Posted by Sting Communications on July 13, 2020 in Advertising
Evaluate and Adjust
Shut down. Slow down. Put it in neutral drive. It is happening all around us. The focus is a bit blur. The brand perspective, the short term goal seem distinctly far. So we are dedicating our energy in cooking new dishes and looking at old travel pictures and longing to be back there. But aren’t we wasting some super valuable time that has come our way in the most unexpected and unwanted way? Let me explain.
It is a time to focus on relationships. It is a time to refresh and update your brand communications. . Building and nurturing an approach that provides opportunity to take your brand to the next level. It is a time for relationship building messaging and not buy now call to action. The pandemic has given an opportunity to take a step back, take a hard look at the brand communication you have been doing and create refreshed campaigns with the right tone of voice in place.
So how do you start?
I think the best way to do this is pulling out all your recent communication materials and put them in one document. This should be done in such a manner that each one can be evaluated individually. This should include print and digital campaigns, e-mailers, sales collaterals, proposals, sales presentations and all brand image building tools. Review these materials looking at the imagery, messaging brand images like colour, font etc. and create a list on how these can be improved or updated.
Start afresh
Once you have a clear picture on how to refresh your brand, create a communication that allows you to talk about the values your brand represent and put extra effort in showing the customers that you care. Carefully plan out post-Covid messages. Create visuals that talk about hope. Generate messages that talk about lending out a hand to the needy.
It may seem to be a wrong time to begin on marketing now, but it has always been assessed in the past that investing in advertisement in bad times increases long term profitability. Brand advertising is not about profiting in recession and bad times, it is about capitalizing on recovery. So whatever limited resources you think you can put into advertisements, do it. I am sure it will bring good results as things start to open up.
Digital is the platform
Creating a brand image on the digital platform is not a easy task. It requires meticulous work done over a period of time. Unlike in other mediums, it is not possible to erase the digital footprint that your brand leaves behind. So be very careful in placing your digital content. You might love something at an instinct, but the particular idea might just back fire in the future. Talking about your brand, in the digital space, needs expert planning. Not simply people who can place ads on Facebook or Youtube and has managed to earn a badge of merit from the service providers. They got this honour because they have helped the digital platform in some way by using digital space for long hours. Not for understanding your brand. Most digital agencies will run your campaign on the digital platform smoothly. They might also bring in short term results in terms of likes and lead generation. But they seldom understand your brand. They seldom realize the long term goals that need to be set today to get great result from your brand in the future. Most of them put up instant shows but lack foresight.
Getting things done the advertisting way
At Sting, digital communication is no different from regular brand ads. The platform is digital. It is just like choosing a outdoor banner or putting it in newspaper. But what do we communicate and how we do it is based on the brand strategies and brand style. Not to mention tone of voice. All this put together, create good material that can be advertised, in digital media or otherwise. This is the philosophy behind all ad materials that are created at the Sting studio.
Tags: advertising agency, advertisting, brand, covid, sting communications