by Miriam Hara | May 28, 2015 | Advertising, Agency, Branding, Business Success, Creative, Latest
What makes branded creative concepts magical? In a recent LinkedIn discussion, someone commented that the reason why creative agencies were no longer relevant was because computer software (InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator) had replaced what was once reserved for creative directors, illustrators and designers. As a result, it removed the magic that was once part of the creative agency positioning for their clients.
I do agree that computer software has provided access for everyone to exercise his or her creative ability – and that’s just awesome. However, to equate creative exploration with on point, branded creative concepts may be a little bit over the top. I don’t think it’s fair to say that the creative of branded creative concepts no longer provides that magical moment.
It’s a little simplistic to believe that creative concepts are all about design and only design.
To say that creative is all about software is quite naive. Consider the implications of what makes for a good solid creative concept. Branded creative concepts take time to develop in order to deliver that ‘ahh’ reaction. And trust me, it has nothing to do with software. Many clients know their business better than any agency will – as they should. Likewise, creative professionals and designers know how to develop good creative concepts – actually outstanding creative concepts.
I have run a boutique agency for over 25 years. I’ve seen the transition from the drafting table to the computer screen. From that experience, I can say that the creative magic is still there. Many of the mandates our teams have worked on through the years have involved various pieces of a puzzle. We’ve had to take those pieces and make them fit into one coherent, succinct creative concept that told a story. Other mandates involved taking dry, complex material and communicating it in a lighter, friendlier tonality. There’s nothing better than a beautiful piece of creative that is branded and on point. It’s simply a thing of beauty and joy!
Those of us who live and breathe creative think differently. Thinking differently is what makes for awesome creative. If software has taken away the magic of creative, then the same would be true of TV ads, music, promotional contests, PR campaigns, music which still stand apart from the norm of mediocre. Time and time again we see “creative” that when properly conceptualize, executed, timed, and delivered get a reaction – a good reaction.
Creative concepts when properly developed, designed and executed for a brand piece are magical. I could go as far as saying that the reason some feel that creative has lost its magic may be that too many are not approaching branded creative the right way. Many are only producing mediocre creative concepts that don’t deliver the desired results. All of this, in the business of marketing and branding, is not magical.
What are your thoughts on the subject? I’d like to hear them here.
by Miriam Hara | May 18, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest
There’s a lot of hype in today’s marketing world about owning the customer journey. With the proliferation of so many communication venues (both established and personalized), it’s a challenge for brands to be everywhere.
A mere five years ago marketers were touting the tune that brands had to be at every touch point of the customer journey. The claim was that the customer journey was no longer linear and clearly established. It had become freewheeling with a plethora of points of contact where a brand could “engage” with its customer.
Today, five years later, it seems every month (sometimes every week), there’s a new way of communicating in order to prompt the customer to ‘own’ a brand – to become an ambassador. The customer journey has evolved yet again. Reaching the tech savvy customer is not that easy, not because you can’t place brand in front of them but because the power to reach them is in the palm of their hands.
Since it’s inception, the evolution of the customer journey has morphed into being individualistic, selective and skeptical.
Customers’ paths to brand retention, consideration and selection have become increasingly disjointed and extended. More and more, companies must cast a wider net to reach as many potential customers as they can, yet they have do it in a very ‘niche’ way. Customer touch points such as websites, mobile apps, the social media sphere and customer service need to be executed in synergy and be reflective of customer expectations. Although truth be told, often they don’t accomplish this. As Gen Y’s discretional income and demographic segment become more powerful, reaching them requires originality and total engagement. It must be fluid, participatory and authentic.
Mapping out the customer journey as we all know is crucial. Brands fight to establish and maintain relationships with their customers starting from the initial connection and continuing throughout the interaction process. It’s the interaction process that is in constant evolution. Now digital ads, reminders and, dare I say, “conventional” social media channel touch points are no longer enough. The customer journey is fraught with shorter attention spans, situational delays and a lack of “pressure” to purchase. Storytelling, content creation, content marketing and advertising must be constant. With the right mix of exposure brand will be “picked up” by customers along their path, put down and and hopefully picked up again.
Managing a designed customer journey is critical to achieving results, but owning it and staying on point in today’s digital environment may very well be a myth. What are your thoughts on the ownership of customer journey? Can it be owned or only managed?
by Miriam Hara | May 15, 2015 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Latest, Miriamisms
A mere decade ago, brand building was essentially created on the pillars of packaging and advertising. It involved one-way dialogues and communications. Many feel that those were simpler and easier days. However, some brands were launched only to be left winking in the dark. The company, marketing department and employees who launched the brand were the only ones who knew about it. Having a business, product or brand means having to build brand awareness. If not, it’s like you’re winking in the dark. You know you’re doing it, but no one else does!
It used to be that ”working it” meant advertising and gaining “share of voice”. But times have changed and now share of voice is only one aspect of the fragmented yet cohesive puzzle of brand building. It’s never been more important for brands to excel in the new and exciting environments we have today. Although, it doesn’t mean that there is no longer a need for traditional media advertising, quite the contrary. Traditional media is still a staple for brand building. However, integrating traditional advertising and making those “channels” work seamlessly together with the new channels calls for specific marketing intent and brand effort. In other words, step out of the cave!
Brand building today requires integration and volume of exposure.
Needless to say, brand building in today’s marketplace is as important as ever, but it’s a tad more complex. It takes time and effort of a different sort. The introduction of the digital environment and the variety of channels now available has created an explosion of brand building possibilities – desktop and mobile platforms for Google adwords and YouTube campaigns, app advertising to social media properties (Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Instagram, etc.). Amidst all that is new (which changes almost weekly), basic marketing protocols still remain. The message must still be clear but also emotive enough to resonate with the target; the audience must be identified with greater dimension and now defined by the rigidness of demographics; the strategies must be focused but multiple, to cover a wider range of niches and technologies; and the objectives have to be defined and measured for each and every variable.
Brand building has evolved dimensionally to allow for the ability to dialogue in order to build a community. The brand not only calls this community home, but also allows consumers, viewers and connections to come over and stay for a visit. They will possibly share a story or two. This provides the opportunity to convert potential consumers to the elusive brand ambassador status – that really should be the goal. An evolving relationship based on the understanding of expectation and yes – love and possibly trust! To not engage, converse, or reach out to consumers all leads to one result: Not being found. This means your brand or business is in the dark somewhere, winking madly where no one can see!
Websites, social media, content marketing and search optimization, mobile accessibility and proliferation have opened up a dynamic that brand building must live and excel in. Brand building involves creating the stage to spotlight brand in a forum for discussion, for sharing and for consumers to participate. Only then can brand building in today’s marketplace lead to brand trust and yes, brand love.
How are your brand building efforts going? Any challenges you need assistance with?
by Miriam Hara | Apr 28, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Creative, Latest, Marketing
There was a time when brand logos were only associated with a business or product. Enter the age of social media and marketing opportunities have opened up. The popularity and ease of use of social media have not only created the option of having a personal brand, but it’s almost a necessity in order to stand apart from the crowd. In the age of personal branding, why not have a personal brand logo? Now, it’s totally cool to even have your own business card – even if you’re not part of a business. Developing an iconic brand logo, may make perfect sense for you.
So why shouldn’t a personal brand reach the next level? Following in the footsteps of President Obama (with the creation of his iconic “O” logo), Hillary Clinton has created her very own Personal (and Presidential) brand logo. The backlash to her logo has been immediate and the criticism has been intense. As with everything visual and open to social media, everyone has an opinion – and wants to share it! Especially if it’s negative. That’s how social media operates.
Sadly, it seems that the business of marketing has gone the way of photography, writing and graphic design. Being armed with a computer, the right software and ‘belonging’ to the right social media platforms have taken precedence over these professions. Although, just because you own a digital camera, doesn’t make you a photographer and just because you can navigate InDesign or Illustrator, doesn’t make you a designer. Common sense is a necessary skill for marketing, although it takes more than common sense to become a marketer.
Still, if you are really serious about developing your own personal brand logo, (and with all the tools at your fingertips why not?). Here’s a how-to process you should consider in creating a personal brand logo:
What are 3 keywords that represent you?
In order to develop a personal brand logo, you must determine how you want to be represented. These words will help build the framework in establishing the type of impact the logo needs to achieve. Is it ‘hard-working’? Is it ‘relaxed’, or maybe ‘approachable’?
What 3 colours do you feel best reflect you and your personality?
A personal brand logo is about you. Your personal brand logo must be a natural extension of you. It should reflect your aspiration of how you want others to see you. Just like for a business, your logo will likely be the first impression people will have of you. Be sure it is accurate.
How do you want your logo to impact those who see it?
What’s the reaction you hope to get when you offer your business card with your personal brand logo on it? How does it need to communicate? This is in close association with the three words that you chose to represent you, but takes one step further. Do you want your brand logo to ‘excite’, to ‘intimidate’, to be assertive, ‘friendly’ or even be ‘controversial’? When designing a brand logo, the desired “initial emotive impact” is essential to establish before you even start. An iconic logo rests heavily on keywords to determine the symbol, colour and font selection.
What do you want your logo to say about you?
The tone of a logo is equally important. Is it bold, ‘professional’, ‘grassroots’ or perhaps ‘fashionable’? The tone of a logo is often delivered by font selection and the weight or strength of the letters. Working with colour and your keywords, a good designer will take all this information and create a few brand logo options that visually interpret what you are all about.
Develop a few options and test them.
Don’t ask friends for their opinions. You need to do research. Depending on your budget, SurveyMonkey is an online option available to use. However, just because you can use SurveyMonkey, doesn’t mean you can write an unbiased questionnaire like a seasoned researcher. But at least you will have attempted to quantify the likability of your logo.
I wonder if Hillary Clinton and her team of experts thought to research her new “personal brand logo”? If they did, did they do it professionally? I believe that Hillary missed a huge opportunity to affirm herself politically in a very different way than her competition. Her personal logo could have broken down some of the inherent barriers the Clinton legacy has developed – most notably with Gen Y voters. It could have established a new dimension of her personality, a new attitude and perhaps also a more approachable persona.
Instead, she’s left with a brand logo identity that really misses the mark.
by Miriam Hara | Apr 15, 2015 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
Every day we see brands entering the world of brand publishing. Having a content marketing strategy is a must for any business, no matter what industry they operate in. Have you ventured in yet? If not, why not? The terminology may be different. How it gets distributed may not be the same – but brand publishing has been around for many years. It used to be called PR.
Today, with the internet (or should I say Google) being the go-to source provider of information, many purchasing assessments are started on line – and referred to time and time again during the customer journey. If you are a business owner or a marketer, that fact alone should trigger thinking about brand publishing as a viable marketing initiative.
At this time, a large part of marketing carries a component of brand publishing – whether it be a blog post of 350 words, a Facebook update of 30-50 words, or even a tweet that’s only 140 characters. Brands and businesses have entered the publishing world to develop more intimate and authentic connections with the buyers of their products or services. In order to do this effectively, developing a content marketing strategy is essential in garnering the results necessary. In fact, without rolling up your sleeves and developing a content marketing strategy you may be just spinning your wheels.
A content marketing strategy allows your business to:
- Define the objectives of brand publishing
- Establish the success metrics with specific time intervals
- Set the parameters for the scope of the content that will need to be created
- Determine what properties it will be shared to
- Timing as it relates to frequency of content deployment
- Identify the different communities that your content will resonate with most
The marketing of editorial content is exactly what your brand or business needs to be doing in order to get found. Good editorial content will resonate with your target market – and that’s what it’s all about. Establishing a content marketing strategy has become hugely instrumental towards the success or failure of brands and businesses. It is time to embrace brand publishing and truly understand the value of how creating content can impact your business in the long run. Are you there yet?
by Miriam Hara | Apr 13, 2015 | Branding, Business Success, Latest, Marketing
Brand development is necessary for any brand competing in the market today. Regardless of the media channel or consumer behaviour, the need for brand development is still relevant. Brand means so many things to so many people. Yet, a brand should by definition be the same for all. But it’s not. Many people confuse Brand with a logo and a sexy tagline. It’s not. Brand is everything combined and it is the most important asset any business owns. It’s how the world sees you and if successful, it empowers them to trust you. It speaks to what you stand for and what you promise to deliver.
If you are in the midst of brand development for your business, product or even yourself, make sure you aren’t just ‘winging it’. Here are a few steps to enable brand definition:
Defining Brand promise is paramount. Consumers’ perception of brand is determined by their experience with it. In this social media era, the experience and opinions of others can also colour their thinking. Brand must take part in the development of their thinking. Brand can influence its own public image by defining, creating and communicating a strong brand identity.
Defining Brand visually is necessary. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: A logo does not make a brand. But it’s the first visual face to face meeting that consumers have with it. It’s imperative that you approach this significant visual aspect of your brand professionally.
Defining Brand identity in the brand development process is a sum of both of the above. How does it look? How does it sound? Developing a Brand identity is about how a brand communicates with the public – every time, all the time. Determine the tone, visual presence and verbal voice. Keep it consistent.
Defining a personal brand. What’s the difference? Or rather, is there a difference? With the emergence of business platforms, like LinkedIn, Brand has now evolved in the arena of “people branding”, also known as personal branding. Of course, personal branding isn’t new and isn’t the result of technology – it has always been around. However, not many people have exercised the notion. Technology has enabled the necessity of a personal brand to separate yourself from the masses. Whether its the summary you’ve written on your LinkedIn profile, the eBooks you provide to promote yourself, your blog posts or the resume you send in for a job posting. How you present yourself to the world in the digital arena must have the essence of your personal brand. Take a page from the brand development process, and apply it personally.
Success in today’s noisy marketplace is all about defining Brand: Whether you’re a product or a person, a brand development process is a must.
For a quick and easy reference on how to market your brand, download our eBooks: Branding Understood and Marketing Understood.
