You’re not alone. Branding is boring. Yes, that’s right. Branding is boring, especially for the in-house marketing team–but only if you’re doing it right.
Good branding execution requires a cohesive, consistent look that adheres to guidelines that support and enhances the logo. It is achieved by reproducing the same visual elements in all communication products across all media channels you use. That’s everything from your website, to business cards, email newsletters, presentations, white papers, social media, and more. These items should repeatedly appear with the same brand style and features such as consistent typography, brand placement, and color palette, to name a few. And did I say repeat? That’s the key, consistency and repetition. Lather, rinse, repeat. And then do it again tomorrow.
When you’re the one in charge of overseeing the brand in every marketing and communication channel out there it’s easy to get bored. And to the design team, being limited to the same colors, fonts, and typefaces can be tedious.
But keep at it, stay the course over the long haul. You interact with the brand so much more than your audience and potential customers. Possibly hundreds of times more. Keeping this in mind should help you curb the desire to veer off track and do something different. To do so will only denigrate your brand and create visual confusion, possibly damaging the recognition it takes so long to earn. And recognition is the whole point of branding. Because recognition leads to greater awareness which leads to consumer engagement and conversion.
You’re ahead of the game if your branding strategy includes graphic guidelines and an extensive brand package with templated assets. These are the foundation of good brand hygiene. It keeps a high brand standard for stock items with minimal effort. And it keeps extraneous elements from polluting the design mix. It may seem boring, but it’s not. It’s strategic.
Brand consistency is expected by most consumers–up to 90% according to the New Jersey Institute of Technology. By having systems in place that take care of the repetitive items by fiat, you and your team can focus your creative energy on the challenge of enhancing your brand and elevating its prestige while keeping certain guidelines intact—which is the opposite of boring—it’s challenging and fun.
If you have a strong logo and colors, but don’t have specific assets in an organized, complete graphic standards and branding package, you may be making things harder on yourself than they need to be. Taking the time and dedicating the resources to create a brand system should be your priority. It is a foundational piece of your marketing strategy. Or it should be.
A good visual strategy will help your brand to grow and have the awareness that makes for a successful business. As primary stewards of the brand, clear guidelines and branded templates are the tools to guide that stewardship. For the busy marketing department, these tools will save you time in the long run, expand your effectiveness, increase your output, and possibly elevate your reputation within the company.
Doing this internally is a great way to build consensus with the designers and content creators who will be executing the tactical material. This is a definite win. It’s tempting to try to do a brand package in-house on top of all the normal items that must be done, but that is difficult and stressful. If you haven’t got the bandwidth to take on such a project internally, you can do this with the help of an expert. Consider farming out some of the daily work to help with the extra demand on your department.
Or you could choose to hire a professional to help round out your brand package and establish logo guidelines and brand assets. Then you can get on with more exciting projects.
L.A. Eddins Design has worked with large complicated brands, simple logo packages, and everything in between. We understand how to manage and even evolve a brand and the collateral that goes with it. Let’s talk about your brand and how we can help you keep branding boredom at bay.
Check out the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9zMNc_7CNR8&t=734s
