Meet Ben. Ben is the marketing manager for a SaaS electronic health record company. He attends events and trade shows frequently and creates most of the marketing materials for his company. He even built the website while the company was on a shoestring budget.
His company’s logo has gone through a few design updates over the years, and various ones are used in different places. There are a couple of old websites out there as well, but no one visits them so he doesn’t worry about them too much.
Ben relies heavily on his company’s reputation for having built the most reliable MHR on the market, but as SaaS models have grown in popularity, he’s seeing a lot of churn. Sales are slowing, and he’s even lost some long term customers to newer, shinier competitors.
And he’s starting to have doubts about whether their go-to market strategy works. Our advice to Ben would begin with something simple: create consistent branding. These days, most everyone has a very short attention span. You need a distinctive brand presence that saturates the market and resonates with your audience.
Coordinate the Separate Pieces of Your Marketing Strategy
Every element of your marketing strategy should be in sync in order to create instant brand recognition. That, in turn, creates familiarity and builds trust, which reduces the barrier to switching to your company’s software or product. Those elements include:
- Your vision statement
- Your logo
- The colors and fonts you use
- The tone of your copy
- Website design
While it’s easy to work on these elements independently and think of them as standing on their own, the fact is that they are all part of the same story.
You can also think of your brand identity as a piece of music. Your vision and mission statements are the percussion, establishing the beat and rhythm of your messaging. Your logo is the bass, an easily recognizable melody that grounds your message. Your website is your lead guitar, showing off with riffs and solos, while your copy is, of course, the lead vocals.
All the pieces should be in harmony so that people tune in, tap their feet, and before you know it they are singing along, while some are even out of their seats and dancing. The hum of your marketing strategy should reverberate through everything you create.
Vision statement
Why do you do what you do? And does your entire team know? What guides you? Not only will a simple, compelling, and clear vision statement help your team rally around you, it will also attract customers that are aligned with your purpose.
One example of this is Zappos. Zappos doesn’t sell shoes. They “deliver happiness.”
Once you’ve established what drives you, it becomes easier to connect with customers and your tribe.
Logo
Have you had your logo for a while? It may be time for a refresh. Your logo should be designed to attract attention and represent your brand. Trends in logo design in 2021 include:
- Simplicity (JetBlue)
- Gradients (Facebook Messenger)
- Back to basic shapes (Instagram)
Once you’ve established your “why,” it should become easier to settle on a design for your logo, or decide if you should update yours or not.
Colors and Fonts
Getting down into the nitty gritty of choosing the colors that represent your brand can be tedious, but worth it. You don’t want to use any old shade of orange — it should be uniform across all your platforms.
The same goes for your font. Remember, your customers will likely never hear your voice, and certain fonts are read in certain “voices.” Does a classic serif font like Times New Roman represent your brand, or are you better off with a cool, modern san serif font like Proxima Nova?
Company Voice
Your audience views your brand as a personality, not a diverse group of people getting work done. Because of that, your brand’s voice should be consistent and unchanging.
If you’re struggling to find the right voice, one exercise you can do is to mimic the voice of your customers. Start by creating buyer personas — imaginary characters that represent your audience. Are they quirky? Or serious and professional? Summon that energy and infuse those voices into your marketing content.
Website Design
All these individual elements listed above will play a huge role in shaping what your website ends up looking like. Make sure your homepage offers a solution to the problems your potential customers face, and hook them in with irresistible offers.
Make sure the colors, logos, and tone are consistent throughout your website, from your homepage to downloadable content.
What’s the Big Deal About Branding?
Why do so many companies require uniforms, or branded apparel for their representatives to wear? It’s so that they’re recognizable and familiar, and familiarity increases loyalty. Authority and familiarity both drive new customers and leads, which gives you the opportunity to convert them to customers.
The point of all this is to create consistency across your brand. These days, you often have just one shot at making a lasting impression on potential customers, and that’s through your website. Your website is where all your branding collides.
You want to be easily recognizable, and to instantly attract the type of customers you want by looking and sounding like them. By attracting customers who already want what you have to offer, you increase your revenue and have consistent growth.
The biggest problem when it comes to brand consistency is that, typically, more than one person is involved in the creation of marketing materials. That problem can be resolved by creating a brand style guide that’s shared and followed within your company.
Let’s Give Them Something to Talk About
Branding generates fame. It not only attracts the right high value customers who are already aligned with your vision, but it also gets people talking. Branding can generate excitement, especially if your passion for what you do shines through in the messaging.
You believe in your product, and your target market will too if you present it right. By strategically creating consistent branding, you increase your brand’s momentum significantly.
Our team at Baker Marketing Laboratory can help you synthesize all the pieces of your brand into something that creates buzz, builds trust and grows your business. To get started, schedule a free consultation with us today.
