6 ways to protect your brand
6 ways to protect your brand
You’re excited because you just went through a brand refresh. There’s a new logo, fresh color palette, a locked-in tone of voice, and inspiring photography direction. Now you can sit back, relax, and watch the praise roll in for your new brand identity system, knowing that everyone is ready and willing to comply with the new guidelines.
Or perhaps, adoption of this new system by the broader organization is slow going.
It’s a year later and people are still using the old logo. The old color palette is still being used. Or worse, being combined with the new palette to create a hybrid. Maybe they’re using the right logo, but they grabbed a low res version from Google instead of downloading a vector file.
Brand offenses happen at every company. With a few practical steps, you can ensure that the brand identity system you spent months developing will be properly maintained. It’s our job as brand and creative leaders to protect the brand and enable the whole organization to do the same.
GET PEOPLE ON BOARD
1) Identify a single point of contact
Good communication leads to good brands. Do people know who to go to when looking for creative resources? Start by identifying a single point of contact for brand guidance. When people aren’t aware of who to contact for brand questions, they will inevitably make the decisions on their own. This can be scary.
2) Find brand advocates
Teach non-designers to become brand advocates. You don’t have to be a designer or copy writer to understand the value of brand. Look for coworkers in customer-facing roles like sales, product management, or event marketing. Help them understand the significance of maintaining a consistent brand experience across every customer touchpoint and ask them to pull in the brand leader when something seems off.
REVISIT PROCESSES
3) Communicate the importance of brand
Interbrand ranks GE as the 16th most valuable brand in the world. It’s something we need to lean into, as well as protect. 25% of the customer buying decision is made because of the trust that comes with the GE logo. When people understand the importance of brand they’re more likely to protect it themselves. You don’t have to be in the Fortune 100 to have value as a brand. Your brand is who you are, and that’s important whether you have 3 employees or 300,000.
4) Make it easy to find brand assets
When the organization can’t easily find images, logos, or templates when they need it, they will build it on their own. This is where things really go rogue. If the easiest way for a salespeople to find your logo is to Google it, you have a problem. If it’s not easy to find resources, that’s on you. Make it easy to find.
LEVERAGE TECHNOLOGY
5) Build a brand site
Build a centralized brand portal to store assets. If it can’t be found, it won’t be used. Your budget and team are going to determine what you can do here. Organize a folder structure on Box, put together a design toolkit, build a beautiful brand website. There are more sophisticated solutions like Brandfolder that can help you create a beautiful front end experience.
6) Interact through discussion forums
Often times, a specific discussion with one person can be valuable for the whole organization. Platforms like Yammer or Slack can be great tools for making brand discussions accessible to everyone. This saves time for you and the brand advocates over the long run.