Making messages count | Digital Letterpress: Part 7

If the rise of new media has done one thing, it’s created massive amounts of communication channels. Technology allows us to receive messages, news, advertisements literally every moment of the day. Our desire to be entertained and for our attention to be constantly fed is a reality. Products, voices, opinions, news clutters the world with constant feeds or constant connection. In physical society as well as the digital space, communicators now fight to ensure their own voices cut through the rest. When attempting to build a brand, specific messages and consistency give marketers the ability to stand out against the crowd of competitors.

The key to successful branding begins and ends with audience relationship. If you’re selling a product or even a personal brand, you must have people who buy into your message. You must connect with people, build trust with them. An article in Public Relations Review from 2011 entitled “Keeping up with the digital age” believes that organizations should “update their strategies and tactics to build relationships” (“Keeping up with the digital age: How the American Red Cross uses social media to build relationships”). The messages sent by company and individual branders should cement in the minds of audiences. The people who latch onto the message and “buy in” will advertise and spread the brand without convincing, but it’s up to the brander to create the relationship.

Those relationships begin with dialogue. I wrote extensively about this idea last week in reference to crowdsourcing. We live in a time that emphasizes two-way communication rather than one-way consumption. Those same ideas apply to branding and relationship-building. The article from above also covers “open two-way dialogues.” The authors offer an example interview from an individual talking about the proper way to connect with audiences: “This sentiment was echoed by another participant from the midwest region who said: ‘Don’t just issue a press release, try to have a conversation.’” Building audiences does not just build a customer base or income-flow, but it builds a foundation for reviews, opinions, ideas, and free marketing. Business models that build their brands around connecting with people will find themselves on a strong foundation.

We are inundated with individuals and companies trying to sell products, visions, or even themselves, forcing someone in a marketing position to fight to be seen and heard. According to “Fundamentals of Personal Branding” from Business Insider, “there is a lot of competition that could crowd out your voice. There are probably many more people who do, have done or could do what you aspire to.” In today’s world, such a marketer needs a targeted message, one that reaches his or her audience. Successful messages engage their receivers in ways that reveal them as unique and separate from competitors.

“It is only through understanding customers that content can be designed that is relevant and engaging enough to encourage interaction. Content can also become highly engaging if it incorporates interactive features that are relevant to target customers. Interactive content furthermore gives customers control, which is a critical factor given the capacity of the internet to enhance customer empowerment.” Geoffrey J. Simmons, “i-Branding”: developing the internet as a branding tool

Simmons highlights the importance of a message that stands out. Communicators can no longer rely on simple, generic branding philosophies; instead, they must find ways to be unique. Audiences want to not only connect with brands but interact with them. Companies who capitalize on this philosophy will separate themselves from all the other voices. I stated before that branding begins and ends with relationship; the targeted message is no different. It hinges on the ability to open dialogue, to feed the connection, and to build the trust. Simmons also lists his three aspects of branding: understanding the customer, marketing communication, and ongoing interactions with customers. The process begins with identifying the audience you should reach and then focuses on how to reach them. Once reached, the message allows for the back-and-forth nature of successful branding.

Philosophies aside, an easy way to stand out compared to competitive voices lies in how one actually presents the brand. Consistency in presentation goes a long way in cementing personal or company branding in audience’s minds. A logo associated with a successful brand can take on a life of its own and become iconic in the eyes of the public. In fact, oftentimes, that’s what marketers desire. They want their company image to sell products on its own. Some organizations don’t even have to present a message or idea; they can simply place their logo on an ad or product and let their status and history do the selling.

Apple, for example, possesses the power to rely on its logo for product selling because it has been associated with quality and value for so many years. The logo itself, a simple partially-eaten apple, is one of the most iconic images in the world. Even without any messaging or advertising context, most individuals still recognize the logo as Apple’s. Instead of having multiple logos and slogans, the company has remained focused because they understand the advantage a singular vision gives. There is no confusion, only respect, fascination, and loyalty. That is branding at its finest.

Wrapping all these things together gives communicators a template for how to promote brands successfully and reach audiences. It’s about connections, specific and engaging messages, and about consistency of presentation. As I said earlier, the world has never seen the amount of advertising activity as we see today, and challenges come with that fact. It’s more important than ever to believe in the message you’re sending because it’s going to take more pushing and fighting than before. Even though it’s easier to reach out to people now, it’s harder to truly grab their attention. Simmons defines branding as “the process of creating value through the provision of a compelling and consistent offer and customer experience that will satisfy customers and keep them coming back.” The key that he mentions lies in compelling and consistent. If you don’t offer a message that engages your audience, they can very easily find someone else who presents a brand with which they wish to connect.

I can’t end this discussion on branding without quoting Steve Jobs, so I will leave you with one of his statements from an Apple Confidential held in 1997. It captures the essence and key for what it takes to build a successful brand.

“To me, marketing is about values. This is a very complicated world–it’s a very noisy world–and we’re not going to get a chance to get people to remember much about us, no company is. And so we have to be really clear about what we want them to know about us.”