brand building: five critical things people often overlook

Brand building success.

As traditional media is eclipsed by new media, the concept of brand building continues to change in unexpected ways. Speed, adaptability, and collaboration are more important than ever before. Success means meeting today’s challenges, but tomorrow’s as well. Here are some strategies we’ve found helpful for building brands that stand up to the test of time.

hitting the right targets

A process of thinking about goals, resources, and critical deliverables is an important part of any branding process. Identify the areas where it’s critical for the brand to work, and then develop materials that hit those targets. This helps you see things from your audience’s point of view and it builds a holistic, problem-solving aspect into the decision making process.

consider the total cost of ownership

Try to think about the long term impacts of your creative decisions. What will be involved when new campaigns or marketing efforts come into play? Will you have to rebuild or recreate new assets (such as redoing photo shoots), revise marketing messages, or reprint brochures. A good brand will be designed to have some elements be “evergreen” to resist aging while others can be changed efficiently and without significant cost.

having a strong connection with messaging

A brand combines verbal and visual information together, and a smart branding process combines them at the early stages of the process. Copywriting begins at the beginning, with the branding process allowing you to see how things fit together from an audience’s point of view.

using a unique visual language

A brand is more than a logo.  A visual brand concept can include colors, typography, a distinctive angle, infographics, illustrations, or similar elements that work together in a unique way.

making  documentation, assets, and standards easily-accessible

A brand can only succeed when the people using it have access to resources that help use it in a consistent, convenient way.

Brand building is a complicated process but when done successfully can help your organization improve the quality and quantity of your customers and other relationships. Contact Shew Design for help with building a unique brand.  Check out brands we’ve made on our portfolio page.

Eric Shew is a graphic designer and front end developer living in Bellingham, Washington.

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115 West Magnolia, Suite 210
Bellingham, WA 98225
360-733-2265

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