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Monthly Archives: June 2020
Home / June 2020
Jun
29

A 6-Step Guide to Effective Social Media Branding

A brand is the way a company is perceived by those who experience it, and the way it makes its customers feel.  A brand is built by taking a consistent approach across all customer touchpoints – your social media strategy, for example – with that brand, both online and offline.

Ensuring brand consistency across all the touch points of the customer journey is a challenge for any company and social networks bring a whole new dynamic and challenge to brand consistency. Having a consistent brand image and story across all your social media platforms is the most important factor to building a successful social media presence.

We have put together a quick and easy guide to get you started on building your brand across your social media channels. Take a look:

Step 1: Social Media Strategy

Developing your social media strategy is the key to ensuring that all elements of your social media are on brand.  Your social media strategy should identify which platforms are right for your brand and establish the role each platform will play in the brand strategy.  This will help you to develop content plans, across all platforms, that build the brand persona and story in a consistent approach.

Step 2: Social Media Guidelines

Social media brand guidelines are important to have in place to clearly outline which fonts and logos are to be used, as well as brand colour palettes and templates.  All brand assets required for social media should be documented with very clear instructions on how they are to be implemented.

Step 3: Social Media Brand Audit

A social media audit across all your accounts to identify gaps and inconsistencies is key. In the audit you will need to take note of logos, handles, bios, fonts, colours, imagery, copy and posting consistency.

Step 4: Building the Branding Foundation

Following the audit, you will need to start with building the branding foundations across your social media channels. While each channel will serve a different purpose in your digital media strategy, it is imperative to ensure that the logos, bios and handles across all your channels are following the brand guidelines.

Step 5: Visual Branding

The ultimate goal with visual branding on social media is that over time your customers will start to recognise your posts and content without seeing your brand logo or any other brand cues.  The way to achieve this is through consistency in the fonts, typography, colours and imagery.  Creating templates for certain types of posts, for example a product announcement, is an easy and effective way to ensure brand consistency.  Always keep your brand aesthetic and color palettes in mind when creating photo or video content.

GoPro is a great example. They successfully manage multiple platforms, using each network for a different purpose whilst still building a strong brand image and story through consistency in their tone, visual imagery and logo usage.

Step 6: Brand Voice

Most brands, especially the successful ones such as Nike & Starbucks, have a very clear brand personality on social media. This personality is often an extension of their brand voice that has been established for other marketing initiatives.  While you will need to cultivate a specific approach for each social platform (LinkedIn is more professional while Instagram tends to be more casual and relaxed) the overall brand voice or tone of voice needs to evoke the same personality traits through all the platforms. Including a list of catch phrases and preferred vocabulary is a great way to ensure the same tone is applied throughout the copy and captions.

Building a clear and consistent brand image across all your social media platforms will help customers to connect with your brand and in turn improve engagement, mentions and share of voice.

If you need support with a social media audit or strategy development, we’d love to speak to you. Drop us a line at hello@imdubai.ae or hello@imlondonhq.com!

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Jun
15

A Quick and Easy Guide to Effective Digital Brochure Design

A growing trend within many Dubai businesses is the move away from traditional brochure marketing to the use of highly impactful digital brochures.

To create that high impact, digital brochures have to work harder than print – where aspects such as paper quality, eye catching shapes or innovative finishes can position your brand, products or service instantaneously.

This makes the quality of digital design that much more important, and we have put together a holistic 5-point guide to creating effective digital brochures below:

1. OBJECTIVES

If the purpose of your brochure is to create brand or product awareness, then spend time on the front cover, headlines and overall look, which are critical for grabbing attention.

If your objective is engagement and conversion, the above still apply. However, the main content must draw the reader in and lead seamlessly to the need for more information or purchase.

2. CUSTOMERS

Know your customers. Keep your competitors’ strengths in mind and take the opportunity of digital to tailor your brochure to different segments at minimal cost.

Instant gratification or solving specific needs is expected in B2B and B2C digital brochures, like everything else.  That, together with the high standard of creativity that surrounds us in all media, can result in customer expectations and engagement being dependent on the design edge.

3. LAYOUT, COLOURS, IMAGES & FONTS

Some positive design trends at the moment include using a wide variety of typefaces and vibrant colours, whilst at the same time making less use of grids, animated retro and coloured fonts.

Unless you work to strict brand templates, there is always room for engaging creativity in your use of imagery, illustrations, infographics or icons whatever the subject matter. Take these brochures as an example – Opalion Plastics and finance company Enness – as long as you observe your core brand style guide on logo, colour palette, fonts and overarching look, anything is possible.

4. MESSAGING

Keep the tone of voice on brand and true to your values. Less is more when it comes to copy. Headlines need to inspire or hook the reader into reading more detail; the main text should tell a story, link to additional information where relevant and offer solutions that lead to engagement –  as in this example from Said Business School.

Short sentences are better than long and, depending on the audience, simple wording is often best. Even better is the use of icons to break up complex information, and infographics are perfect for displaying facts and figures.

5. CALL TO ACTION

Going back to your objectives, think of a spectrum from creating awareness at one end to closing a sale at the other.  Tailor your calls to action accordingly in terms of frequency and prominence. Offering contact choice is a must – from phone number, call backs or email, to clicks and landing pages, live-chat or messaging.

It’s worth remembering that digital brochures continue to be a superb and cost effective tool for building both brand and sales.

If you need support with digital brochure design, just drop us a line or send us a message on WhatsApp.

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Jun
09

10 Key Elements of Strong Branding

Branding reflects the values, sentiments and aspirations of people offering a service or product and those motivated to receive a service or product. If a brand is the emotional connection between person and entity, then as times change, it is bound to as well. As the backdrop modernises, branding takes on a pivotal role in making a statement towards betterment; by way of sustainability, equality, empathy, inclusion, kindness and more. Sometimes it’s worth looking at a brand checklist to ensure that your brand is achieving its goals.

What makes a successful brand?

Successful brands actively articulate their purpose and are increasingly transparent when defining their values and points of reference. There are many fine examples often cited such as Nike, Telsa and Air New Zealand.

Just as important as larger brands, there are many just as great examples of smaller organisations, such as The Hollies Care Centre, who provide genuine care with a pivotal role within their community or Rise and Lead who aim to challenge boundaries in mentoring and coaching.

We know that with less ambiguity and greater specificity, a niche audience will be more far more engaged than a general call to the masses. Keeping loyal customers and real advocates means defining all aspects of your brand with precision.

Below is a brand checklist, a compilation of 10 key brand elements that should be defined and kept in check over time as the landscape changes.

10 Key Elements of Branding:

  1. Purpose – clarity in terms of why your brand exists and who for.
  2. Role – what does your brand need to stand for within the purchase decision and experience.
  3. Authenticity – tell your brand story with honestly defined brand values.
  4. Proposition – a brand proposition and brand ethos that can reach out uniting those with a shared belief to take action.
  5. Differentiation – a brand proposition and unique experience that will set you apart from the competition.
  6. Relevance – the importance and significance of your brand in the lives of your target audience.
  7. Engagement – the level of target audience awareness, understanding, active participation, and positive identification with your brand and their promoted influence.
  8. On-brand – consistency across all touch points to reinforce the brand and build value.
  9. Agility – to actively seek insights into target audiences and the market place in order to constantly adapt to change, refine and surprise.
  10. Transparency – brand management throughout the entire organisation in order to optimise brand value.

There is no doubt our customers’ aspirations, needs and risks will continue to change and we must keep up – and often, branding is the key.

At IM London, we love branding. As companies modernise, we like to maintain adherence to our key brand checklist – one that evolves right along with our clients. We pride ourselves on being experts in maximising our clients’ brand value with strategic execution and tailored creative solutions.

If you need to assess your performance or are looking to refine elements of your brand, we’d love to speak to you about your goals. Drop us a line!

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Jun
02

How to Tailor Your Sales Deck to Suit a Remote Team

A good sales deck is like a good handshake. Often, they are the first point of connection between customer and brand.

“People don’t buy from people they like; they buy from people who understand them”
– Marc Wayshak

This has even more resonance for sales pitching by a remote team. Without the added benefit of body language, general behaviour and other nuances to help you gauge how your prospective customer is taking your pitch, it can be difficult to relate to and interact with your customer as you normally would. 

The challenge is even greater in countries like the UAE where English may be used but is definitely not everyone’s first language. Similarly, you can’t use your own body language to show how well you understand your prospect’s needs or demonstrate the value you can offer.

All the more reason to ensure your sales deck design is short, to the point, and hits the sweet spot for clarity of message and layout.

3 TOP TIPS FOR SALES DECK DESIGN

We won’t insult you by telling you how to sell, however, as designers we’ve summarised three key areas of focus to help ensure your sales deck is effectively designed.

  • Content
  • Quality
  • Quantity

1. CONTENT

  • For openers, get to the point. After one to two brief slides to introduce your business, cut to their need(s) and the solution you have to offer.
  • Showcase some lateral thinking to add weight to your solution for their particular need.
  • Next, back it up with rationale, data and a relevant case study or two.
  • Create a strong summary slide within your sales deck on how your solutions fit their need, add value, and if possible the rate of improvement to revenues and/or savings.
  • Lose any unnecessary information about your company, but have it available in case it’s needed along with plenty of back up data and more case studies.

2. QUALITY

Quality is often forgotten in the rush to produce something on time; this can result in too many bullet points, confusing tables and random imagery.

  • Remember your own brand and what it stands for; being consistent to your values makes it easier to compile the right kind of presentation.
  • A clean visual look and layout, the right tone of voice and thoughtful insights will do more to inspire confidence in you at the start, rather than information overload.
  • Clarity is key. Ensure the information on display is punchy and and aligned, in a font size that is easy to read with no unnecessary shapes, circles, graphs or tables detracting from the main story or pitch.
  • Make sure all images resonate with the messaging.
  • Create a layout for your sales deck with easy break points for interruptions and questions.

3. QUANTITY

  • A small number of slides in the sales deck is good.
  • Likewise, a small and easily assimilated amount of content per page is best.
  • Strong visible highlighting of key points will help hold the focus.
  • Simple clean design will get help get the message across.
  • Include something memorable on each slide as a summary.
  • Use Infographics to highlight and summarise data.
  • Keep all supporting data in an appendix.

If you need support with your digital pitch deck design, drop us a line at hello@imdubai.ae or hello@imlondonhq.com and our team will be more than happy to assist.

Good luck with your sales!

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IM

IM is a specialist branding, marketing & creative agency. Established in London, our purpose is to deliver formidable branding, marketing and creative expertise for startups, SME’s and blue-chip companies.

IM London

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London W1W 7ST
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