Does your company really know who it is? Do you have a clear and consistent brand and organizational identity that informs everything you do?
If you're like most companies, the answer is probably no. And much like the mustachioed cat drinking wine in the header image, something about that just isn't right.
Why your identity matters
So you're in business. You're making sales, you're bringing in money ... you're even seeing growth. So why worry about something like your brand identity? You don't have to ... and you probably aren't headed for imminent failure if you don't, but no matter what your business is, the market is changing. Customers at the B2C and B2B levels are savvier and they're expecting more in return for their purchases.
Defining and maintaining a consistent brand identity helps you create a familiar image, voice and feel that—when it's done right—elicits the emotional responses that impactful marketing relies on. It also gives you a foundation for every marketing campaign to be built from, which means consistent creative that immediately identifies you to your audience, meaning you don't lose precious seconds while they try to figure out whose marketing they're looking at.
With no further ado, here come the signs of an identity crisis:
#1 - You "refresh" your brand every year
A lot of companies are guilty of this one - you see your work all the time, so it's easy to get bored and feel like you need to shake something up. But every time you change your identity as a company (and no amount of calling it a refresh will undo the fact that it's a change) you lose the brand equity you've already built and are starting back at ground zero.
If you've been doing this, it's time to stop. Take several steps back, and consider what's driving the motivation for another brand upheaval? In most cases, you either need to take a closer look at your marketing fundamentals to make sure you're still on the right path, or you need to do a deeper dive into your audience data to make sure you actually know who you're talking to.
#2 - Your brand is too easy to confuse with someone else's
If your logo, color scheme, or any other aspect of your brand looks just like something another company is doing, your brand identity is in trouble. Especially if that other company is a competitor. Your audience isn't going to take the time to distinguish one business from another, and getting lost in the crowd of other marketing noise is a quick way to lose potential business.
Establish clarity with a unique and memorable logo, a color scheme you've well thought out and matched to your brand purpose, and a tone of voice that is authentic and easy to maintain. By looking and sounding like real people trying to connect with other real people, you'll establish memorable connections and starting bringing in business.
#3 - You don't have brand guidelines
Or if you do, they're not accessible, company-wide brand guidelines. Even with the most developed guidelines in the world, someone in your organization is going to go rogue. Anyone who has ever worked in (or just adjacent to) marketing has seen a sales email or a well-meaning post by an employee on social media that could damage your brand. Maybe it's spelling errors, a poorly chosen image, incorrect information or—even worse—something that leads to copyright claims, cease-and-desist orders, or other legal drama.
Fix this by developing clear and comprehensive brand guidelines (we can help) and saving them in an easily accessible place where everyone in your company can refer to them as needed. Make a plan for optimization - you should be consistently reviewing the performance data for your marketing, creating A/B testing, and adjusting elements as needed ... but don't forget that optimization isn't change. We're talking small tweaks here.
Your identity crisis, solved
Need more support when it comes to establishing, strengthening, or—dare I say it—refreshing your brand identity? Let's talk.
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