If we pause to consider the world's most recognizable brands, we know that simply an icon or color can remind us of a brand. Think of the Adidas pyramid or YouTube play button—even the type of music you hear in a commercial can immediately bring to mind the brand sponsoring the ad. A few years ago Coca-Cola released a surprisingly minimalist soda can in the Middle East. Take a look—can you guess what's inside?
You’ve seen that red and curved white ribbon hundreds of times. And that red is not just any red—it’s not cherry red or standard red. It’s Coca-Cola red. Through decades of consistent branding, Coca-Cola has achieved the pinnacle of brand recognition—even a single element of their brand evokes the same familiarity as the full logo. Their trademark red will likely always resonate “Coca-Cola” with consumers around the world.
Whenever someone interacts with your brand, whether receiving a printed ad in the mail or on the phone to Customer Service, they should get the same feeling about the brand, instilling familiarity. Here are three tips to get you started.
1. Do The Research
When forming a brand strategy it’s critical to understand your target audience, what resonates with them, and how they react to your company. It could be a good time to conduct a brand audit.
2. Create Brand Standards
Once you’ve tested different marketing messages, determined what portrays your brand convincingly, and speaks to your target audience, create a brand guide everyone can reference.
This will be invaluable to anyone who joins the company after those who developed the brand strategy are gone and will act as a standard for everyone in the organization to live by.
Crafting tools like an elevator pitch and talking points will be very helpful for the Sales, Customer Service, and any other Team within the organization representing the brand on the front lines.
It’s also recommended to make templates and resources readily available in an online location such as an internal company intranet. The easier it is to find the right brand assets, the more likely the HR Manager is, for example, to use the correct logo when purchasing employee appreciation gifts.
3. Get Everyone On Board (and On Brand)
Your Team will more readily adhere to your brand standards if you first educate them about why they are important. Everyone will agree that it is desirable to be associated with a well-recognized and highly regarded brand.
Walk the Team through the style guide and brand assets, and explain why these brand decisions were made and how they relate to the company’s overall goals. Having a presentation is also a great opportunity to position Marketing as a resource for branding decisions, not just a logo police force.
Brand consistency is a prerequisite on the path to widespread brand recognition. Streamlining the way you approach your target audience, the company values you communicate, and the aesthetics of how you present are crucial components of the framework for success. The stronger the brand identity, the more likely you are to be at the top of your audiences’ minds and eventually, at the top of your industry.
Need help stabilizing your brand's framework? Or maybe your framework is ready and it's time to pour the foundation with branded merchandise to stimulate brand recognition. Contact us.