Plan from your audience's point of choice
Strategic definition frames your program
Positioning integrates messaging and identity
Implementation builds a continuum of contact
Internal adoption creates brand alignment
Branding is so much more than a logo and a set of colors. Branding is about the experience of the organization, its products and services, its people and communications.
A bad brand experience can happen anywhere. But the one people will remember and share is when it’s personal — a rude phone call, poor customer service, a contact person who can’t help because she’s untrained.
Your people will create a positive brand experience when they embrace the brand. Help them understand what the brand stands for; know the organization's purpose and heart. Give them the tools to implement it.
So many times leadership will look at rebranding as creating a new logo and a new set of graphic standards for communications. That's important because it creates visual consistency. But it's external.
How do brand standards carry into the day-to-day world of communications, customer service and one-on-one interactions? In the final phase of brand optimization we’ve built in “internal adoption.”
Everyone in the organization represents your brand. Every communication builds, supports or reduces brand value. Templates, tools and training will create brand champions of everyone.
What if ... a staff person could click File/New in Microsoft Word and end up with a template for a letter that is already pre-configured with the logo, colors, address and brand promise? And the style sheet is pre-defined for fonts, margins, paragraphs and bullets?
No more copy and paste of the logo any which way. No more "this is my version of the brand."
We’ve designed and built Microsoft Office templates for day-to-day communications, from letters to PowerPoint®.
Most offices now have color laser printers ... it's possible to eliminate printed stationery and create all letters and forms in Word, in color or black and white.
And what if your staff had a reference guide to the brand color palette, with all colors defined for digital or print? Then each time someone applied the corporate blue, it's the same blue.
And wouldn't it be great if there was a collection of clean, consistent logos in nearly any digital file format you might need, in color, black and white, reverse and grayscale? No more rebuilding, re-using, cutting, stretching and fixing or trying to find a logo for that new document.
And what if the essential brand messages were integrated into the business cards, or on beautiful posters hanging on the walls of the office, or as banners in the warehouse?
We have provided posters to bring the messaging to life in the environment and will always provide complete reference tools and digital files for logos, colors and basic applications.
Introduced and reinforced with a training program, your staff can embrace the brand's visual system. They’ll learn the brand messages that guide the brand experience. You'll create brand champions and you'll ensure the visual elements of the brand are consistent and professional.
It’s a rewarding experience to see staff light up when they understand the purpose of and the idea behind the brand. And when they learn how the tools and templates will make their job easier, they’re thrilled.
Internal alignment is an essential phase of brand optimization. Let’s talk further about how your team can align around your brand to give it more power.
To learn more about internal adoption, brand training, or developing brand standards and templates for your organization, email us. Or give us a call toll-free at 866.363.4433.