Iconic
images though they may be, Nike’s “swoosh” and Apple’s “iEverything” are not
the sum total of their respective brands. They are the expression of particular
qualities and attributes, the combined power of which make up a brand. The authentic
brand of any company is comprised of many factors from product strategy and
customer service to Web copy tone and product packaging…and almost everything
in between that can create an emotional connection with a customer or prospect.
In an era when companies routinely pivot — or fail fast – is branding still
viable? The answer in this session is
“yes” and several of the digital marketing tools currently available make brand
evolution less painful, more data-driven and more cost-efficient. Some highlights from this unConference session,
moderate by Meghan
Gardner of Leap, included:
images though they may be, Nike’s “swoosh” and Apple’s “iEverything” are not
the sum total of their respective brands. They are the expression of particular
qualities and attributes, the combined power of which make up a brand. The authentic
brand of any company is comprised of many factors from product strategy and
customer service to Web copy tone and product packaging…and almost everything
in between that can create an emotional connection with a customer or prospect.
In an era when companies routinely pivot — or fail fast – is branding still
viable? The answer in this session is
“yes” and several of the digital marketing tools currently available make brand
evolution less painful, more data-driven and more cost-efficient. Some highlights from this unConference session,
moderate by Meghan
Gardner of Leap, included:
- Customers
today expect similar things from their interactions with B2B companies as they
do with B2C brands. Today, even deep technology companies must have the kind of
engagement and open approach to communications that most consumer brands have
mastered. - The
discipline need to define differentiated messaging still revolves around the
central questions: - Who are
we? - What do
we do? - Why do
we do it better than anyone else? - Why
should anyone else care? - Every
company has a community with which it can test messaging and positioning.
Digital tools – surveys, LinkedIn company pages, email marketing, online
forums, social media platforms, mobile – allow companies to quickly vet messaging
and gather quantitative data on message effectiveness. - Brand
is two-way conversation. If your company must pivot, having established a
genuine rapport with your audience in advance is the best way to ease that
transition. - Similarly,
if a company has not bothered to engage its audience then it will wind up
“branding in a vacuum” which is ineffective and expensive.
