How Do You Brand a Company?

By Chloe Smith

Or maybe the question should be, “How do you brand a company in a digital world?” either way my answer would be the same.

You Start with the End

By the end, I mean your consumers. Your yet-to-be advocates.

Brand a Company – the Traditional Method

The creative industry has long been viewed as blue sky thinking. A creative with their little moustache and quirky attitude “magically”transform your business and makes your target audience love you. With an elaborate ad plastering your message in the mushes of your target audience, screaming and shouting your messages at them until they cave and finally buy your product or service.

This is otherwise known as an ad campaign.

“If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,” says your mum.

But what if it is broken? What if an entire industry was following the dinosaurs into extinction because they refuse to change with the times?

And guess what, they’re taking your business with them!

Your Audience Isn’t Traditional, and Neither Should Your Communications Be

“Half the money I spend on advertising is wasted; the trouble is I don’t know which half.”

John Wanamaker, a pioneer in marketing.

Sound familiar? Guesswork and “creative gut-feelings” – that’s the foundation of many a traditional branding agency.

You no longer have to accept that half of your money is wasted. You no longer have to accept that creativity cannot be measured.

Measurements & Data for the Win

The digital age has brought us more than just the unsociable nature of “social” media, it has given us more data and insight into the daily lives of our consumers than ever before.

Millennials are now the most documented and investigated generation there has ever been. This trend continues upwards as people become more interconnected and our personal and professional lives blur, leaving behind a data-trail that allows people like me to discover who brands really need to be talking to.

Sharing and connecting with more people and brands than ever, social media has created an opportunity where opportunity has never been before.

And for the first time ever, your consumers are in the driving seat.

Enter branding for a company in the 21st century.

Brand a Company By Using Creativity

Creativity still has its place in building brands. After all, using Comic Sans never has been, nor will it ever be a good idea to represent your company, unless of course, you are a pre-school.

Although even I would be sceptical of an organisation that exposes my child to such a horrid font (I kid, I don’t have a child).

I have always been fascinated with the human condition, which I guess is why I am so passionate about the power brands and their influences over our everyday decisions.

And I guess this fascination has naturally led me down the career path I am in today – brand strategist, and founder of my own digital branding agency.

As a trained graphic designer, I guess you could call me a naturally creative person, but my creativity has shifted.

Creativity in a visual sense is now seemingly a secondary discipline to building brands, my shift focuses on a new source of information. Information that is readily available to those who are willing to listen, and it doesn’t just come from my right hemisphere.

Creativity Can Now Be Measured

To be a successful brand in the 21st century you too have to listen. And listening is the only way to be heard.

So how do you brand a company? Your first task is to listen. Once you have mastered that, then you can communicate.