adjacent to the music device industry.

Be careful with brand extensions to reap their rewards

Brand extensions can be hugely valuable. But when used without enough forethought, they can also be disastrous.

It’s crucial to give any potential brand extension a great deal of thought. If you do decide to extend your brand, make sure to apply your branding consistently to take advantage of the loyalty that you’ve been building for years.

Don’t be like Zippo. Be like Apple.

How can brands stay competitive in today’s design-centric world? Explore the rise of the design democracy, then learn how your organization can ride it to the top.

Here’s a promise: by the end of this article you’ll know exactly what a brand promise is and you’ll have plenty of examples that will help you have your own in a matter of minutes.

And there’s something more.

Related: An 8-step brand development strategy

Are you ever a bit confused about some of the marketing jargon out there?

Maybe you’re wondering:

• Is a brand promise the same thing as a tagline?
• Is it a word? Is it a phrase? Is it a 30-second pitch?
• Is there a difference between a brand promise and a unique value proposition?

I understand—everyone is using these terms with their own interpretation, right?

Fortunately, by the end of this article, everything will be clear. Promise.

Ready? Let’s dive right in!

What is a brand promise?

What’s the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Las Vegas? Was it something related to gambling, poker, blackjack, casinos or nightlife?

What’s the first thing you think about when I say Volvo? Was it something related to safety?

What’s the first thought you have when I say Mercedes? Was it something about quality and luxury?

You see, a brand promise is your perception of how you feel about a brand.

A brand promise is not a tagline.

Do you know the tagline of Mercedes or Volvo?

Probably not, right? But you know what their promise is.

You know that they promise you a luxury car (Mercedes) or a safe car (Volvo).

And there’s one more important thing. You know that they can keep their promises.

But, this is starting to sound like a unique value proposition, right? You promise something that only you have, and people will remember you. Or… is it?

Let’s see.

A brand promise is not a unique value proposition (but it incorporates one).

A unique value proposition (or a unique selling point) basically says:

1. What you do
2. Who you serve (or sell to)
3. How you solve your customer’s needs
4. And how you’re different.

Here are a couple of examples:

For {target} who {statement of the need or opportunity}, {Name} is {product category} that {statement of benefit}.

For content marketing companies who always have tight deadlines, ContentBoost is the content creation software which helps teams produce long-form articles, blog posts and ebooks on high-speed because it lets you build on each other’s ideas.

We help X do Y doing Z

We help content creation teams write better and faster by dragging and dropping research into documents.

We do X, but the difference is {primary differentiator}

We help content teams put all their content together, but the difference is that writers are also able to pull from that database and add to a library of bite-sized research.

Is this enough to have a strong brand promise? Let’s do a quick imagination exercise.

You and I don’t know each other.

But let’s say we randomly meet at an event, and I tell you I recently started a company that creates the safest cars on the road ever — even better than Volvo.

Basically, let’s say I just tell you my unique value proposition. A simple statement that says what my company does for who and how we’re different.

Would you believe me? Probably not, right? You’ve just met me.

And if someone asked you half a year later what the top 3 safest car brands are, would you mention my company?

There’s probably 0 chance you have that instant association between my company and your safety. This is why a unique selling point is different than a brand promise.

So what is, in fact, a brand promise?

There are two kinds of brand promises: an implied one and an explicit one

For instance, an element of every airline company’s brand promise is that they will get you to your destination safely. You don’t have to promise that any more. It’s an obvious (implied) brand promise.

Let’s take another example.

A restaurant’s implied brand promise will be that they provide great food with great service. No one comes to a restaurant expecting an awful customer experience, right?

But, there are also other elements that are explicitly stated.

For instance, when FedEx first started out, they promised you that they “will get your package to you by 10:30 am the next day.”

This is a promise that 1) was different from what everyone else had, and 2) was also something people might not expect, so they stated it explicitly.

Here’s the most simple, short and down-to-earth brand promise definition:

A brand promise is what you instantly KNOW and FEEL about a brand.

But how do you create such a lasting brand purpose or promise? How do you get people to instantly associate your brand with a certain quality like safety, quality, luxury, or whatever you want?

How do you move people from being total strangers to trusting your brand?

You will see that a brand promise is, in fact, more like a process — and it’s part of the whole branding strategy and brand identity.

Let’s see what the essential elements you should take into consideration are if you want to create an effective brand purpose that people will remember.

1) Start with a promise that you would tell a friend

If you want people to remember something about your brand, it first must be clear for you what that something is.

And the way you do that is by actually telling it to a friend or an ideal customer.

Let’s do a short exercise that will help you create a first draft of your brand promise.

Imagine you’re drinking a coffee with your core customer. He is right in front of you, and he’s the best buyer in the world:

• He’s already researching the kind of products/services you sell
• He has the money
• He’s willing to spend it
• He isn’t overly skeptic
• He’s already made similar purchases in the past

And now, he is just waiting for a reason to buy something from you.

What do you promise him in exchange for his hard-earned money?

It all boils down to this:

If you give me X amount of money I PROMISE I will give you _____ {this product / service} which will help you do / achieve / become _____ {introduce benefits} better than ____ {other services/products} because ____ {why you’re unique}.

Let’s say you’re the marketing manager or the CMO of an electronic e-commerce business.

Here’s an example of what your brand promise can be:

If you give me $1000, I promise I will give you this super-fast, octa-core laptop which will help you simultaneously work on however many engineering programs you want (without buffering or crashing).

What makes us unique is that we’re the only ones who use quantum computing, and we’re also the only ones who offer 10 years’ guarantee on every single product you buy from us.

You see, the brand promise isn’t a tagline. It isn’t “Just do it” or “Think different.” Because that’s not what you would say to a person face-to-face.

And this doesn’t have to be limited to a single product or service. It can be also adapted to a more general promise.

Let’s take the example above and apply it to the company level.

If you choose to do business with us, I promise you’ll never have to suffer from having a dysfunctional device, whether it’s a phone, laptop or any other electronic device.

This is because we’re the only ones who have developed special partnerships with all our suppliers, and we’re giving you not just a 10-year guarantee for almost any product you get from us, but free full service and support for the period your device isn’t functioning properly.

But is that all? This is the brand promise?

What if someone else comes along and says the same thing — or what if you don’t have something so unique to begin with?

What if, for instance, you want to create a brand promise for a restaurant, but you don’t have any special dishes?

This is how you start developing a more effective brand promise.

If you want people to remember it and instantly associate the quality you want — like great customer service, for instance — you also need the next elements.

2) Create a mental movie in people’s minds by making everything ultra-specific

One day, a friend of mine decided to do a little experiment:

He randomly called about 10 local pizza shops. He said something like: “Hello, I want to come to your place with 10 friends, but one of the guys insists on going to another restaurant. I need your help to convince him: why is your pizza better?”

Here are just some of the responses he got.

Response #1: (Annoyed) “Hmm… Not sure. It’s your call.”

That’s how not to make a promise…

Response #2: “We use high-quality ingredients.”

This sounds good, but what does quality mean? Plus, do you know anyone who says they don’t use high-quality materials, no matter what they’re selling?

You see, this is an implied brand promise. Quality, great customer service, great food, etc.

You don’t go to a restaurant and expect bad food, right?

So, there must be a better way to make a brand promise. Let’s look at another response my friend got.

(Full disclosure: the person who answered this time was actually the owner of the restaurant.)

Response #3: “Oh, well, we use high-quality ingredients. For instance, our sauce and flour are made with true Italian ingredients.

Take the cheese, too. It’s not just cow-milk mozzarella. Instead, we use a buffalo-milk mozzarella.

And there’s also the sauce. Sir, we don’t use pre-prepared sauce. We use genuine San Marzano tomatoes right from Italy!

We’ve been handcrafting pizza for 5 generations. With every crispy bite you take, you taste 90 years of pizza-baking mastery!”

You see, the promise is really simple: You get tasty, Italian pizza with high-quality, authentic ingredients, and you can be sure it’s good because they’ve been perfecting it for generations.

See how it all changes when you actually put a picture in people’s heads about what those high-quality ingredients mean or what experience means?

Now, is this enough to earn a special place in people’s minds?

Well, it is a good start. But if you really want to get people to remember your brand promise, you need to apply element number three from our list.

3) Repeat it over and over again. Across all the channels.

By now, you’ve created the first draft of your brand promise.

You know what to promise if you’re face-to-face with your ideal client.

You also made it ultra-specific, and you can give people all the details on how you’re different and why they should choose you.

But, there are so many other brands that try to do the same. How do you get through the noise and get people to remember you?

Here is the simplest but most powerful thing you can do:

Repeat it as many times as you can. And keep it consistent across every communication channel you use.

Why is this so efficient?

Well, because each time you repeat your brand promise, you deliver it to people who might not have noticed it previously.

There’s more.

With each repetition of your core message, your audience gets more familiar with your brand, products & services, and company.

This leads to familiarity, to that feeling of acceptance.

Once people begin to accept your brand, and your promise, they also begin trusting you.

Ultimately, this opens the door to more sales with less resistance.

The bottom line is this: no matter how strong, unique or specific your brand promise might be, people won’t remember it unless you repeat it often.

How do you repeat a brand promise without annoying people? Here’s how.

4) Use the power of suggestion to make your brand promise memorable

How do you suggest to people what you want them to remember?

Metaphors, comparisons, analogies and stories are some of the most powerful persuasion techniques you can use. They’re like a backdoor to the human mind (see what I did here?), which make your ideas stick faster and longer than a rational explanation or affirmation.

By employing these little techniques, you can repeat your brand promise without annoying your audience.

For instance, here’s a visual metaphor used by Viagra when it began selling on Amazon.

As… bold as that was, you can still go a step further. Here’s a mind-blowing example.

Red Bull’s promise is that it gives you the energy to achieve whatever you want. It will help you do extraordinary stuff because it increases your performance, concentration, reaction speed, vigilance, etc. It empowers you to go beyond limits, right?

So, how could they express this better than a jump from the stratosphere?

During a 9-minute fall, Felix Baumgartner set records for both the height of the jump and the speed of descent (830 mph!).

Who gave wings to Felix? Red Bull — the event organizer and company that made all this possible.

The bottom line is this: let people get the moral of the story. This is how you build that instant association between a certain attribute and a brand.

5) Keep your promises. Even in the little details.

You know what they say: trust takes years to build, seconds to break, and forever to repair.

It’s true for human relationships, and it’s true for brands, too.

You spend a lot of money to get people to finally believe in your promise, but if you don’t pay attention to the little details, it can all fall apart.

Here are some photos I’ve taken over the years that perfectly illustrate brand promise misalignments.

For instance, let’s say you’re boarding a plane and you see this:

The implied brand promise — that they will get you safely to your destination — is gone. In an instant.

It’s possible the plane was perfectly safe and the window wasn’t a threat to anyone’s safety, but the message communicated by this photo screams anything but.

Or, here’s a sign that I saw posted by the side of the road:

They might have a class “A” office, but they definitely get an F for design.

Based on this sign, would you truly believe they have an impressive office?

Or, let’s say you’re waiting in a doctor’s examining room and you see this:

Is this where a doctor should keep his thermometer sleeves?

I’m pretty sure that wasn’t a used cup — but if you think about it, the implied brand promise of any company is (or should be) attention to detail, clean supplies, etc. By failing to pick up on that, you could be sending harmful messages about your brand promise without even knowing it.

Now, let’s see a positive example of a brand promise.

FedEx’s core promise is that they will go to great lengths to deliver your package on time. And they have stories to prove that. For instance, a driver called Mike O’Donal single-handedly salvaged Christmas for one of his customers.

The customer found out just a few days before the holiday that he sent the package to the wrong address, and it didn’t reach its destination.

The package contained the only Christmas gift the customer could afford to give her daughter, and now it was in someone else’s hands.

So, the driver tried to retrieve the package. When the person at that address denied receiving it, O’Donal decided to play Santa Claus.

He purchased a duplicate gift out of his own pocket in time for Christmas Eve.

Through his actions, O’Donal did more than just replace a gift — he earned the customer’s gratitude and loyalty.

A quick recap on how to create a brand promise that sticks in people’s minds

A brand promise is like the moral of the story. Just like in the fairy tales, the moral was rarely directly stated or called out, but it’s implied through every aspect of the story.

For instance, nowhere in Pinocchio does it say that lying makes you look bad — but in the end, that’s the message we take with us.

So, here are the most important elements of a successful brand promise:

1. Tell your brand promise as you would tell it to your ideal customer face-to-face.
2. Describe your promise in detail. What does “quality” actually mean?
3. Repeat it across all the channels. Repetition works.
4. Use the power of suggestion: start with analogies, comparisons & metaphors.
5. Make sure you keep your promises, even when it comes to the little things.

Ready to start building your brand? Learn about the 10 assets you need to effectively manage a brand online in our free ebook.

According to Bain and Company, the luxury goods market is set to double in size from 2020 to 2030, reaching over $617 billion by 2030.

From watches to condos, business is booming. Even discount retailers like Target partner with designers like RHODE to attract customers shopping for high fashion at affordable prices.

But what does it take to build a luxury brand? What makes good luxury branding stand out? Here you’ll find everything you need to know about building a luxury brand from the ground up. 

Let’s get started, shall we?

What is a luxury brand?

The definition of a luxury brand can change depending on the type of brand you’re describing.

In consumer goods, it’s Louis Vuitton and expensive couture fashion. In hospitality, bespoke travel experiences in exclusive or boutique locations would be considered luxury.

[Some of today’s most recognizeable luxury brands]

According to THAT Agency, five factors clearly define a luxury brand:

• Price
• Quality
• Design
• Meaning
• Rarity
• Service

Ultimately, consumer perception plays a huge role in elevating luxury brands above others. People associate luxury brands with higher prices, higher quality, rarity, and a sense of exclusivity.  

Take Louis Vuitton, for example. Since 1854, the French brand has consistently worked to perfect their luxury brand. Today, they stand out for several reasons:

• The company invests in collaborations with a variety of artists, influencers, and celebrities without diluting the brand – like the above collab with Japanese artist Yayoi Kusama.
• Regardless of the artist collaboration or Creative Director at the helm, LV maintains a consistent brand identity.
• The parent company of Louis Vuitton, LVMH, also owns a slew of other luxury brands, giving them a ton of experience in the art of luxury branding.

How to build a luxury brand

Ready to learn how to build a luxury brand from scratch? We’ve got you covered.

The brand leadership experts at Martin Roll suggest a five-step framework to build a strong luxury brand:

Get specific about who you’re targeting. 

There’s a niche audience out there that cares about your brand/product/mission. Figure out exactly who they are, and focus on one audience persona when you’re getting started. After your brand is well-established, broaden your definition of an ideal customer.

Do things differently. 

Differentiation is a key focus for emerging brands. Narrow down what makes your luxury brand unique? Do you specialize in custom made, bespoke products or services? Are your items handmade? Highlighting what makes you unique is essential to standing out.

Become a status symbol.

Focus on how influencers in a specific niche are using your product or service. By creating the perception that only the most discerning buy into your brand, everyone in your target market will too.

Create exclusivity. 

New luxury brands can tap into exclusivity by offering special perks to existing customers. High price tags and scarcity are other ways to employ this strategy. For example, Aston Martin combined a high price tag with scarcity when it created the Aston Martin One-77. The British car maker made a whopping total of 77 cars and sold them at $1.8M dollars each.

Consistently delivery on your brand promises

The bar for luxury brands is high. You’ll need to raise your game and keep your brand promises in every single customer interaction. Never compromise on your mission, purpose, and commitment to quality.

How to market your luxury brand

Once your luxury brand is established, it’s important to maintain a consistent brand identity through marketing.

Create a consistent brand from day one.

Start with a company style guide that gives your marketing team technical details about your brand’s look, including appropriate colors, fonts and styles. Keep in mind this is a living document that will evolve with your brand.

Make branded templates to protect brand identity.

Avoid a brand identity crisis by using brand management software like Marq. Create locked templates that keep logos from getting stretched and colors from being changed, no matter who’s working on your materials.

Engage in cause marketing and brand activism.

Cause marketing (aka brand activism) is a great way to get customers to connect to you on an emotional level. Consider your brand’s purpose and what it stands for. Are there any nonprofits or groups you can collaborate with or donate to to raise awareness?

Go all-in on SEO.

No matter how luxurious your brand is, no one will know about it if they can’t find it on Google. Invest in SEO strategies to increase visibility for your brand in the long-term.

Key takeaway

Building a strong luxury brand isn’t for the faint-hearted. With a detailed strategy and proper brand building techniques, you’re well on your way to becoming the next big thing on the luxury scene.

Need help keeping your luxury brand identity consistent? Marq has a template for that. Browse our brand template library here. 

Making sure every touchpoint — from content to sales — remains on-brand is essential. But when you have seemingly limitless decisions to make regarding a new product, marketing campaign, or anything else related to your business, it can be difficult to keep all the moving parts properly aligned.

Related: Elements of an effective brand promise

That’s where a brand positioning statement comes into play. A brand positioning statement is a helpful point of reference whenever you need to make decisions about strategy, marketing campaigns or products.

What is a positioning statement?

A brand positioning statement is a short and concise description that sums up your brand. It includes:

• Your brand promise
• Your category or market
• Your customer base (and their pain points)
• A high-level description of benefits
• Who you are

A brand positioning statement is designed to be used internally. That said, it can provide helpful context for any content being created by in-house writers, freelancers or creative agencies. And while a brand positioning statement isn’t necessarily very long, you should still dedicate a solid block of time to crafting it.

In addition to creating a positioning statement, you should also write a value proposition. A value proposition should describe the beneficial features of your product, services, strategy, or approach. It includes:

• The main benefit of your products & services
• How you resolve customer pain points

The difference between a positioning statement & value proposition

The key difference between a brand positioning statement and a value proposition lay within the who, what, when, where, how and why. In theory, each statement should answer the following questions.

Brand positioning****Value proposition Who is your brand? What are the benefits of your products and services? Who is your target audience, and what are their pain points? How does your company plan to solve (or resolve) your customers’ pain points? Which category or market does your brand fit in? How does your company benefit the customer?

In other words, a value proposition illustrates a brief overview of the benefits that the product or service provides. A positioning statement focuses more on what your brand delivers to customers and how it’s differentiated from your competition.

The importance of a positioning statement

A brand positioning statement is an internal aspect of your overall brand strategy as it defines your brand’s identity and personality. It also doubles as a guardrail to help test any potential business decisions. Some businesses choose to have more than one positioning statement, perhaps addressing different market statements or brand personas.

Ultimately, a brand positioning statement is important because it helps you keep everything consistent and in line with your brand — no matter what you’re doing. Every creative asset will be measured against your brand positioning statement, so it’s essential to take time to craft it.

How to write a brand positioning statement

If you’re ready to write a brand positioning statement, there are some essential elements for it to include. For example:

• Personality — what is your brand personality and how do you want to depict it?
• Audience — who are your audience and what are their pain points?
• Market — which market category does your brand fit into?
• Brand promise — what does your brand promise to provide customers with? What are the benefits that your brand offers?
• Evidence — what efforts do you have that you can deliver on your brand’s promise?

If you’re ready to start writing your brand positioning statement, feel free to use the following template:

For [your target market] who [the primary need of your target market], [brand name] provides [the main benefit that sets your brand apart from competitors] because [the evidence that you can deliver on your brand promise].

Most brands will adjust the template to fit their taste, like in these two examples:

• “For upscale American families, Volvo is the family automobile that offers maximum safety.”
• “Harley Davidson is the only motorcycle manufacturer that makes big, loud motorcycles for macho guys mostly in the United States who want to join a gang of cowboys in an era of decreasing personal freedom.”

The result may be short, but you can easily spend days or even weeks getting this short statement to feel just right. And remember — while your value proposition focuses on the specific benefits your customers will receive from your products, your positioning statement is about why your brand is the right one for your audience. Be sure to include the unique value you provide and how that differentiates you from your competitors.

Tips & tricks to writing a brand positioning statement

When writing and evaluating your brand positioning statement, you need to double-check to make sure the statement is going to serve its purpose.

• Will this statement inform your future marketing decisions?
• How does this statement differentiate my brand against the competition?
• Will I want to change this statement as my brand grows and changes? How often?
• Is my statement unique, yet easy to understand?

By asking yourself these important questions ahead of time, you gain the clarity and groundwork needed to write a concise, compelling statement.

Keep in mind that you won’t necessarily hit the nail directly on the head with your first draft. Once you’ve written it, go over it with a fine-tooth comb and ask yourself whether it answers all the questions mentioned above. Should you find glaring errors or gaps, you can edit and rewrite it as you see fit.

If ¬— or, rather, when — elements of your advertising & marketing change, your brand positioning statement will still inform them. You might have a new tagline or different messaging, but the same guiding principle is behind these decisions.

4 brands with strong positioning strategies

When you look at how some companies handle their branding, you can also clearly see the brand positioning statements that stand behind their advertising and creative assets. Here are some of the top brands that have strong branding – and even stronger brand positioning behind them.

Amazon

Amazon rapidly grew into an online retail brand that now dominates virtually all sectors. You can get just about everything you want from Amazon. Their audience is broad, with services offered to anyone who wants access to a large range of products all in one place — along with convenient delivery. Amazon differentiates itself from other e-commerce brands by putting its customers first, as well as being innovative and committed to operational excellence.

McDonald’s

McDonald’s offers affordable, quality food choices for families who want fast food paired with efficient customer service. They provide a consistent experience across thousands of locations worldwide, following tight standards at every location. They’re set apart from other fast food restaurants because of their determination to continually improve both service and operations.

Walt Disney World

Walt Disney World is for families (and adults!) seeking unforgettable, magical experiences. Their goal is to help people of all ages make their dreams come true, and they work hard to create and promote a fun, exciting environment. As a company, Disney has been around long enough that it now inspires nostalgia in multiple generations. There’s only one Walt Disney World, and many people have come to associate it with their childhood.

Whole Foods

Whole Foods was created and inspired by people who care about their health, as well as the environment. They provide healthy, sustainable food products, using ingredients that are closely connected to those who grow them — and to the earth. Whole Foods sets itself apart from competitors by holding itself and the food they sell to high standards so that they can always deliver on their brand promise to their customers.

Key takeaway

At the end of the day, your brand positioning statement should inform your business decisions for at least a couple years. It’s worth taking some time to write it — instead of rushing it — so you have a statement that truly sums up your brand and what it has to offer. Once you’ve written it, make sure everyone at your company can access it, use it, and find creative ways to elevate your brand.

Ready to start building your brand? Learn about the must-have templates and assets to build your brand

_

Originally published in 2018 and 2019 and updated in 2021 to reflect updated data.

_

Brand consistency is the key to earning customer trust and elevating your ROI. And alternatively, inconsistent branding dampens brand status and creates confusion in the marketplace.

In an effort to better understand how exactly brand consistency drives revenue and growth, Lucidpress surveyed over 400 brand management experts to ascertain the analytical impact of brand consistency.

Branding is crucial to every business, but it’s so much more than a few colors, nice fonts and a fancy logo. It tells people that you care about what you deliver, that you live up to what you promise, and it shows off a glimmer of your personality — after all, it’s the make-up for your public image; an identity that people can relate to.

Managed well, branding can meet customers’ expectations and drive your authority through the roof. You’ll see a surge in new customers, leads, and conversions if you do one thing to your entire brand: make it consistent.

Here’s why brand consistency is important, and four ways you can put your business in the hall of fame for excellent brands.

What is brand consistency?

To be consistent is to be reliable — and when you’re reliable, you’re also recognizable and more likely to earn new customers or repeat ones because you’re front and center.

Brand consistency is the act of delivering the same brand messaging, voice and visual elements in every graphic, and piece of content. This ensures visibility and recognition within your target audience groups, so you stay top of mind, especially when they need you most.

Why is brand consistency important?

Think about one of the world’s largest sportswear brands. You see a check and instantly think of Nike, right?

You associate Nike and their logo because they’ve been consistent with it. After all, you’ve seen their signature tick on every piece of clothing they produce.

A brand is what people will remember most about your company, so it needs to be representative, strong, consistent and instantly memorable if you want to make a lasting impression.

You want to be their go-to company: customers should feel as though they could recommend you to friends and family, or call on you when they need additional products or services. Plus, your customers expect great design and consistent branding. For today’s customers, consistent branding and good design are key components when evaluating whether or not they do business with you.

Overall, constituents from our survey estimated that if their brand was consistently maintained, they would expect to have a 10-20% increase in overall growth, which in turn offers companies the additional revenue required to hire much-needed staff members or access to technology or software they otherwise might not have.

Ultimately, brand consistency has an extensive trickle-down effect that, when implemented correctly, can boost your bottom line, brand status, and employee morale. But unfortunately, inconsistent branding jeopardizes all that.

Impact of inconsistent brand usage

When you’re building a brand, the last thing you want to do is confuse the market. Those people could be your perfect customers: ones that drive your business’s bottom line and deliver great ROI on your branding efforts.

However, not using a consistent approach to your brand could limit your chances to generate leads or sales. That’s because people buy from brands they connect with, and brands which feel authentic. It’s hard to connect with a brand that doesn’t have a consistent appearance.

Advice from brand managers on maintaining brand consistency

How to maintain brand consistency

So, you’re looking to keep your branding consistent at every stage in your customer’s journey. But how do you do that, and which elements should you focus on?

1. Set branding guidelines for your company

Branding guidelines include details about your tone of voice, preferred professional terms and general code of conduct. Every business should have one, no matter their stage in the journey to perfect branding.

But once you’ve created them, don’t let them slip.

While 85% of organizations have brand guidelines, only30% are consistently enforced… hence why these companies aren’t seeing results. [] Not only does this mean time creating them is wasted, but staff might not understand your true brand, which will make it hard to stick to.

Treat these guidelines like the core of your entire branding activity. It’s a central document that all members of staff should use when creating marketing materials or representing your company.

2. Give staff a branding masterclass

We can all relate to the feeling of sitting in an hour-long meeting which could’ve been a 15-minute email conversation. That’s the beauty of office life, right?

However, as soon as you’ve created your branding guidelines, you’ll need all members of staff to be onboard. You can do this by giving them a brand masterclass meeting, detailing everything they need to know about the business’ history, core values and tone of voice.

Once this masterclass is over, everyone will be on the same page. Store your brand guidelines centrally and remind staff to check back on this document if they’re unsure about how to represent your brand.

Say goodbye to a mismatch of marketing messages that confuse potential customers, and hello to consistent branding. Whether staff are speaking with a customer or crafting a blog post, each stage in a customer’s journey will be perfectly branded when staff understand what you’re trying to achieve.

3. Provide staff with branding resources

All staff have been given a branding masterclass and understand what your brand is about… but how can they maintain consistency if they need to create things for external use?

The answer: provide them with branding resources.

Think about the marketing material that your customers will see. Whether it’s social media graphics or whitepapers, branding resources can keep these consistent and avoid confusing potential customers.

In the same folder as your branding guidelines, provide staff with:

• Font names
• Logo variations
• Graphics
• Color palettes

You can also create branded templates to save time and keep a high level of consistency. Lucidpress offers a large assortment of free brochure templates, social media templates and more.

4. Think wider than your website

Did you know that the average revenue increase attributed to always presenting the brand consistently is 10-20%? You could see a huge uplift in revenue if you’re always referring back to brand guidelines—not just for your website.

Many businesses assume that a logo and a website are enough to put the cherry on the branding cake. They think a simple website theme is enough to give a great customer experience, but that couldn’t be further than the truth.

That’s because every stage in your customer experience should be branded in order to maintain consistency. So, think about the typical journey that your customer has. That might be:

1. Found your site on social media
2. Visited your website
3. Subscribed to your email list
4. Purchased from you

…But if your branding isn’t consistent across the first three platforms, a purchase is unlikely to happen. Remember how we said people buy from brands they feel connected with?

On social media, it’s easy to just rattle off a series of posts to make it look like you’ve been doing it for years. But remember: all communications need to be consistent. Consumers are savvy—if there’s an out-of-place tweet that doesn’t fit your brand, it’ll stand out like a sore thumb.

People will wonder what is going on if you don’t have a consistent voice. They won’t know the team behind your company (or trust them), leading to asked questions and cash spent elsewhere.

Key takeaway

Once you’ve implemented these five steps into your branding efforts, you’ll soon see a surge of results. From paying customers to feedback like, “I love everything about your brand!”, remember that consistency is key.

Stop changing your message repeatedly and losing your customers’ interest. You want them to remember your brand—not forget it.

For a real-life example of a company mastering their brand consistency, read about Club Pilates and their experience using brand templates here.

Want to know more about the power of brand consistency and the impact it has on your creative teams, brand reputation, and more? Download our 2021 state of brand consistency report and gain insight into helpful analytics and key takeaways to ensure your brand stays consistent and visible.

*Please note that while we provide insights and tangible takeaways, this survey and corresponding ebook are designed to shed light on the intricacies, theory, and data science behind brand consistency rather than provide hard-and-fast facts. Each company, and therefore branding, is bound to encounter unique obstacles relative to consistency.

You can’t really have a webinar without an audience. And in order to get an audience, you need to employ proper marketing tactics — like an effective webinar email sequence. And in order to do that quickly, efficiently and at a relatively low cost, you could probably benefit from using a webinar email template.

Sounds pretty simple, right? Right! But, first things first.

Webinars for the new normal

Simply put: webinars level the playing field.

Those who attend webinars stand to benefit from unobstructed access to field experts and information that they may not have access to otherwise. On the other hand, those who host webinars gain insight into prospective customers or qualified leads.

Though, ultimately, during times like these where our new normal largely entails remote agendas and telecommunications, webinars empower attendees and hosts to connect, learn and keep moving forward.

So, all that said, hosts need to do a little more legwork than simply hosting a webinar. In other words, you need to create an email nurture campaign like you would for any other project.

So, what can you expect to learn or read about during this article? A few things, namely:

• What to include in a webinar invitation email, along with examples of a webinar announcement template.
• What to include in the webinar post-registration email, along with an example of a webinar post-registration email template.
• What to include in the webinar follow-up email, along with an example of a webinar follow-up email template.

A few webinar email template tips and tricks

Before we get the ball rolling, let’s tackle some “need to know” pieces of information. 

First, make sure your webinar slides are completed or in the very least in an approved rough draft form. Having a hard time getting the creative juices flowing? No worries, we’ve got you covered with our helpful article about how to create an effective webinar slide.

Ready to take things to the next level and write your emails? Great! Be sure to consider and include the following tidbits when crafting up your campaign:

• The What — Also known as your webinar title. 
• The When — The time and date that your webinar is slated to occur. Be sure to include the time zone and whether or not the webinar will start exactly at a certain time. Just remember you might have some stragglers popping in at the last minute!
• The Who — Your attendees need to know who is speaking at this webinar, of course! And don’t forget to include a note about your host or sponsors. 
• The Where and How — Here’s your opportunity to include a registration link or what have you. This also includes CTAs and other buttons or links, too.
• The Why — Make sure it’s clear to attendees why they should attend this webinar and what they stand to gain and learn.
• The Little Details — To reduce errant queries or emails, relay to attendees whether or not there are any required skills (needed to attend the event), speaker or host biographies, and whether or not there will be time for a Q&A at the end of the event.

Also, whatever you do, don’t forget to include a subject line! 

Now, onto the next section.

How to create a great webinar invitation email

How often do you get to make a second-first-impression? Kind of never. So, as you craft up your webinar invitation or announcement emails, remember to:

Keep it concise

Use whatever salutation you prefer, but remember to keep it simple, sender! Ultimately, you want your webinar invitation email to be concise, inviting and approachable.

Include helpful pieces of information

So, we just told you to keep your invitation email concise, but you don’t want to be too concise because then you could leave your audience hanging. Be sure to include relevant tidbits of information about the webinar, like the ones we mentioned in the tricks and tips section above. By not including this information, you run the risk of having low registrations or not having any at all. 

Provide extra context about your presenters

Now’s the time to introduce your webinar presenters and speakers. You’ll want to include bios, headshots and so forth. Doing so can help sway participants who might be on the fence about signing up.

Make it a little flashy

You don’t want to go too crazy, but you do want to give your webinar invite email a little pizazz. Components like gifs, eye-catching images or videos can add a little bit of flash without going totally off the rails. You can easily use our webinar invite template to get started. You can even put your own custom twist on the template and send it off to your marketing team to fill in the blanks — without having to stress about anyone going hog wild with fonts or images.

Leverage frequently asked questions

No matter how hard you try, you’re going to encounter opposition from prospective webinar attendees. So, do yourself a favor by addressing the skeptics with frequently asked questions. Not only does this help build rapport, but it nurtures a sense of relatability.

Use CTA buttons

Use CTAs to balance the copy and visual content. We recommend including one at the top (or middle) and at the very bottom of the email. And remember — stick to on-brand colors and fonts, otherwise you might visually confuse your reader!

Webinar invitation email template example

Get the word out with our webinar invitation template.

How to create a memorable post-registration email

Once someone registers for the webinar, the next step is to send out a post-registration email. This helps keep the chain of communication open and helps to ensure that the participant follows through and attends the webinar.

It’s worth noting that you should send a few invitation reminder emails out — such as the day before and day of the webinar. Remember you want to drive attendance, so you can, in turn, increase your chances of attaining qualified leads.

Confirm registration

Above all else, you want to make sure that you confirm their registration for the webinar. The Internet can be an unpredictable black hole and sometimes things fall through the cracks. Don’t let your participants think your webinar and their registration was one of them.

Ask a rhetorical question

You don’t want to create a false sense of insecurity or urgency, but you do want to remind the participant that they have something important to learn and gain by attending your webinar. Not only that but it also effectively sets you up to introduce your product after the webinar in your follow-up email.

Include links

For example, you can include links that allow the participant to add the event to their calendar, invite a friend or cancel just in case something comes up that prevents them from attending.

Post-registration email template example

Keep communication flowing with our post-registration email template.

How to create an excellent webinar follow-up email

Before you send out your webinar follow-up email, we suggest creating different recipient segments based on job titles or industries. This will help you custom-fit your follow-up email messaging based on your audience’s needs and ensure your email resonates with them — instead of falling flat.

Offer your appreciation

First and foremost, remember to thank your webinar attendees for taking the time out of their day to listen in. After all, everyone likes to feel appreciated!

Address their pain point

Webinars often wind up being a great source for MQLs. So without being too pushy or going overboard with a sales pitch, try gently addressing the pain point that your webinar sought to solve. From there, you can introduce your product or service and how it helps to clear up or abate the issue.

Provide a “replay” link

A replay link keeps your webinar top of mind for attendees — and should a registrant miss the webinar altogether, it ensures your presenter’s messages and information still reach your target audiences.

Webinar follow-up template example

Make your attendees feel valued and appreciated with a little help from our webinar follow-up template.

Let the good times roll

At the end of the day, webinars are extremely effective marketing and educational tools. However, keep in mind that most webinars have a 46% attendance rate, so no matter what you want to ensure that your webinar emails are on-point, on-brand and consistent. Unsure how to create a solid email sequence without succumbing to the Doomed Wall of Text? We got you — check out any of our free email newsletter templates to get started.

Also, if you have your own webinar email tips, we’d love to hear about them! So feel free to share ‘em with us.

For help with creating a beautiful, on-brand webinar, don’t miss our free webinar templates.

Not too long ago, universities didn’t have much need for a strong brand. But as the market for funding, recognition, academic talent and even student recruitment has started to heat up, the need has become critical.

A survey by Inside Higher Ed and Gallup showed that in 2017, only 34% of schools polled had met their enrollment targets for the fall term on May 1, which marked a decline from 37% in 2016 and 42% in 2015. With recent setbacks like Covid-19 affecting enrollment, more universities have begun to focus on branding. At the moment, 85% of university leaders are concerned with accelerated rates of student attrition in the short term and 88% are concerned about a decline in overall future student enrollment due to Covid-19.

A strong brand and message can easily convert to higher enrollment, but with the current approach to education branding, it’s easy to see where many universities fall short. To build a stronger brand and improve student retention, follow these steps to develop a stronger brand and message.

How to develop stronger university branding and messaging

1. Collect brand perception data from every group

Universities have a lot of different stakeholders from every corner of campus. If you focus on only one group, it’s easy to miss out on some great university marketing opportunities. In order to solidify your brand and make it accessible to the majority, you need to collect brand perception data from every facet of your campus.

Most universities can be broken down into the following groups:

• Current and prospective students (and their parents)
• Alumni
• Faculty (current and retired)
• Administrative staff
• Corporate partners
• Research funding sources
• Community members and leaders
• Local media, nonprofits and businesses
• University vendors

2. Identify student personas

Once you’ve collected perception data surrounding your university’s brand, you can begin identifying student personas. Developing these personas is a key part of your university branding strategy because it will prevent you from generalizing your brand decisions.

Your established personas will help you recognize the specific attitudes, concerns and criteria that drive prospective students toward you or your competitors.

Follow these steps to build the right personas:

• Divide your student population into groupsE.g., divide returning adult students from recent high school grads.
• Identify similarities for each groupFocus on what their motivations, goals and concerns are.
• Confirm your assumptionsStart surveying your groups to get insight into their wants and needs. For example, you may learn that returning adult students are interested in social connections just like recent high school grands.

By building these personas, it can give you insight into current trends other competitors may be using for recruitment.

3. Identify unique traits

Once you’ve created your student personas, you can start to identify unique traits among them. Begin by considering student niches, your location and your history.

• Student niches: If your university caters to a specific student niche, this can become a strong focal point for your brand identity. For example, a disproportionately high number of part-time students, mature students or international students can potentially attract students in a similar situation.
• Location: Along with student niches, your location is another big part of your university’s appeal. You don’t need to put a huge focus on this, but it can help promote a general atmosphere for your university’s brand.
• History: For most universities, history is an important part of their identities. Even if your university is on the younger side, it can still play a vital role in your brand identity.

How to maintain your university branding

Follow these steps to maintain your university’s brand:

1. Keep brand assets in one place

A critical part of university branding is consistency. If your staff or faculty can’t access your brand assets easily, you run the risk of having marketing items developed that don’t follow your brand. This in turn can undermine all the research and work you’ve put into building a brand that drives enrollment. To avoid this, keep your brand assets in one place.

2. Use lockable templates

Lockable templates will also help keep things consistent across campus. By providing lockable templates, you can put a stop to any rogue designers and ensure that everyone is using your brand assets correctly. Lockable templates don’t have to be rigid — you can provide templates that different departments can personalize.

3. Share templates with faculty and staff

Finally, be sure to share your templates with all faculty and staff. With lockable, easy-to-use templates, anyone can quickly create posters, brochures, flyers and more that can be used throughout your university.

A university’s brand is key to driving enrollment. Your brand is what draws in students, and during a time where enrollment is dropping, it’s more important than ever that your university’s brand is solid and enticing. To get better insight into attracting the modern student, check out our free ebook that will teach you how to evaluate your brand and also offers tips for delivering a consistent recruitment experience.

As a non-profit organization, your brand isn’t just a logo or text. It’s a symbol and a feeling — one that resembles hope, inspiration or kindness.

For your program participants, non-profit branding is often associated with the experiences they have while enrolled in your program. For your volunteers and donors, your brand is deeply connected to the feeling they get from giving back to the community and to others in need. 

To that end, non-profit branding and its image are synonymous with a mission and message because the brand doesn’t just serve the non-profit — it serves communities, too. 

For instance, when people see your logo or branding, whether you’re a YMCA or a garden project non-profit, you want them to remember what you’re working towards and call on you to help or be helped.

Why does non-profit branding matter?

Just as financial or food insecurity can prohibit growth, brand insecurity can have a similar impact. Writing grants and fundraising takes time, money and energy. Not only that, but it also requires you to tell a story, one of which you may not have the luxury of iterating again and again. But, if you find yourself worried that your non-profit is missing critical (and digital) fundraising opportunities, you’re not alone — 66% percent of charities share that concern.

However, a strong brand helps tell a non-profit’s story.

To quote the folks of Stanford Social Innovation Review, “a brand is a psychological construct held in the minds of all those aware of the branded product, person, organization, or movement. Brand management is the work of managing these psychological associations. In the for-profit world, marketing professionals talk of creating ‘a total brand experience.’ In the non-profit world, executives talk more about their ‘global identity’ and the ‘what and why’ of their organizations. But the point in both cases is to take branding far beyond the logo.” 

So in sum, there are two core components a strong non-profit brand can lend a hand in:

1. Fundraising
2. Identity

For many non-profits, these two components are inextricably linked. The stronger presence and identity you possess, the more likely people are to donate money. And the more money you can accrue, the more you can build your brand presence. 

By building a brand, you extend your capacity and reach. But, how do you do that when you’re already strapped for resources and time?

How to build your non-profit brand

First, let’s address the elephant in the room. 

The work you’re about to do (i.e., brand building) might sound counterintuitive, but it’s not. Take a minute and remember that your non-profit brand experience contributes to your collective community effort, which in turn empowers you to build a brand that lasts.

Maintain long-term brand authenticity

Whether your non-profit is well-established or relatively new, you must maintain long-term authenticity for branding to be effective.

Authenticity, while a relatively played out terminology, is a critical component to ensuring your non-profit messaging can stand the test of time and resonates with donors, program participants and volunteers. Authenticity can manifest itself in many forms, for example:

• Embracing your non-profit’s uniqueness.
• Transparent communications about fundraising and other processes.
• The act of gathering feedback from donors, constituents and community members.
• Owning up to mistakes or shortcomings.

Evaluate your current impact

Having a clear, measurable impact translates into a clear, memorable experience, as well as more donations or grant opportunities. So, start building your brand strategy by evaluating your impact effectiveness.  

To do so, ask yourself, board members and core staff:

• Is our impact claim clear?
  • Is it easy to understand why my non-profit matters? Do donors, program participants or volunteers clearly understand what we’re working toward?
  • Or is it something that’s hard to define or articulate?
• Are our brand values well defined?
  • Do our brand values reflect our mission?
• Do we properly understand our target demographics?
  • Have we created personas that articulate our target audiences?
  • Are our current donors and volunteers a reflection of our target audiences?
• Are we appropriately tracking existing marketing strategies?
  • Do we use software and tech platforms that empower us or prohibit us from measuring our impact?

While this might be a time-consuming task at first glance, answering each of these questions ensures your organization has an appropriate and solid foundation from which to build your brand strategy from. To learn more about basic marketing strategies for non-profit organizations, check out our comprehensive (but approachable, we swear) blog post.

Make a statement

There are two statements worth making — a brand positioning statement and a value statement. 

As we mentioned in one of our previous blog posts, “a brand positioning statement is a short and concise description that sums up your brand. It includes: 

• Your brand promise
• Your category or market
• Your customer base
• A high-level description of benefits
• Who you are”

Whereas a value statement (or proposition) “should describe beneficial features of your product, services, strategy or approach.”

Keep in mind, both your brand positioning statement and value proposition are not intended to be used or seen by folks outside of your immediate organization. Both are intended to serve as a north star for branded content creation. Whether you’re writing a grant or creating new program collateral, leveraging these two statements can help content stay on-mission and helpful.

Be consistent

We can’t stress this one enough. Being consistent is your key to unlocking access to new donors, volunteers and program participants. To be consistent is to be recognized. Because being consistent not only helps set the stage for future content creation, but it also helps ensure your message is understood loud and clear.

Consistency can mean a lot of things. For example, consistency is:

• Making sure your logo isn’t pixelated, warped or distorted and is always used correctly.
• Ensuring that your marketing materials are written in the same voice and tone.
• The use of on-brand, professional stock photos that reflect your mission and target audience.

Streamline and templatize

Making do with very little is the M.O. for most in the non-profit sector, so it makes sense to streamline, templatize and craft easy-to-duplicate (or copy and paste) content wherever possible. While it might feel redundant, empowering colleagues with cut-and-paste (with some customizable flair) content ensures that collateral and messaging stays true to your north star mission.

(Screenshots are from the Philanthropy report template found in the Lucidpress gallery)

Do your non-profit branding justice

Your brand, and more importantly your community, deserves a proper foundation from which you — and your colleagues — can build out from. Doing so not only ensures your ability to successfully create content in the future but it also ensures you remain visible, consistent and memorable to your target audiences. Regardless of whether or not these folks are donors, volunteers or program participants. To learn more about how to specifically create a consistent brand story from touchpoint to touchpoint, check out our ebook on nonprofit messaging and how to make do with very little.

Editor’s note: Originally, the Lucidpress blog featured two different blog posts that highlighted two eras — past and present — of Black graphic designers. In an effort to ensure the post accurately reflects the folks featured in it and to honor the need for diverse representation in graphic design, we have combined the two blog posts into one and audited them with up-to-date information.

At Lucidpress, we’re passionate about great design and inspiring everyone to create beautiful things. So we’re delighted to bring you this list of influential Black designers, reaching back to the beginning of the 1900s and continuing up to the present day. Let’s dive in!

Charles Dawson

We start with Charles Dawson, who was born in 1899. He became well-known in the 1920s-30s for his illustrated advertisements, especially for beauty products and Black artists. Unsurprisingly, his journey includes many firsts which paved the way for students after him to pursue their passions.

“O Sing A New Song” musical poster

In 1907, Dawson was the first Black student admitted to the Art Students League in New York. It was a challenging environment where he faced many instances of bias and discrimination. In 1912, he took the summer to work in a buffet car and save tuition for the Art Institute of Chicago, which he observed was “bias-free.” An active student, Dawson was involved in several jobs and student organizations. He was a founding member of the Arts and Letters Society, the first Black artist collective in Chicago.

Dawson started working for Chicago Engravers in 1919 and departed three years later to become a freelance designer. With fellow alumni from the Institute, he established the Chicago Art League, an exhibit group for Black artists. Throughout his career, he would break more barriers:

• In 1927, his Negro in Art Week exhibition at the Art Institute of Chicago was the first show of African-American art at a major American museum.
• In 1934, he was the only Black artist with a substantial role in the Century of Progress Fair. His illustrated mural of the Great Migration was displayed by the National Urban League in the Hall of Social Science.

For much of the 1930s, Dawson worked for Valmour Products. In 1944, he became the curator for both the Museum of Negro Art & Culture and the George Washington Carver Museum, where he served until his retirement in 1951.

Learn more about Charles Dawson at AIGA.org.

Aaron Douglas

Aaron Douglas was also born in 1899, but his contributions to the Harlem Renaissance (then called the “New Negro Movement”) helped to propel the art style forward. He blended the geometric shapes of Art Deco, the linear rhythm of Art Nouveau, and the rich traditions of African art to create something entirely new.

“Aspects of Negro Life” mural

Graduating with a BFA from the University of Nebraska in 1922, Douglas taught art in Nebraska and Missouri high schools. In 1924, he moved to New York to apprentice for Winold Reiss. After designing magazine covers for Opportunity, The Crisis, FIRE!!, and Harlem, he became a highly sought-after cover illustrator, especially among Black writers.

Douglas continued to shape the Harlem community, crafting several murals including the famous Aspects of Negro Life. In 1938, he moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to found the art department at Fisk University—a department he chaired for nearly three decades before retiring in 1966.

Learn more about Aaron Douglas at AIGA.org.

LeRoy Winbush

We jump forward a few years to LeRoy Winbush, who was born in 1915. His ambition might be summarized best this way: though it took him 11 years to be accepted as the first Black member of the Art Directors Club of Chicago, it took him only five more to become its president.

Album cover designs

Winbush started designing in 1936, merely one year after high school. He apprenticed making signage, murals and flyers. When he joined the sign shop at Goldblatt’s department store, he was the only Black employee. Seven years later, he was the company’s Art Director, overseeing a staff of 60 people.

In 1945, he founded Winbush Associates, his own design firm. Colleagues say he split his day between art-directing for Consolidated Manufacturing Company and for Johnson Publishing (Ebony, Jet). His career spanned many highlights:

• In 1959, he was the chairman for the International Design Conference in Aspen.
• In 1964, he helped design Illinois’ exhibit for the World’s Fair, including an animatronic Abe Lincoln that became the prototype for Disney’s Hall of Presidents.
• In 1985, he helped design an underwater coral reef in the Living Seas pavilion at EPCOT.

Winbush also gave back to his community through education. Despite having no formal education himself, he taught visual communication at School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He also developed a long-term exhibit about sickle-cell anemia for Chicago’s Museum of Science.

Learn more about LeRoy Winbush at AIGA.org.

Thomas Miller

Thomas Miller was born in 1920. When he graduated from the Ray-Vogue College of Design in 1950, he was the institution’s only Black student. Soon afterwards, he was one of two to be accepted into the Society of Typographic Art.

Founder’s mosaic at DuSable Museum of African American History

Miller enjoyed decades as a successful commercial designer. After working for Gerstel/Loeff, he joined the international design firm Morton Goldsholl Associates, where he worked for 35 years on large ad campaigns, such as 7-Up’s major redesign in the 1970s.

When he wasn’t working, Miller still followed his own artistic passions, creating oil paintings and monotypes in his signature style. One of his most well-known projects can be seen today in the DuSable Museum of African American History: he created mosaic portraits of the museum’s eight founders.

Learn more about Thomas Miller at The History Makers and Wikipedia.

Emmett McBain

A graduate of the Illinois Institute of Technology, Emmett McBain (born in 1935) also studied at the Ray-Vogue College of Design as well as the American Academy of Art. He became a designer for Vince Cullers and Associates, the first Black-owned ad agency. But that wouldn’t be the last time he was a pioneer in African-American advertising.

“What Color is Black?” poem advertisement

McBain enjoyed a varied design career, from being Playboy’s promotional art director to designing album covers for Mercury Records. He worked for J. Walter Thompson and Associates, where he took part in Ford’s 1964 campaign to introduce the Mustang.

In 1971, McBain partnered with Tom Burrell to form Burrell McBain Inc. This ad agency pioneered advertising to African-American markets and introduced corporations to the concept that “Black people are not dark-skinned white people.” Their campaigns recognized and emphasized the demographic and cultural differences that had been previously ignored in mass media. Though the agency is still around today as Burrell Communications Group, McBain left in 1974 to pursue art and support Black artistry.

Learn more about Emmett McBain in this NewCity article.

Archie Boston

In one of his most famous ads, Archie Boston leans over a table of pens and eyes the camera. “I told Pentel what to do with their pens,” the headline declares. “And they did it.” It’s a single example plucked from Boston’s long career of self-aware, provocative work.

Pentel packaging designs

Born in 1943, Boston attended Chouinard Art Institute (later called CalArts) in 1961—and nearly dropped out to take a job in advertising. Instead, he took an internship at Carson/Roberts during his senior year. After working with his brother Brad on a variety of projects, the two founded Boston & Boston design in 1967. They never shied away from race in their work, opting instead to acknowledge it directly and challenge audiences to rethink their assumptions and prejudices.

In 1969, Archie joined Botsford Constantine and McCarthy for eight years. During his time there, he also founded Archie Boston Graphic Design and began taking clients in 1973. Later he became the first Black president of the Los Angeles Art Directors Club.

From his 20s onward, Archie has been a teacher. He started at Chouinard, and currently he’s a professor at California State University Long Beach (CSULB), where he’s taught for nearly 40 years.

Learn more about Archie Boston at AIGA.org.

Sylvia Harris

The first female designer on our list, Sylvia Harris was born in 1953. She earned her BFA in communication arts and design from Virginia Commonwealth University, and her MFA in graphic design from Yale University.

Exhibit design for The Women’s Museum

Harris spent much of her career in the public sector, planning and improving the communities around her. She started as a designer for WGBH, Boston’s public TV station. From there she moved on to The Architects Collaborative (TAC) headed by Walter Gropius, and then the prestigious Skidmore, Owings and Merrill (SOM). It was at SOM that Harris got involved in environmental urban planning; her clients there included the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority and the U.S. Department of Transportation.

In 1980, along with two partners, Harris founded Two Twelve Associates, a graphic design consulting firm. She worked on projects for many clients, including the New York State Council of the Arts, Port Authority of New York and New Jersey, and the Central Park Zoo. She also taught design students at Purchase College State University and at Yale.

Learn more about Sylvia Harris at AIGA.org.

Gail Anderson

Gail Anderson was born in 1962 and studied at the School of Visual Arts in New York. The art of words and letters have played a major role in her design career, starting from the beginning when she worked at Vintage Books and The Boston Globe Sunday Magazine. As an expert in conceptual typography, she works with all sorts of materials—traditional and non-traditional—to create eclectic expressions of style.

“New Vintage Type” book cover

Anderson was an impressive fixture at Rolling Stone Magazine for 15 years. Starting as an associate in 1987, she rose to become its Senior Art Director before departing in 2002. From there, she joined SpotCo, one of New York’s largest entertainment design agencies. Again, she rose to the top to become its Creative Director before departing in 2010.

Residents of New York City are likely familiar with Anderson’s work without even realizing it. Her poster designs for Broadway and off-Broadway plays have been hung all around the city and featured in outdoor transit advertising.

Currently, Anderson is a partner at Anderson Newton Design with Joe Newton. She’s also a faculty member at the School of Visual Arts, and she’s co-published several books on typography and graphic design.

Learn more about Gail Anderson at AIGA.org.

Eddie Opara

Born in England in 1972, Eddie Opara studied at the London College of Printing and at Yale University. After earning his MFA in 1997, he moved to New York City to work for Imaginary Forces.

Infographic about infographics for Fast Co.

It wasn’t too long after that when Opara became the Art Director for 2 x 4, the influential design studio. In 2005, he founded his own interactive design studio, The Map Office, in New York and began work for clients such as the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Architecture Research Office, the Queen Museum of Art, and New York University. In 2010, Opara joined Pentagram as a partner.

Opara’s work sits at the intersection of design and technology. He has earned numerous awards in his career, including a Gold Cube from the Art Directors Club. His work is the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). In 2012 and 2014, he was named one of Fast Company‘s 100 Most Creative People in Business. Today, he’s also a senior critic at Yale.

Learn more about Eddie Opara at Famous Graphic Designers.

Michele Washington

Michele Washington, who studied at the School of Visual Arts and Brooklyn’s Pratt Institute before working for Vogue Butterick Patterns. Her career in media is wide-ranging, from newspaper design at the Chicago Tribune and The New York Times to editorial art direction at Essence and Self magazines.

Mausam product packaging designs

Washington has taught a grad-level exhibition class at New York’s Fashion Institute of Technology (FIT). She founded and leads her own design firm, Washington Design, in Brooklyn’s DUMBO neighborhood. Today she also provides creative direction for Cox Matthews Associates and user research for Cerebral Design.

Multi-cultural influences abound in Washington’s work, as her colorful designs often incorporate language, patterns, and textures from many cultures around the world. One example is the bright and earthy product packaging for her line of natural home & body products. Many of her design influences are featured in articles she’s written for her website, CulturalBoundaries.com.

Learn more about Michele Washington at AIGA.org.

Dana James Mwangi

“Creatives can do good business.” That’s the headline on Mwangi’s website , and this mantra captures her holistic approach to web design, branding & entrepreneurship.

If you’re worried you’re not creative enough, or your ideas are just too far-fetched to work, Mwangi has something to say about that — her words are inspiring and certainly ring true if you work in design or any creative field.

@danajamesmwangi | @cheerscreative

Timothy J. Hykes

Tim Hykes is a UX consultant and frequent speaker at design conferences including Adobe Max, Design + Diversity, and AIGA. In fact, he’s become a leader in AIGA, the largest community of design advocates in the nation.

He’s also a co-founder of the Design + Diversity conference. “The Design + Diversity conference explores proactive ways to make the design industry more diverse…This is the only conference that focuses on diversity issues in the design field. This event provides a platform for constructive conversation among those who design, innovate, and lead.”

@timothyhykes | @plusdiversity

Hassan Rahim

A self-taught artist and designer, Hassan Rahim has developed an enigmatic style and dark sensibility that’s landed him work with clients like Nike, Urban Outfitters, Warp Records, and Marilyn Manson. According to an interview with Eye on Design, his big break came when a skate brand noticed his designs on MySpace and reached out to offer him work. He was 17 years old.

@hassanrahim | @hassanrahim

Antionette Carroll

Antionette Carroll sees design differently. In a world where everything has been designed—including systems of inequality—we can use design as a system to create a more equitable world. In her powerful TEDx talk (Carroll is a 2018 TED fellow), she introduces this concept and challenges us to find ways to intentionally redesign our communities.

In line with this mission, Carroll founded the Creative Reaction Lab, a nonprofit that “educates, trains, and challenges cities to co-create solutions with Black and Latinx populations to design healthy and racially equitable communities.” She calls this new form of creative problem-solving Equity-Centered Community Design.

Currently, Carroll is an AIGA National Board Member. Along with Timothy J. Hykes (who we introduced earlier in this list), she’s also a co-founder of the Design + Diversity Conference.

@acarrolldesign

Jewel Burks

Jewel Burks has the distinction of working for and partnering with some of the biggest brands in the tech industry, from Google and Amazon to Collab Capital. Even more impressive is the fact that she founded and sold a tech startup called Partpic, a program that uses visual search algorithms to streamline the purchasing of manufacturing parts.

Burks is currently a board member for Goodie Nation, a nonprofit that supports innovative problem-solving in underserved communities. “The big thing I want in starting a business is to make a difference in my community,” she says on her website. As one of Forbes’ 30 Under 30, she’s off to an incredible start.

@jewelmelanie | @goodienation

Nakita M. Pope

Nakita M. Pope is an experienced branding strategist with nearly 20 years in the industry. She holds the fabulous title of Chief Chick at Branding Chicks, her boutique branding agency. Branding Chicks specializes in women-owned businesses and female-centric brands. She works with them to narrow their focus, boost their confidence, and clarify their messaging so it resonates with their audience.

Pope is currently a diversity and inclusion officer for The Creative Circus, an advertising school where students can build their portfolios. She’s also a board member of AIGA Atlanta and a member of the AIGA National Diversity & Inclusion Task Force.

“I love the strategy of design. I love how designers think and solve problems visually,” she says in an interview with 28 black Designers. “As I’ve morphed into a brand strategist, I realize just how much strategy I was already doing as a designer and how that is what makes the difference between design that is simply aesthetically pleasing and design that is smart and achieves an objective.”

@brandingchicks | @realbrandingchicks

Dian Holton

Dian Holton is the Deputy Art Director for AARP. When she isn’t designing and overseeing creative work there—such as AARP’s The Magazine and TheGirlfriend—she also creates compelling window displays and mannequin styles for The Gap. Her vibrant, fresh design sensibility makes her portfolio (and her social media feeds) a visual delight.

A graduate of the Yale School of Management, Holton serves as the Mentoring Director for AIGA’s Washington, D.C. chapter, where she oversees a mentoring speaker series with a local high school.

A post shared by Dian Holton (@dianholton) on Feb 1, 2018 at 8:52pm PST

Check out Holton’s awesome Daily Digits series, where she photographs numbers made of daily objects (like flowers, hairpins and gummy worms). The project just surpassed 1,000 posts, and we can’t wait to see what’s next.

@dianholton | @dianholton

Wrap-up

This is only a handful of the incredible Black designers who’ve shaped our visual culture and continue to influence it today. It’s important to recognize not only their talent but their determination to overcome any obstacles and pave the way for future designers. Major thanks to the AIGA for being an invaluable resource in researching this post. Another round of gratitude for the African American Graphic Designers group on Facebook for being a constant source of inspiration and for introducing me to many of the folks on this list.

We love a good yarn — and it turns out, consumers do too. The popularity of brands telling their stories continues to grow and grow. It’s a win-win marketing strategy when you can give your audience engaging content and tell the story of your brand’s history, vision, values and goals.

The bar for good content marketing is certainly high these days, with some brands, like Mailchimp, expanding into podcasts and even streaming video series. But you don’t have to be a huge brand with a big budget to tell your story. We talked to brands large and small to see what they’re doing to connect with customers.

Read on to see how brands including Zendesk, Buffy, and Chanty are finding success in their approach to brand storytelling.

Be authentic

For content to really connect with customers, it needs to be authentic and true to what your brand is all about. We interviewed Suzanne Barnecut, Group Manager of Content Marketing at Zendesk to find out how her team takes on brand storytelling.

Suzanne is the editor of Zendesk’s multifaceted content venture, Relate, and spoke to us about creating content that’s people-focused, sales-free, research-based and, above all, authentic.

How do you strike a balance between being personable, maintaining brand voice and inspiring your target audience?

“Relate is focused on where technology meets the human experience. It’s our space to focus less on the tools and more on the people using technology to build better customer experiences and relationships. Our audience may be business leaders, but at the root of it, we’re all just people trying to be effective and more empathic with our teams and customers. So, in a way, our mission as a publication makes it easy to hew to our brand voice — which is that we’re trying to write toward human experiences in an honest, straightforward and personable way.”

 Relate incorporates content, a podcast and an annual event. How do the three work together and relate to one another?

“The Relate subbrand has undergone a pretty significant transformation as we’ve grown as a company over the past 4-5 years. What began as a small, intimate event series and storytelling podcast grew into our annual flagship user conference and a customer experience podcast called Repeat Customer. The relationships are dynamic (as relationships naturally are), but the publication and event overlap to provide thought leadership and insight from our leaders and other experts in our space, to examine the wider trends that impact our customers, and to share content that reflects our brand values and point of view. And in all cases, we love to tell stories about the cool things our customers are doing, both with their customers and in the world.” 

How does Relate complement the Zendesk product and website?

“The Relate publication is more focused on brand journalism and storytelling, so it’s a relatively sales-free zone. In that way, it functions as a nice complement to the product site and our more traditional corporate blog, which we call the Zendesk Library, where we publish more product- or operations-focused content and customer use cases.” 

What research influences your content strategy? Is one source of data prioritized over another?

“We do always try and leverage our own data whenever possible. Our customers can opt-in to anonymously share data so that we can, in turn, share back industry benchmarks and trends with our customers. For example, we have been analyzing data from the Zendesk Benchmark to understand the impact of COVID-19 on customer experience and engagement.

Our content strategy is built around trying to provide useful content that addresses the questions or pain points that people actually have, and we believe that all our content should be informed by research — both our own and that of vetted experts and industry analysts — and by interviewing subject matter experts first-hand.”

How does your team measure success?

“We’re a data-driven marketing org, so we track our analytics pretty closely. Brand awareness efforts, like Relate, always have that hard-to-put-your-finger-on anecdotal value, but that can lead to tangible things like someone deciding to apply to your company over going somewhere else, for example. At large, though, we’re looking at some traditional consumption metrics — average monthly unique users, page views, organic growth — as well as some business metrics to understand our contribution to the pipeline (we have a multi-attribution model) and the opportunities we impact. This also helps us to know which content is resonating with our audience.” 

What advice would you give to marketers trying to tell their brand story?

“Brand storytelling has to be authentic, so it’s never going to work to tell someone else’s story. Think about what your company is trying to do at its highest, most aspirational level. How and why did that journey begin — and where did it lead to next? Under that umbrella — whatever it is — there’s a wealth of stories waiting to be uncovered and brought to life.”

Start with a mission

Brand storytelling can make a brand bigger than just any one product. Buffy — a company that sells earth-friendly bedding and is on a mission to build sustainable business practices — benefited from starting with its mission first and its product development second.

We talked to Matt Breuer, Buffy’s VP of Marketing, and Blair Pfander, Buffy’s Creative Director, to see how doubling down on your mission can result in serious customer engagement.

Matt explained the company’s values-centered philosophy: “Buffy has been a mission-driven company from the start. We set out to create an earth-friendly, cruelty-free comforter and our product assortment has expanded pretty organically from that cornerstone idea. Our mission is to help our customers live comfortably without making the planet uncomfortable. The tough reality is that any company manufacturing new things today is by definition unsustainable; closing the loop on our supply chain by 2030 (an undertaking we’ve dubbed Closed Loop Comfort) is really the only way to show up for our values and take seriously our commitment to the planet.”

The brand shares its plan to achieve its mission openly — complete with a timeline and commitment to how the company will make itself even more earth-friendly.

Blair talked more about the impact of the brand’s environmental commitment: “We were thrilled by the level of engagement and excitement around our Closed Loop Comfort supply chain commitment back in April. It was the first time — at least in my memory — that we sent emails without any products on them — and customers were still opening, asking follow up questions, and reflecting deeply on the content. The world is a pretty scary place right now, and people have a lot of options when it comes to home goods and bedding, so the fact that they’re coming to us not only for marshmallow-soft comforters and sheets but for important conversations is meaningful to me.”

Buffy’s creative team turned to Instagram to develop a community around their focus on comfy, earth-friendly products with a notion they call “comfy content.” We were curious — how does the team come up with a steady stream of ideas?

According to Blair, “We find a lot of inspiration just from deep Googling and feed scrolling — artists we’re excited about, memes that make us laugh. The occasional 1970s gardening book scavenged on Etsy.”

The team meets once a month to chart a storytelling course both for product stories and culture stories. Blair continued, “It’s important to us that our community has a reason to return to the feed other than learning about what we make. Making sustainable education accessible and fun is something we’re dialing into more and more.”

We asked how the Buffy marketing team approaches keeping a consistent brand identity. Blair’s advice was to use your brand system as a starting point but then deliberately break the rules every once in a while. “We have a saying on the creative team: ‘Keep Buffy Weird.’ So just as often as we dial into our systems — scannable type hierarchy, saturated color, playful information design — we break it by adding an element that feels a little off, or even slightly surreal. The surreal factor is a critical differentiator for Buffy.”

Blair pointed to the brand’s “squishies” — videos showing hands mashing soft materials, like jello or brioche buns — as one example of Buffy’s weird, surreal and fun style.

Embrace (and review) the competition

Making your story stand out from the competition in a saturated market is one of the hardest parts of brand storytelling. Chanty, a team communication and collaboration software and Slack alternative, knows this all too well.

But the brand decided to embrace the confusion (and search volume) that comes with many products, multiple solutions and no clear answer on which to choose. Chanty built out comprehensive comparisons of other apps in their niche in the “Team Chat Wars” section of its blog.

We spoke to Jane Kovalkova, Chanty’s CMO, who told us the brand’s Team Chat Wars has built up their brand as the number-one resource for app comparison in their product category.

“This way, visitors come to our website not only to find out more about what we do, but to get an objective comparison of different team chat apps and how they help meet their needs. For example, we’re currently covering an article on Skype alternatives since we know that the topic gets quite a few searches, so we’re reviewing all of Skype’s competitors now. By reviewing, I mean actually testing them and writing down our experience.”

If you’re interested in doing product comparisons, Jane recommends preparing to put time and some money into it. “There are lots of ‘reviews’ out there by affiliate marketers that never even tried the products they review. Make sure to get some hands-on experience with the products you cover and do your best to give your personal impression. Of course, no opinion is objective (that’s why it’s an opinion), but people don’t want to read facts — they want actual experiences with a product, from a real live human being.”

SEO is (still) king

For businesses with fewer resources and a smaller budget, going beyond your product keywords and embracing your industry to produce educational content around search terms can build your brand in an affordable and sustainable way.

Online Degree — a company that offers free introductory college courses — has built out huge research libraries providing information on careers in multiple industries, types of college degrees and universities in every state in the U.S.

The founder and CEO of Online Degree, Grant Aldrich, told us “Brand journalism goes beyond a corporate blog. It provides the latest news updates and informational trends in your industry. It’s also a way to reinforce your mission and values to attract your target audience. In our case, we try to make higher education more accessible and affordable. Our goal is to help people find the best, most affordable educational resources with this kind of content. Not necessarily to drive people to use our services.“

Build community relationships

Natalya Bucuy, Content Marketing Writer at HelpSquad (a U.S.-based live chat service), takes an approach similar to Online Degree with her company’s B2B brand. “We believe that brand journalism that delivers useful content not only to current customers but to the small business community in general is an effective marketing strategy. Even if a piece of content doesn’t immediately bring measurable results, such as converted leads and new customers, it helps build meaningful relationships with the community. That, in turn, builds a strong brand presence that contributes to a company’s success in the long run.”

She pointed to an example of a recent post on Reddit her team created to drive discussion around behaviour psychology and the reasons behind procrastination that linked to a HelpSquad blog post that discussed the topic further. Reddit is notorious for being very picky about content quality and will sniff out any sales pitch, but this post hit mark with 99% upvotes and 73 comments.

Expert content can work in a variety of venues and help your brand increase its reach. It’s worth brainstorming where you can go outside of your own site and social media platforms to tell your brand’s story.

These inspiring strategies and brand story examples are proof that useful content with some outside-the-box thinking can lead to success. Your brand story, told consistently and creatively, could be just what your marketing plan needs. We’ve got some tips on how to get your whole organization on board for consistent storytelling: Check out our ebook The rise of the design democracy: How to maintain a consistent brand story.

When you think about Coca-Cola, what pops into your head — is it the taste? The fizziness? The dark caramel color? Maybe you think of a classic ad. If you’re like me, it’s the vivid red-and-white logo adorning the label.

Related: Is your brand outdated? When to do a brand refresh

When you think of all of these things, you’re thinking of Coca-Cola’s brand as a whole. If lots of different Coke-related images popped into your head just now, then Coca-Cola’s marketing team has done its job.

Too many people think branding begins with choosing a name and ends with picking a logo — but it’s much more than that. It affects everything.

So, when a company wants to rebrand, it’s not about just changing the logo. It’s also about changing goals, messaging, tone, voice, style and anything else that contributes to your image. It can be a tricky thing to get right, because ultimately, you can’t control what people think. But a well thought-out and defined brand is the backbone of many successful companies.

If there’s so much to it, why would anyone dream of rebranding? When is rebranding the best option?

Well, you could have gotten it wrong the first time. Many businesses overlook branding when they’re starting out and later find they need to rethink it. For some, they need to appeal to a broader audience. Others need to change tack when they decide to expand into other markets.

Long-established companies aren’t immune to the need to rebrand, either. It might be necessary after an acquisition or merger. Changing industries, attitudes and new competitors can also ignite the need for a fresh image. When a company needs to reposition or rejuvenate itself, rebranding makes sense.

Deeper issues, like an antiquated image or a negative reputation, can spur a rebrand. Sometimes, it can even come down to involvement in a damaging public scandal.

When you face challenges like these, you have two options. You can cling to the old branding that you had, or you can put together a rebranding strategy and work towards a new image.

Whatever the reason, make sure you have a strong case for the rebrand. Though there’s a lot to it, rebranding is part of the life cycle for many growing companies. Very few of us wear the same clothes now as we did in high school — so why wouldn’t a brand evolve as well? 

Reasons to do a rebrand:

• You need to completely reposition your brand
• You merged with another company
• You significantly changed your product offerings
• You have a negative reputation

Reasons to do a brand refresh instead:

• You want to attract a new audience
• Your messaging is inconsistent
• Your company has evolved
• You don’t stand out from competitors

Considering the points above, it may be that you don’t need to go through an entire rebrand: Your current brand may just need some polish, also known as a brand refresh. A refresh is a much lighter version of a rebrand, and though they both entail a lot of the same work, a refresh simply updates your current brand instead of making the sweeping changes that a rebrand does.

If you’re still not sure if rebranding is right for your company, check out our rebranding questionnaire. 

Rebranding strategy

Rebranding a company doesn’t happen overnight. You need a solid rebranding strategy, testing and approval, and then you need to roll it out internally before your big debut with your customers. 

Here’s our advice on the five steps to follow to get rebranding strategies right. 

1. Research before you rebrand

Before making any changes, you’ve got to do research to find out how your brand can improve. What do people like about your brand? How can it connect with modern consumers? There are endless questions to ask when building a new identity. The more knowledge you have, the more effective your rebranding strategy will be.

During this process, find out what attracted customers to your brand initially … or why they went to a competitor instead. Figure out the problems you need to address with the rebrand.

Coca-Cola once decided to rebrand, but its New Coke campaign flopped. Coca-Cola didn’t have any issues with its product’s taste or image, but it decided to change both. The result wasn’t an energized image but confused loyal customers. So, make sure to do your research.

Burberry’s rebranding strategy is a great example of how to strike this balance. After a century-and-a-half of success, Burberry’s image started to suffer when — through no efforts of its own — the brand became associated with gang wear and fashion for older generations. Thanks to this double punch, clubs in the U.K. wouldn’t allow entry to anyone wearing the brand’s iconic plaid.

Faced with this unsavory situation, Burberry decided to rebrand, but it did its research first. The company hired an anthropologist to rediscover its roots so that Burberry could highlight its heritage in a way that would appeal to younger audiences (while also disassociating its name from gang wear).

2. Set out clear goals

From your research, you’ll know what’s wrong, and this should help you figure out what you want to achieve. Burberry needed to disassociate its brand from gangs and build a modern youthful image.

Knowing it needed to appeal to younger audiences, the label added more modern styles to its line and recruited well-known celebrities like Emma Watson to promote them. This led to a boost in sales and an image readjustment for the brand, which once again became a luxury name.

There’s no point rebranding a business if all you change is the name. When it became The Shack, RadioShack did exactly this. The business wanted to stem the flow of losses, but a name change just didn’t cut it. Maybe if it had gotten to the root of the problem and set out more strategic goals, the brand wouldn’t continue to close its doors.

With thorough research and clear goals, your rebranding strategy will be well-informed and should make an impact.

3. Get all company stakeholders on-board

To get customers on-board with a rebrand, you’ll need to get all stakeholders involved first. Your employees are the main touchpoint between your brand and the outside world, so they need to understand the importance of your new brand. You want to make sure what they say and do is in keeping with your new image.

The CEO who led Burberry’s turnaround, Angela Ahrendts, knew there was a problem when she saw that none of the company’s managers wore the brand. How can expect your customers to love your brand when your own staff doesn’t?

If your rebranding strategy aims to address a bad rep for customer care, you’ll have to invest in training and resources to deliver better customer experiences. In situations like these, it can be a good idea to rebrand internally first.

When setting out a rebranding strategy for a client in the financial sector, consultants Spyglass Creative decided to do just this. To convince the board of management of the importance of stellar customer service, waiters with silver platters served lunch to the members and introduced the idea of “sterling service.” With a clear view of the vision for the rebrand, they supported the new approach.

4. Have a process planned out

Once you’ve got stakeholders on your side and know exactly what needs to be achieved, you can put together a plan of action. In the case of Burberry, the company was active on many fronts. It introduced new designs and bought back licenses for its classic plaid pattern, so it could protect the brand’s image and make it exclusive once again. The company also created a brand story, which it told through videos and in-store displays.

Your rebranding strategy might require you to take up social media. Or, it could impact the networks you already advertise on.

Prior to 2010, Old Spice was seen as a retro brand for older men. While its reputation was sound, it simply didn’t appeal to younger audiences. It decided to change this.

The brand set up a YouTube channel and posted dozens of fun, humorous videos featuring actor and former athlete Isaiah Mustafa.

The rebrand was a massive success, opening up the traditional product to a new demographic by making the most of new trends. Old Spice did its research, rebranded for sensible reasons and set out clear goals.

5. Build trust for your new brand

Once you’ve rebranded, don’t slip backwards. Familiarize your audience with your new brand personality by staying consistent and building trust around it.

If you have a new name or logo, don’t leave a trace of the old one around. Create new brand guidelines and make it easy for staff to implement them. A brand templating platform like Lucidpress can help by making brand assets easily accessible during the content creation process. When any files are updated, everyone will automatically have access to them, too.

Use your new brand in all your communications to build awareness of it. Use a link shortener like Rebrandly to create branded links for your emails and social media posts. This will build brand visibility and trust. Content marketing and native advertising can also build familiarity and trust in your new image. Be consistent with your new tone, and don’t flip-flop between your old brand and the new one.

Branding is an important company asset, and it can leave a lasting image in consumers’ minds. Make sure your rebranding strategy sticks, because it can rejuvenate a business and even turn it around when the chips are down.

How to rebrand a company

Follow these steps and plan how to successfully rebrand your business.

1. Define your audience

If your audience is 70-year-old retirees, you probably don’t want to alienate them with something that feels so modern it’s out of their reach. The same goes for a millennial audience. If you’re rebranding, it might be because you’re redefining your niche and ideal customer. Make sure your branding speaks as much to that ideal audience as your sales copy does.

2. Stay true to your mission

A rebrand should be a makeover, not a botched surgery. Before you begin, go over your mission and value statements. Come up with an idea of where you are now and where you want to go — without losing sight of who you are and what your customers have come to love. Project your mission and personality in your new branding so you feel like a refreshed company, not an unrecognizable one. If you’re having trouble finding your brand’s voice, try this tool.

3. Rethink your name

Name is the first and most recognizable brand element. Rebranding doesn’t always involve a name change, but it can be a powerful strategy — especially if the company is looking for a fresh start. Did you know that the infamous Philip Morris company changed its name to Altria to disassociate itself from bad press and controversy? Considering how a number of journalists reported on the obvious change, it’s hard to say whether it was successful, but only time will tell.

One more thing to consider is the possibility of alienating or losing older clients with a name change. A fresh start is a double-edged sword, so make sure you’re ready to give up your established legacy in favor of a new brand identity.

• Read more about picking a great brand name here.

4. Revamp your tagline

Slogans and taglines often go hand-in-hand with a brand’s name. Usually, a tagline is a catchy sentence that summarizes your business and is easy to remember. If you decide to change your name, you should do the same with your tagline — especially if the business has changed. Over the years, FedEx has had several long and unmemorable taglines, so it changed to “Relax, It’s FedEx” in 2004 and “The World on Time” in 2009, both of which are simple and effective.

• Read more about crafting great taglines here.

Rebuild your brand identity

Your brand identity is how you present your company to the world. It’s everything that customers recognize your brand for, from visual style to voice and personality. Be sure to include these key elements of brand identity in your rebranding strategy.

Logo

Since people are visual thinkers, updating your logo is the easiest way to demonstrate change to your audience. As for the logo design, you have to follow (and subvert) trends if you want to appear fresh. But, be careful with it. You don’t want to drift too far away from the original logo unless you’re trying to conceal your past. You want people to acknowledge the change but also recognize the company’s continuity.

• Read more about logo design here. 

Color palette

Color psychology is real — and different colors make people feel different things, so consider how you want your brand to make people feel. Blue is a calming color, pink is soft and romantic, black is bold and sophisticated, etc.

It’s best to go for a simple color palette with no more than 3 primary colors. You can also choose secondary colors to create your brand palette. You’ll be experimenting with tint, shade and saturation to get the look and feel of your brand just right.

Typography

Typography is truly an art, and choosing the right fonts for your brand can help you stand out and be easily recognizable. Just like colors, font styles can make people feel a certain way. You want to find a pair of complementary fonts that reflect your brand’s personality, whether that’s modern and youthful, bold and innovative, or however else you’d describe your brand. You’ll need to consider things like font size, kerning and line height, readability and licensing requirements.

Shapes and imagery

Along with colors and fonts, your other visual assets communicate who you are to your customers. Again, think about what visuals will communicate your brand’s identity, personality and feeling. Is your brand angular, rounded, flat, soft, natural, futuristic? Are you using animations, photographs, GIFs, videos? All design elements come into play here and there’s a lot to explore.

Brand guidelines

Once you have your new brand identity outlined, the best thing you can do for your rebranding efforts is create a clear and easy-to-access set of brand guidelines. This will ensure that your team can reference the new guidelines and keep your rebrand looking consistent. Without full compliance from your internal teams, it can be hard to have a successful rebrand.

Tips and tricks for a successful rebrand launch

1. Know your limit — err, budget

Creating content, running tests and paying for ads all costs money. Around 10-20% of your annual marketing budget can be spent just on rebranding efforts. Developing a well-designed content calendar will help identify where most of your money will be spent and give you an idea of when you’ll need to be prepared for these expenses.

2. Testing: 1, 2, 3

Taking the time to run tests on your content will help to solidify your marketing strategy. It’s not always a guarantee that a rebranding effort is going to be successful. The best way to prevent a failed rebranding is to test your assets before releasing them to the public. Study groups and A/B testing can uncover and strengthen any weak points in your rebranding strategy.

3. Demand consistency

Branding should be synonymous with “consistent messaging.” When you rebrand, you need to go back through every webpage, design element and evergreen brochure to update it with your fresh look, tone and feel. Don’t dilute your new branding by confusing it with the old. Get everything polished in one fell swoop. Brand consistency was important before the rebrand, and it’s even more important now. Consistency establishes company-client trust, which leads to higher revenues.

A platform like Lucidpress can be a huge help in your rebranding and consistency efforts. It gives a central place to put all your brand assets and files, providing easy access for anyone who needs them. You can put all your new colors and logos in the brand assets hub, so when people are creating content, there’s no chance of them using an old logo or font, etc.

You can create a template library with all of your rebranded and updated materials, so spanking-new content is right at everyone’s fingertips. Plus, when you decide to refresh your brand again down the road, all the content will be in one easy-to-update location. A centralized platform for branded content creation will make it easier to roll out your rebrand to internal teams, so can ensure that everyone’s up to speed before your public debut. 

Is it time to rebrand your business or organization? Learn more in our free ebook: How and why to rebrand your company

Content marketing within the financial services industry has been lagging for years now. Because of this, financial service firms need to evolve in the ways they target customers and clients. This is where content marketing comes in — it can provide that edge a financial services company needs to beat out their competitors.

To help you be successful in your financial services marketing, we’ve put together six ways you can market your services and business with content strategy.

1. Embrace social media

Social media has become a powerhouse for financial services marketing and nearly all other industries. More than 90% of Gen Zers, over 80% of millennials and 70% of Gen Xers believe brands need a Facebook page. Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram … they each provide the chance for companies to target multiple demographics, and it’s critical for your team to know where your customers like to hang out on social media.

How to start

• Begin by learning what content plays well on which platform.
• Identify your target audience.
• Craft a specific message for each channel following best practices for that platform.
• Strive for a mix of content that includes educational material along with news or promotional content.
• Post on a clearly defined schedule.
• Remember to be consistent with your branding and messaging throughout each channel.

As you start to create content, aim for images and captions that humanize your business — these will pique your audience’s interest. Don’t forget, too, that social media can become a great place for getting feedback from clients and customers. When Barclaycard developed its Ring MasterCard, the company reached out to existing customers on social media and asked for ideas. The Ring MasterCard has been recognized as the first social credit card to be designed and built through the power of community crowdsourcing.

2. Create educational content

With so much information at our fingertips, we’re always learning. Content marketing financial services can be a great way to not just generate traffic to your website but also to create potential conversations and awareness. By providing educational content through a blog, you can make your brand name trustworthy and become a go-to for people who are looking for specific content on financial services.

How to start

• Consider starting a blog or having an “education” tab on your website that houses helpful articles.
• Do a little research to discover what kinds of topics people are interested in learning more about, even if it’s just simple jargon. Remember that your customers aren’t finance experts like yourself. Simple, straightforward content can be hugely beneficial to building trust with your audiences.
• Use a content calendar to help you produce timely, relevant content.

Creating educational content can be vastly beneficial for financial services marketing. Take it from Liberty Mutual, who created an Alexa skill for customers to “receive actionable advice on common home and auto worries.” American Express has also used educational content to its advantage with a blog dedicated to helping small business owners get more clients and engage with their customers more.

3. Incorporate content personalization

Following the themes from above, knowing your audience is a huge aspect of financial services marketing. People love personalization — it’s why the customer journey has become the main focus for just about every marketing campaign. In 2019 alone, 35% of marketers in financial services were focusing on personalization, and that wasn’t just for kicks. According to data from  Boston Consulting Group, personalization can offer a revenue boost of 10 to 30%.

Ensuring your company knows who the customer is and what their needs are not only makes them feel valued but also gives you a way to offer more applicable services.

How to start

• To personalize your content in the financial services sector, you first need to understand your customer base. Create persona profiles for different types of customers and work to build accurate customer records.
• Invest in tools that give you a look into your customers’ behavior in relation to your platform. And then use this data to make not only your products more relevant but also your content more relevant.
• Get feedback. Conduct surveys to understand how your banking customer experience is fairing. Direct feedback from customers can help you see where you’re falling short on the customer journey and what needs to be fixed, enhanced or made more personal.

Matthews Asia, a financial services firm specializing in Asian investments, uses Episerver integrated with data sources like CRM to drive personalization within its organization. Technology like this can help financial orgs with personalization by doing things like customizing the user experience to match whatever search terms were used or whatever content was viewed. For example, if someone searches for “mortgage rates” on your website, you can then use that info to see that mortgage content shows up for them — similar to how cookies and targeted ads work, but more specific to your site.

At the end of the day, the best way to achieve content personalization is to simply put the customer first. You’ll learn their wants and needs, which will in turn influence the way you advertise and market to your audience.

4. Adopt video marketing

Would it surprise you to know that YouTube has become the second largest search engine? Around 86% of YouTube viewers say they use the platform regularly to learn something new, which is why financial services marketers have started to invest heavily in video marketing. In fact, nearly 97% of marketers say video has helped boost user understanding of their services, and 76% say it’s increased sales.

We are naturally more attracted to video content over large blocks of text. By incorporating video into your marketing campaigns, you can explain complex financial products simply while also building a more transparent relationship with customers.

Take Bank of America, for example, who’s created video testimonials and interviews for its audience. Its video series show real people with real jobs being asked how they handle financial responsibility, so viewers can find out how their peers navigate the world of work in their own words. Bank of America uses a video library to house all of the videos in the series in one location, making it easy for viewers to navigate while also increasing the amount of time spent on the website.

A good starting point is to begin with the following video topics: guarantees, competitor differentiators, testimonials, firm history, video guides and how-to videos.

Each one of the above video ideas has garnered success among other institutions. For instance, WealthSimple has used extraordinary brand storytelling to accumulate over 1 million views on average. The company highlights its brand messaging “Investing for Humans” by bringing real faces to the stories in the videos.

5. Employ digital storytelling

Storytelling became one of the most effective marketing mediums long ago, and it still holds that title today. Whether in video, ads, on social media or cross-channel platforms, digital storytelling allows your marketing to extend into the real world.

How to start

• Figure out what story you want to tell, and make sure it’s consistent across all departments.
• Don’t focus on just one marketing strategy or try to incorporate everything in all at once. 
• Identify how to tell a story that captures interest and evokes emotion.

You want to excite and move your viewer through relatable and shareable content. This content can either educate, entertain or simply help the audience in some way.

Let’s look at Allstate’s “Worth Telling.” In this marketing campaign, Allstate focuses on telling the story of a handful of customers who are making a difference. Through this campaign, Allstate is not only promoting what its customers are doing but also building trust by sharing real people with real stories.

6. Ensure sales and marketing alignment

Breaking down walls between departments in your financial services is crucial for content marketing to be effective. Today, just about everyone is a content creator within your firm. It’s no longer solely up to the marketing team to share content or post on social media. As such, you need to ensure that your sales and marketing teams are aligned on all aspects surrounding financial services content marketing.

A great way to achieve alignment between departments is to use templatized content. Templates can give you the control you need to ensure brand consistency and compliance while also empowering anyone to customize and distribute content as needed. A content marketing platform with a library of pre-approved templates is a great way to start.

As you start your journey on this new content marketing road, you’ll come in contact with lots of information around the content experience and customer journey. To give you a leg up, we’ve created an ebook on how you can deliver the extra 1% to your customers by providing a memorable content experience. Download it for free below.

So you finally made the decision to turn that brilliant idea into a legitimate business—congratulations! You’ve probably got a whole to-do list in your mind right now, including how to market your product or service, how to determine who your target market is, and how much capital you need to actually get things going.

Of course, all of these are important parts of your business plan, but have you already settled the most basic element of your brand identity, such as choosing a brand name?

Yes, we’re talking about your brand name—It’s tough to come up with a brand name, and if you’re having difficulty brainstorming or coming up with one, that’s perfectly normal. The naming process can be tricky, but a great brand name is crucial for making a positive first impression on potential customers and standing out in your industry.

Creating the Perfect Brand Name

Coming up with the right name for your brand isn’t about fitting a certain ‘standard’ but rather about establishing a strong brand identity. Every brand is unique – don’t pigeon-hole your brand name because you think it has to fit an arbitrary standard of what other businesses are doing.

Consider your brand’s position, mission, and story as stepping stones that can lead you to a natural brand name fit. Going back to these basics is a great way to get the creative juices flowing and might help you land on a few potential name candidates for a strong brand name.

And if you need extra help coming up with name ideas, these 5 tips will help you pick out a memorable and effective brand name that your audience will remember.

Gather Ideas and Brainstorm

Before anything else, we recommend starting a thorough brainstorming session. Gather your business partners (or friends and family if you’re a solopreneur) and just start throwing potential names on the page. Add in any words, phrases, or feelings that sound right – don’t worry about perfection at this stage of creating a brand.

The trick is to come up with as many brand name ideas as possible, list them all down, and slowly tick away the bad ones until you are left with the best candidates that meet your criteria. Aim for at least 20-30 potential names to choose from.

Use Clear, Descriptive, Easy-to-Remember Words

In our experience, the best brand names aren’t the super odd or out there ones, but the ones that are easy to remember (and spell when you’re looking them up online).

Try using words that can be easily connected back to your product, service, or business, the mission your company stands for, and what potential customers can expect from your brand. Stay away from made-up words or obscure names that customers won’t be able to immediately grasp or connect with your offering.

Make Sure It’s Unique

The last thing you want to deal with is a lawsuit or brand confusion, so before setting your heart on a brand name, thoroughly research and make 100% sure another brand isn’t already using it – especially in your same industry and location. Search business registries, Google, and social media to confirm no other brands are actively operating under that name.

If you get an exact name match, there might still be some wiggle room in the process to pick a name that works for your brand. For example, is the existing business operating in a completely unrelated industry or location from your potential customers? Even if there’s no risk of market confusion, we still recommend tweaking your brand name slightly (adding descriptive initials, locality, or product type) to ensure complete uniqueness.

Another important note here: As you’re considering final brand names, check domain name availability. If your team has their heart set on a certain name, you may be able to purchase the domain rights from the current owner, but you’ll definitely want to negotiate that before finalizing your brand name decision.

Skip the Buzz Words

Using trendy buzzwords in your brand name is one way to try and make it memorable or modern. It can even help you temporarily appeal to a younger target market. But at the end of the day, lingo trends come and go.

If you want your brand to stand the test of time, it needs a name that won’t lose relevance or become cringy in a few months or years. Save the trendy lingo for timely marketing campaigns and taglines instead!

Make Sure the Name Aligns With Your Brand Identity

Whatever brand name you land on should complement the rest of your branding like logos, taglines, and slogans. Brand consistency across touchpoints is critical for recognition and growth, and it all starts with an aligned brand name.

For example, if your brand name is clever or humorous, you’ll want subsequent branding elements to match – not clash with – that more relaxed, fun tone and style.

Now that you’ve got a great brand name, it’s time to start putting it out there and actively promoting your unique brand identity. Learn how to build a complete brand marketing strategy from the ground up here.

More Tips for Coming Up With the Right Brand Name

The brand naming process takes time. While coming up with dozens of name ideas is a good starting point, narrowing down your options to find the perfect name can be tricky.

Beyond the criteria already discussed, here are some additional considerations as you evaluate potential names for a powerful brand name:

Get Input From Others

It’s hard to be objective when you’ve been staring at a list of potential names for weeks. Consider showing your top 5-10 contenders to others to get unbiased input. Create polls on social media or run focus groups of people who match your target audience to help pick a name that resonates.

Listen for which option people best understand and can recall later. If multiple finalists get confused reactions, it’s back to the drawing board.

Say Names Out Loud

A name can look great on paper but be surprisingly hard to pronounce naturally in conversation. Before officially deciding, say your finalist names out loud, include them in sample ad copy, etc. If words are often mispronounced or awkwardly voiced, that’s a red flag.

Watch for Unintended Meanings

Words that seem perfectly innocent in your native language may have alternate connotations or translations elsewhere. Do some international due diligence by translating shortlisted names into major global languages. Eliminate ones with unfortunate secondary meanings.

Check URL Availability

Your brand name will become your website URL, social handles, email addresses and more. Beyond checking if a .com domain is available, also run shortlisted names through platforms like Twitter, LinkedIn and Gmail.

If the versions with your name are taken, that can limit marketing. Try adding a location or descriptor word to open up more available URL options.

Imagine Referral Scenarios

Envision how customers might refer others to your yet-to-launch company. Come up with realistic word of mouth scenarios. If the names are overly complex to accurately repeat from memory or lead to confusion, it may be challenging to gain traction.

Research Legal Considerations

Beyond trademark conflicts, ensure your name choices meet legal naming requirements for your entity type and jurisdiction. Especially for heavily regulated industries like healthcare or finance, confirm names pass necessary compliance rules first.

By going through this expanded checklist before finalizing your ultimate new brand name, you give it the greatest chance at resonating in the market and communicating what you stand for.

Examples of Effective Brand Names

Here are some real-world examples of brand names that made their business name into a powerful brand. While there are many examples and types of brand names, these companies have managed to pick a brand name that’s easy to spell, builds brand recognition, and is easy to remember.

Slack – Simple and Descriptive

Slack’s name works on multiple levels. As a messaging app designed to enable seamless workplace communication, “slack” describes both the experience it enables users to have, as well as neatly fitting the positioning as an antidote to “work chaos”. The one-syllable word is supremely easy to say and remember.

Without knowing anything about Slack’s product, you can infer it likely involves casual, back-and-forth messaging functionality simply by hearing its name. The name choice has supported strong viral growth through word of mouth, since “Slack” is effortless to accurately explain to others.

Roomba – Hints at Functionality

Roomba’s name uses a blend of made-up words and real terms to paint a descriptive picture for customers. The “room” portion gives a literal connection to the vacuum’s purpose, cleaning room-by-room. But “boomba” adds a playful element that hints at how the device maneuvers around with a mix of randomness and logic.

This blend gives customers enough context to grasp what Roombas do, while still coming across as fun and approachable. The quirky name fuels buyer curiosity while answering basic questions about Roomba’s cleaning functionality right upfront through the name itself.

Mailchimp – Friendly and Clever

One standout aspect of Mailchimp’s brand name is how the company has fully embraced the “chimp” portion through its iconic branded mascot, Freddie. This consistent tie-back gives the somewhat odd name choice an approachable, friendly face.

But on a deeper level, the name fuses together “email” and “chimp” to connect directly to Mailchimp’s initial product offering of email marketing services, enhanced through a friendly primate mascot. The name takes a basic software function and adds unique personality. And customers can immediately grasp the link back to email tools by hearing the “mail” prefix.

The alliteration makes “Mailchimp” satisfyingly fun to say aloud, with customers often referring to the company verbally in conversation about marketing solutions. In a relatively boring software space, the energized name delivers vitality.

Shutterfly – Hints at Ease and Speed

As an early dot-com era startup in online photos, Shutterfly’s name aims to fuse photography with mobility and simplicity. The “shutter” portion ties directly back to capturing photos, while “fly” gives movement and freedom. There’s also a subtle connection to memories flying by.

The smooth combination into a single word paints an effective descriptive picture for customers of what the company enables. And that clarity and resonance has allowed Shutterfly to expand over the years into adjacent categories like cards, photo books and coordinated gifting options while retaining strong consistency with its original core name and brand story.

Choose a Brand Name That Brings Your Story to Life

Finding a brand name aligning perfectly with your business goals, values, and offerings takes effort. But the investment is well worth it in the long run. An authentic, perfect brand name makes connecting with your audience intuitive and helps propel growth.

Once you’ve checked all the boxes and made your final selection, it’s time to start spreading the word. Bring your new name to life across marketing materials, signage, digital properties and anywhere customers interact with your company (shameless plug here – the Marq platform is great for this). Consistent and targeted usage of a perfectly crafted name can elevate a business from unknown startup to household brand over time.

When in doubt, don’t be afraid to enlist some external support through resources like online brand name generators, naming agencies, or brand identity consultants to help guide you to make the right choice. But make sure to still weigh all names against your core brand values, mission and identity.

The most important thing is that your brand name feels like an authentic representation of who you are and what you offer as an organization. The rest will naturally follow with a consistent, strategic brand marketing approach.

Storytelling has the incredible ability to connect people on a deep, emotional level. It brings us together as we feel empathy for one another, laugh together and relate to someone else. Figures and stats aren’t emotionally charged and interesting. People want to hear stories that are relatable and trigger feelings within them. And, in the world of marketing, brand storytelling can have a massive impact on your company and the following you receive.

Related: How Airbnb & Apple use storytelling marketing to build their brands

With so many competing brands out there, it’s essential that you set yourself apart from the crowd, make yourself known and tell your brand story. A brand with a compelling story can connect with people in a way that draws them to you and gives you their loyalty. So many companies fail to see the importance in relating to their customer base this way. But, it’s not that difficult to build strong emotional connections with your customers with a captivating history of your reason for being.

How to write a brand story

1. Why do you exist?

There’s always a reason why you’ve made the decision to start your business. It could be something as simple as providing a high-quality product, because you had been disappointed by what was already available—or perhaps it’s something with a deeper, more introspective meaning. Regardless of the reason for your existence, you’ve got to tell your story.

2. Explain your history

Although it may not seem so interesting to you, your customers want to hear the history of how you went from the idea of your company to what exists today. A hard-fought underdog story can be incredibly relatable to many people who have gone through hardships or struggle, and it can be inspirational for someone currently in the same position.

If there isn’t much behind your history, a fun and fantastical story always makes for a memorable experience. As long as you aren’t misleading your customers into thinking you are something that you’re not, a fictional story is a great way to add some interest to your history.

When you’re building a brand story, you’ll also develop your own tone of voice and other assets. Make sure to keep those all in one place so they’re easy for anyone to find. Create a brand style guide using this handy template from Lucidpress.

3. Who are the characters involved?

Every story needs to have some characters in it. Your brand story will have at least a few characters: those individuals who were involved in some way or another with the conception and development of the brand. Any number of people can be a character in the story of your brand, including:

• Company founders
• Customers
• Neighbors
• Co-workers
• Chance encounters

When you’re looking to dig deep into the core of your brand story, first identify who was at the heart of the creation of the brand. And, as the brand evolves and continues to grow, more characters may be added into the story as they emerge. Keep your story and characters updated as needed.

4. State your mission

Your mission statement is essentially your basic reason for being. It outlines several things for your customers to learn about your brand:

• Why you’re in business
• What need you’re fulfilling
• The problem you’re solving

In outlining your mission statement, you’ve got to remember to stay true to yourself. After all, you and your company must live and breathe this mission statement in order to stay true to the brand and protect your brand’s reputation. If your mission statement includes environmentally friendly practices, but you drive a gas-guzzler or are found to be improperly disposing of your waste, you will significantly tarnish your brand and mission statement. But, when you live your mission statement, you show yourself and your brand to be more authentic and trustworthy.

5. What are your failures?

There are few stories of success that are without their fair share of obstacles, downturns and downright fails, so don’t be afraid to share that part of your story with your customers. After all, conflict is what makes any story interesting.

Some of the most successful people you’ve heard of have been through their fair share of failures:

• J.K. Rowling felt like the biggest failure she knew after a failed marriage, job loss and being on the verge of homelessness.
• Bill Gates dropped out of Harvard and a business he co-owned went under.
• Steven Spielberg was turned down by the University of California, not once, not twice, but three times.

Oftentimes, we feel the urge to skip over these failures and just leave a gap in our stories. But, it’s generally within those gaps that the most change and development takes places. Don’t sugarcoat the tough times, but instead be honest with your customers. You’ll be shocked at how well honesty about failure and struggle is accepted and appreciated.

Brand story example

At Lucidpress, our mission is to help every person, business or brand present themselves, so they are understood. We developed our brand story as follows:

Setting

In two decades, the digital landscape has transformed the way brands present themselves — and the world now expects great design.

Conflict

However, design isn’t a universal skill. Combine that with nearly everyone in an organization creating content and you get bad design and inconsistent branded content.

Due to this, many companies turn to strict brand controls, creating large content request backlogs for central creative teams, or else employees are allowed to create content in the wild with little direction.

Resolution

We created a brand templating platform to offer a better way. Through Lucidpress, companies scale content creation while protecting their brand.

When brands stay consistent through brand templating they last longer, grow faster, and drive more revenue.

Creating a brand story using these steps can help solidify that emotional connection with your customers, to build a bond that is hard to break. Don’t overlook the importance of writing your brand story and building that relationship.

Want to know more about how to build your brand? Download our free ebook on how to build a brand in 2020.

Telling the right story for your brand can connect you with customers and help your brand grow. But good storytelling, like any other skill, is something you have to work at. So, we asked around and got storytelling podcast recommendations from fellow marketers who love a good yarn. Here are the top 12 picks, including a few of our own favorites.

1. Building a StoryBrand

Building a StoryBrand is lauded for its entertaining episodes and inspiring insights. Donald Miller brings in big names like Matthew McConaughey and Seth Godin to talk about storytelling and crafting clear messages that will speak to your customers.

This podcast came highly recommended by Trevor Rappleye, the CEO of CorporateFilming, who said Building a StoryBrand will help you simplify your message and drive sales.

Listen to Building a StoryBrand

2. All Selling Aside

This podcast is for those who find themselves in the unfortunate position of having to sell when they actually hate selling. Host Alex Mandossian will walk you through different strategies to use the power of storytelling to achieve your sales goals.

Carol Tompkins, Business Development Consultant for AccountsPortal, recommends All Selling Aside because “it focuses on teaching consultants like myself, as well as other professionals, how to ethically influence others both personally and professionally, rather than just focusing on selling all the time.”

Listen to All Selling Aside

3. Be The Drop

Be The Drop is all about the intersection of business and good communication, and it’s sure to lift your mood. The show hosts diverse guests each week to hear how they inspire and motivate the people around them. This recommendation also came from Carol, who said that Be The Drop can ultimately help you manage your business more effectively by improving your communication skills.

Listen to Be The Drop

4. Business of Story

Business of Story is another great bet for brand storytelling highlights. There are nearly 300 episodes, and the show even won a “Best Small Business Podcast” award in 2017. It comes recommended by John Peterson, editor at Safe Drive Gear. He told us Park Howell’s show features “brilliant business owners and entrepreneurs, handpicked influencers, startup founders, and more. The topics are always inspiring, and it leads you to astounding discoveries.”

Listen to Business of Story

5. Under the Influence

This popular CBC Radio program was recommended to us by Kevin Carney of Organic Growth. He says, “It’s my absolute favorite podcast about marketing and advertising, as it talks about strategy, not day-to-day tactics.” This pod isn’t specifically about storytelling, but it offers a behind-the-scenes look at the ad industry that’s sure to leave you with some interesting anecdotes.

Listen to Under the Influence

6. The Employer Branding Podcast

The Employer Branding Podcast offers an international take on branding in business. This recommendation came to us courtesy of Dwight Zahringer, President of Pure Cabo. He says, “Weekly episodes are 20 minutes long and super digestible, covering tons ofbranding topics with a human focus. Plus, they interview some pretty cream-of-the-crop guests from Fortune 500 companies like SalesForce to L’Oreal to Deloitte. So you’re really hearing the best insights.”

Listen to the Employer Branding Podcast

7. How Brands Are Built

This podcast offers a view of the nitty-gritty, everyday details of branding. Also recommended by Dwight, he told us, “How Brands Are Built is fantastic for understanding how to share and build momentum around your origin story. Rob Meyerson interviews an eclectic group of folks for his episodes, from marketing analysts to logo designers. You really get a 360-degree view of what’s involved in a persuasive original story, plus how to share it for max impact.”

Listen to How Brands Are Built

8. Business Storytelling Podcast

The aptly named Business Storytelling Podcast hosted by content marketer Christoph Trappe will show you how to harness the power of stories to get results. Emma Bourke, CMO at Zodiac Guides, told us this podcast “provides invaluable tips … with content that’s relevant, engaging and educational.”

Listen to Business Storytelling Podcast 

Editors’ Picks

We also wanted to throw in our own top picks to get your storytelling juices flowing. Without further ado, here are some of our faves, including some outside-the-box recs and Lucidpress’s very own podcast.

9. The Visual Storytelling Podcast

The Visual Storytelling Podcast can help you round out your storytelling skills with a fresh point of view. This podcast from Disney Artist Chris Oatley will walk you through how visual artists tell stories. Touching on subjects like children’s stories and character development may have surprising impacts on your own storytelling endeavors. If anything, it’s a nice break from the world of business podcasts.

Listen to The Visual Storytelling Podcast

10. On Writing

On Writing will give you a different perspective on storytelling and can help you refine your techniques. Host Joshua Pomare talks to writers of all stripes to dig into the writing and publishing process. If you want tips from the true pros of storytelling, this is the podcast to listen to.

Listen to On Writing

11. Nonprofit Storytelling Living Room

This limited series features speakers from the Nonprofit Storytelling Conference with eight different episodes doing a deep dive on how to use storytelling to accomplish your nonprofit’s goals. It’s one of the best industry-specific shows we’ve come across and can help you craft engaging stories for your audience.

Listen to Nonprofit Storytelling Living Room

12. Brand Land

Well, well, well, what have we here? Yes, it’s our very own podcast, Brand Land. Our Director of Marketing, Garrett Jestice, talks to a new guest every week from diverse fields. The show is all about how to build a trusted brand, and each guest brings their own unique insight to give you tips on brand strategy, content creation, customer experience, storytelling and more.

Listen to Brand Land

A strong brand image is crucial to your success. If you’re asking yourself, “What is brand image?”, strap in. We’re going to help you understand what brand image is, why it’s important, and how you can get the best brand image for your organization.

What is brand image?

Brand image is what customers think about your brand or the feeling they have about it. It’s the overall perception or impression of your brand that’s created through your message, brand awareness and brand identity. But, your brand image develops over time as your customers experience and interact with it, and it can be enhanced through word of mouth, advertisements, sales promotions, etc.

Just remember your brand image and brand identity aren’t the same things. Brand image is how your brand or business is perceived, whereas brand identity is the visual aspect, i.e., the literal face of your brand. Brand identity includes logos, colors, typography, messaging and packaging. Brand identity also reinforces the existing reputation of your brand and requires complete consistency since it’s the first impression customers have of your business.

Why brand image matters

A strong brand can potentially equal a strong business. With a strong and consistent brand image, potential consumers are more likely to pick you over the competition because they see you as trustworthy and reliable. Plus, if you’re targeting your audience correctly, consumers will associate themselves with your brand image, attracting them to you from the get-go.

A strong brand identity + a strong brand image will let you introduce new products to the market more easily, since you won’t need to focus too much on marketing. If your consumers already love you, they’re more likely to buy other products from you, right? Think of it this way: My first Apple product was an iBook G4. Followed by an iPhone 1, iMac, iPad, iPhone 7, MacBook Air, another MacBook Air, and now an iPhone 11 Pro — all across a span of 15 years. I like Apple (maybe a little too much), and I trust that its products are going to do what I need them to do.

Now imagine that same domino effect in your organization. A strong brand image can help you get that.

Steps to develop a brand image

Thankfully, developing a brand image is a straightforward process. Just follow these steps and stick to the best practices of brand guidelines to get started.

1. Know your audience

Before you do anything, determine your target audience. Be as specific as possible, go beyond the basic demographic (age, gender, occupation), and determine their behaviors and lifestyles. The more specific you are, the more you ensure your brand message comes across loud and clear to your target customers.

2. Define your value proposition

Your value proposition will be a part of your overall marketing strategy and refers to the value you promise to deliver to your consumers if they choose you. It can be either a marketing or business statement that summarizes why your audience should buy from you, what you stand for and how you operate.

3. Establish your visual identity

Your visual identity, e.g., your logo, shouldn’t necessarily be the first thing you create. It’s easier to create a logo after you’ve built or started building a clear brand. Doing it this way can make things a lot easier — by starting with your audience and mission, you’ll create a springboard for designing your visual identity, which should complement and enhance your brand, not define it.

4. Create your brand archetype and personality

Make your brand personable by creating an archetype or personality. You can do this by using colors, type, imagery and tone of voice to represent who your brand is. 

By knowing your brand archetype, you can create a pattern of ideas or way of thinking to help influence decisions around your brand. Brand archetypes are most often associated with characters in a story, such as the hero, magician or outlaw. For example, Nike embodies the hero archetype by using athletes in their advertising who inspire us to be the bravest, strongest versions of ourselves.

5. Cultivate brand consistency

As you continue to build out your brand image, remember to be consistent. A consistent brand can affect your ROI by earning trust with customers. And an inconsistent brand can create confusion and depreciate your brand status. Plus, brand consistency can lead to new customer leads and conversions.

Don’t be surprised if building your brand image takes a bit of trial and error. Some of the most recognizable brands out there have gone through a rebranding or two. For more in-depth tips on brand image, check out our free book on how to build your brand.

Looking for a quick guide to relationship marketing? You’ve come to the right place. If you’ve landed here, you’re most likely hoping for a little extra info on what is relationship marketing and how it can help you start to either generate more leads or get customers coming back.

Below, you’ll find a nifty guide outlining what relationship marketing is, a few pretty awesome relationship marketing examples and some quick and easy strategies to help you get started — beginning with the basics.

What is relationship marketing?

Relationship marketing aims to build and maintain personal connections with your customers leading to more business whether through word-of-mouth promotion or effective content strategy.

Relationship marketing is a part of customer relationship management (CRM), focusing on long-term customer engagement and customer loyalty. 

Individual sales and customer acquisition are simply byproducts of a successful relationship marketing strategy. Instead, focus on your customers’ interests and needs and encourage meaningful engagement. This way, you create the necessary relationships to make more sales over an extended period of time.

Additionally, relationship marketing’s ability to keep you in close contact with customers loops you in on how they use your products and services — which should influence any changes you make. Relationship marketing not only helps you measure marketing effectiveness, but it ensures you stay connected with customers, and according to Gallup, fully engaged customers will spend nearly 23% more than the average Joe Schmoe.

Relationship marketing examples

To give you some ideas on how to heat up with your relationship marketing, we’ve highlighted some pretty cool (in our humble opinion) relationship marketing examples. Be sure to pay attention to how these brands took things up a notch and avoided doing the bare minimum.

Moosejaw

Possibly our favorite example of relationship marketing comes from the outdoor apparel company Moosejaw. A customer ordered a hoodie for his girlfriend as a Christmas present, but unfortunately, she broke up with him a few weeks before the holidays. The customer returned the hoodie, asking for a refund and wrote under the reason for return, “girlfriend dumped me.” 

A few weeks later, a large package from Moosejaw arrived with a smattering of t-shirts,  stickers and a card that read, “We’re sorry your girlfriend broke up with you, we decided to give you a gift.” We can’t imagine a more personalized response in customer service.

Lay’s

Lay’s is a great example of a company that builds customers’ trust in their brand through interactive content. Lay’s annual “Do Us A Flavor” contest asks customers to submit their ideas for new chip flavors. Once the submission window has closed, participants then vote on flavors through social media, with the winning flavor added to Lay’s flavor lineup  Oh, and the customer who suggested the winning flavor gets a hefty cash prize. 

GE

One strategy for relationship marketing is through content, and GE’s use of content marketing is pretty solid. By conducting extensive research into their customers and what they need — even down to the socioeconomic contexts — GE is able to personalize its content based on specific audiences. For GE, relationship marketing isn’t focused on individual transactions but rather the relationships with customers in each market, therefore setting the stage for valuable marketing investment, especially in countries with lower revenue potential.

BetterCloud

Customer service in itself makes up a huge part of relationship marketing and BetterCloud hits it out of the ballpark with its  “proactive support” system flags. By collecting data on how customers use BetterCloud software, along with any errors or struggles they encounter, BetterCloud is able to proactively reach out to affected customers long before a support ticket is submitted.

Zappos

Zappos makes it clear how customers can contact the brand by placing the customer service phone number front and center on their website. When customers call with concerns, representatives do more than simply take care of the problem — they ensure customers feel heard. For instance, one rep has sent baby blankets to parents who had crying children in the background. Another sent flowers to a customer after she tried to return boots bought for her father who passed away before he could wear them. For Zappos, relationship marketing is about reading between the lines and actively listening.

Benefits of customer relationship marketing

Now, these examples are all well and good, but is relationship marketing really worth the time and effort? 

Boost in customer retention

Customers who feel that their needs are being met and that they’re also being heard tend to stick around. Going past the basics to keep your customers happy is only ever going to be a lucrative investment.

Increased customer life-time-value

By building a relationship with your customers, you’ll increase not only customer retention rates but also the lifetime value of your customers. Lifetime value measures a customer’s total sales, as well as their loyalty and advocacy of your brand — e.g., customers become brand advocates or ambassadors (influencers) who recommend your products or services to friends, family members or even work colleagues.

Collect and apply feedback

As you collect customer feedback, you wind up creating a data bank to improve your customer marketing in the future. For example, feedback can be incorporated into content marketing to further nurture customer relationships.

Create customer evangelists

Customer evangelists are those customers everyone wants. They regularly purchase from you — recommend your services to friends, family, coworkers, random strangers on the street, offer praise without any financial incentive and so much more. These customers end up being one of your best marketing tools.

Elevated brand trust

If a customer believes in you and trusts you, they’re more likely to forgive mistakes and still stick around. Building a successful relationship marketing campaign to get to this point though is more than just a rewards program, it’s doing that and more.

Types of customer relationship marketing strategies

Achieving effective relationship marketing is pretty simple. In fact, you may already be implementing some of these ideas below. However, we want to highlight how you can utilize these strategies for relationship marketing specifically.

Content marketing

Content marketing generates three times as many leads as paid searches. When used correctly and efficiently, content marketing connects an audience with your brand on an emotional level and equips customers with helpful information, providing value to you and your customer. And by offering useful content regularly, your customers develop a natural interest in your brand.

Customer service

For a moment, forget that you’re the reader  — remember a time when you’ve been the customer and needed to contact customer service due to a pressing issue? How important to you was it to get a quick response? 

Responding quickly to your customers’ complaints, feedback or questions will show you not only care but that your brand is reliable. Advancements in AI make this a lot easier for businesses with resources like Facebook Messenger bot or ManyChat. Using a pre-programmed chat gives your customers the option of a quick and easy answer (like an  FAQ) or to steer them towards the right representative. Add in the aspect of human follow up and you really raise the bar. Customer service is also a great place to generate feedback from customers to aid in content personalization.

Social media

Social media is a treasure trove for customer feedback. Nearly 95% of online adults follow a brand on social media, which can make sifting through customer comments feel daunting, but you surely want to find those golden nuggets!  Remember, don’t just use social media as your personal pirate chest. Make sure you’re interacting with customers on social media too. Even something as simple as a “like” or quick response can remind folks that there are real people behind your logo. 

Social media is also another opportunity for you to create effective content that strengthens customer relations. For example, if you’re in the B2B sector, keep things professional by focusing on your expertise. Or, if your audience falls within the Millennial age group, you may find using humor goes a long way on just about anything.

Email marketing

Despite what you may hear, email is still an important marketing strategy and shouldn’t be discounted. Emails tend to get more “me-time.” So, while social media can be used to share more “random” pieces of content, emails ideally feature the type of content you want your customers to really notice and focus on (e.g., you launch a new product feature or so forth). Think of emails like the big, creamy Cadbury eggs in a basket full of Easter treats — they’re all yummy to eat, but those eggs are truly satisfying.

Loyalty program

To round out our relationship marketing strategies, let’s talk about loyalty programs. A loyalty program is a real cherry-on-top kind of tactic that \supplements any marketing strategy you currently have in place. It’s a simple way to show customers that you appreciate their business and that you’d love to see them return. A successful customer loyalty program can heighten customer engagement by providing real value. Be sure to outline to your customers how your program works and the benefits included, whether it’s rewarding customers for referrals or racking up points with each purchase made. Offer discounts for feedback and you can even let your rewards programs guide better effective content.

Now that you have an idea of what relationship marketing is, it’s time to establish your own marketing strategy. Know that regardless of which strategy you choose to implement, it’s important to use effective content to draw in your customers and get them coming back for more. But don’t stress if you’re still struggling getting them to engage with your brand, check out our effective content ebook for some great ways to boost your content game.

The world is filled with buzzwords. Exciting ones, boring ones — confusing ones too. Corporate identity is one of those slightly-confusing-is-it-real buzzwords. But it’s legit. It’s not something totally made up by The Internet in an attempt to get your information, or whatever The Internet does these days. 

TLDR — A corporate identity keeps your brand consistent and your content effective, which makes your brand more memorable. Think of it this way: A strong corporate identity = strong brand identity. For the most part. 

What is a corporate identity?

Corporate identity sums up how your business presents itself — e.g., visuals, templated designs, brand colors, brand guidelines and more. You know all that official on-brand hullabaloo. 

Having a clear value proposition, which Wordstream defines as “A value proposition tells prospects why they should do business with you rather than your competitors, and makes the benefits of your products or services crystal clear from the outset” is an important component of having a strong corporate identity. You don’t want to muddy things up by making it difficult to ascertain why your brand is important over another. 

Now, remember, a key component to ensuring a strong corporate identity falls on the shoulders of your employees — also known as your internal culture. Having a strong internal culture, of both buy-in and desire to bring out the best in a brand (which sometimes means testing the limits and questioning prioritization), cultivates a rather naturally strong corporate culture and identity.

But, oftentimes folks confuse corporate identity with brand identity, but they’re definitely not the same beast. Brand identity sums up how customers perceive your business’s presentation. 

Like:

Relatable, right? 

How you present yourself vs how your corporate identity design is experienced is a whole other ball game. So, keep that in mind as we explain the following content.

How to create a corporate identity

Think of a corporate identity like you would a power pantsuit — you need pants, a shirt, blazer, the right accessories and a matching pair of shoes in order to really make an impression. 

So, here’s your proverbial pantsuit aka What You Need to Create a Corporate Identity:

• Write a brand positioning statement — First and foremost, you want to write a brand positioning statement. We’ve got a whole blog post dedicated to writing a brand positioning statement, so to avoid hitting you over the head with information, we’ll just link you there. Once you’ve got that squared away, you’ll move onto the brand personality. 
• Establish your written brand identity — Like we said, this is your brand personality. Your flavor, spice, whatever! These words right now… they’re are part of the brand identity of Lucidpress, e.g., your mission, values and messaging
• Create a visual identity —  This is pretty self-explanatory, but corporate visual identity is all about the design experience meaning brand colors, branded templates and so forth.

Now, once you’ve identified your corporate identity power pantsuit, let’s get onto the good stuff. Yaaaas, queen!

Corporate identity design inspiration

So this is the list of the 10 best corporate identity design examples. Now, let’s get one thing out of the way, this isn’t really the best. (I mean, who am I to judge that? Is anyone really qualified to make that list? But I digress; I had to include “best” because our content manager said it would be good for SEO.) So, if you searched for “best” and ended up here, well, you’re welcome. So, while this is not the authoritative list, it is a list of some very solid corporate identity branding designs that have turned up over the last few years.

Airbnb

A few years ago Airbnb decided that their brand needed a refresh, so they called in San Francisco-based DesignStudio for some help. When Airbnb rebranded, it was very controversial both inside and outside of the design world. But as with many logo redesigns, after some time has passed, it’s easy to look back and see that they made the right decisions. It’s obvious now that it was the right decision to move away from the then-trendy script logotype to the more iconic stylized “A.”

DesignStudio worked hard to incorporate the international, friendly, adventurous and belonging nature of Airbnb. This meant simplifying the logo from words to just an icon, eliminating language barriers and making it universally recognizable. By incorporating a large palette of colors and a variety of photography styles, any culture or country can now identify with the Airbnb brand.

Read more: New logo & identity for Airbnb by DesignStudio

Key takeaways

In this case, the old branding for Airbnb did not align to the values and needs of the company. It called for not just a revision or an update, but a complete visual identity overhaul. I respect them for being willing to undertake a massive change to their corporate identity for the greater good of serving their customers.

Spotify

Spotify, the Swedish music streaming service, has taken music lovers by storm. But the original logo is probably foreign to most American listeners. It was a funky logo type with the “O” lifted up and (what I assume are) radio waves coming out of it.

In 2013 Spotify updated their corporate design, focusing on the “circle with radio waves” motif. They stuck with the green and white but introduced a gradient that gave the mark some fake 3-D dimension. In 2015 the brand consultancy group Collins took a crack at refining the 2013 logo design. And in my opinion, they knocked it out of the park. One of the things I love about the Spotify branding is that it successfully uses a large color palette. While green is their primary color, it is certainly not the only color they use. I also appreciate the use of the duotone technique, gradients and pop art graphics. These techniques can help pull the branding together even though Spotify features musicians who represent a large spectrum of styles.

Read more: New identity for Spotify by Collins

Key takeaways

Don’t be afraid of color. Consider using unexpected art styles, like duotone, as key parts of the visual identity.

Australian Open

The Australian Open went through a rebrand in 2016 by agency Landor Australia. They took a dated logo and completely overhauled the look. They eliminated any visual reference to tennis players or tennis balls and simplified the mark down to just “AO.” They simplified that even more by knocking the crossbar out of the A. They then applied this “circle and delta shapes” motif across all other branding. The result is a corporate identity that is bold, athletic and fun. They eliminated all of the stuffiness that the previous logo had.

Read more: Landor helps Australian Open change game

Key takeaways

Sometimes a logo needs to be completely rethought. If the current logo is not true to the goals and values of the brand, it’s got to change. Also, don’t be afraid to boil a brand image or system down to simple, essential elements.

City of Melbourne

A great follow-up to the Australian Open is the rebranding of the City of Melbourne back in 2009. Melbourne had a very safe, predictable city logo. It had all of the required “city logo things”: Sun? Check. Roman column? Check. Some sort of plant? Check. It was very official-looking—and very boring. The city also had a problem in that every city department and event had its own logo, without any brand consistency.

In 2009 the city rebranded, completely overhauling the logo of the city and introducing a visual identity system. I just want to note that this is a difficult task for any large organization, but government organizations are notorious for being resistant to change, so kudos to the designers and their government counterparts for pulling off this redesign.

The new design is simply fantastic. It does so many positive things for the corporate identity of the city. First, it better reflects Melbourne’s vibrant culture and makes it more appealing to visitors. Second, it unifies the many different logos that existed before. Finally, it creates a visual language that can be used across all of their messaging. I appreciate the nice details, like how the logo can be broken up into individual shape elements, making it even more versatile.

Read more: City of Melbourne gallery on Behance

Key takeaways

Just because logos for a certain type of client are usually boring doesn’t mean the one you make has to be. Cities are not known for having great logos, but Melbourne bucked that trend. Make the logo and identity system versatile enough that they can be used in a variety of situations and needs, so the corporate design system is future-proof.

Heart & Stroke Foundation

The new Heart & Stroke logo is a master class in minimalism and reduction. Pentagram’s famous Paula Scher took a busy, very official-looking logo and distilled it down to its basic message. I really appreciate how Scher tucked everything so close together. The stroke mark is neatly placed under the curve of the heart, and the closely tracked typography is snuggled in tight under the stroke. The Heart & Stroke mark is strong enough that the name can be eliminated and replaced with locations, departments, etc., making the mark multi-functional.

Read more: Pentagram’s Paula Scher rebrands Heart & Stroke Foundation Canada

Key takeaways

The beautiful thing about this design is that it uses two extremely basic shapes that anyone could have made in Microsoft Word using Wingdings and Arial. But as is often the case in graphic design, it’s not how complex a design is that proves the designer’s brilliance, but how simple it can be. When making a design, delete delete delete.

Kodak

Kodak — you know, the company you used to buy film from. (I kid; I still buy Kodak film from time to time to take pictures with my Pentax Spotmatic.) The Kodak company has been through a lot of trouble over the years as digital cameras have all but eliminated the need for physical film. But Kodak has pushed through it. In a recent rebrand, they went back to their roots. In 2006 the company had already eliminated the big red “K” block in favor of a simpler wordmark, but then they reversed the decision. Using a fresh sans-serif font, they stacked the letters on the right side of the red block. The visual branding on the packaging is bold and simple, helping their products stand out.

Read more: New logo & identity for Kodak by Work Order

Key takeaways

When working with a brand that has as much history and legacy as Kodak, you can’t just throw it all away. The branding effort effectively evolved the logo to keep it fresh without losing its heritage.

Deliveroo

British food delivery company Deliveroo recently underwent rebranding with DesignStudio, turning away from a literal depiction of a kangaroo to an abstract version that also happens to look like a hand giving the peace symbol. They opted for large, angular swashes of bold colors to fill their palette, giving the brand energy and a fun personality. The design is also decidedly flat, falling in line with contemporary design trends. The vibrant design motifs work well with their delivery uniforms, making their riders unmistakably visible.

Read more: New logo & identity for Deliveroo by DesignStudio

Key takeaways

I love how Deliveroo successfully uses a large palette of colors. They are all exciting and work well together, but the branding is not lost by using different colors. While it can be difficult, using more than just a few colors in a corporate identity can pay off in big ways. I also appreciate that they were able to make uniforms that were better-looking and more functional than the previous design. Improved form and function is always a design win.

Pandora

So, this might be a controversial brand to include in this list, considering that Paypal sued the company at the beginning of 2017 for trademark infringement. Nevertheless, we’ll break down what makes the Pandora brand system work so well. Pandora’s main logo is a modified, all-lowercase sans-serif wordmark. The alternate icon logo is a “P” with the bowl removed. It’s interesting that, instead of reducing the wordmark to just the lowercase “p,” they designed a different uppercase “P.”

Much like Spotify, Pandora needs to represent a large spectrum of musical styles and cultures. They went even further than Spotify in this regard by modifying their logo to visually embrace a wide array of design and photography styles. In my humble opinion, this shows that Pandora is more invested in music than their competitors.

Read more: Pandora debuts new logo

Key takeaways

I really appreciate that Pandora went all in to pay tribute to different styles. That shows commitment to your user community. With something like music, which is so closely tied to individual identities and collective cultures, it is essential that brands show sensitivity to such things.

Optus “Yes”

This is one of my favorite rebrands in the last few years, also out of Australia like the Melbourne rebrand above. Sydney-based agency Re took the Optus cable brand and turned it into something awesome. By capitalizing on Optus’ “Yes” mantra, Re made exciting new visuals that help the brand stand out. Compare that to the sad state of branding for U.S.-based cable companies like Comcast, Cox and Time Warner.

The branding is effective and beautiful standing alone (as seen in one of their clever patterns), as a vehicle to display their various entertainment options, or included with models who I suppose are there to represent their customers.

Read more: Optus rebrand on Behance

Key takeaways

While other cable companies are zigging towards being boring “high-tech” monsters, Optus zagged in the direction of fun, kind and personal. It’s tempting to try and beat your competitors at their game, to outdo whatever design look they are going after. Often it is better to forge a new path and help your corporate identity stand out.

99u

Okay, including 99u might be cheating slightly here, but hear me out. See, 99u is Adobe’s creativity thought leadership arm. They run a fantastic blog, publish books and host a yearly conference. So one, they are already a creative powerhouse, and two, because the visual branding is tied so closely to the conference, it changes every year. But in case you’re still not convinced, let’s dive into it and see how genius it is.

A key part of what 99u does is the yearly conference. And each year, the branding is fresh and unique. At the same time, the branding always ties in with the books and website. That is the advantage of having a visual branding system that is based on design elements and principles. The specifics of the design can change, but everything still looks cohesive.

Read more: Search 99u on Behance

Key takeaways

For brands that need to be applied across a variety of applications or updated frequently, it’s important to set up a corporate identity framework that supports creativity and fresh designs while still keeping your brand identifiable.

Now since you made it this far, how about a bonus one?

Zendesk

Zendesk is help desk software that helps companies everywhere provide quick solutions to their customers. The original logo was a happy Buddha (hence the zen) wearing a headset.

On the surface, Zendesk could be a boring product. They just offer help desk services. The old Buddha logo was unique and interesting at the time, but it was aging poorly. By reducing the logo down to simple shapes, it makes the logo instantly recognizable. They also capitalized on this look by expanding the simple shapes across all of their services. Finally, the shapes were brought to life thanks to fun motion graphics.

Read more: The Zendesk rebrand

Key takeaways

Don’t be afraid of simple shapes. Noted designer Aaron Draplin has spoken extensively about the importance of designing simply, eliminating the extra stuff, cutting out the fluffy details and getting down to the essential shapes. While there is a place for detail, simplifying designs almost always strengthens them.

Thanks for checking out this list! I have to thank the good people over at BrandNew and Behance for helping me find these examples. I’m sure I missed many great brands, and I would love for you to submit your favorites. Then I can put together another list of the “best” corporate identity examples.

For those of you about to design, I salute you.

In the meantime, if you want to learn more about how to manage your corporate identity or brand, check out our ebook on managing your brand in the cloud.

As patients become more knowledgeable about their own health thanks to the internet and modern medicine, they’re also becoming more savvy healthcare consumers. This evolution means branding in healthcare marketing is taking center stage. A healthcare brand’s digital presence and online reputation are quickly displacing word-of-mouth and local referrals. In fact, research shows that 84% of patients trust online reviews as much as they do personal recommendations.

However, healthcare branding isn’t really about a catchy tagline or a well-designed logo. Medical branding is increasingly a product of how your healthcare organization is perceived in the marketplace and the foothold it has among respected professionals. Whether you invest in cultivating a brand identity or not, your healthcare brand is based on the trust it invokes among patients, doctors, nurses, and other healthcare experts. Here’s why that industry reputation matters and what you can do to develop a better healthcare branding strategy.

Why healthcare branding matters

There are lots of reasons to be intentional about developing your healthcare brand. Below are several that highlight the critical role of branding in healthcare marketing and how it plays into our perceptions about whether a provider is trustworthy, professional, and competent.

Branding in healthcare marketing has changed

The rise of technology in our lives means society is constantly evolving, and the healthcare industry is no exception. The Affordable Care Act has created online healthcare marketplaces that put the consumer front and center. Gone is a healthcare landscape shaped primarily by the limitations of insurance providers and employers. It has been replaced by an online environment where healthcare consumers have a wealth of knowledge and patient reviews at their fingertips.

The healthcare marketing space is highly competitive

A radical shift has taken place in the health industry that has moved the focus from treatment of disease to prevention and testing. This trend opens up many new avenues of healthcare services for both patients and providers. Competition in the healthcare space is fierce, with a growing emphasis on patient satisfaction and health brands that sell directly to consumers rather than through providers. This evolution in care means medical branding needs to catch up, especially in digital marketplaces.

Patients have more choices in the health industry

While location and insurance providers used to shape a vast majority of healthcare decisions, consumers now have more options. This means that catering to the customer and paying attention to the reputation of your health brand is an integral part of any healthcare marketing strategy. Research shows consumers are increasingly weighing the delicate balance between cost and provider reputation versus simply accepting whatever provider is closest and in-network.

Medical branding is about establishing trust

Perhaps more than any other industry, healthcare organizations build value into their brands by establishing trust and practicing transparency. This can be communicated not only through being transparent about the costs associated with care but also via healthcare marketing and branding. Each and every piece of a branding strategy, from the professionalism of marketing assets to the way your organization supports patients on social media, can contribute to this perception of public trust. 

6 steps to better healthcare branding

Looking to create a more confident and consistent healthcare brand strategy? Following these steps can set you on the right path to building a healthcare brand that fosters patient trust and inspires confidence.

Study the healthcare marketing competition

To better position your healthcare brand in the marketplace, it makes sense to study the competition. Take in the healthcare industry landscape and study what successful health brands do to differentiate themselves. Note whether they pursue marketing strategies like patient loyalty programs, community service campaigns, and partnerships with other providers.

Some companies that are household names like CVS or Cigna have a different patient base, so study medical professionals and practices that offer the same services or products. Read reviews and check out social media platforms to glean insights about how they’re connecting with healthcare consumers. Look for ways in which you might leverage technology, including apps and telemedicine, to capitalize on market insights and better meet patient needs.

Articulate your healthcare brand story

Your healthcare brand is more than whatever logo or tagline makes it to your website or on pamphlets. A brand identity is the story patients and providers tell about you whether they’re at a private practice, at local hospitals, or online. If you haven’t been intentional about creating a healthcare brand story, chances are consumers have already begun to shape one for you. Look online and take stock of your brand identity and identify what you’d like to change.

You can take control of the narrative by deciding what your healthcare brand story is and how to articulate it. Focus not only on the elements of your visual identity that define your brand identity but also how the content you share communicates what matters to you. Stories are about creating connections with your audience, so carefully consider where your brand storytelling takes place. Even baby boomers, who are the most likely demographic to consume healthcare services, report their lives are shaped by daily social media use.

Develop a healthcare brand strategy

Your healthcare branding strategy should be one that helps you stand out in a competitive marketplace. To cut through the noise in the industry’s busy marketplace, it’s essential to hone your healthcare marketing message. That means considering every element of what you do, from patient outreach to patient follow-up, and asking yourself one very critical question. Does this marketing effectively communicate our healthcare brand and identity?

Because trust and professionalism are crucial to success in the healthcare industry, it’s also important that your marketing assets are consistent and high quality. Lackluster design and sloppy content on your website or social media channels could create the impression the medical services you offer are equally haphazard. Lucidpress can help with brand templates that make it easy for hospitals, clinics, and medical practices to design professional-looking branded content. 

Lean into your health expertise

It used to be that medical practices and hospitals acquired patients as a matter of practicality either because of insurance coverage or a location that was convenient. Increasingly, patients look for healthcare providers that are best in class, even if it means they have to travel a little farther or pay a little more. Take, for instance, the success of the Mayo Clinic in capitalizing on its reputation for excellence and using that to catapult its online presence through expert content.

Lean into what you do best and let the professionals in your practice shine. Look for ways to feature educational content, engaging videos, and interviews on your website or social media. Consider partnering with other high-profile, reliable publications. Getting featured in medical journals and magazines produces an enticing bonus because it creates backlinks to your website and can be a boon for your online search ratings.

Focus on the patient journey

Shaping your healthcare branding around the patient experience can be a powerful way to communicate priorities and market your practice. Focusing on the patient journey starts with prospective patients and encompasses every step of their healthcare decisions. Making the patient experience a touchstone of your healthcare branding strategy means listening carefully and committing to putting healthcare consumer needs first.

Consider how your healthcare brand handles not only the services or products you provide but also how you conduct outreach to prospective patients and follow up with current ones. Every step of that journey is an opportunity to provide a personalized touch and a seamless experience from the moment they stumble across you online to the time they spend healing at home. Your healthcare brand has the chance to build a world-class reputation that speaks not only to the quality of the services you provide but the medical professionals you employ. 

Every member of your organization is a brand ambassador

High-profile stakeholders like board members or prominent physicians may be the public face of your healthcare marketing campaign. But every employee from the social media manager to the clinic receptionist and even former patients are potential ambassadors for your healthcare brand. 

Whether these team members connect with patients online or in person, they are your brand’s most powerful advocates. It’s helpful if they walk the talk and are on the same page when it comes to your brand story and marketing strategy. And it’s imperative everyone in your organization understands that every interaction during the patient journey has the potential to make or break your brand reputation.

The current healthcare landscape may be competitive, but within all that bustle and noise is an opportunity to empower patients and create better-informed healthcare consumers. Building a dynamic, thoughtful digital healthcare brand can capitalize on that unique opportunity and establish stronger connections of trust and transparency between healthcare providers, healthcare consumers, and the communities they serve.

The world’s most memorable brands didn’t build themselves overnight. What today’s juggernauts like Uber and Walmert did do, however, is spend time cultivating their brand identity through consistent messaging, design, customer service, and more. Together, all of these elements form your brand. And as such, it’s important that you control all of these touchpoints. Everything you do sends a message, and as a brand manager or creative lead, it’s up to you to guide and direct what messaging gets the green light. This is where your brand guidelines come in. 

At Marq, we’re obsessed with branding, and we like to keep a close eye on what the most recognizeable companies are doing to maintain — and to change — their brands. Lucky for us, a lot of these businesses post their brand guidelines online, giving us an inside look into how they do what they do.

Every brand guideline is unique, but they all share the goal of teaching people how to properly and consistently use the building blocks of a brand’s look, feel, and language. Some stick to these basics, while others give a comprehensive look into a brand’s story, philosophy, inspiration, and positioning statement. Sounds pretty useful, right? It is — and if you want to see how brand guidelines work in the real world, read on to check out some of the best brand books we’ve encountered yet.

Sounds pretty useful, right? It is — and if you want to see how brand guidelines work in the real world, read on to check out some of the best brand books we’ve encountered yet.

What are brand guidelines?

We like to think of brand guidelines as a instruction manual of sorts for keeping your brand’s positioning, communications, and experience consistent. With it, anyone should be able to craft on-brand content and self-serve any creative requests they might find thrown their way.

If we were to whip up a brand book example on the spot, it’d likely include things like: 

• Logos – full and secondary logos, along with any icons
• Color palette – primary, secondary, and any tertiary colors
• Typography – primary and secondary fonts, sizes, and spacing
• Imagery – graphics, artwork, photography, etc
• Brand voice – your brand’s POV, how it relates to your audience, what kind of language you use/avoid

A frequently updated and easily accessible brand standards guide will go a long way in making sure no one at your company is making off-brand collateral. If everyone knows how and where to find your brand guidelines, they can just quickly pop in and check the rules without needing to ask a designer or risk publishing something that doesn’t look or feel like your brand. 

And with that being said, below are some of our favorite brand guideline examples.

Great brand guidelines to inspire your team

Skype

We love that Skype’s brilliant brand book reads more like a cheeky comic than a stodgy brand style guide. Illustrations and speech bubbles are used throughout to convey exactly what vibe the brand is going for, and it’s a testament to what good creative can do for your branding. It’s fun to read, it’s colorful, it’s got jokes — what more could you want? When you need inspiration for adding fun into your brand, consider spending some time with Skype’s branding guidelines. View the full brand guidelines here.

Mailchimp

Our favorite small-business-focused marketing platform got a new look in 2018 that’s still serving the brand well today. The brand offers both a peek at the visual style guide as well as an in-depth content style guide. Everything from the brand’s colors to tone to animation style relies on vibrancy and simplicity, and we couldn’t be bigger fans.

Scrolling through the style guide, you’ll see that the thought behind Mailchimp’s brand is well articulated and laid out. You’ll always find a “why” here. It’s a simple thing, but this really helps people understand the vision for the company, which in addition to laying out ground rules, is one of the most important things brand guidelines can do.

“Think of your brand style guide as a living document,” Mailchimp Art Director Jane Song says. “You want to give your brand expression room to keep expanding over time.” View the full brand guidelines here.

Why they work: Mailchimp and Skype’s brand guidelines manage to strike the perfect balance between fun and pragmatism. It’s easy to see exactly what makes these companies unique, but the cheeky designs and charisma never overshadow these guides’ true purpose: to educate and inspire.

Boy Scouts of America

The Boy Scouts of America have a huge branding challenge: The organization needs a brand guideline that not only conveys its message (“Prepared. For Life.”) but also allows for the customization of the brand in literally hundreds of thousands of troops. Just for perspective, there are over a million scouts in America plus more than 800,000 adult leaders, and any of those leaders might want to make a flyer or poster or brochure.

Most of these volunteers don’t have graphic design experience, and that means corporate needs a clear, easy to use, and accessible set of brand guidelines. That’s why BSA’s brand book offers a lot of hand-holding, as it might be the only brand manual these volunteers will ever see. There’s more to this manual than just guidelines about font size and color palette, though. The book carefully explains marketing terms that the average scoutmaster or den mother might not be familiar with. And for each logo and trademark asset, there are ample do’s and don’ts to advise the layman on how to move forward.

These brand guidelines, which are built upon a rich tradition of imagery, slogans, and trademarks, are a perfect example of how an organization with many products and variations can clearly and succinctly build a cohesive brand platform that integrates common design elements into disparate categories of symbolism. View the full brand guidelines here.

Girl Scouts of America

We got our hands on Girl Scouts of America’s brand playbook, which differs from a traditional brand guideline in that it’s focused on the high-level messaging of the brand rather than design details. It’s a stellar opportunity to see how a sprawling organization with thousands of chapters all over the country maintains a consistent brand identity. 

The brand book’s specific purpose is to “help you understand how Girl Scouts functions as a brand and the key differences that set us apart from the rest of the saturated ‘girl power’ marketplace.” Look no further if you want to find out how a legacy brand tackles differentiation and keeping up with the times.

Inside you’ll find plenty of ideas on how to relay your mission, brand story, values, and voice and tone. View the full brand guide here.

Why they work: With a 100 year+ legacy and thousands of public members, the BSA and GSA face a unique challenge in upholding brand consistency at every level of their organizations. By prioritizing clear, concise, and down-to-earth instructions, they’ve made sure that anyone can take their brand and run with it.

Walmart

Walmart has a separate brand guideline just for internal comms and marketing. The guide pays special attention to voice and tone, encouraging human, but not chummy, language: “We have a specific approach that captures our fresh, always-Walmart spirit.” The brand’s Associate Spark logo is designed to represent the various people, cultures, and careers across the Walmart brand.

This brand guideline example is a smart look at how a huge company takes its company culture seriously and works to maintain a good employee experience. View the brand guide here.

Google

This tech giant has a hundred fingers in a hundred pies, which is exactly why we’re so interested in this case study of Google’s Logo, the Google G, and the Dots. The new logotype is imbued with “childlike simplicity” (a Google video shows the new logo being written as though it was on a grammar school’s middle-lined paper). It’s mathematical – an ode to geometry. What’s more, it was designed not only for a new brand aesthetic, but also to scale up and down while looking the same across many platforms — a problem Google’s previous logo struggled with.

Not to be outdone is the simple Google G: a circle with a small cut taken out and a reformed horizontal. It is designed for small applications where the full logotype wouldn’t have room to appear, but they’ve made it similar in many ways. The G is essentially the new G from “Google,” but with a thicker line weight, and it incorporates all the colors from the full word. It’s instantly recognizable as being the younger sibling of the full logotype.

Finally, Google introduced the dots, which are referred to as “a dynamic and perpetually moving state of the logo.” The dots are emotive: gently rolling when awaiting a command, expanding when being spoken to, forming a turning circle when thinking, and so on. The colors of the four dots are the same as the colors of the logotype and the Google G: blue, green, yellow, and red. View the full brand guidelines here.

Why they work: As giants of tech and commerce, Google and Walmart’s branding stretches far and wide. As such, they need a set of flexible brand guidelines that can not only adapt to different applications, but can still be instantly recognizeable at a glance.

Slack

You can check out Slack’s brand guidelines to see how this instant-messaging giant lays down the brand law. We appreciate how the brand book is designed to be as clear and user-friendly as the platform itself. It walks you through all the fine details of colors, icons, trademarks — the works.

This particular brand book starts by taking you through its values (empathy, courtesy, craftsmanship, playfulness, solidarity, and thriving) before moving you through a thorough discussion of color, type usage, and logo lockups. This brand guideline example has it all, including type adjustments for its international markets and rules for photography and videos. View the full brand guidelines here.

Uber

We love Uber’s very tidy brand guideline, divided into neat compartments like logo, color, composition, iconography, and illustration. It’s presented as an interactive webpage rather than a digital book, and this approach allows plenty of space to hash out details. You can even download templates and assets directly from each section, making the guide a functional DAM of sorts as well. View the brand guidelines here.

Why they work: Sometimes simplicity is the best thing you can give your creative teams. We appreciate Slack and Uber’s no-fluff approach, and love how easy Uber’s brand book makes it to download templates and assets. 

We hope these brand guideline examples inspire you to imagine all of the things your own brand guidelines can do for your company. While the idea of a brand book might seem restrictive at first, the reality is that a good set of brand guidelines will help you tell a compelling story and create a character for your company. They’ll help you remember exactly what you’re all about, and help your customers understand you better.

Which Sweet 16 team has the most well-known brand?

That’s the question we’ve set out to answer.

As branding fanatics, we wanted to take the NCAA’s Sweet 16 teams and put them into our own branding bracket to see how well people recognize these brands and why. We surveyed nearly 1,000 participants’ ability to identify brands according to font and color. We also asked them to rank the 16 college brands by overall preference. 

The results were pretty interesting:

• UCLA was ranked as the brand people prefer most
• UCLA also took the top spot when it comes to brand color (90% of respondents correctly identified its color)
• Villanova took the top spot when it comes to font (73% of respondents correctly identified its font)

The Final Four Color Bracket

Most people could identify these top four schools’ colors:

• UCLA (90%)
• Kansas (89%) 
• Michigan (88%)
• Arkansas (87%)

The Final Four Font Bracket

Most people could identify these top four schools’ font: 

• Villanova (73%)
• Iowa State (71%)
• University of Arizona (71%)
• Kansas (62%)

The Final Four Favorite Brand Bracket

Most preferred school brands of the NCAA 2022 Sweet 16:

• UCLA 
• Michigan 
• Duke 
• UNC

Our survey results show that the majority of people are better at identifying a school’s colors correctly than its font: Not a single school had higher font recognition than color.

UCLA ranks as the number one brand people prefer (92.8%), but if we break it down by respondents, Gen Zers have Texan pride, ranking Houston and Texas Tech as the number 1 and 3 spots in regard to brand preference.

What’s more, Gen Z cares more about a school’s branding when choosing a school to apply for than any previous generation. (Gen Z ranked its importance as 4/10, while other generations ranked it 3.4/10.)

Keep reading for more of our key findings…

More March Madness brand stats:

• Overall, respondents were much better at recognizing a school by its colors than by its font. For instance…
  • 89% of people correctly identified University of Kansas’ colors, but only 62% correctly identified its font.
  • 88% of respondents correctly identified University of Michigan’s colors, but only 52% correctly identified its font.
  • 90% of respondents correctly identified UCLA’s colors, but only 71% correctly identified its font.
  • 87% of respondents correctly identified University of Arkansas’ colors, but only 43% correctly identified its font.
• UCLA ranks as the number one brand people prefer (92.8%), but if we break it down by respondents, Gen Zers have Texan pride, ranking Houston and Texas Tech as the number 1 and 3 spots in regards to brand preference.
• Carolina schools are strong contenders for brand recognition as well: Duke and UNC hold seats in the final four “favorite” bracket and scored highly in the color surveys as well, each with above 80% accuracy. 
• Gen Z students care more about their university’s branding when choosing a school than other generations.
• When asked what played into their decision for ranking their preferred brand, people said overall brand recognition — or how well-known a school is — was the most important factor:
  • 47% brand recognition
  • 21% overall appearance
  • 16% color 
  • 10% mascot
  • 5% font
• However, it seems that color must play a large role in determining brand recognition and preference, as UCLA and Michigan hold seats in both the Final Four color and favorite brackets. 
• The majority of students/alumni think their alma mater is doing a great job with the look of their brand, but they take even more pride in seeing their school logo
  • On a scale from 1-10, people give their schools an average 5/10 in overall branding, but ranked the amount of school pride they feel upon seeing their logo as 5.3/10

Photo editing tools like PicMonkey help create unique digital assets for marketing materials and social media channels. But as you may have discovered after a short trip around the internet and some unfortunate editing accidents, not all photo editors are created the same. Whether you use photo editors and effects for professional or personal reasons, it’s worth considering if one of the many PicMonkey alternatives might better meet your needs.

Alternatives to PicMonkey run the gamut from straightforward photo editing apps to dynamic platforms that provide digital asset management, templates, and more. Many have similar pricing structures as PicMonkey, where you’ll opt for either a monthly or yearly subscription to use premium features. Most online photo editors provide at least some photo editing tools and effects for free, and many have generous trial periods.

Let’s take a closer look at the best of the PicMonkey alternatives to compare functionality, value, and what type of users each app or platform is best suited for.

10 of the best Picmonkey alternatives

In order to evaluate PicMonkey alternatives, it helps to take a closer look at exactly what PicMonkey offers. PicMonkey is primarily a photo editing tool, although it does offer customizable graphics and animations. The draw for enterprise PicMonkey users is access to a library of stock images, fonts, and templates to build out unique digital assets. PicMonkey offers an annual or monthly pricing model via either a basic, pro, or business subscription.

However, depending on how you plan to use photo editing tools, PicMonkey might not offer the most bang for your buck. PicMonkey alternatives abound, so we sorted through the crowd to find alternatives that provide photo editing but still meet a range of both business and personal needs. 

1. Lucidpress

Say goodbye to off-brand content and hello to better branding with Lucidpress. Featuring a powerful library of customizable templates that can be locked, Lucidpress does a lot more than photo editing and social media content. Catalogs, brochures, magazines, and ebooks are just the beginning of the robust marketing tools Lucidpress provides.

Digital asset management is also one of the key advantages of using Lucidpress, especially for marketing teams concerned with getting consistent about their branded content. This alternative to PicMonkey has a similar pricing model but also offers a free tier as well as an affordable team subscription that provides access for up to 3 people. 

Best for: Small business
Pricing: Free, Pro for $10/month, Team for $12/month

2. Pixlr

If you don’t require a huge template library and you’re looking for a free photo editing tool, Pixlr is a solid PicMonkey alternative. You’ll get photo overlays, decorative text, and a photo editor that you can use on both desktop and mobile to create engaging images for social media use. 

Pixlr also offers an easy way to create picture collages and some basic photo touch-up tools. This makes it a handy way to replace costly photo editors like Photoshop. However, if you want an ad-free experience and more photo overlays, you’ll need to opt for the paid version.

Best for: Free photo editing
Pricing: Free, Premium for $4.90/month

3. Piktochart

Piktochart can be used to create social media content, but it excels as a graphic design tool for dynamic presentations and infographics. The photo editing tools are somewhat limited, so Piktochart is a more natural fit for data and text-heavy digital assets.

The best part about using Piktochart as a PicMonkey alternative is that the free tier offers access to some functions and features forever. If you plan to use Piktochart extensively, the pro and enterprise subscriptions are worth investigating. Teachers and students also qualify for discounted pro access.

Best for: Educators and students
Pricing: Free, Pro for $14/month

4. Adobe Creative Cloud Express (formerly Adobe Spark)

Adobe Creative Cloud Express, formerly Adobe Spark, shines as a free Photoshop alternative, but it can also be used as a PicMonkey alternative. This graphic design tool has built-in photo editing that can adjust, resize, and edit images. It also enables users to create collages, customized graphics, videos, animations, and more.  

Adobe Creative Cloud Express offers a free starter plan, but premium access requires a monthly fee after a 30-day trial period. The app version lets content creators edit images on the go, so if you’re familiar with Adobe’s interface, it can be the perfect mobile photo companion.

Best for: Social media content creators
Pricing: Free, Premium for $9.99/month

5. GIMP

If you want graphic design without the boundaries, GIMP is the alternative to PicMonkey you’ve been waiting for. It’s an open-source GNU image manipulation platform and graphics editor that can handle just about anything from creating original designs to retouching photos.

This alternative to PicMonkey may be a steep learning curve for those not already familiar with graphic design, so build some extra time into your project to get used to the platform. Keep in mind that while GIMP is free, donations to support the platform are encouraged. 

Best for: Graphic design gurus
Pricing: Free, donations encouraged

6. Canva

Canva is an online graphic design tool that relies heavily on templates and provides only light photo-editing tools. What it lacks in photo editing it makes up for in ease of use with a large library of filters, overlays, frames, backgrounds, texts, and icons. Canva does have some digital asset management capabilities, but the approach is a bit haphazard for business use.

This PicMonkey alternative is free, but if you want access to a larger library of high-quality images, you’ll need to pay for a Canva Pro subscription. Canva is also a great alternative to PicMonkey for users who primarily need photo editing tools and social media templates for personal use.

Best for: Bloggers and entrepreneurs
Pricing: Free, Pro for $12.99/month

7. FotoJet

Create graphics, thumbnails, edit photos and videos, and much more with FotoJet. This is a free online app that offers basic photo and video editing tools like resizing and color adjustments, as well as some DIY graphic design capabilities.

FotoJet is free, but users who pay for the premium tier will get access to a template library and more fonts, photo effects, and overlays. Once you’re used to the interface, FotoJet can help cut down on the time needed to create custom social media digital assets.

Best for: Power Instagram and YouTube users
Pricing: Free, Plus for $6.99/month

8. Ribbet

Like PicMonkey but find the interface clunky? Ribbet is for you. This PicMonkey alternative is a graphic design and photo editing powerhouse that focuses on creating collages and customizable layouts for social media. Ribbet also has some cool tools for photo touch-ups such as removing red-eye, smoothing wrinkles, airbrushing, and whitening teeth.

Ribbet is free to use for up to five projects, and you’ll get access to filters and some templates upfront. If you need more, Ribbet’s premium subscription unlocks the full capabilities of the app.

Best for: Photo collages
Pricing: Free, Premium for $3.33/month

9. BeFunky

BeFunky is a photo editor that lives up to its name. This PicMonkey alternative lets users transform their photos into art, creating cartoons and other vibrant and fun effects for social media. Depending on your brand, BeFunky’s filters and background texturizers might be just the vibe you’ve been searching for.

While BeFunky is another free app, you’ll unlock more of its tools if you pay for premium access as a monthly subscription. BeFunky also offers tutorials to help you take advantage of its full suite of photo editing tools for your next social media project.

Best for: Unique, custom images
Pricing: Free, Plus for $9.99/month

10. Fotor

Our last-but-not-least alternative to PicMonkey is Fotor. If Fotor sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been around for a long time. In both desktop and mobile versions, you’ll get many of the same tools you’ll find in PicMonkey but with a few extras that make image touch-ups easy.

If you want a photo editor for amateurs, opt for the paid version of Fotor that unlocks advanced tools like the beauty function. Similar to Photoshop, you can fix blemishes, smooth skin, remove wrinkles, and more with just a few clicks. If you do plan to pay, Fotor Pro is for freelancers and small creative teams, while Fotor Pro Plus is for agencies and larger marketing teams. Students also receive a 30% discount on Fotor Pro by using a code at checkout.

Best for: Photo touch-ups for amateurs
Pricing: Free, Premium for $8.99/month

As you can see, alternatives to PicMonkey abound, and the best solution for you really depends on what you plan to use photo editing for. Social media content creators may only need basic photo editing tools like Pixlr or Ribbit. Small business creatives looking for an enterprise solution will be better served with a platform like Lucidpress that offers templates and digital asset management in addition to photo editing tools.

Learn more about what Lucidpress can do.