Find Your Brand’s Voice With Brand Identity
Before you can present a cohesive brand image that allows your company to communicate with a singular brand voice, you must determine and develop your company’s unique brand identity. Even seasoned business leaders and marketing professionals can get a bit lost when it comes to the complexities of branding methodology and contingent content marketing processes. However, The Balance Small Business, an independent source of business news and information, breaks down the difference between brand identity and brand image quite succinctly. In short, brand identity encompasses all components of a company that define it intrinsically. It is the intent behind the company brand image, which it will attempt to project in the minds of consumers. To make the identity/image distinction clearer, it may be helpful to think of your company as a living person. In a person, identity relates to a personal understanding of the self, while image refers to the cultivated face that each individual shows to others. The Ancient Greek aphorism “know thyself” wisely places identity before image in order to stress that man must live according to his nature. The branding of companies must follow the same general principle, allowing brand identity to determine brand image and dictate brand voice. In order to arrive at a brand identity that is right for you, you must consider not only what your company stands for but also whom your company is trying to reach. Know your audience Before you can develop the brand identity that will allow you to speak to your audience in a unified and compelling voice, you must determine who your audience is with absolute precision and considerable detail. Because your brand identity will determine the public image of your company in all respects, you must be sure that it is compatible with your target customer base. For example, any brand name, logo, and/or slogan that is geared toward millennials should be drastically different from those of a brand that is geared toward baby boomers. Remember the golden rule of brand strategy when it comes to audience targeting: companies that try to reach everybody will ultimately reach nobody. Know your company With your target audience firmly in mind, you can more adequately address consumer wants and needs while offering unique approaches and value-added embellishments that make you stand out from your closest competitors. A go-to informational resource for all things content marketing related, the independent online media outlet the Content Marketing Institute suggests trying to describe your unique brand identity in three words. Whether they be “innovative,” “passionate,” and “hardworking” or “quirky,” “imaginative,” and “authentic,” choose words that identify the essence of your company and its particular goods and/or services. These overarching characteristics can prove extremely helpful when you apply them to your subsequent approaches to marketing strategy and consumer communications. The specific elements of brand identity As previously discussed, brand identity should drive all aspects of company outreach to existing and potential customers. This means that brand identity should be immediately evident in your verbal communications (from company name to ad copy), your visual communications (from company logo to product packaging), and your customer service communications (from staff interactions to courtesy emails). Think about the ways in which brand identity can expand to all aspects of consumer psychological and emotional response. For example, the emblematic in-store scent of Abercrombie & Fitch and the dulcet vocal tones of Apple’s Siri each play an integral role in defining the unique brand identity of the companies that developed them. The specific media channels through which a company chooses to propagate its branded messages must also reinforce its essential brand identity. Within the world of social media alone, a tremendous amount of diversity exists when it comes to the underlying philosophies and attitudes of individual sites and the types of users that they tend to attract. Just think about the vast intrinsic and perceived differences that exist between industry leaders such as Twitter, LinkedIn, Snapchat, and Tumblr. For more information To learn more about the importance of brand identity development when it comes to projecting a cohesive and effective brand image and speaking in a cohesive and effective brand voice, contact a representative of Bigeye today. We’re a brand identity agency that offers both a solid history in proven marketing techniques and a progressive vision that embraces state-of-the-art innovation.
Want Your Next Marketing Campaign to Be Great? Demand Originality
Take a stance alongside a creative brand consulting firm to strategically place you at the intersection of originality and personality. The phrase “there’s nothing new under the sun” is pretty old itself — it’s the source is the Book of Ecclesiastes. Yet that ancient proverb is still relevant today, as it’s also the lament of just about every creative director and content editor. This sea of monotony does have one upside: Businesses that pursue creative brand consulting to help generate original ideas will earn a significant competitive edge. The value of originality Our world is a derivative one. If you need proof, just look at Hollywood’s endless procession of remakes and superhero franchises, the music industry’s love of cover songs, and the advertising industry’s tendency to copycat and mimic. Hey, it’s easier to copy something that works rather than developing original material, right? Sure, it’s easier — but it’s also much less effective. The law of diminishing returns kicks in, as the third and fourth versions of a great new idea always have much less impact. Given that we’re all surrounded by advertising, we’ve become inured to it in many ways. If brands want to truly engage an audience and snap them to attention, they need to be boldly original. They need creative brand consulting. One great example of this is a recent ad campaign from Farmer’s Insurance. The insurance industry isn’t particularly exciting, but companies within the sector have found some success by creating standout characters (the AFLAC duck, Flo from Progressive, etc.). Farmer’s has employed the Oscar-winning character actor J.K. Simmons to much the same effect recently. In a recent campaign, Farmer’s created a 60-second ad based on “Oh, the Places You Will Go” by Dr. Seuss, with Simmons providing the narration. The commercial had a special hook, however: Farmer’s took actual claims from customers and reimagined them as Dr. Seuss stories, complete with whimsical rhyming narration. Farmer’s and its ad agency partner RPA took added pains to ensure the end product adhered closely to Seussian style, both in terms of style and quality. The result was deeply clever incorporation of the core business (insurance claims coverage) into a larger creative message that emphasized experience and exploration. To top things off, the ad was released on the 115th birthday of Dr. Seuss. Why originality is the ultimate differentiator The next time you’re consuming content, take some time to really watch the ads and marketing message you’re being served. You’ll find that a handful of them are fantastic — and the majority are utterly forgettable. Forgettable is one of the worst things you can say about an advertisement. So why do so many brands settle for mediocrity? Part of it can be ascribed to the agencies with which they’re partnering. It’s not easy generating original ideas, and generating these ideas to work within the specific context on an ad campaign is even more difficult. This means agencies have an incentive to settle for “OK” when they should be aiming much higher. It’s the responsibility of businesses to demand original and highly engaging ideas. While this work isn’t easy, the right creative brand consulting firm can deliver the kind of deeply original advertising and marketing content that audiences find impossible to ignore. The takeaway At BIGEYE, we understand the value of originality — and we have the resources and talent to take advantage of it. We specialize in creating advertising and marketing campaigns that engage audiences and deliver maximum ROI for brands. If you’d like to hear more about the power of truly original work, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.