Branding Archives

When a company develops their visual brand, a major consideration is creating a unique look and feel. A brand’s look and feel is crucial because it conveys your brand’s image. When establishing a look and feel for your brand, it means that you’re creating standards regarding your brand’s logo, colors, fonts, photography, and website. Whether you’re building a look and feel for your own personal brand or a client’s, consistency is the key to success. Your brand needs to look professional and visually pleasing, with consistency throughout all the visual aspects. Let’s start by breaking down the critical elements of a brand’s look and feel.

Logos

A logo should determine the visual direction for your overall brand. As you build or rebrand your business, focus on your logo first and then use it to strategically build out the rest of your visual identity. When you are making creative decisions for your logo, think beyond what looks best, and focus on developing a design that is aligned with your business’s core messaging and values. Your brand’s logo plays a vital part of your look and feel because it serves as an identifier of your brand. An effective brand logo will do three things: 1) build trust and brand recognition, 2) make your company or brand stand out from the competition, and 3) visually represent your brand in the most basic form. Your logo should be designed in black and white initially to avoid any distractions. Once you have solidified your design, you can begin exploring colors.

Colors

Color plays a critical role in your brand’s look and feel. Different colors evoke different emotions, and often serves as a first impression for the customer. Take time to review the psychology of color and choose a color palette that will speak to your core demographic. Color is a great way to contribute your brand’s look and feel while adding versatility to your designs. Take advantage of the color palette that you choose – it is a chance to visually communicate with your customers. Also, it is important to note that the colors you choose for your brand’s look and feel can increase recognition up to 80 percent and end up being the biggest reason consumers decide to buy!

Fonts

Similar to a photo or icon, fonts are a great way to elevate your designs and content. Your font choice is an effective way to express your brand’s personality and the atmosphere you’d like to create when presenting your name and tagline in your logo. Be careful not to choose too many fonts – remember you want to stay consistent. You should choose fonts each with a specific purpose – some for print and some for the web. To determine the best font for your brand’s look and feel, make sure that they read well, are visually pleasing, and use them throughout all your branding assets.

Photography

Investing in quality photography for your brand’s look and feel can boost your business. When a brand prioritizes professional photographs to showcase themselves, they’re more likely to stand out among their competitors in the industry. Photography elevates a brand’s look and feel by helping customers better understand the benefits of the products or services that you provide. It can make a potential client feel more trusting of a provider. Use photography as a tool to elevate your design elements and create consistency across all your social media platforms, flyers, website design, and collateral. A good tip is to find a set of photos that you love and use those exclusively across all of your brand assets. This will give your designs visual cohesiveness.

Website

Once you’ve finalized all your design elements, it’s time to build out your most important brand look and feel asset and promotional tool – your website. Often entrepreneurs make the mistake of prioritizing their website design and treating the logo as an afterthought. Having your logo ready first, allows you to incorporate your branding colors and fonts into a website in addition to the photos that you have chosen. To ensure your website and logo work in tandem, implement your core logo colors throughout the web pages as accent colors. Consider also using your logo’s secondary colors to establish an even stronger connection. Make sure to take advantage of your website because it serves as your online store and often replaces print publications. Your website plays a key role in supporting your brand, facilitating sales, and generating leads. A website is a perfect way to display your brand’s look and feel because it delivers your marketing message all day, every day.

These critical elements of your visual identity will help you develop the ideal look and feel for your brand. If you are looking for fully custom branding, our team at Millennium can help you succeed.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, content/messaging and strategy firm specifically dedicated to the technology and advanced robotics sectors. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate your business growth. While combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise, we are focused on increasing your sales opportunities and driving brand success. From strategic thinking, to brand development, and concise messaging, Millennium Agency will guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to schedule a call.

Five years ago, Adobe predicted future B2B manufacturing companies would rely on digital sales by more than half—and 2021 shows evidence of this! In an era where a brand’s presence in the digital space defines its success, creating a powerful and persuasive brand message helps clients identify and trust you. It connects you to relevant prospects and builds more than just a transactional relationship.

Here’s how a solid brand message will help you earn a competitive edge:

Social Credibility and Trust

A positive and persuasive brand message proves crucial for manufacturing companies to establish trust and credibility. Unlike retail brands, B2B manufacturing companies’ products aren’t accessible on the shelves of local supermarkets and require a much stronger call-to-action for clients to reach out.

As the world experiences a manufacturing shift, statistics show that 78% of manufacturing marketers believe content is king to garner relevant attention online. An innovative and specific brand message will help your clients feel connected to you and establish trust.

Manufactural Advancement

On average, B2B manufacturing companies allocate 15% of their budget to digital marketing. Running successful brand awareness campaigns, with the help of an experienced digital marketing firm, can help convey a persuasive image of your business that keeps you at the top of your customers’ minds.

Ensuring you’re advertising on the most relevant platforms places you at the forefront of your sector and portrays your brand as modern and up to date.

Market Competitiveness

The manufacturing industry is constantly evolving, and it’s essential to stay on top of your industries’ trends with your brand message. That’s why over over 70% of brand managers prioritize building an audience over generating immediate sales. Thinking long-term requires acknowledging that while not all audience members will convert to sales, the ones who eventually do are more likely to become recurring customers.

A digital marketing firm is your best bet to stay up-to-date with powerful branding strategies that help manufacturing companies stand out from the competition. At Millennium Agency, we offer great opportunities for business growth via our brand strategy services, content and PR marketing, digital advertising, video production, data analytics, and web design— all local to Manchester, NH and Boston, MA.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning, digital, creative, content/PR, and video marketing firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!   

Amidst the pandemic, the world experienced a shift in safety measures, control and prevention.

The boom in healthcare has led to increased use of search engines. Around 77% of people and 72% of U.S. internet users have visited health-related websites in the past year.

These figures illustrate the need for effective digital healthcare branding strategies to strengthen a company’s presence in the digital space.

At Millennium Agency, we provide brand strategy services, content and event marketing, advertising, video production, brand positioning, data analytics, and web design services in Manchester and Boston, NH.

When working with a digital marketing consultant, here are some branding strategies that you must consider:

Front-line At the Forefront

A study showed that placing the frontline workers at the center of your marketing campaign can help establish a relatable human connection.

Since frontline workers are the people patients see when they visit clinics and hospitals, healthcare companies can leverage this existing relationship with their healthcare branding strategies.

Focus on Awareness

Any digital marketing expert will tell you that creating awareness empowers people and gives them a sense of control.

A healthcare company’s job ranges from manufacturing medical equipment or drugs to offering health insurance and providing care to patients.

Incorporating a branding and marketing strategy that highlights these important services generates awareness. Additionally, it can help clients feel cared for and build your credibility in the healthcare industry. Backing up your claims and promotions with scientific data will help solidify your brand reputation even further.

Community Outreach

According to a survey, 9 out of 10 people believe that they would boycott a company’s services if they noticed irresponsible behavior.

The digital space of today’s world is driven by political and moral correctness. It may prove beneficial to highlight the community work you’re already doing to garner the support you need.

Showcasing responsible behavior helps patients associate respect and integrity with your company, making it a trusted option.

About Millennium Agency

Your brand is your identity whether you are a large corporation, an independent contractor, or a sole proprietor. Your brand reflects who you are, your values and your purpose. Chances are you have already developed the basis of a personal brand – possibly without even meaning to! Your logo, email signature, and business cards are all components of your personal brand. If you have not done this yet, we have a great article to help! These items identify you or your company through colors, verbiage and imagery specific to your company. Additionally, your sales results, networking skills, and interpersonal communication style are all characteristics of your personal brand.

Your reputation, which is an effect of your branding, can be controlled. You should put some thought into how you want to be perceived by your target audience (this is a good time to create or reevaluate buyer personas) and drive that message through your branding. Essentially, branding is the foundation for your reputation. Thus, it is critical that you deliberately grow your brand in order to use it to its full advantage.

So, how can you grow your personal brand in order to strengthen your reputation? We will share some simple tips to help you on your journey!

Develop a Unique Selling Proposition

It is important to identify what it is that you and your brand do best. Conduct some primary market research by asking former and existing customers about their experiences with you through surveys and outreach. Also, research your competitors to find out how they position themselves. What aspect of your personal style sets you apart? Use all of your collected data to develop a unique selling proposition (USP). A USP is a persuasive message that communicates how your products or services stand apart from those of your competitors.

Create a Brand Roadmap

The key to developing a solid brand is consistency. Once you’ve determined your brand’s unique strengths, you need a plan to share them with your target audience. A brand roadmap is a great way to organize your thoughts before creating a marketing plan. The brand roadmap pulls together your “why” and “how” of your business. Why do you exist? What is your purpose? How do you plan to accomplish this? Once you have developed your brand roadmap the next step is to share this core messaging with your target audience through a marketing campaign. Your goal is for people to recognize you or your brand and to have a positive association based on your messaging.

Deliver Your Message

Delivering your message to your target audience takes time and commitment. There are many ways to get your message out to the world including email, advertising, published articles and social media. To get started quickly, read about some social media marketing strategies that we suggest implementing!

Make Your Brand Recognizable

Brand recognition is the ultimate goal when developing your personal branding. In order to start developing brand recognition, include both your logo and unique selling proposition (USP) in all client-facing documents and forms – including your website, stationery, web directories, marketing materials, and social media accounts. In addition, always include your website and USP in every non-visual marketing medium (radio, voicemail, etc.). Repetition creates memory, so the more someone hears mention of your brand, the more likely they are to retain it and recognize you later.

Let Your Brand Personality Shine

Personal branding goes beyond the written, verbal, and visual components of you or your company. Personal branding, as motioned before, can be the collective personality of your company. Are you known to be fun and easy going? Are you a straight shooter with an affinity for perfection? Or are you somewhere in between the two? Your brand personality is an important part of your identity, and it should be cohesive with all of your other branding aspects. Every meeting and interaction you have with prospective and existing customers, colleagues, and vendors is part of the brand and reputation which you are creating. How you conduct yourself when prospecting or networking should be in line with your personal brand or that of the company.

Remember that you are your business. When carefully planned and developed, your personal brand will amplify your strengths and begin to work for you – creating opportunities, attracting customers, and closing sales. It is more important now than ever to create a solid personal brand. With new companies being born every day, and a transient and extremely digital world, it is easy to get lost in the shuffle. Make sure to know what you do best and promote that genuinely and authentically!

If you find you need assistance in jump-starting your brand strategy, contact an integrated marketing firm.

About Millennium Agency   

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, storytelling/messaging and strategy firm. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!

Branding is one topic a business cannot afford to overlook. Branding development comes well before any marketing strategy. As stated before in this blog post, a brand is what people think and say about a business, forming its reputation from their experiences. Therefore, your brand must represent your mission clearly. If you present a confusing brand, you can be sure that customers won’t be lining up to buy from you.

So what can you do if you’re not sure how to go about the branding process? You can hire a marketing agency. Marketing agencies worth their salt handle not only branding but also many other things that involve marketing. You can be sure that top marketing agencies like Millennium Agency have only the best marketers in their ranks. The agency hired each one because they successfully marketed themselves in their marketing executive resume.

And because of this expertise, marketers in these agencies can create unique and effective strategies for businesses. These strategies drive awareness, engagement, and growth while helping businesses reach customers in a meaningful way. You can check out the Millennium Agency branding strategy service in more detail here, but here’s a quick look at what Millennium and other marketing agencies can do to strengthen brands.

Agencies help you achieve a solid identity.

As already mentioned, branding helps your company give a clear, consistent, and impactful message. Marketing agencies strategize so that your brand appeals to your target audience. If your brand isn’t enticing to your audience, customers and overall sales will inevitably drop.

Agencies formulate a brand identity through two ways: surveying the target audience and conducting lots of research. In short, the proposed business identity comes from cold, hard facts. After this step, digital marketing becomes the focus. While branding defines who you are, digital marketing helps your brand reach your target audience.

Also, when you have a solid identity, you know how your brand will move and respond. Your identity provides your Unique Selling Proposition (USP), clearly defined products and services that set you apart. You will also recognize what products and services don’t align with your brand and make decisions accordingly. For example, a pizza company specializing in genuine Italian flavors likely wouldn’t offer a pizza featuring pineapple.

Agencies provide designs aligned with your brand identity.

Design is another element that agencies can help develop. Think of your brand as a person. As each person has a specific and unique look, so should your brand. This look usually comes in the form of a logo. And because you already have a brand identity, creating a logo should be no problem, right?

Well, that’s true – if you’re a designer. But if not, don’t worry marketing agencies can help with that. The article “How to Design a Perfect and Timeless Logo for Your New Business” talks about how fonts and colors are essential to logo design. Logos should also feature timeless and appropriate graphics. Marketing agencies can provide design recommendations or creations that perfectly fit the brand identity. They can explain how to choose the perfect color and what fonts to select or avoid.

The design doesn’t stop at the logo. Agencies can also design critical components like packaging and marketing collateral. For example, your product packaging can support your company’s perception as a modern, forward-thinking brand. You can bet on customers noticing and appreciating even the most minor details. They are willing to pay more for attractive packaging. And when it comes to marketing collateral, they’ll gravitate to clear, concise, and visually appealing materials. Your marketing efforts represent your business, so again, they should fit your brand identity, which agencies ensure. You can even trust agencies to design websites and mobile apps.

Agencies help you with brand awareness.

If you have a business, but no one knows about it, you probably won’t have a business for too long. Marketing agencies have content and public relation strategies that get your business out to the desired market. Agencies conduct intense research into the intended audience and build systems based on the information they compile. For example, if a target group is women with children aged 25-30, the agency will discover their preferences and interests. If the business wants to plan an event for that group, the agency will help develop appropriate advertising and activities to best appeal to them. The result is brand awareness among your target audience. If you’ve planned a face-to-face event and the agency successfully attracts the people you want, you have a chance to speak right to your potential consumer. This opportunity increases your likelihood of sales.

Another way agencies can reach out to target audiences is via inbound marketing. Inbound marketing is basically the agency creating content that your target group values, usually on social media. The agency also optimizes any blog articles on your site for search engines. It positions your company as the thought leader for that niche and forms connections with your audience. With this, you can get loyal customers and have lasting relationships with them.

One more way agencies can make audiences aware of your brand is via direct mail marketing. Contrary to popular belief, mailing advertisements is not dead. Mail is now trackable using promo codes, custom URLs, unique phone numbers, special hashtags, and more. It also helps that direct mailing is no longer a standard form of reaching out to people. That makes receiving something in the mail even more special for audiences.

Agencies free up your time.

An agency that does its job frees you up from marketing tasks. If you’re a business owner, especially a startup, you may want to complete tasks on your own. You’re trying to save money and carefully direct your company. But while you may have the capabilities to meet these business tasks, is it really the best use of your time? Probably not.

Let’s look at the hard facts: you are the business owner. You are not the head marketer of your business. There are so many things you need to accomplish in your business, not just marketing. Also, you are not an expert marketer, so you would need to invest a lot of time in research and study just to have a basic marketing strategy.

Doing everything yourself, especially in marketing, isn’t feasible. As marketing tactics constantly change and new tools come up, you don’t have to struggle to keep up with trends. Instead, hire a marketing agency to handle this for you. You can then focus on selling and producing new items for your consumers.

Build your brand today.

These are just a few examples of what marketing agencies can do for brands. Now that you know how a marketing agency can help you, it’s time to contact Millennium Agency. Remember, there are major benefits to having a strong brand. When your products and services are effectively placed in the hands of consumers, you make more sales and experience more success.

Contact Millennium Agency now, and let us get to know you and your business goals better. And most importantly, let us know how we can help you scale your business. Click here to schedule your free 30-minute consultation with Millennium Agency today.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, messaging and marketing strategy firm that works with B2B tech and advanced manufacturing clients. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From brand strategy to compelling messaging and storytelling, to powerful web design and public relations, Millennium Agency can provide strategic insight and support, so you can focus on more important projects. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more!

Building your customers’ trust is what can help establish your manufacturing facility as a key player in the industry. When a customer’s loyalty to a brand is tested everyday through social media posts, product reviews, and news stories about a manufacturer’s social responsibility, or absence of it – your customers could change their minds with a drop of a hat. This is why consistency, customer engagement, and your brand’s values are paramount in helping you build your customers’ trust for your manufacturing company.

Be Consistent with Your Brand Values

Once you have established your concrete brand values and learned about what your customers value when making purchasing decisions, it’s important to be consistent in every step of the process so you can build your customers’ trust. It’s not just the brand values that need to be consistent; it’s the whole buying process. Consistency, quality, and excellent customer service in your manufacturing company are what drive customer loyalty. Consumers need to see that they will repeatedly get quality products and services from your brand.

Social Responsibility

In today’s world, large manufacturers are called upon to be socially responsible. With this mindset, and continuous news stories of manufacturers failing to be socially responsible, many business leaders are shifting their brand values.

For example, the well-known ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s has always had a consistent brand value of social justice – even before it was trendy! Customers may view Ben and Jerry’s long history of valuing social justice and social responsibility as more meaningful than another company who announces that they are now championing social responsibility. These social responsibility actions help brands earn your customers’ trust, which is also essential in building customer loyalty.

Continuously Work to Earn Customers’ Trust

The work is not over once trust has been established and customer loyalty is developed. It is a process that must be continuously worked on by continuing to act on those brand values, re-evaluating systems and procedures when faced with customer criticism, and responding to customer feedback and online reviews. Not only will building trust increase your reputation with your customers and among your competitors, but if done right, it will also increase your website conversion rates and improve user experience.

Meaningful Customer Engagement

Meaningful customer engagement also helps to build your customers’ trust. Engagement can be created by asking customers for feedback on products and service delivery. However, when manufacturers ask customers for feedback and do not act on it, customers do not feel valued. When customers see changes made based on their response, they will feel that the company is trustworthy and then continue to be loyal.

Consistency and meaningful customer engagement are key to building your customers’ trust, which is vital in the manufacturing industry. If you need help expressing your brand’s values and keeping them consistent, contact the branding experts at Millennium Agency.

About Millennium Agency   

Your core manufacturing brand positioning is the set of beliefs that you, as a company, stand for. It serves as the compass that guides your brand story, actions, behaviors, and decision-making process. As we’ve learned over the past year, there will be times in business when you have to make tough choices. But when you have core values that constantly remind you of what’s important to your business and to the people you’re serving, making the right decision becomes an effortless task. Your manufacturing company’s brand values serve as the foundation for the brand or manufacturing firm’s success, so it’s important you know how to develop core brand values that effectively tell your story. 

Be Clear and Focused

Aligning your manufacturing firm’s brand positioning with core brand values is not a decision that should be taken lightly, and brand values should not be chosen simply because they are trendy. Clear and focused brand values should be the roadmap for future decision making in your manufacturing firm. Choosing superficial or vague brand values will prove to be problematic when tough decisions need to be made. This is why it’s important to take time and carefully consider your brand’s values in order to establish a clear stance on issues they address. 

Developing Your Manufacturing Brand Values

Developing manufacturing brands values is important to do early on, before any issues arise. Manufacturers who appear to compromise their brand values can lose customers’ trust and loyalty. Developing brand values means that manufacturers should think about, and make a list of, what is most important to them. Next, they should decide what they will not stand for within their business and focus on brand values that are the opposite of that.

Types of Brand Values

The following are examples of the types of brand values your company may develop:

Core values: These are the heart of the brand and what sets it apart from other brands. 
Aspirational values: These are related to the manufacturing firm’s goals. These are usually developed when the company is making changes or introducing new products. 
Permission-to-play values: These are different from core values because every business associated with the marketing firm must agree to these values in order to do business together.

Accidental values: These are based on the values of the manufacturer’s individual employees, and it’s important to make sure these don’t conflict with the manufacturer’s core brand values. When the employees’ values do not match the manufacturer’s core values, this impacts the consistency of the brand and decreases customer loyalty.

The manufacturing landscape is constantly evolving, making devising a long-term brand strategy incredibly difficult. Clear and focused brand values can help your manufacturing firm navigate day-to-day challenges. If you need assistance developing your manufacturing brand values, contact the marketing experts at Millennium Agency and we’ll be happy to help!

About Millennium Agency    

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, storytelling/messaging and strategy firm.. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more! 

In today’s fluid and diverse market, there is a huge focus on customer loyalty as manufacturers are finding that it costs less money to keep their current customers than it does to find new ones. A customer’s loyalty to a brand or company is tested every day through social media posts, product reviews, and news stories about a manufacturer’s social responsibility, or absence of it.

In this blog article, we examine how to best utilize your brand values as a manufacturer to drive 100 percent customer loyalty. Brand values must be clear, well-researched, consistent, and trustworthy.

Be Clear and Focused with Your Values

The first step toward customer loyalty is to have concrete brand values that serve as the foundation for the brand or manufacturing firm’s success.

In her article How to Use Brand Values to Drive Unwavering Customer Trust and Commitment, Lorraine Carter at Irish Marketing Company Persona Design explains how clear and focused brand values should be the roadmap for future decision making. Choosing a manufacturing firm’s brand values is not a decision that should be taken lightly, and brand values should not be chosen simply because they are trendy.

Superficial and vague brand values will be problematic when tough decisions need to be made. It’s important to take the time to carefully consider your brand’s values in order to establish a clear stance on issues they address. “Brand values are no different to human values. They guide what you will do and won’t do as a brand. Brand values are the pillar that the brand is built on even before you have a product or service,” Carter writes.

Carter suggests that when developing brand values, manufacturers should first think about what is important to them and review that list. Next, they should think about what they absolutely will not stand for and then focus on the brand values that are the opposite of that. It’s important that these decisions are made early on before issues arise. Manufacturers who appear to compromise their brand values, lose customer trust and customer loyalty.

In her article, Carter lists the following as types of brand values:

Core values: These are the heart of the brand and what sets it apart from other brands
Aspirational values: These are related to the manufacturing firm’s goals. These are usually developed when the company is making changes or introducing new products.
Permission-to-play values: These are different from core values because every business must agree to these values in order to do business.
Accidental values: These are based on the values of the manufacturer’s employees and it’s important to make sure these don’t conflict with the manufacturer’s core values. When the employees’ values do not match the manufacturer’s core values, this impacts the consistency of the brand values and decreases customer loyalty.

Do Your Research

After carefully establishing your brand values, it’s important to do some research on your target customers in the quest for 100 percent customer loyalty.

This includes researching your target audience and what they want as well as researching your customers’ values. This is related to our last blog post, 9 Tips for Creating a Memorable Brand in 2021 and creating a buyer persona. Having an in-depth understanding of your customers is as important as establishing solid brand values. Customer research can be done by soliciting input directly from customers whether on social media, other online platforms, over the phone, or in-person.

A thorough research on your target customers includes researching these customers’ personal values. Carter describes the connection between brand values and customers’ values as a love connection. She explains how customers may be interested in a product, but they will not complete the purchase unless they feel safe knowing their personal values and the brand values are in sync.

When these values are in sync, consumers will continue to purchase from a business. A 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report shows that customer loyalty is tied to brand trust, which includes both the product and the company. This study was conducted across Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States. Seventy-two percent of those surveyed said they will not purchase from a company if their personal values do not match the brand values.

Be Consistent with Your Values and What You Deliver

Once you have established your concrete values and learned about what your customers value when making purchasing decisions, it’s important to be consistent in every step of the process to obtain 100 percent customer loyalty. It’s not just the brand values that need to be consistent; it’s the whole buying process. Marketing executives stress that consistent quality and excellent customer service drive loyalty. Consumers need to see that they will repeatedly get quality products and services from the brand. In an article for socialnomics.net, marketing blogger Ariana Smith writes that “Customers rely on convenience, so be sure that the company will deliver on its promises every time. Under-promising and over-delivering is an excellent strategy of developing brand loyalty.”

In today’s world, large manufacturers are called upon to be socially responsible. In the Edelman report, 81 percent of those surveyed said that they must trust the brand to do what is right. Fifty-three percent said that every brand should be involved in at least one social issue. With this mindset, and continuous news stories of manufacturers failing to be socially responsible, many business leaders are shifting their brand values.

However, these changes may not be impactful if there is a lack of consistency. Forbes Communications Council Member Sylvie Tonco talks about the importance of companies being able to put into action their brand values of social responsibility and not just jumping on the bandwagon. She uses the example of how ice cream brand Ben and Jerry’s has always had a consistent brand value of social justice even before it was trendy. Customers may view Ben and Jerry’s long history of valuing social justice and social responsibility as more meaningful than another company who announces that they are now championing social responsibility.

The Edelman study addresses the importance of brands who back up their values of social responsibility with definitive actions. Some of the examples included in the report are the Dove Men+ Care paternity leave initiative and Heineken’s push to discourage drunk driving by making changes in bars.

Dove has set up the Dove Men+Care Global Leave Standard in partnership with MensCare, an organization helping to promote gender equality in caregiving. Dove Men+Care male employees are assured paid paternity leave and provided resources to help them. As part of this new standard, the company is working to break down stereotypes associated with non-traditional caregivers.

Heineken has developed a pilot study to test reducing drinking and driving through a series of behavioral interventions. The study was conducted at 10 bars throughout England, which were specifically redesigned for the purpose of encouraging customers not to drink and drive. Signs both inside and outside the pubs encouraged patrons not to drink and drive. At the bar, patrons were encouraged to sign a pledge not to drink and drive and they were rewarded with free food. The study found that these interventions reduced drinking and driving by up to half.

These social responsibility actions help these brands earn customer trust, which is also essential for customer loyalty. This further validates the Edelman report, which found that 81 percent of those surveyed said they had to trust a brand before they buy from it.

Continuously Work to Earn Customers’ Trust

In the Edelman Report, 67 percent of those surveyed agree that they will stop buying from a company that they no longer trust. Amazon has been the spotlight for criticism of how the company treats its employees. Marketing expert Denise Lee Yohn explains how Amazon needs to focus on its employees after various reports of employee mistreatment. She said that Amazon should be transparent on how they move forward with improving employee engagement. If Amazon is not forthcoming on how employees are treated, the manufacturer’s loyal fanbase could start to dwindle due to a lack of customer trust.

Meaningful customer engagement also helps to build trust. Engagement can be created by asking customers for feedback on products and service delivery. However, when manufacturers ask customers for feedback and do not act on it, customers do not feel valued. When customers see changes made based on their response, they will feel that the company is trustworthy and then continue to be loyal.

The Edelman Report also states that trust is built on brands’ impact on society including influencers. The report found that 63 percent of those surveyed said that they trust an influencer’s take on a brand over what the brand is saying about itself. Therefore, it’s important for manufacturers to respond to word-of-mouth comments on a brand-whether positive or negative. Manufacturers should also address customer complaints in online reviews.

Forbes Communications Council member Elizabeth Edwards explains the importance the “Noble Edge Effect” in the Forbes article 15 Ways To Increase Brand Loyalty And Retain Your Customer Base. “This is when an independent source shares the socially responsible or charitable work your company does. Be authentic about giving back and let others tell your story,” Edwards writes. Learning about your manufacturer’s positive actions from an independent source further increases your customers’ trust and loyalty.

In conclusion, having solid brand values, doing thorough market research, being consistent with those values, and continuing to build trust with customers will ultimately drive 100 percent customer loyalty. And in today’s world, customer loyalty is a commodity that is as valuable as an influencer’s positive comments on your social responsibility.

About Millennium Agency 

Millennium Agency is a national, award-winning branding, messaging and strategy firm focused on the manufacturing industry. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, our team unites creative branding and data analytics to accelerate our clients’ growth, while combining our clients’ vision with our marketing expertise to increase sales opportunities and drive brand success. From video advertising and web design to social media and PR, Millennium can guide your marketing efforts every step of the way. Contact the professionals at Millennium Agency to learn more! 

 President & Founder 

Linda Fanaras is the CEO and Founder of Millennium Agency (www.mill.agency) located in Boston and Manchester, NH. She can be reached at 877-873-7445 or [email protected] 

In order to build a comprehensive brand strategy and share your story effectively, you must first decide where you want your brand to go and create a roadmap of how to get there. From an organization’s perspective, this means focusing on what you want to achieve and how you will achieve it. Your brand roadmap is comprised of four elements:

Purpose

Why do you exist? “Brand purpose” is the fancy-schmancy way of talking about the “why” behind your brand. It really all comes down to describing the goals and values that motivate you and drive your business. Brand purpose is more emotional than logistical. It is less about the tangible, factual aspects of the product or service you offer, but rather why you’ve chosen to offer them.

Vision

The big picture of what you want to achieve. Brand vision refers to the ideas behind a brand that help guide your brand’s future. When the brand vision clicks, it reflects and supports the business strategy, differentiates from competitors, resonates with customers, energizes and inspires employees and partners, and helps facilitate ideas for marketing programs.

Mission

How do you achieve that big picture? Your brand’s mission communicates your brand’s purpose, objectives and how it plans to serve its audience. It is action-oriented and gives readers an idea of what your business does and what impact it wants to make. This statement may shift over time as the company grows and redefines its goals.

Values

The principles that guide your behavior and actions. Your core brand values are the beliefs that you, as a company, stand for. They serve as the compass that guides your brand story, actions, behaviors, and decision-making process.

The above brand roadmap will allow you to develop and build a comprehensive brand strategy. For more assistance on building an effective brand roadmap or brand strategy, contact the marketing experts at Millennium Agency.

About Millennium Agency

Millennium Agency is a nationally recognized, top woman led B2B branding, positioning, and digital marketing firm who knows how to create value that emotionally influences your customer’s buying decision, giving you the competitive advantage. As your trusted partner in B2B software technology and manufacturing, we provide the branding and positioning framework that make an impact – so you can focus on what you do best – run your business successfully. With offices in Boston and New Hampshire, and a worldwide presence, the professionals at Millennium Agency would like to learn more about your business.  Visit www.mill.agency or book time here.  

Your brand’s visual identity comprises your logo, imagery, typography, colors, and creative design. The main point of your visual identity is to communicate to your customers who your brand is and why they should be loyal to you through these visual elements. Designing your visual identity isn’t a one-time process, you need your identity to be flexible, so it can grow with your brand, and intuitive so that each element complements the other.

Logo

A good logo reflects your brand and makes a powerful impact. The idea is to make it as simple and memorable as possible.

Keep it Simple

Try to keep your design as simple as possible. A simple design is more memorable and lends itself better to building a recognizable brand. In addition, try to avoid effects and any trendy design techniques. These can date your logo quickly, which may require you to undergo an expensive rebrand a few years down the line.

Limit Colors

In line with keeping things simple, you should also try to avoid using too many colors. Of course, it’s exciting to add multiple colors as it can result in beautiful art work. However, your design can quickly get too busy. Something else to keep in mind is to avoid using heavy gradients. Needless to say, there are exceptions to any of the tips shared in this article but sticking to them will guide you in the right direction.

Typography

Typography is just as important as your logo and is used to convey feelings of exclusivity, intelligence, and style. The font(s) you use for your business name and slogan also requires careful consideration. Different typefaces communicate different meanings. For example, Serif fonts are often looked at as sophisticated and formal where Slab Serif is interpreted as bold and trendy. Choose your font or font pairing based on what most accurately reflects your business’s values.

Color

Colors are one of the most powerful elements of your brand strategy. Don’t simply go with your favorite color or copy a pretty color pattern you found in a competitor’s visual identity. Different colors convey different meanings. For example, orange stands for vitality, playfulness and friendliness while dark blue is interpreted as trustworthy and mature. It’s no surprise businesses in the finance industry often opt for a blue color palette. Be sure to go with a core color that captures what your business stands for.

Your visual identity is how you showcase your brand to customers and can help you stand out against competitors. Designing your visual identity will elevate your brand strategy and help bring your brand to life.