From the customer experience to a clever tagline, developing your assets should be considered under the single banner of brand.
Logo and design
To create a distinct and meaningful logo that can be applied to different mediums (print, packaging, online, signage, uniforms and decals), it’s best to choose a design company that specialises in logo design.
They can also develop a suite of appealing and sympathetic colours, fonts and shapes that contribute to the ‘look and feel’ of the brand’s visual language.
In addition, they can also create a style guide to ensure your staff and suppliers apply the logo consistently across the business’ branding assets.
Tagline
A tagline, or value proposition, is a slogan that becomes identified with a product. A tagline should have some functional or emotional link to the product or service offered by the business.
Importantly, taglines need to be very short to be memorable. Among the notable taglines for Australian companies are The fresh food people (Woolworths), At Aussie, we’ll save you (Aussie Home Loans), We fight for fair (Maurice Blackburn lawyers).
Brand messaging
When dealing with your customers, you need all staff to describe the business in a consistent and compelling way that sets you apart from your competitors. Brand messaging quickly describes what you do and how you’re different.
It’s used at all touch points with your customers, including answering the phone, sales pitches, sales and marketing material and media releases. The messaging should be closely aligned with your mission statement.
Closely related to brand messaging is for all assets to have the same ‘brand voice’ – consistent language and writing style.
Having authors with different writing styles across a web site, for example, can provide an inconsistency that doesn’t resonate with the reader and not reflect well on the brand.
Customer experience
The brand is a notion that exists in the minds of customers. Different customers can have different experiences and perceptions of the same brand.
So it’s important to ensure your customers enjoy a positive experience at all touch points with the brand. This means that development of branding assets that clearly have the customer in mind.
This translates to ensuring customer support staff are well trained in customer relations, brand messaging and have well-rounded knowledge of your products and business.
The customer experience can also mean ensuring all touch points – including your website, shop or business foyer – are visually appealing and user friendly.
This is particularly true for your website – it has to be easy to find and comprehend information and execute actions, such as filling in forms and buying products online. User testing for each development is a good practice so ensure the site is consumer centric.
It’s important to develop and stick to the ‘brand look’. All your branding collateral – your website, business card, brochures, signage uniforms – should have the same look and feel.
