If you are the type of person who thinks branding is some mysterious science that really has little value, hit the back button now and go on with your life. If on the other hand you understand that branding creates a feel in the world for what you are about, and that has a huge impact on your success, please read on. We have recently completely re-branded Future Point of View (see out new site www.content.fpov.com) We have also re-branded our
learning division, Technology Mastery Institute (TMI). It was a lot of work and we would have avoided it if we could, but the reality is we are no different from your organizations in that the new digital outreach tools we have gotten over the last years have driven a need to upgrade what our clients and prospects see when they connect with us. We upgraded our look and feel, our content, the resources we provide online, and our corporate messaging and voice. We’d love to connect with you during our launch and give you the opportunity to win some cool giveaways and share what you think (Check it out @ http://bit.ly/12bUJVh). All of this leads me to share why I think you might consider the same …
I have always been fascinated with the legal standing of a corporation, and the fact that the law often treats it like a person. Corporations have an interesting set of rights and protections under the law – and, they truly are an entity separate in some ways from the people that run them, and make them go. Each has a style and personality and now each has a voice. That voice is being amplified online with every new tool that allows the smallest from the largest to “talk” to the world. Add to that the fact that now there is a simple way for millions of people to render an opinion online about every organization, and you have a whole new world for creating and managing a brand.
For this reason it is now imperative that leaders of all organizations take a step back and re-architect what they want their online presence and brand to “feel” like, and what timbre they want their online voice to carry. We used to have a small toolbox for delivering a brand message, and many of those tools were very expensive. We had brochures, product packaging, television commercials, radio, print, etc. We also had the personal contacts we might have with a customer at a location, or on the phone. With the full suite of digital marketing and outreach tools we now have, there are inexpensive ways to build a brand everywhere in the world.
Further, if an organization does not grow their online branding tools, they will have stamped themselves as “old school” and that will cause increasing amounts of pain as the next generation gets into the marketplace. This is more than a freshened-up logo and a new Website. This means improving how you connect with customers and prospects online. It means improving the value you provide to your customers when they are NOT buying from you. This means developing an interesting and unique online voice that people want to listen to! Branding is more than just colors, shapes and words at this point. It is about creating a feeling that is consistent from person to person int he world about why the organization provides value, and how you are interesting to connect with. And, digital tools facilitate you doing this inexpensively, at scale, and fast.
And yes, if you were curious, we used crowdsourcing to do much of our creative work on the re-brand, we outsourced some of the online tool rebuilding to India, and fought among ourselves to do the rest. The cost was not expensive, and we love the results … Your turn next?