Having dream clients is not just pie in the sky. Giving you and your team permission to define your dream client is a crucial element of nailing your brand positioning. When you take that leap into niching, you not only build your proposition around the value you add to specific clients but you give yourself a razor sharp new business strategy.
Saying who you’re for (and so, by definition, who you’re not for) gets you halfway there. Once you’ve established that, everything else starts to fall into place. Not just in how you market your brand but also in how you work. You’re able to hone your expertise because your processes, ideas and solutions flow from a deeper focus and you can take advantage of, and build on the patterns and themes you encounter time and again.
Of course positioning isn’t just about what you do and who you do it for, but these are an essential part of the wider equation that encompasses the thoughts and feelings people associate with your brand. These other positions are ‘softer’ (but still essential) associations around brand personality, story, values and promise. For the purposes of this post however, I want to focus on the what and in particular, the who.
When I discuss this with my clients there’s often a reticence, a fear of so tightly (and even loosely, in some cases) defining the ‘who’. This can take the form of, “Surely if we say we work with X we’ll miss out on working with Y (and all the other letters in the alphabet)’. But defining a strategy is all about making choices – it’s the reason I share this Michael Porter quote in every workshop I do:
“Strategy is about making choices, trade-offs; it’s about deliberately choosing to be different.”
By allowing yourself to become selective, you become sought after. You become known for a specific and readily identifiable value proposition expressed with a clarity that’s integral to attractive positioning.
Once you’ve defined your perfect client you can qualify opportunities as they arise – YOU can choose as well as be chosen.
Sadly it isn’t as simple as simply qualifying a prospect by the 3 Fs: Fun (your team will enjoy the work), Fame (they’ll make a great case study or PR) and Fortune (they’ll pay the bills, and then some). These are definitely worth considering but a highly prescriptive client definition, and being clear on your non-negotiables, will give you far more, including being able to justify whether a prospect is the right fit for your organisation.
People came to my last agency wanting a range of services. We offered brand identity, web design and development, retained graphic design, illustrated books, pretty much anything other than packaging. Over time, I realised that I wasn’t enjoying the work as much as I should have been, and that I wanted to focus on brand identity and strategy more. I had to make some tough choices, one of which was to drop a whole revenue stream of web development work. When I came to reposition my agency I started with what we did or rather, what we wanted to do more of. And that meant dropping a few things. By going ‘niche’ you can go deep, extend your knowledge, build a specialism and develop expertise that is appealing as well as effective. It also changes who might be looking for those services.
Work is a big chunk of your day. It’s said that the average person spends 90,000 hours at work, so knowing what gets you up in the morning and understanding why you’re driven to help a certain group of people is hugely important. The Co-Foundry’s ‘why’ or purpose is to help organisations that strive, to build brands that thrive. Knowing that, means knowing who I want to help – the strivers, the purpose-led people.
One of the most powerful and immediate ways of defining a position is by picking a sector. This isn’t always easy. It might even mean dropping an area you’ve done a fair bit of work in, something that can feel risky. However, the benefits of niching down to a particular sector are many. Not only will you gain a deeper understanding of the problems and desires that run through the sector but you’ll build marketplace intelligence and become known by, for example, attending specialist conferences and being active on industry-specific media. Your new business strategy may benefit too, as people moving organisations will take you with them.
Another way of selecting a client type is by focusing on their issues, needs or traits. I took the decision to focus on creative and tech founder-led brands as I already had a lot of experience and knowledge in that space. As well as working with these clients, I’d personally experienced a lot of the pains and gains of creative and tech founders for myself so had a natural affinity with them. As time has gone on I have extended that criteria to encompass chief execs of charities. These two areas of focus have so much in common – namely, a genuine desire to make an impact and while the latter may not have skin in the game financially, they do, emotionally. Both groups care about their people, something that works well with another fundamental aspect of my proposition – co-creation which sees teams involved in decisions throughout the process.
It sounds so obvious when you read it but, and this is fundamental – find people who energise you.
The late great Milton Glaser (in his talk entitled ‘Ten things I have Learned’) put it perfectly, exhorting us to avoid the people we find toxic:
“You have spent some time with this person, either you have a drink or go for dinner or you go to a ball game. It doesn’t matter very much but at the end of that time you observe whether you are more energized or less energized. Whether you are tired or whether you are exhilarated. If you are more tired, then you have been poisoned. If you have more energy, you have been nourished. The test is almost infallible and I suggest that you use it for the rest of your life.”
We’ve all heard the stereotype that business-to-business marketing is corporate and serious. More suited and square than boldness laid bare. Nothing like the glamour, humour and heroism of its B2C counterpart.
Because there’s no place for great, inspiring creative when you’re dealing with engineering, manufacturing, technology or professional services, right?
Wrong. Wrong on all counts, in fact.
“…it’s as much human-to-human as it is business-to-business…”
Even B2B marketing is all about making the right connections with people. So it’s as much human-to-human as it is business-to-business (the reason we’re always reiterating the importance of a marketing mix that balances brand building with lead generation).
As an agency that provides B2B marketing services to a range of clients within manufacturing, financial services, legal, healthcare, and many more industries, we’re no stranger to finding creative, innovative ways to add allure to corporate, industrial and even technical communications.
Research shows that B2B marketing should be just as, if not more, eye-catching, quick-witted and creative as B2C. In a recent LinkedIn study 69% of B2B marketers agreed that B2B purchasing decisions are as emotionally driven as B2C, and 39% said they use storytelling, humour and emotion to help make their campaigns resonate with their audience.
“…80% of B2B customers expect to have a buying experience with the same level of personalisation as B2C marketing…”
In a 2023 study, 92% of CMOs ranked creativity a top priority. And it may seem obvious, but even in B2B marketing, our audiences are made up of people – the same emotionally driven decision-makers as B2C audiences. Sure, they might also be looking for stats, social proof, solutions to very specific problems, and metrics such as ROI. But that doesn’t take away the appeal of striking creative.
“…there’s nothing safe about the ‘sea of same’ B2B marketing channels can become…”
In fact, you could argue it’s even more important to consider the psychology behind your creative decision-making. There’s certainly makes a strong case for personalisation. In fact, according to 6Sense, 80% of B2B customers expect to have a buying experience with the same level of personalisation as B2C marketing.
The takeaway? Being brave can help you stand out from the competition. And it really does pay.
Here are a few examples of clients we’ve worked with where we’ve used creative techniques to generate impressive ROI and results.
The world is on a race against time to reduce carbon emissions and limit the devastating effects of climate change.
Specialists in heating and cooling solutions, Daikin developed the Altherma heat pump as an alternative to fossil-fuel boilers – one with a significantly reduced environmental impact. To promote these benefits, the team needed a stand-out B2C campaign.
With a predominant focus on B2B products, Daikin had very little consumer presence in the UK and needed to persuade a broad audience to invest significantly more money to install a heat pump into their homes compared to a standard boiler.
We developed the Sustainable Home Network identity to align with Daikin’s renewable energy mission. We then created a multi-step, multi-platform campaign.
We developed an overarching message: ‘Be the energy for change” – the thread that ran throughout our persuasive ad campaign. At the heart of the creative was an aspirational vision of a comfortable, low-carbon lifestyle.
The campaign went to market on brochures, LinkedIn and social media advertising, national press and PR. We also developed a TV commercial, and Daikin even featured our designs on their fleet of installer vans.
The Energy for Change website attracted more than 216,000 visitors in three months
13,382 brochure downloads
1,887 requests for an Altherma heat pump to be installed
Phil Robinson, Creative Director:
“Great creative and B2B marketing aren’t always synonymous. We’re all so engrained in the traditional patterns of B2B thinking and speaking that creativity is often lost in the front-of-mind commercial arguments we’re inevitably drawn to.”
“But make no mistake – high-impact creative is essential if your B2B marketing is going to be effective. It’s the one sure-fire way to move hearts and minds.”
Known globally for its best-in-class printers and innovative office printing solutions, Epson needed a powerful brand campaign to promote the benefits of using Heat-Free printing technology.
Epson printers don’t require any heat in the ink ejection process, so they consume less energy. They provide improved performance, increased productivity and reduced environmental impact – which became the driving force behind our campaign.
We used cinematic shots of an Olympic skater to carve the key messaging from our campaign into beautiful ice forms. The powerful video content – paired with photography from Epson’s National Geographic collaboration – told the‘Heat-Free’ story beautifully.
The footage became the bedrock of our visuals, allowing us to draw emotive, evocative comparisons between the technology and its eco-credentials.
We saw 10% YoY growth in sales volume for the business unit from campaign launch.
Luke Waterman, Art Director:
“We work hard to create campaigns that stand out from the crowd. There’s no benefit to blending in – no reward for being professionally overlooked. But there should be a reward for the audience. So we aim to deliver the right visual cues that provoke an emotional response, be it humour, shock and awe, an empathic association, or simply aesthetic value – but (hopefully) it’s never vanilla.
“I think what we do well is to tailor our clients’ message to reflect the needs and interest of the audience, getting the visual look and feel just right to make marketing materials more relevant and interesting.”
Panasonic TOUGHBOOK
Panasonic TOUGHBOOK pioneered the rugged computing market. Its laptops, tablets and handheld devices are designed to withstand the harshest environments in a range of industries, from the military and emergency services, to manufacturing and industrials.
An already well-established brand, TOUGHBOOK wanted a campaign that resonated with its diverse target audiences. It needed to reach multiple sectors and countries, so being translatable was key.
And so ‘TOUGH is’ was born.
The messaging was developed to empower and relate to both the key-workers using the products and the devices themselves.
We formed emotive headlines such as ‘TOUGH is staying strong in mission-critical moments’ and ‘TOUGH is being where you’re needed most’ that would evoke a sense of what it’s like to work in these rugged environments, as well as demonstrating exactly how impressive and robust the technology needs to be. High-octane, dramatic photography brought this vision and the words to life for a striking campaign.
We introduced Video Ask to track the enquiries that came through from the campaign and to engage the website traffic.
63% of people engaged with the Video Ask interface
43% of people answered at least one question
20% of people finished the journey and completed required action
Robbie Masters, Senior Copywriter:
“It’s a misconception that B2B marketing is dull. But actually it can get samey if businesses aren’t careful. Our clients are doing brilliant things, producing ingenious products, and having a positive impact on people’s lives every day.These are stories worth telling.
“It’s our job to unearth those hidden gems, highlight the benefits and find creative ways to tell the brand’s story. Sometimes that’s more challenging than in consumer marketing, where the drivers are desire or aspiration. If anything, great B2B marketing can demand more creativity, more of a human touch, and more emotion – not less.”
So next time you reach for the safe option – whether it’s the same-old image library, your slightly vanilla email template or an ultra-light-touch website refresh –consider being brave and trying something new.
Because there’s nothing safe about the sea of same B2B marketing channels can become.
If you need help bringing a creative spark to your B2B marketing, we’re just an email away. Get in touch at [email protected]
For the past five years BeOnBoard operated as a project under TBIT, making significant strides in their mission to ensure that businesses in the South West are reflective of the diversity of the teams, their clients and the communities they serve.
Founded by the inspirational Kalpna Woolf, who also leads the charity; 91 ways to build a global city, the charity was being incorporated to realise the ambitious growth plans.
Through the research we conducted what became clear was that if leaders with the same background make decisions through the same lens, they will get the same outcomes. Where are the fresh ideas? The different outlooks? The challenges to tradition? Where’s the change? BeOnBoard brings the diverse talent they’ve coached and nurtured to boardroom tables.
The proposition: BeOnBoard connect businesses who are ready to embrace new ideas with the people who have them. Those who have a hunger for growth and innovation. And they do it not just from an equitable standpoint, but from a commercial one. It’s just better business.
Our programme of work included:
To see how we can help, visit talismansparro.com
Bristol-based CRM agency Flourish has just turned 20 – and it’s got a fresh new perspective.
As the agency prepares for life beyond its teens, it’s taken stock of the last two decades. Born in Bristol, Flourish quickly established itself as a go-to for direct mail campaigns, winning the likes of Sky, The National Lottery and Chelsea Building Society while still in its infancy. Flourish has since built on that direct marketing heritage, working across multiple channels and industries – and crucially, at all points of the customer journey. At the heart of its success is a belief that every journey – no matter how small – is just as important as the destination. That there is adventure in every journey.
And so, Adventure in Every Journey is born. A fresh proposition for an agency long obsessed with forging lasting relationships and creating meaningful customer journeys.
Executive Creative Director Kim Martin explains how they got there, “We’ve worked with so many incredible brands over the years, in so many industries and channels. No matter what we did and who we did it for the thing that ties them all together is our ability to drive people to take an action. With changes in the market and the increased reliance on first party and zero party data it feels like the right time to formalise our offering. Adventure in Every Journey does that perfectly.”
He adds, “When you’re obsessed with customer journeys, how you get where you’re going is just as important as the end destination”.
Flourish will also launch a refreshed brand to reflect their new positioning and prepare for a new era.
The transformation comes hot on the heels of a remarkable 2023 for Flourish, having seen notable growth and achievements. In the last 18 months, the agency has won numerous clients, including Nissan, Pai skincare and Wonderbly, and seen their usual scope of work expand into channels like TV for both Hey!Broadband and Crisis.
They’ve also welcomed a growing roster of green businesses – EV.Energy, ecoegg and Artemis to name a few.
“The agency’s 20th birthday is a massive milestone for us” said Managing Director Ian Reeves. “We’ve grown up a lot in the last couple decades, and I’m immensely proud of what we’ve become. I’m excited for the future too – with big ambitions to expand globally while changing the industry for the better alongside partners like Email Marketing Consortium, and as part of the Harbour Group.
If you’d like to find out more about Flourish Customer Journey Marketing, or would like to meet the team please get in touch with [email protected].
Branding is often associated with big commercial enterprises. Nike, Google, Amazon, Coca-Cola, are all instantly recognisable around the world – why? Because they’ve got good branding.
A strong brand identity helps to build trust and credibility through consistency and identifiability. That’s why it’s just as important for not-for-profits and charities.
A strong brand says, ‘we know who we are and what we’re doing.’ And this is as critical for building partnerships and raising funds as it is for boosting sales. That’s because investors and donors aren’t just looking for a cause to support, they’re looking for an organisation they can rely on. And good branding conveys the confidence and credibility they’re looking for.
It also manifests a sense of permanence. Good branding can make a charity or not-for-profit feel less like an organisation and more like an established institution. When it comes to attracting funding – this is crucial. Investors want to know that their resources are going towards building something long-lasting – a legacy for themselves and the organisations they support.
The same goes for potential partners and collaborators. They want to be sure they’re putting their faith in the right organisation. A strong brand can help bolster your reputation.
Finally, brand marketing does a lot of the work for you. Through consistent messaging and a discernible visual identity, you can build familiarity and trust with every ad, every post, every email, every piece of content. This means your marketing strategy can be proactive as opposed to reactive. Which means less time and money poured into short-term gains, and more resources spent on the cause you’re fighting for.
A brand should never be pulled out of thin air. No matter the sector, a brand is a representation of a company’s mission, purpose, values and vision. When it comes to branding for charities and not-for-profits though, it’s especially important to put values front and centre.
Nowadays, lots of businesses are taking a values-first approach to their marketing. It’s a trend that rose around the wave of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG). Every business, big and small, wants to be seen as driven by their purpose.
Charities and not-for-profits are built around purpose – so this part is easy. It’s setting them apart from one another that becomes the challenge.
Storytelling is an integral part of brand marketing. And it’s something our head of video and motion graphics, Tim Price, loves most about working with charities and not-for-profits. Why?
“When it comes to stories, charities are probably wealthier than any other industry. Everything they do is about improving a journey. But, it’s imperative to remember who the hero is (hint, it’s not the charity). As is often the case in marketing, your client isn’t Luke Skywalker, they’re Obi Wan.”
That’s right. Just like the customer is always right, the beneficiary is always the hero of the story. We kept this in mind when we put together this video for OTR – a mental health social movement by and for young people living in Bristol and South Gloucestershire.
Watch the video in the article here.
Brands, like people, have distinct personalities. Characteristics that help make them relatable as well as unique. And a critical part of identifying these key traits is working closely and collaboratively with our clients.
This is how we approached the rebrand for Housing Matters, who came to us feeling a disconnect between their origins as CHAS (Catholic Housing Aid Society) were and the modern and dynamic organisation they’d become.
According to the copywriter on the case, Evelyn Chapman, collaboration was key.
“We were lucky enough to have regular face-to-face meetings with the Housing Matters team and getting to know them personally actually played a big part in crafting their brand identity. Each of them communicated with energy and passion. And though they’re warm and reassuring, you could tell they’re also tenacious – they’re real fighters. And we wanted their brand to reflect that.”
We took a similar approach when working with Runnymede, the UK’s leading race equality think tank. By working closely with the Runnymede team to refresh their brand and bring it up to date, we were able to refresh their colour palette to reflects Runnymede’s bold ambitions.
As 2020 was such an unusual and difficult year for everyone, rather than produce our usual Christmas video full of jolly japes, we decided instead to donate our services and resources to a local charity – Caring in Bristol.
They wanted to create something that celebrated Bristol culture – something edgy and full of life to reflect their brand identity and motivate people to donate in the run up to Christmas.
For this reason, we didn’t want to go down the typical charity ‘pulling at your heartstrings’ route. Instead, we went full force with a script and art direction that entertained (with plenty of nods to Bristol and all its wonderful quirks!), whilst delivering the cold hard stats about people experiencing homelessness.
Watch the video in the blog here.
With this video, and the promotion around it, we helped raise over £20,000 in under 2 weeks in the lead up to Christmas. The video also accounted for over 60% of the charity’s engagement for the whole month of December.
A branding project doesn’t always mean an entirely new identity. Sometimes it’s all about a simple refresh or incorporating more consistency across your messaging. But when we take on a branding project, we ensure we are providing not just the building blocks (like a logo, and new colour palette) but the blueprint, the tools, and the training to boot.
A good example of this is the branding work we did with Effat; Saudi Arabia’s first independent university for women.
Our Senior Designer, Katie Elvins said:
“Key considerations were to create a modern, clean and fresh look for Effat. We wanted to create a brand that was fun and engaging for students – but flexible enough to be adapted for parents, sponsors etc.”
In the end, we provided a comprehensive brand book detailing all aspects of their brand including messaging, logo usage, typography, photography style and a refined colour palette which has been given a clear structure with a core palette, college colours, tertiary palette and special colours. Katie went on to say:
“Then, once the brand was finalised we travelled to Saudi Arabia, and I ran a 2-day workshop, presenting the guidelines to the in-house design team and showing them how we could create consistent, exciting work with their new brand moving forward.”
That’s all to say – your branding should be more than a marketing exercise. It should be a collaborative journey for all involved. And it should leave you with a manifestation of your organisation that is timeless, emotive and strong.
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
Whatever you call it, online brand building is no new concept. But it’s often overlooked when it comes to digital marketing, which often favours the short-term gain of lead generation or performance marketing campaigns.
Long gone are the days when a strong online presence was a nice-to-have. In today’s digital age, it’s a must. But beyond simply being visible, you also have to put online engagement at the heart of your brand strategy.
Online brand standards are higher than ever. If customers or prospects see that your website, social media, digital content, or messaging is inconsistent, of poor quality, or non-existent, you lose something that will prove nearly impossible to regain – their trust.
So, how can you build a great online brand? It’s simple – you incorporate digital as part of the development process, growing your visibility and reputation online alongside your brand.
Whether you’re starting from scratch or refreshing your identity, you’ll probably want to begin with design and top-level messaging, but it’s important not to look at your brand or online presence in isolation. The two go hand in hand and need to be developed in tandem for maximum impact.
It’s tempting to fall into the trap of undertaking SWOT analysis, consumer research, qualitative and quantitative research, and simply leave it as just that – research. A report for the archives. But by identifying your mission, values, segmented audiences, and USPs, you can root every stage of your brand development in data – ensuring that, as you grow, your brand grows with you.
From an online brand perspective – if you have a website, you can track user behaviour and align it with your research, allowing you to gather information not only about your customers’ perception of your brand, but their interactions too. Don’t miss the opportunity to use what you’ve learned from your online presence to shape the direction of your brand.
Data will give you a strong sense of the way your brand is perceived, what your customers expect, and what they want from your business moving forward. Armed with this information, you can change their minds, engage them better, and grow your brand.
Your website is an integral part of your brand.
It’s often at the heart of the customer journey – it’s where customers buy from you, how they contact you, where they find out about you, and often, where they make their first impressions after a quick search of your company name.
“…if customers or prospects see that your website, social media, digital content, or messaging is inconsistent, of poor quality, or non-existent, you lose something that will prove nearly impossible to regain – their trust…”
So why wouldn’t your website be at the core of your branding? It’s critical to the reputation of your business that your website is easy to navigate, visually appealing, a clear representation of your identity, and helps customers reach the next step in their journey – building trust with every interaction.
Accessibility should also play a big role in your online brand strategy. Does your website work with screen readers? Are fonts clear, high-contrast and easy to read? All of this plays a role in garnering, and building, trust between brand and consumer.
When it comes to building a brand online, you want to make sure your business is synonymous with great design, as well as streamlined and efficient customer experience. So user interface (UI) and user experience (UX) best practices become a really important part of the conversation between brand and consumer.
While trends are popular, it’s best practice that lasts. So here are some key principles to remember.
Social media is where you can start to build out the personality of your brand. Encouraging customers to engage with your brand in a more direct, organic way is a fantastic opportunity to further your reputation and recognition.
“…data will give you a strong sense of the way your brand is perceived, what your customers expect, and what they want from your business moving forward…”
Different platforms such as Instagram and LinkedIn will demand different approaches to content – and you can experiment to find the right way to engage your audience across each channel. But the mission, vision, and values established as part of your brand identity should always remain consistent if you want to build trust.
One misconception about branding is that it’s a one-and-done activity. But even the world’s most established, well-known brands update and refresh their identity regularly, and they’ll use always-on brand marketing to hold their market share and monitor engagement.
“…when it comes to building a brand online, you want to make sure your business is synonymous with great design, as well as streamlined and efficient customer experience…”
Equally, your online brand must evolve with the expectations, demands and behaviours of your customers. You want to gauge how your brand is performing, but also keep an eye on competitors to make sure you stay relevant and on-trend.
While the steps above detail how to build your brand online, the question remains: why should you put time and effort into it?
We know how tempting it is to spend your entire marketing budget on lead gen, but there are serious gains to be won for those brave enough to invest in always-on digital brand campaigns.
Your online brand is an opportunity for visibility and credibility. Through pairing your online brand with the right SEO, content, and marketing campaigns, you have a prime opportunity to significantly increase the visibility of your brand – in the same breath however, your visibility can be damaging if you haven’t invested in a credible online brand.
“…it’s critical to the reputation of your business that your website is easy to navigate, visually appealing, a clear representation of your identity, and helps customers reach the next step in their journey – building trust with every interaction…”
Your brand and marketing must work hand in hand to be truly successful.
Not only are customers more digitally engaged than ever, they’re also more sceptical than ever. As consumers, we’re flooded with newsletters, purchase alerts, email campaigns, and social media posts – how many of these do we actually take in?
If you’re not taking the time to understand what your audience engages with, and investing in branded content that matters to them, you can quickly fade into obscurity.
Developing an online brand that resonates with your customers can not only garner engagement, but loyalty too. If they know the messages you’re sending are of value to them, they’ll be more likely to pay attention the next time a sponsored post appears on their feed.
“…your online brand must evolve with the expectations, demands and behaviours of your customers…”
And engagement doesn’t just mean keeping up with competitors by producing like-for-like content. It means finding new ways to connect, stand out and speak to the emerging pain points or demands of your audience.
Brand is often seen as an immeasurable investment. At the end of the day, how do you measure how effective your new colour palette, logo, or typography has been?
You’ve invested your money, and you want to prove ROI, which is exactly where an online brand is critical.
Your digital ecosystem is entirely measurable. You can test your pre- and post-launch brand performance, as well as continuing to optimise and gather insights.
“…keep an eye on competitors to make sure you stay relevant and on-trend…”
Furthermore, you can compare against your sector and competitors. Your online brand is not only a snapshot of performance, but it can also help build a picture of where you stand in the market.
This information can help inform wider business decisions, by providing insights on which products or services are performing well, which processes needs reviewing or streamlining, and where you should invest your marketing budget moving forward.
So whether you want to grow your brand or boost your bottom line, building a robust online brand is a must for businesses of all sizes.
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
When we talk about brand, technology isn’t generally the first thing that springs to mind. Brand is, more often than not, considered to belong to the realm of “creatives”.
However, without touching on the levels of “creativity” required to conceive of and build the applications and services our modern world runs on today, we’ll spend some time looking at why technology is crucial to the success of a brand.
Technology tools are ubiquitous in our lives and day-to-day work, so we’ll take it as read that technology plays a role in crafting a brand, but once that brand lives and breathes, what critical role does technology play in ensuring its growth and prosperity?
Starting with a grandiose analogy, technology is to brand what “organisation” was to the Roman Empire: an enabler of massive growth and innovation or, when overstretched or ill-conceived, a potential cause of damage. In this way we can see that technology is an amplifier for brand, in both positive and negative directions.
Let’s continue with this handy framing and look at some examples of positive and negative impacts on brand facilitated by the duplicitous technology and see exactly why it is so crucial to the fundamental success of a brand.
Technology is to brand what organisation was to the Roman Empire: an enabler of massive growth and innovation or, when overstretched or ill-conceived, a potential cause of damage.
“Speak clearly, if you speak at all; carve every word before you let it fall” – Marcus Aurelius
The words of Marcus Aurelius ring true for every good brand operating today. What you say matters. But so too does how you say it – and crafting and broadcasting brand messages, communicating brand personality and demonstrating brand principles are all enabled through skilled use of technology.
It’s often helpful to look at brands in terms of component parts, something we love doing in the tech space. Lets consider a brand as having physical and non-physical properties. In the physical space we have written, visual and auditory assets and capabilities; in the non-physical space we have experience, behaviour and embodiment components.
When we break it all down like this, we can start to see how technology can play key roles in supporting brand, primarily in distribution, governance and implementation.
Let’s consider a brand as having physical and non-physical properties. In the physical space are written, visual and auditory assets and capabilities, in the non-physical space we have experience, behaviour and embodiment components.
In the physical space, distribution, governance & implementation is really about moving the assets that support our brand around effectively and efficiently, ensuring that whenever and wherever our brand needs to be referenced it’s being done so using the frame that countless hours and much effort went into establishing, and furthermore ensuring that those mechanisms are doing this work in such a way that supports our desired brand. I’m fairly confident in saying that few brands would say that keeping a customer waiting (to view an image of their logo) is in line with their brand message and values.
This is achieved through:
In the non-physical space we’re really talking about communicating and enabling those representing our brand to do so in line with our expectations. Technology enables this by providing ways to up-skill and support those people representing our brand. Learning tools, managed communication systems, and again asset management, consider a Tone of Voice document.
This can be achieved through use of:
When these systems are in place, well implemented and well managed, we can create a robust, well-oiled machine through which we can ensure that our brand is carried through to all digital touch points.
Because no story would be complete without a cautionary tale, let’s look at one now. Ticketmaster, the global purveyor of all things live entertainment, suffered some very serious brand damage at the hands of technology.
“He who is not a good servant will not be a good [Ticket]master” – Plato
It should go without saying that poor customer service is detrimental to a brand. I’m sure we’ve all sworn off a company after a bad experience, and possibly still warn others off said company to this day.
Customer service used to be fairly linear, and all about the human touch – direct customer contact. Nowadays, the number of touchpoints between customer and brand has grown and much of that increased surface area is digital. It’s perhaps for this reason that we’re seeing a move from ‘customer service’ to the increased use of ‘customer experience’ as a more appropriate term.
Now, back to our cautionary tale…
It’s November 2022. Having selected Ticketmaster as her exclusive ticket sales partner, Taylor Swift is set to launch the pre-sales of the US leg of her ridiculously highly anticipated Eras Tour. It’s fair to say this was one of the most visible tour launches in history. Droves of her fans were hoping for an experience they’d never forget. And they got one. A bad one. An unforgettably bad customer experience.
What followed wasn’t Ticketmaster’s finest moment: website outages, fans being booted from queues, cancelled sales and the resulting Twitter storm of frustration – delivered by panicked, angry Swiftie acolytes.
The damage of this incident to Ticketmaster and its brand cannot be overstated. The narrative that Ticketmaster finds itself still dealing with, is one of incompetence, poor planning, and bad implementation, rather than one that focuses on the fact that it helped Ms. Swift sell 2.4 million tickets in one day, an all-time record.
What will people remember about Swiftie Ticketmaster-gate? Incompetence, technology failures and a terrible customer experience.
What will no one remember? That it helped sell 2.4 million TS tickets in one day – an all-time record.
To rub salt into the wound, the blunder and increased exposure has kicked off a series of events that has resulted in a class action lawsuit brought by Taylor Swift fans and a Federal antitrust investigation into monopolistic practices. To further kick the downed Ticketmaster and its salted wound, parent company Live Nation suffered a 17% slide in stock valuation in the two weeks following the incident.
To further kick the downed TicketMaster and its salted wound, parent company Live Nation suffered a 17% slide in stock valuation in the two weeks following the incident.
Let’s cut Ticketmaster a little slack and have a look at the heavy site traffic driven by the “astronomical” demand of legions of Taylor Swift fans desperate to snag tickets. Ticketmaster reported 3.5 million users registering for the pre-sale programme, a large number. Compare this with Semrush’s list of most trafficked pages on the web and the number pales in comparison with Google’s 18.11 billion visitors in December 2022. A little calculation shows that the infrastructure in place at Google would likely have dealt with this demand … and probably does daily.
(18,011,000,000 /31) / 24) = 24,208,333
Google approx hits per hour: 24.2 million
Whilst high website traffic and the strain on Ticketmaster’s infrastructure are clearly what kicked off this series of events, it was avoidable. I don’t work for Ticketmaster so I have no insight into where the failing was, but I’d be very surprised if the team responsible for setting up the autoscaling rules had a full understanding of the scale of potential impact of this type of incident, as the cost to add the extra resources to cope with load will have been pence on the pound to the cost of the damage.
Brand is inescapably dependent on technology in our modern world, it requires it, to live, breathe and survive. If a brand falls in the woods, does it make a sound?
If you’re responsible for your brand, you need to understand the myriad ways that technology can help it grow and develop, but just as importantly you need to understand the various technologies at play in your world and what unique risk management considerations they might represent.
I’ll finish on another pithy analogy: technology is fire, it can light your way, bring you and your brand out of the stone age and provide warmth and safety. But, don’t drop the match or it’ll
Burn. Your. House. To. The. Ground!
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
In uncertain economies, it’s understandable that businesses review their budgets. Often, marketing spend is one of the first costs to be slashed – part of a defensive, cost-cutting strategy.
This ‘batten down the hatches’ approach is an instinctive reaction. Why keep spending when every penny counts? But the data speaks for itself. This is a time for marketers to be proactive, not reactive.
A Harvard Business School study of 4,700 businesses during past recessions found that those who reduced costs selectively were 37% more likely to come out of the period in a stronger position than their competitors. By focusing more on operational efficiency, while investing in marketing, R&D, and new assets, these businesses could stay ahead of the competition and hit the ground running when the economy bounced back.
“…those who reduced costs selectively were 37% more likely to come out of the period in a stronger position than their competitors…”
To many, this may feel counter-intuitive. But brand growth is driven by an investment in long-lasting commercial impact. And, as any professional investor will tell you, success lies in buying low and selling high. In times of recession, media is cheaper, and the landscape is quieter as your competitors begin to retreat. So, the longer-term impact – as we come out of recession – should be greater.
That’s the theory anyway.
Luckily, there’s robust data to support this theory. The WPP Centre for Research and Development provides us with important insights from the past into the performance of brands through a downturn. It bases its analysis on data from the Profit Impact of Market Strategy (PIMS) database.
The PIMS database is the only source from the past that contains both marketing data and financial information for the same brands throughout the period of the study.
It’s tempting for businesses to show bottom-line results by cutting advertising spend in a downturn, especially when under pressure to report short-term quarterly results to investors.
However, the PIMS data shows that cutting advertising spend in a downturn doesn’t increase your short-term profits.
The WPP paper concludes: “Those that cut their advertising expenditure in a recession lose no less in terms of profitability than those who actually increase spending by an average of 10%. In other words, cutting advertising spend to increase short-term profits doesn’t seem to work.”
Whilst it might seem risky to increase spend in a challenging economy, the data from the PIMS database shows that it’s easier to gain market share in a downturn than it is in better market conditions.
“businesses in the PIMS database enjoy a higher rate of share growth during downturns, and a lower rate of share increase during stable periods and periods of growth.”
View image 1 in blog here.
View image 2 in blog here.
Increasing market share increases marketing ROI in the long run.
Increasing marketing spend in a downturn will naturally show a short-term fall in ROI for most businesses, depending on their sector. Figure 3 shows, on average a reduction of 1.9%.
However, there’s only a 0.1% difference between those cutting their spend by an average of 11%, and those increasing spend by an average of 10%.
View image 3 in blog here.
As we’ve seen from the data in Figure 1, even a moderate increase in spend resulted, on average, in an increased market share during a downturn.
For larger increases in investment, the WPP paper comments: “Brands increasing their spending by an average of 48% during a recession win virtually double the share gains of those who increase their expenditures more modestly. While this aggressive increase in advertising is associated with a drop in return on investment of 2.7% in the short term, it may nevertheless be acceptable to the marketer looking ahead to post-recession growth.”
Further, as demonstrated in figure 4, there’s a substantial body of evidence to show that a larger share of the market generally leads to a higher return on marketing investment in the longer term.
View image 4 in blog here.
So, we know there’s a case for being especially intentional about marketing during a downturn. But what should that look like?
A proactive approach to marketing during a recession should focus on maintaining a consistent and confident presence. This means keeping up with brand awareness campaigns and ensuring your identity, messaging and value proposition stay true, relevant and strong. It’s the wrong time to shy away from stand-out, brand-led marketing.
As The Drum puts it: “All these brand DNA pieces need to be considered and are valuable in building strong, long-lasting relationships with customers – especially during tough economic times where they are more cautious with where and how they are spending their money.”
So even scaling back on advertising could be a mistake if you want to gain market share and a competitive advantage. And while investing in SEO, PPC and lead generation might seem more pressing than brand and awareness, a strong, visible presence might just be the key to long-term success.
Don’t dismiss this case study because P&G is a large consumer brand. Studies by Binet & Field show that the principles of B2C brand building apply equally to B2B brands.
Without a doubt, the decisions we make today will affect the health of our businesses substantially for the longer term. So now, more than ever, we should ground our strategies in empirical data to avoid strategies based on fear and emotion.
So, while we’re all under considerable pressure to revisit our marketing strategies, remember the evidence from the past:
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
Love your brand? Thank the copywriter.
At Proctor + Stevenson we celebrate all creative work, and it’s all about the collaboration. Each successful campaign is a brilliant balancing act of copy, design, digital ingenuity, expert project management and the client’s goals. But we’ve noticed, outside of our creative bubble, that copy’s involvement is often sadly underestimated.
Now, before you get your tiny violin out for our copywriters, they’re doing fine. In fact, we’ve got a thriving team here at P+S that takes care of everything from UX, SEO and content creation to brand positioning, ad concepts and video scripts.
But there often seems to be a misconception that copywriters are, first and foremost, content creators, blog writers or comms specialists. Our clients are often surprised (and hopefully delighted) by how heavily involved our copywriters are – in everything from information architecture and UX design to brand strategy and campaign concepting.
We often think of brand as a congregation of visual elements – logos, fonts, colour palettes etc. And these are critical components. But good branding is more than just a pretty face – it’s strategic, carefully considered messaging.
It’s your company’s personality – bridging the gap between head and heart. Which is why it can have such an impact on your performance and position within the market.
“…good branding is more than just a pretty face – it’s strategic, carefully considered messaging…”
Think of your brand as a 3D reflection of your business with many different faces – like a Rubik’s cube. Along with the logo, colour palette, fonts and marks, your brand is represented by your mission, vision, purpose and your voice – the elements our copywriters craft with care behind the scenes. And all things that should shine through consistently across every touchpoint.
“…a copywriter builds the foundation for your brand, without which it wouldn’t even stand up, never mind standing out…”
With the visual elements of your brand – you attract, entice and captivate. But with your voice, you engage, persuade and compel. And engagement is what humanises, builds trust and – ultimately – makes the sale. If branding is about connecting with your audience, the way you communicate, or your tone of voice, is just as important as your visual identity. A copywriter builds the foundation for your brand, without which it wouldn’t even stand up, never mind standing out.
It’s exactly what it sounds like. Your tone of voice (ToV) is the way your brand speaks to its audience – the unique characteristics that set your communications apart.
Are you bold and confident like Apple? Motivational and inspiring like Nike? Are you adventurous and rebellious like RedBull?
Just like when you meet a person for the first time, the way a business communicates can seriously impact a consumer’s first impression. It can also become the foundation for your ongoing relationship. In both B2C and B2B marketing, ToV is what keeps your company communications authentic, trustworthy and engaging.
“…a first-class ToV guide is what keeps your brand feeling, and sounding, real. It’s the basis of all the conversations you have with your customers going forward…”
A first-rate ToV guide is what keeps your brand feeling, and sounding, real. It’s the basis of all the conversations you have with your customers going forward. When putting your tone of voice guidelines together, the copywriter will ensure your business can consistently represent itself in a way that gives the right first impression, builds trust, and nurtures relationships. It will also help you stand out in your market for the right reasons – whether that’s because you’re more disruptive, more reliable or more knowledgeable than competitors, for example.
When it comes to building trust with your audience, consistency is key. And unfortunately, visual consistency just won’t cut it. So we pack our guidelines with clear and useful information, making sure anyone who speaks on behalf of your brand can talk the talk.
You might have studied English at university. You’re probably well read. You’re certainly intelligent. Maybe you’ve worked in marketing for many years, writing a vast proportion of the comms and content. So why would you trust a copywriter to do it better than you?
It’s simple really – because copywriters are the experts. They know what sells. They know what compels. They know what converts. That’s what they’re trained to do.
“…from your USPs to your KPIs, we’ve always got your best interests at heart – and we know what interests your target audience…”
In the same way that anyone can create a Squarespace website or an AI-generated image, anyone can write copy. But if you want a site that’s tailored to your needs and built with your business in mind, you need a great digital designer or UX expert. If you need a unique graphic language to set your brand apart, you need a graphic designer. Your brand’s story and tone of voice are no different – you need a copywriter.
Imagine Nike without ‘Just do it.’ Remember Specsavers before ‘should’ve gone to…’?
And what if L’Oreal hadn’t told you ‘you’re worth it.’ Sure, these brands would all still exist, but there’s no doubt their success, memorability and share of market is, in part, down to clever copywriting and brilliant brand-led campaigns.
And here’s one from the history books. In 1911, Morton began adding an anti-caking agent to their salt, making it what the brand called the ‘first free-flowing salt.’ Presumably what came before was prone to clumping, shortening its useful shelf life.
Three years later, the brand came out with the slogan: ‘When it rains, it pours’ and introduced the Morton Salt Girl.
On its website, Morton notes that many branding enthusiasts and authorities called this combination ‘one of the greatest branding triumphs of all time’.
Very often, it’s the copywriter who writes your mission, vision and purpose statements. They often write your values, capture your personality – which will later be visualised by our designers – and craft your tone of voice.
Without all of this, your brand would be a hollow shell – beautiful on the outside, but with no signs of life or pearls of wisdom to offer. And your audience will see right through it.
“Copywriters at Proctor + Stevenson wear many hats. We write marketing material, of course –ads, brochures, e-books, newsletters, video scripts. If there are words, we’ve written them. But we also strategise, plan content, craft creative concepts for ad campaigns, and we play a pivotal role in branding projects.”
Our team gets involved from the outset of a branding campaign, gathering insight on your company’s (current and aspirational) personality, values, mission and modus operandi. From your USPs to your KPIs, they get to know your business inside-out.
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
Internal branding and communication are a critical part of the marketing mix for any company. Your business needs to be a place people want to work. And that goes beyond simply listing the benefits and occasionally posting something on the intranet.
Your employees need to understand your purpose and ambition, and why it should matter to them. They need to consistently feel engaged and be kept in the loop. Engaged employees become advocates for the brand, which can have a tangible impact.
And why do you need them?
Engaging ‘brand ambassadors’ within an organisation can ensure your brand is communicated effectively and consistently between employees, leadership and the business itself. Whether it’s through workshop events, campaigns, or organically through your culture, it’s important to educate employees on your brand, its values and what’s expected of them.
“…engaged employees become advocates for the brand, and that can have a tangible impact…”
According to Deloitte, 73% of employees are more engaged when they believe they work for a purpose-driven company. And, as the Hinge Research Institute states:
“A formal employee advocacy program helps shorten the sales cycle. Nearly 64% of advocates in a formal program credited employee advocacy with attracting and developing new business, and nearly 45% attribute new revenue streams to employee advocacy.”
Prysmian Group is a global manufacturing giant, with over 28,000 employees worldwide. Sometimes that means that, when an opportunity comes up, the best person for the job already works for the company. But they might be on the other side of the world.
Prysmian’s HR and internal communications team needed a way to let the whole company know about these vacancies. It had to be distinct from other internal communications and stand out on the intranet.
“…a tried and tested model, all wrapped up with an eye-catching, stand-out brand campaign across various digital touchpoints…”
So we took the idea of ‘Internal Job Posting’ and made the IJP brand and campaign. By including real Prysmian people and sharing their internal recruitment story with the rest of the company, we were able to paint those who had already successfully used the service as champions, advocates and advisors.
Knowing that people you know or recognise have already been through the process builds trust. We were able to take away the ‘leap of faith’ feeling – delivering a tried and tested model, all wrapped up with an eye-catching, stand-out brand campaign across various digital touchpoints.
View video in blog here.
Prysmian Group also has a programme called YES, which stands for Your Employee Shares, which gives a discounted rate to employees wanting to invest in the company, plus some free additional shares that can be sold for the full rate 36 months later. The aim is simple – reward and encourage loyalty.
In 2018, Prysmian Group acquired its American competitor, General Cable. There was some resistance to this from the new American team, as there often is when competitors merge. So Prysmian wanted the newly expanded group of companies to get off on the right foot, and to welcome the new General Cable employees in with open arms (and a new perk).
We updated the YES brand to make new and existing shareholders the spokespeople for the programme, with their ‘signatures’ all over the campaign. This meant we needed lots of original footage of those enrolled in the programme emphatically showing their support.
“…the results exceeded all expectations, doubling the number of employee shareholders in just 12 months…”
There are only small windows where people have the chance to buy into the scheme, so we had to get our timings, impact and delivery methods spot on. Lots of Prysmian’s workers don’t regularly need to use a computer for work, so the approach needed to be hybrid – on and offline – and cohesive throughout.
The results exceeded all expectations, doubling the number of employee shareholders in just 12 months.
The Islamic Solidarity Fund for Development (ISFD) was in desperate need of a brand that reflected the ambitious and aspirational aims of the fund – to reduce poverty in member countries.
The brand needed to be something the internal team understood and could rally behind and be proud of. And it needed to be more clearly in line with the rest of the IsDB Group, which holds a lot of political capital.
As part of the discovery process, which is critical to the success of any branding and change-communication piece, we gathered inputs from a cross-section of the organisation, as well as some of the external bodies they work with in the NGO and not-for-profit sector. This meant we could accurately address the needs of the wider team.
So one of the core deliverables of our branding process was a simplified strategy document, an employee handbook, a poster with the key themes of the new brand, and a simplified version of the brand guidelines, which will all be used at ISFD’s ‘launch’ day.
This would give the whole team the understanding and the knowledge to apply and represent the brand in the best and most accurate way possible, and articulate why it is so important.
The success of each of the projects we’ve highlighted relied on getting the right information to the right people, at the right time. This is the core principle of all good marketing.
You need to bang the drum. Communicate your values and your mission – share the reason your team should be as passionate as you are.
Internal marketing has impact from the top down. Deloitte finds that “82 percent of leaders who say their companies have a strong sense of purpose expect to grow […] compared to just 67 percent of leaders who didn’t feel that sense.”
“…you need to bang the drum. Communicate your values and your mission – share the reason your team should be as passionate as you are…”
If your colleagues are singing from the same hymn sheet, they will feel more engaged, more included, and more supportive of your common goals. And the way they speak to external partners, suppliers and customers will align seamlessly with your outbound marketing and brand messaging.
Whether you need advice or support with positioning, visual identity, a digital refresh, or all of the above, we’re here to help. Get in touch and book a free consultation today.
Email: [email protected]
Phone: +44 (0)117 923 2282
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