The Backbone of Branding: Why Branding Sessions Are So Important for Businesses
Whether you know it or not, your company has a brand identity. Is yours conveying what you want it to? Some of the world’s largest and best-known businesses are easily identified because of their branding. Without a defined language, format, philosophy and culture, it’s hard for an audience to immediately recognize what your business is, but it’s quite easy for them to make a judgment about it.
That’s where branding and strategy come in. No matter what stage of growth your company is in, brand strategy is pertinent to maintaining the message and appearance you want to show the world. And that’s where a brand strategy session comes in. Whether you need an entirely new image or a refresher, brand discovery and strategy sessions teach everyone from CEOs to marketing directors new aspects about the company’s image.
What is a Branding Strategy Session?
A branding discovery or strategy session is a company brainstorm, where everyone from the C-suite to the brand managers, and others who provide valuable input, meet to establish a solid image that’s consistent across the board, in all mediums and communications. A company’s strategy meeting can range from as short as an hour to a daylong affair, depending on where your business is in the branding lifecycle. The meeting is an open forum of collaboration that’s often facilitated by a branding, advertising or marketing agency, which will take feedback from the meeting and refine it into a well-defined brand both in look and message. Taking into account office culture, specific language and imagery, philosophy and market perception, the information communicated gives each person a better understanding of the company’s brand.
Why Do You Need Brand Strategy?
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person,” says Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. While branding isn’t the only factor that makes a company successful, it does play a huge part when consumers and clients are making purchasing decisions.
What do you think of when you visualize your company’s brand? Does your target audience see the same thing you do? How do you create the image you want them to see? A branding session is where you discover the answers to these questions with the help of brand strategists.
Recognition is another crucial result of effective brand strategy. With your competitors solving similar problems or selling similar products to yours, consumers can get overwhelmed determining which product belongs to which company. The biggest brands in the world created their images to prevent confusion among their consumers, guaranteeing their product be recognized immediately in a pool of similar ones. Does your brand stand out from the competition? With a comprehensive brand identity in place, your consumer is guaranteed to know what it is your business does, what you sell and who you are. These are some of the main considerations consumers take into account when researching which product is the best one for their specific needs.
What Do You Get Out of it?
Once the branding strategy session is over, a number of things can happen dependent on what your company’s needs are. You may have an established look, but need message refining and vice versa. Your strategy team will start creating the assets you need, oftentimes focusing on one area, such as a logo or a tagline, and then expanding upon it once the look or message is approved by your team. When the assets are finalized, a brand book can be put together, outlining rules for consistent brand imagery and messaging usage. Brand books should be shared with your entire team so the company’s brand is unified and maintained between all departments and parties involved.
Where Do You Start?
With a creative agency, that is. A branding agency can facilitate the strategy session, leading the topics and questions toward collecting substantial feedback. With the discoveries and information compiled, they can then conceptualize and create a brand with strategy behind it; one that encompasses who your company is, what you want it to say and what you want it to look like.
Experienced branding agencies offer the creative and strategic solutions companies need in order to define their brand. Contact one to start bringing your brand to life now.
Establish a brand identity that’s sure to attract your audience. Appleton Creative is an award-winning, full-service advertising agency in Orlando, Florida that specializes in delivering a strong, unified visual and verbal presence through branding and messaging. Appleton works with local, national and international clients to build a strong and cohesive brand that standardizes any company’s look and communications across print, web, social media and video. Your branding goals are worth a conversation: contact us at 407-246-0092 or info@appletoncreative.com.
