If you’re looking for branding simplicity or a more economical way to refresh your brand across channels and offices, here are some ideas that add consistency and power to your efforts.
How to Tackle Your Rebrand, Bit by Bit
Refresh Your 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? Review and refresh your story to engage your team and to retain new and longtime clients and partners.
Check Your Brand Tone – Some marketers call this your brand voice or your brand style. 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 probably don’t have a brand style or voice that uses slang, bad grammar or pop culture references. Avoid exclamation points if your team has a quieter, serious vibe. Add brand tone notes to your branding style guide to ensure a consistent voice across channels.
Update Brand Messages – Internally and 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… everything. Create sales questions that point to your brand messaging. Is your a/e/c firm known for its 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. You may need to do client and leader interviews to identify if your brand differentiation has changed in the markets you serve.
Update Brand SEO – 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. Then put your keywords in your YouTube titles and descriptions; they also go in your website content, your Google Business description, on Yelp, everywhere.
Add Brand Channels – Which channels should you use? Refresh branding in your proposals and then on social. Is there a new social channel or type of media where you can stand out from competitors and reach a key audience? Explore new channels for elevating your brand visibility.
Create Personal Branding Plans – Do your industry or market leads have personal brands or personal PR plans? This is another aspect of a brand refresh that accelerates brand visibility, plus it keeps your leaders engaged in representing the firm even if they don’t actively participate in business development. Create plans that resonate with the individual’s role, skills, interests and thought leadership.
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