In every sector of business, branding is important. These days, companies without a strong and clear voice that represents what they do and what they stand for will inevitably be left behind. Over the past decade, the importance of branding has grown exponentially with platforms such as facebook, twitter and Instagram. Celebrities and influencers now cultivate their own online identities in a similar way to corporations and businesses. The most successful people all have one thing in common, which is their ability to present a powerful, on brand message across all of the platforms they use. This article explains the basics of creating and establishing a brand that works for you and you are customers.
Keep it Simple
One of the biggest mistakes a lot of companies make, especially those in marketing, advertising and data solutions, is to bamboozle their potential client base with industry-specific jargon that is difficult to understand. Though using certain specific terms may be unavoidable, the average customer is likely to look elsewhere if your website or social media platforms are full of buzzwords and phrases that don’t mean anything to them. Keep language relevant, simple and clear if you can. A good way to test your content is to examine it from the perspective of the layperson. If you find yourself reaching for the dictionary or having to use a search engine to work out what certain words mean, the chances are that you need to simplify things a little. Though having a professional and authoritative voice can be a great way to show your competitors and your customers that you’re at the top of your game, there is a fine line between demonstrating your knowledge and experience and looking as if you’re overcompensating by stuffing your communications full of industry-specific buzzwords that mean nothing to the general public.
Be Consistent
Creating content for different platforms can be challenging but there are ways you can ensure that everything you post remains consistent with the overall tone of your brand. Try to think about the key points you want to try and get across to your audience before you publish anything. With something like Twitter or Facebook, you have limited space so make sure that you use your words wisely. Keep sentences short, snappy and to the point and ensure that all of the key information is the same. Posting links to blog posts or longer pieces of text is fine, but if you can get your message across in a simple, brief and concise way, this is often a good tactic. In some industries, brevity and simplicity aren’t compatible with the nature of the business. If this is the case, posts that link to further explanations or include commonly asked questions from your sector can be an effective way of engaging with your client base.
Quality matters when it comes to anything that represents you and your business so don’t be tempted to skip this step, even if the design isn’t something you’re particularly interested in. A good quality logo or image can be an extremely powerful marketing tool and including this in every online communication you post will help to create a professional presence for you. Sizing and resolution are also important, a blocky, out of focus image that has clearly been enlarged from a smaller, lower quality version will stand out for all the wrong reasons, so taking the time to ensure you have logos or images of varying sizes to fit each platform is always a good idea. Many website building software packages include an automatic mobile optimisation setting now, but things like facebook, twitter and Instagram will need to be examined individually. Even if the text and key information is perfect, a poor quality image will often deter people from using your products or services.
When you work in marketing, advertising or business, it’s easy to forget that the rest of the world generally has no idea what touching base or blue sky thinking means. Too much of this language makes people shut down and stop listening/reading. Though it may be important for you to maintain a professional image, try to ensure that everything you post makes sense and sounds as if it has been written to be read by people, not algorithms. Though this will obviously vary depending on your business niche conversational, light-hearted or personal articles will generally garner a better response than something devoid of personality but heavy on the facts and figures. When customers or service users feel as if they are looking at content that was created by somebody they can relate to, they are far more likely to be receptive to things like calls to action to requests for information. Within your organisation, decide what sort of things you would like to include in your brand voice and what you want to leave out. Some companies such as Innocent have enjoyed phenomenal success by transposing their quirky, amusing and jocular style of interaction from the boardroom to their mass communications. It may not work for everybody but injecting a sense of genuine, human emotion or feeling into your overall brand voice will generally bring positive results.
Focus on what makes you unique
Many industries are saturated with companies or organisations who have very similar brand voices. This means customers start to view everybody in the same way and in worst case scenarios, lose interest and just choose the first person they find on a search engine. Though controversy for its own sake is rarely a good thing, standing out for having a different approach that works generally is. Think about the way you do business, what your goals are and why you think your potential clients should choose you over your competitors. It could be your outstanding customer service, your no-nonsense approach to pricing structure or perhaps a specific way of manufacturing or delivering goods. The key is to capitalise on the things that define your business when creating your brand voice.
