Brand, Decoded — Chapter 1

Branding, Customer Engagement

A Moment of Reckoning

A decade that began with high hopes for the technology industry is winding down with a moment of reckoning.

From political scandals to privacy fears to failed IPOs, the “move fast and break stuff” motto has resulted in lots of stuff breaking, fast. Now, tech brands are focused on reestablishing trust and improving public favor.

Rapid shifts to the nature of the business have also had a large impact on our perception of these brands. For example, ever-shorter product development cycles have led to smaller windows for brands to establish and sustain differentiation. At the same time, fewer barriers to entry have led to increased competition from startups for legacy brands.

The good news is that investing in brand CAN help.

In this series we’ll explore how technology branding can be your secret weapon in navigating the evolving tech landscape. Some of the points we’ll dig into include:

  • Brand is your North Star: To investors and the general public, the challenge is crafting a singular message at the 30,000 foot level, both verbally and visually. It should convey your story, inspire people to care, and be the North Star to drive clarity and consistency across your touch points.
  • Your customers’ experience is the fulfillment of your promise to them: Then, it’s about building upon that strategic foundation to craft a unique experience for your target audiences at the 6 foot level that’s engaging enough to break through the noise. A majority of tech companies said customer experience and becoming experience-led was their first priority. In a CX white paper that we recently authored, we explain that a brand’s success is measured by how well it delivers on its promise at each interaction across the customer experience.
  • Brand architecture paves a runway to the future of your business: As the business scales and grows out of its original niche, brand architecture comes into the picture – is it future-proof enough to support the company’s foray into various tangent industries? Does it consider the unique needs of newer target audiences?
  • If your employees don’t believe, no one will: Internally, as the workforce increasingly values a company’s ethos and wants to align with their employer’s mission and vision, how do you codify what the company stands for to excite your employees? How do you stand out in the highly competitive talent marketplace?

Follow along as we take a deeper dive into each topic.

More Ideas