For a myriad of reasons, businesses are (or should be) paying closer attention to their brands than ever before. In a hyper-competitive marketplace, brands can be the stickiness that keeps your customers from shopping around and inspires them to champion your brand in their networks. That’s the true sweet spot that offers something that even the largest marketing budgets can’t accomplish without brand equity. Check out some stats that support these assertions:
- The Content Marketing Institute reports that 69% of B2C business decision-makers surveyed said brand was a key objective for 2019 and ongoing.
- A Forbes survey reported that of key business owners surveyed, an average 23% revenue was seen due to brand strengthening initiatives.
- SDL Global, a leading data analysis firm, completed a recent survey that determined 58 percent of Millennials polled said they expect to engage with a company before making a purchase.
4 Brand Tips You Should Be Paying Attention To (And, our exciting news)
- Know who you are. As in anything in life, starting at the beginning is always the right approach. Start by creating a definition of who you are. What does your company do? How is it better than the other options available to your customers? What do your customers know your business as (the highest quality, the fastest delivery, the most innovative products, the best value, etc.)?
- Think in human terms. As we seek to shred our business objectives, we often get myopically-focused on numbers, trendlines and dollar signs. When we are working brand development, it’s key to remember that there’s a user on the other side of the computer, a consumer in the store and a live human being making decisions regarding the product or service offering you’re selling. Develop a persona or a few personas that define your customers and then let your brand speak to them on their terms, their channels and the tone of voice that would resonate with them.
- Consistency wins the race. Consistency is the key to building a brand. Creating a new look every six months might keep it interesting inside the four walls of your marketing department, but the truth is, it takes many touchpoints to create brand recognition with your customers. Brand engagement and brand loyalty come later. So, stay consistent with your brand for the long haul to get the real cache you’re looking for.
- It’s not all about colors, but colors matter. The most precise and perfectly thought-out shade of blue does not a brand make. No, it’s much more than logos, color palettes, and matching letterhead. BUT, all this stuff does matter! Just to keep us on our toes, we have to think this part through as well as ensure that our color choices, logo styles and consistency (see #3) in style permeates through our business touchpoints from social media to email signatures to printed brochures.
And now for our big announcement…
Without any further adieu, Agile Planners is proud to announce, we’re following our own brand advice! We’ve revamped our website to more accurately rep our brand and further drive home the breadth of services we offer our clients to support their success.
Our backstory. Agile Planners has evolved over time. Riding the wave from a startup to an established leader in our space, we’ve refined (and expanded) our service offerings, as well as learned more about who we are and who our customers are. Our rebrand of the site offers a new brand look and feel and a smoother user experience with a more precise definition of the services we offer. We invite you to take a virtual stroll around our new site and, of course, give us your feedback!
Our first steps. We took our own branding advice and started with a deep dive into who Agile Planners is, what we stand for, what our strengths are, and who our current and prospective customers are. What we realized is that there may be a slight disconnect regarding our name. Does anyone understand what we do by just reading the name, Agile Planners? We have a few doubts, so we’re going to work hard to drive home the message of what Agile Planners does and how it can benefit your business. Just in case, you need a refresher: Agile Planners is an accounting technology firm that uses agile processes (agile methods or agile processes promote a disciplined project management process that encourages frequent inspection and adaptation) to support your business’s financial and operational management. Don’t worry, we’ll be driving this message home over and over again, so you don’t have to grasp it the first time, unless of course, you got it!
Agile Planners is here to support your business’s success with tips for branding and so much more. Our team of professionals can help you on the operational and accounting side of your business with a full suite of services, including:
- Delegation of accounting tasks
- Tech integration and training services
- Training and consulting for your team
- And much more
