What’s Your Story?
We get it. Rebranding is expensive. And yet, successful a/e/c marketing depends on consistent and differentiated branding.
When refreshing your visual brand isn’t an option, there are still brand messaging strategies that will revitalize your a/e/c marketing.
Branding for a/e/c marketing relies first on a compelling brand story. What’s your story? What’s the buzz? Once you have your story, which channels and brand messaging strategies will help you share that story? We can help you in the following sections of this article.
Brand Story
Brand Tone
Brand Messages
Brand SEO
Brand Channels
Before we dive in, watch this short video about a/e/c brand messaging strategies and why you may need research before you build your branding strategy. This may include third party client interviews and research about how your industries are changing.
What is Our Brand Story?
Your a/e/c firm has a compelling story. It’s bigger than your history and services. What motivates your team? How does your firm elevate industry standards? How do you support early career professionals or advocate for client industries? What is the bigger story that will attract interest and set your firm apart?
The answers to these questions are sometimes called brand values or core values or core brand values. It doesn’t matter what you call them. They explain why your firm exists and why it matters to people.
Making money is not a compelling brand value. Providing living wages and advancement for your professionals is more compelling. Caring about the environment is great, but what does that look like in your work? Is it conscientious water management through innovative civil engineering solutions? Your messaging needs to be specific and aligned with your firm’s operations and actions in the community.
We recommend: Create three to five brand messages that are emotional, specific and relate to your a/e/c team’s experience and/or core services. You may need to conduct leadership and client interviews to get more specific about how your firm contributes to the betterment of society and is different from your competition. If you get these messages right, your brand visibility and consistency will be much easier.
What is Our Brand Tone?
Another way to distinguish your a/e/c marketing is through your brand tone. Some marketers call it your brand voice or your brand style. Again, the terminology doesn’t matter. It’s about presenting your firm in a consistent way in your content.
For example, your firm culture and your interaction with clients may be very formal and technical. You are serious about quality. Your code of conduct emphasizes intelligent professionalism.
If this is true, then you probably won’t have a brand style or voice that uses slang, bad grammar or pop culture references.
However, if your firm emphasizes a fun and flexible culture, a youthful enthusiasm for your work or creative innovations, then your brand voice should reflect a more colorful and energetic vibe.
We recommend: Revisit your social media channels and see if the tone of those messages is consistent with your team’s approach to client service, your culture or your technical solutions. Social media is a great place to practice tone and make sure that it aligns and doesn’t confuse your audience.
Here is an easy one: avoid exclamation points if your team has a quieter, serious vibe. Too many exclamation points means that you’re shouting.
How Do I Share Brand Messages?
Brand messaging or brand value statements are internal and external. You want your team to be able to express your messaging in their own words. You want them to be excited about their part in making a difference. Externally, you want to communicate your difference across all channels consistently.
This can include proposal language, eblasts, social posts, job descriptions, web copy, sales questions, blog posts…you get the picture. Everywhere.
Now you don’t have to use every single message in every single place. Choose one or two messages that resonate with that audience you’re trying to reach.
We recommend: Create sales questions that point to your brand messaging. Is your a/e/c firm known for beautiful and pedestrian friendly, streetscape design? Then ask a prospect: “Which is more important to you in the design of this streetscape? Safety or a welcoming atmosphere?” Then ask them why. Then walk them through your brand messaging and talk about why both outcomes are important.
Why is Brand SEO Important?
For some reason, SEO is not always discussed as part of a/e/c branding. It absolutely should be a proactive piece of your a/e/c branding strategy. What we mean is that your messaging should be searchable…matching the needs and interests of your prospects or candidates.
Transparency alert: This article is part of Ingenuity’s brand messaging strategies for a/e/c marketing. We specialize in a/e/c marketing. We solve branding challenges. This is reflected in our marketing efforts and search results because our firm ranks highly for “branding for a/e/c marketing” as well as for “a/e/c marketing firm.”
How do we integrate SEO into our branding? We strategically add keywords into our content. This includes our videos, social media and places you would not expect, like our speaking engagements. This level of brand messaging saturation, this repetition, draws awareness and leads toward the firm 24/7.
We recommend: Freshen up your brand through keyword analysis. How and why are visitors searching for your firm? Is there a differentiator or specific service that you didn’t realize you are known for and ranking for? Use that in your a/e/c branding refresh. Not sure how to conduct SEO branding research?
Which Brand Channels Should I Use?
One of the hardest parts of a brand refresh is the rollout. It seems easy, but what typically happens is that we make a big splash with a new visual brand, but then just assume that people will keep looking at us. The rollout is when the work truly begins.
It’s like publishing a book. You think all the challenging work went into the book. The arduous work is the marketing of the book. It’s the same process with your brand. You have to keep it in front of busy candidates and prospects, but in authentic ways. That’s why you should focus on one or two channels at a time, and then fully implement your a/e/c branding refresh before moving on to maximize the rest of your channels.
We recommend: Start with proposals and then social. These channels are often the most visible and frequently used aspects of your branding. They can also accelerate brand visibility, especially if you have a large following on social. Plus, you can encourage your team members to share posts and stories about what your brand means to them. Or create a/e/c video testimonials!
Once your brand is clear and consistent on these channels, work on the next two channels such as your eblasts and project examples. Soon, your rebrand will be clearly communicated across all marketing content and channels.
Need more insights on brand messaging strategies for a/e/c marketing? We would love to answer your specific questions and support your a/e/c marketing here at Ingenuity.