It goes without saying that the key areas to make this happen are people and processes, but how does this manifest in solving the key challenges:
Internal processes
Ultimately governance is the bedrock of delivering your brand and this can be done in many ways. From workflow management and clear approval channels, to easy-to-understand current guidance and advice. Not just to help them adhere to information, but also to check that they understand the importance of brand. Moreover, the importance of consistency to ensuring that your brand is protected.
Another key consideration here is how to personalise. The needs and requirements of a Brand Director are very different to that of a Developer, so if you’re sending both the same set of guidelines and hoping they’ll trawl through to find the information relevant to them you are likely to fall at the first hurdle.
Brand Directors and CEOs are guardians of the brand, the brand is the entity that may eventually sell for millions or billions of pounds. Designers and Developers need the right templates and code to make sure they are delivering consistently. It is an important point that is often overlooked when new branding is rolled out. Always personalise your guidance if you can.
People: managing stakeholders
So we’ve embraced technology and set ourselves up with the right processes and tools, but this in itself is not enough. Managing the people involved in delivering your brand is essential to success. It goes without saying that you need your Directors or senior stakeholders on board, but if it’s at the cost of confusing the delivery team then you’re doomed to fail.
It is vital to understand from the outset that your Brand Director’s requirements and emotional needs can be polar opposite from the delivery teams on the ground. This must be factored into all project comms (initiation workshops, reporting, status updates).
Understanding what is important at each stage to each audience and separating out the right information, means you can keep all your project stakeholders happy and engaged.
Customer experience
Ultimately your brand success all comes down to the customer experience. As the channels and technology evolves how do you know you are making the right choice to be sure your UX and therefore brand experience is as good as can be?
And we are not just talking visual language or tone of voice here. Take Amazon for example, their brand is speed, not in the way their logo animates or the way their copy sounds, it is the experience you have when using Amazon across any channel. Their brand is speed. You know you will get that delivery as quickly as possible and their whole online experience is geared to make sure that happens.
As professional services businesses continue to expand on their market offering, their brand experience can get muddled. Staying ahead of the competition can lead to over stretching your current workforce and affect customer experience. What does each branch of the business want to communicate as its message, when trust is likely the most pressing issue?
It is vital to consider all touch points that the brand has with their customers from the way your page loads to the tone on your “out of office” email because it is this that builds the overarching impression they will have.
