How to Organise Your Brand to Improve Growth and Consistency
So, you've been in business for a few years and by now have launched a few ad campaigns, written and released a few e-books and partnered with some larger companies, all things that are an extension of your brand. If I were to walk into your office right now, could you show me an overview of your entire brand? What your touch points are, what your marketing material looks like? Could you even tell me exactly where your brand identity material would be?
I recently took on a new client for Brand Management and at the start of every new management client, I need to take a look at their entire brand from head to toe. In this case, I was delivered with a bunch of "umms" and "ahhs", not sure where to look within their server of files. After an hour of searching, I was finally presented with different elements, but not all. Their developers had certain things, printers had the print files and other items were non existent. Now, to be clear this is not taking a stab at my client at all, but rather using them as an example to highlight how brand elements can get so scattered over time, especially when we are so focused on building a successful business.
Why should ALL of your brand elements be organised in one place...
1. To manage growth
If you can look at certain promotions and ads that you are producing along with in-house collateral and other brand touch points, you can compare and track their success. In order to grow a brand you must be able to learn from the past to move forward.
2. Consistency
Typically, a brand can pass through many hands; outsourcing to printers, developers etc. Creating a consistent brand is key to growing your brand awareness and strengthening the integrity of your brand. Without being organised a brand will often be sending mixed messages to its audience.
3. Communication
Communication is the sole reason to organise your brand. It is a way to communicate all elements correctly to ensure consistency and growth. It will also allow you as the owner to delegate tasks quickly and easily to employees because everything will be laid out in one place, preventing wrong information or files being used.
So, how can you easily organise your brand in the one place? The answer is simply an app called Trello.
I have been using Trello with my clients for a few years now and it is by far the best product I have come across.
Why?
- It is a web based app which allows you to share different boards with different users, allowing you to collaborate with others. This app is also available to download onto your phone so you have access wherever you go.
- You can see an overview of your entire brand, allowing you to retain consistency and build growth.
- It is very simple to use and customise to suite your organisational preferences.
- You can store files within Trello by simply dragging and dropping. This allows others to download files that they may need to use. Example: Storing your logos, print files and written documents.
- You can also set your boards up to track progress for campaigns or new artwork projects.
AND it's FREE!
Trello is truely a fantastic tool to organise your brand. You may even find other areas within your business that could use this type of tool...
*Being an online tool, I also recommend having 2 forms of back up for your brand. So please ensure to backup all information and files onto a hard drive or drop box as well.*
You can download Trello from the App Store or visit https://trello.com/ in your browser to set up an account.
Happy Organising!!
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