Traditional marketing is persistent and off-putting. To improvise, savvy marketers have devised an approach that informs and entertains- branded content.

Storytelling anchors marketing campaigns, strategically influencing a behavioral change.

This theory has been the magnum opus behind using stories at the heart of marketing communications. From traditional playbooks to the latest drivers, its innate ability to influence behavior continues to help marketers attract and engage their target audience.

Beyond aggressive marketing and incessant selling tactics, storytelling puts consumer pain points into context, making it digestible and relatable. And there’s minimal space to counterargue when your business’s success stories or value proposition is delivered through stories.

Because consumers don’t see a narrative in segments but as a whole- they want minimal distractions and immersive experiences.

This underlines why modern marketers have actively gravitated towards branded content.

Branded content makes up the majority of where marketing is headed. To illustrate this, we have some of the best branded content examples in our pockets.

But before diving into it, let’s start with outlining the basics.

Branded Content: What It’s Not

Traditional advertisements haven’t been successful in moving the needle anymore. With increasing ad saturation, consumers have adapted by tuning out unnecessary ads.

This isn’t the case with branded content, given how it takes a more nuanced approach to marketing.

So, the commercials, pop-up ads, and clickable banner ads you observe on diverse platforms aren’t branded content. The fundamental differentiator: this content isn’t focused on products and services.

Then, what is Branded Content?

To ensure the impact is tenfold, marketers have added an edge to their storytelling techniques – the use of branded content. Branded content is content pieces created in partnership with advertisers or publishers to highlight an organization’s mission and values.

It’s used to deliver ideas that help establish a strong connection with the audience. As stated before, it’s not supposed to sell a product or service but to enable them to think and inspire empathetic emotions.  

It doesn’t expose viewers to pushy sales content, encouraging them to buy so-and-so products.

Branded content is a very subtle way of elevating brand awareness, i.e., introducing who you are underneath the colored graphics and catchy taglines. This way, intrigued viewers are more likely to pay attention to the entire content and even interact with it.

So, what branded content does is:

• Spotlight that a company is more than its corporate entity
• Appeal to the consumers by connecting on an emotional level
• Facilitate conversation by weaving a narrative

Branded content is, in itself, really a narrative. It leverages Bandura’s social cognitive theory:

By seeing role models whether real or fictional perform a behavior with positive consequences, viewers are more likely to learn and engage in the behavior themselves.

And branded content uses realistic and relatable characters and plotlines.

Given that it’s curated in collaboration with celebrities, individual creators, and other professionals, Bandura’s theory functions in full force here. It triggers empathy and social learning, elevating the possibility that the viewer is willing to undertake an action.

Is Branded Content Effective?

When interacting with branded content, consumers receive something in return – value in the form of entertainment.

It’s the significant driver behind why branded content works effectively. Technology has caught a considerable portion of viewers’ attention- branded content leverages this vulnerability.

Too much of the produced content reeks of recycling. With the same messages published incessantly, there’s a dullness shrouding the marketing-scape.

And with saturation in tow, the stakes are higher than ever. How do businesses move their fatigued consumers?

Marketers are aware of the impact of stories on people, especially those that make us acknowledge our humanness. So, they leverage storytelling to their advantage.

Modern content marketing has realized that content doesn’t always need to veer in a single direction. Sometimes, it requires derailing – something that offers an immersive experience.

Branded content does just this.

It penetrates through the cacophony of this baseless noise and delivers uniqueness (not just promises). And spotlights your brand as it is, seeking to transform the public perception of your company.

This content form can be developed in any format – from sponsored Instagram posts and social activations to YouTube videos and influencer-driven campaigns.

In the long run, branded content is a strategic investment in your brand’s future. With a strong market reputation, your business is sure to build customer loyalty and generate high-quality leads.

Although branded content is fundamentally different from traditional advertising methodologies, it requires a strategy.

How else do you know where to begin creating your branded content?

As a solution, we offer you a framework. And branded content examples that fortify why some brands were successful while others weren’t.

A Strategic Framework for Creating Branded Content with Examples

Example 1: Tell a story and commit to it.

Weaving a story isn’t the first obstacle to creating branded content. It’s about converting it into a reality.

Buyers have outlined the real reason for their pivot towards self-directed buying– most businesses don’t live up to the promises they initially make. And their offerings are lackluster.

Telling a story isn’t enough anymore. What value does it deliver beyond entertainment? The branded content should spotlight your brand’s genuine beliefs. It must be built into the content you’re creating.

For example, if a tech company ascertains sustainable practices, what exactly are they doing to live up to the same? It shouldn’t be a charade to garner leads and be truthful.

Promises and values, when not reflected truly, can only end up harming your brand’s reputation.

So, the solution is to create branded content that illustrates the organization’s commitment to these values. Make it sensory and immersive. Or your stories ring hollow.

Consider, for example, Greta Gerwig’s Barbie. It created an enormous frenzy like never witnessed before. For most, it wasn’t merely a feature film.

The emotional resonance, messages empowering women, and high-profile partnerships relaunched a whole new generation of potential customers for the toy brand. One of the most commercially successful films in history, the film’s success spotlighted the brand’s core value.

And the brand’s worth rose to $720 million.

The branded content film redirected everyone’s attention to a brand often seen as too “girly” or “feminine.” And reiterated the global public perception. Now, Barbie is associated with owning your feminine side and being confident in who you are.

Barbie proves it.

Storytelling in your branded content isn’t just a “what we can offer you” narrative. The story here does not equate a sales pitch but delivers a powerful message. Instead, it should entertain, educate, and instill curiosity, ensuring your brand stays at the top of the mind.

This is why Barbie’s (the film) marketing campaign affected the toy brand to such an extent. By working as an asset of its own, the movie significantly reshaped the perception of dolls and the color pink.

Barbie (the toy brand) came to resonate with its own story and embody the message of women’s empowerment, owing to the movie’s virality.

Example 2: Build characters that personify your brand.

The relationship between businesses and consumers has drastically shifted. Buyers want interpersonal relationships with brands that demonstrate how much they really matter. This has changed the entire face of customer relationships.

Consumers need brands they can relate to and build an emotional connection with, i.e., something they identify with. Most of this relatability factor is regarding the characters in your branded content – the role models Bandura’s been emphasizing.

Marketing has realized the need to deliver relevant content. This applies to every content type, even branded content. When buyers see people who are just like them, real and mundane, they create a stronger bond.

Your branded content, in short, should be a mirror through which consumers see themselves reflected truly. This means using real stories surrounding real people.

But there’s always a downside, so offer genuine content.

Most digital content is built on false stories and insincere reviews. And consumers have become adept at pinpointing. Given how far modern tech has advanced, it’s easy to gauge when businesses are biting off more than they can chew. And this only topples your brand reputation, scattering away any potential customers.

Remember Burger King’s Women’s Day tweet?

Burger King was attempting to capitalize on one of the most celebrated holidays – Mother’s Day. But in a very short period, the company’s expectations took an unexpected turn.

666k likes as opposed to 171k quote tweets: A Twitter novice will tell you that while this highlights engagement, it has proved detrimental to the food chain. The users quoted-tweeted it, didn’t realize the post was clickbait. The team responsible couldn’t nail its execution.

And that’s where the disconnect was.

The image on the right highlights Burger King’s actual intentions behind the tweet. The food chain’s tweet was to raise awareness regarding the lack of gender diversity in the restaurant industry, promoting a scholarship program for female employees.

However, only their initial message stood out, causing widespread backlash for Burger King. This was because it was posted on International Women’s Day – a day to celebrate women.  The strategy was cheeky but highly insensitive as a standalone tweet, leading to its virality for all the negative reasons.

And the result? Burger King apologized and deleted the original tweet.

Example 3: Inspire the right emotions.

BK hit a nerve, but not in the way branded content is supposed to.

There’s one takeaway from this incident: audience connections can only be built through shared vision and values, not sales objectives. Your branded efforts should be perceived as worthy of attention and trust – quite distinct from what digital ads seek to do.

So, branded content must balance between offering informational and entertainment value. Only then can it help establish your brand’s thought leadership and market perception.

But all of this can be executed effectively once you understand who your target audience is:

• What do they care about: values, beliefs, and ideals
• Audience preferences and interests
• What entertains them
• What is their preferred channel and content types
• Which role models do they identify with?

Take, for example, HP’s Generation Impact, one of the best examples of branded content.

Source: YouTube

It targets the tech giant’s audience base of tech enthusiasts, young professionals, and students. Each video content or episode highlighted how young innovators leverage tech to create an impact, also learning to make the world a better place.

Every episode follows a single theme of “Their brilliance will change the world,” i.e., how young minds have used technology to reshape their community.

In their content, none of their products are highlighted or focused on. The creators had only one objective: to illustrate technology’s positive impact on the world. And HP has carried this out through robust storytelling techniques. It has developed a single theme across all its branded video content in this series – young minds’ innovative solutions to global challenges.

This aligns with HP’s broader mission to elevate sustainability and also their brand value – “to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.”

The strategy is quite impactful. And proved quite adept at creating ripples across their audiences, mainly comprised of young professionals, students, and tech enthusiasts.

At large, HP’s branded content was quite exemplary. Not only did it acknowledge the fundamental issues entrenched in the minute crevices of society, such as poverty and inequality. But it also highlights HP’s commitment to environmental responsibility, reinforcing its vision.

This branded content resonates with their demographics and is authentic.

It spotlights how committed HP is toward sustainable principles and the extent to which it’s intertwined in its products. For example, the Pavilion Laptop, which uses ocean-bound plastic, and the Smart Tank, made from recycled plastic.

Example 4: Establish meaningful collaborations.

There’s one aspect to highlight in this discussion – branded content has a core message. It might not always be the same, but it continues to align with a company’s values. Imagine it as an overarching umbrella that allows you to take leaps creatively.

This creative prowess is only amplified through the correct collaboration. It spans multiple platforms and offers an immersive experience, elevating visibility across numerous touchpoints.

As in the case of HP’s partnership with Ocean Impact Organization, the HP Generation Impact Incubator.

At the heart of this collaboration, we circle back to HP’s mission statement: “to create technology that makes life better for everyone, everywhere.” HP is committed to environmental responsibility. And most of their branded content embodies this.

HP and OIO partnered up to find the next young Australian innovator. Each year, they announce the grand prize winner and runners-up for innovative solutions that can help transform ocean health.

The tech giant’s collaboration with OIO is not merely a marketing charade. It’s centered around empowering young innovators to demonstrate authenticity, value, and innovation – components that every branded content must embody.

And just like HP, several brands have gotten branded content right. It’s time to glance at some of the noteworthy examples.

Example 5: Take a stand.

Branded content is all about creativity. And it’s vital to deliver a unique narrative that takes a stand. How else do you outline what your brand has to offer differently?

Without a distinct perspective, your branded content could end up blending with the repetitive marketing clamor.

So, take a stand on a subject you wish to cover. Every marketing piece addresses a common pain point, but you need a compelling angle – one that earns your audience’s attention.

This, in turn, helps elevate you as a subject matter expert and establishes your credibility. A general perspective is commonplace, but a fresher viewpoint highlights the knowledge you hold.

And Lenovo’s Late Night IT is a brilliant example of this.

Thought leadership around technology is often jargon-heavy and complicated to grasp. From blockchain and data management to cybersecurity and IT – subjects remain the same.

The approach is the real differentiator. And that’s what Lenovo leveraged in its branded content. It covered similar topics to its competitors, but the ‘how’ differed.

Lenovo created a comedy news series titled ‘Lenovo Late Night IT.’ Available on CIO.com and YouTube, this program stood out owing to its unfiltered host and guests. This attributed an entertaining spin to tech discussions, making it more relatable for tech decision-makers.

This series offered a fresh take on technology and how tech brands operate. The conversations were brutally honest and authentic.

The episode “Mental Health: Generation Burnt-the-F-Out” spotlights mental health in the workplace. Here, the host and guests tune in to a genuine discussion on what tech brands are doing to help their employees tackle mental health.

A single question delivered the final blow, a reality curtained by humor: “Is wellness woven into your digital transformation strategy? Or did you deploy a self-help app and call it a day?”

Branded Content: Ideas that Drive Action.

These examples of what worked and what didn’t are to direct your brand in the right direction and inspire new ideas. But this isn’t all we hope to incite.

Branded content isn’t a piece put together to incite your targeted audience. They are stories told through illustrative media that are supposed to deliver the right message.

Whether branded video content or an Instagram collaboration, it’s more than a traditional marketing gimmick. Branded content, although entertaining, is also a versatile medium to showcase brand values.

And it embodies a single marketing motto – practice what you preach.

In the race to boost sales revenue, businesses have forgotten their mission of change. And that’s why their promises end up vacant. They have messages diluted across multiple channels, but the impact isn’t evident at all.

Where are they missing the mark?

Not converting their words into actions. Not sticking to their promises. Barely skimming through customers. Branded content becomes an effortless way of building content that delivers meaning. And peels the facade to reveal the layer that drives businesses – audience connections.

Brand identities remain timeless. But organizations keep on turning a blind eye to their importance. They shouldn’t.

One word bounces around a lot in boardroom meetings, interactions with buyers and vendors, and internal communications.

Brand.

The reverence the word holds is immense. And why wouldn’t it be? Brands are giving people a sense of belonging, appeasing our tribal nature in all the right ways.

That’s why every great leader speaks of their brand with reverence, love, and care. They have to! Because that’s what people are buying for— they are buying from the brand. The saturated marketing is full of similar products, and the only thing standing between the buyer and the vendor is the perception.

The brand image, so to speak of. And brand images are formed only through an identity deeply rooted in the organizational mission.

As time passes and our computing powers evolve to create content with autonomy, this brand identity will become crucial to survive. Without it, companies will find themselves adrift, competition racing ahead of them.

But what can organizations do about it?

There are many options, and the short one, the tl;dr, is to embrace your process, your mission.

That is your identity.

Your brand.

However, for those who want the long answer. There are two vital ones that we’ve been able to find.

Before diving into the meaty parts of the discussion— let’s reintroduce the concept.

The identity of a brand is what it does.

What is brand identity?

Generally, brand identity is the visual and contextual cues your brand represents. However, brand identity is not limited to such a definition— this is just one side of it. Brand identity, as a more inclusive definition, should mean:

1. The unique activities a brand performs are its identity
2. The experience they deliver to their users
3. The mission they embody
4. How well they embody that mission
5. The impact of the actions of the user
6. Perception of the user

Many think that brand image and brand identity are two distinct concepts; they are not. The perception of the audience— is brand image, which is an intrinsic part of the identity.

Brands are never disconnected from what they do.

Average brands fail at this.

There is a reason so many organizations lose face value with their customers— they lack this authenticity. They show something they are not, and their buyers quickly grasp this fact.

Their identity isn’t forged in their mission. Fortunately, the modern buyer is more aware than ever. And they are actively looking for markers that foster trust. Their brand interactions, especially during consideration, are done with a fine pick comb.

Any sign of distrust will thrust brands to the bottom of the barrel.

First in, last out.

Brand identity is forged in the heart of the organization.

The question is, what can you do about it? A lot of organizations usually peddle inauthenticity— they simply cannot walk their talk because, well, they aren’t doing what they are saying.

It’s disingenuous. However, brands with strong identities may fail, and an inauthentic brand may not. That is the truth.

Yet, brands that drive revenue through inauthentic means begin failing sooner or later. And if the buyers decide enough is enough, the business will run dry. That’s why so many organizations pivot. They have lost the battle with the buyer and need to save face.

Time and again, brands with a powerful identity and reputation manage to survive even the harshest of critics— it’s because they align with their goal and deliver on it, even if sometimes the process might be messy.

The question is: Can you replicate it?

Possibly not. The answer to this is easy. Every brand has to discover itself through an arduous and creative process.

While no one can walk your hand through crafting your brand identity, there are frameworks you can use. Here’s one:

1. Why was the organization founded, and what is the vision driving it?
2. What roles do your employees play in your organization?
3. What do you do to make sure the vision is realized?
4. Deeply understand what you’re offering the buyer.
5. Why are you offering it?
6. What’s your opinion on the industry you’re serving— essentially, what are the holes you have noticed?
7. What are you doing to fill these gaps?
8. How are you doing it?

Reflection of such kind will help you gain clarity. As Ciente has echoed many times, strategy is about performing unique activities. And these unique activities are the ones that give identity and meaning to your brand.

It gives a non-living thing the properties of personality and charm.

The two answers and the importance of brand identity.

There is a lot of data that answers why brand identities are so vital. But there are two pieces of literature that we must draw our attention to.

The first is HubSpot’s 2024 Sales Trends Report, and the other is Barry Schwartz’s Paradox of Choice.

While they may seem disconnected, they discuss consumption and the role of choice in these habits. The report outlines what B2B marketers have known for a while— 96% of B2B prospects do their own research before speaking to SDRs.

They advise that organizations form a consultant-consultee relationship with their prospects by educating and delighting their buyers. Essentially, brands will have to add value to buyers’ lives.

But will they trust any brand?

No. And that’s why brand identities are important.

They will trust the brand they feel familiar with and the one that has made them feel heard. Without this identity, organizations won’t be able to gain buyer mindshare.

HubSpot suggests adding more choice in the mix, giving power to the buyer— letting them self-buy and serve. However, a severe problem arises here: 60% of software buyers experience regret.

Why is that? It’s the paradox of choice— faced with many choices, people experience fatigue and enter analysis paralysis. And to escape from the discomfort, make choices that might not be aligned with the overall goal.

The paradox of choice outlines that facing an overwhelming number of options can lead to decision paralysis, increased effort, and dissatisfaction.

It’s a logical fallacy.

And here, in this messy fallacy, lies the ability of brands to survive by crafting an identity that helps buyers break away from this paralysis.

So, what can brands do here?

Their identity, the core, must speak to their intended buyer. But you may think that it might limit your impact. Not at all.

When you speak to one group of people or speak their language, you start creating value that is timeless. And people favor such timeless wisdom— they enjoy knowledge that helps them tackle multiple scenarios at once.

The importance of brand identity isn’t limited to knowledge. It’s also about reducing choice by giving people a sense of belonging and security.

In the always-on world, brand identity is a survival metric.

If you provide multiple options to the buyer, their fatigue will guide them towards a brand they know. However, some brands don’t get it.

They do everything yet forget to form an actual personality. Dull and uninspired messaging will not work. Look at AI and its replication quality and speed— nothing can match it.

But AI systems will not replace personality, charm, and voice— things that require originality.

Understand that your brand identity stands between you and the loss of your business. Explore Salestech.

It’s the driver of economic certainty.

Building robust brand reputation takes time. And even a miniscule mistake could prove costly. How can brands proactively manage this?.

The modern buyer is self-aware. With digital resources and channels at the doorstep, they can leverage research, instigating a shift in their buying patterns. It has led to heightened demand and dynamic expectations.

And what happens when these expectations are not met? Criticism, scrutiny, and endless social debate.

In this digital-first era where social media is at the forefront of every public opinion – shared and discussed, brands take consumer opinions quite seriously. This prolonged noise seems unmanageable, especially when customers often want businesses to respond to their pain points straightaway.

And digital transformations have accentuated these concerns.

From social proofs to online reviews, consumer opinions deeply impact a company’s market positioning. Tech innovations have also put them under a microscope. Now, it’s easy to detect, augment, and scrutinize any error – when they deter from an ethical pathway the audience has already framed.

These could range from tiny slip-ups to data breaches to poor consumer reviews. Any divergence significantly affects their brand reputation, leading to a loss of market share and their status. The brand should be a priority – the value it entails and the relationships forged.

With digital innovations accessible in a blink, businesses are rethinking and regrouping. With modern challenges in tow, they are developing unique solutions and strategies to address and counter them. If tech can work against them, it can also benefit them.

Because market value isn’t merely about the numbers, most of it is dependent on brand equity and other immeasurable metrics. These incite holes in form of weaknesses across the brand, making them susceptible to reputational damages, which may directly impact sales and customers.

What Should Remain the Priority: Risk Mitigation or Crisis Management?

“Too often, we’re tempted to address the symptoms of a problem rather than the root causes or conditions,” asserts the Managing Director of Achievers Workforce Institute.

In line with how companies can mitigate reputational risks, the Forbes Council voices a similar opinion. They agree that brands should frame a proactive approach to safeguard their reputation instead of waiting for the problems to fester.

Precaution before cure has been a motto that has worked effectively in every road of life. It similarly applies to the business landscape.

This is where risk management and crisis management differ from each other. Addressing brand reputation risks is crucial before any sort of crisis management. It requires a reactive approach.

Why?

When a brand has a positive reputation, the perception is that they’re providing more value to their audiences. These organizations entail loyal customers who access a broad range of services from them or apply for premium. It proves how tangled customer experience and brand reputation are with each other.

Is Brand Reputation All About the External Image?

Here, we highlight another facet of this discussion – brand reputation is relative and subjective.

For example, an expert opinion of a business might differ from the audience’s.

However, at the end of the road, there are similar goals – invite trustworthy partnerships, successfully launch products into the market, and safeguard against competitors.

But doesn’t understanding reputational risk involve defining “brand reputation” beforehand? Brand reputation focuses on the value – of what people perceive externally to build an internal (trusted) relationship with the business.

An old article by HBR implies that reputation is all about perception. But to what extent is it true? Generally understood as a socially constructed notion, the magnitude of the hit isn’t driven by a speculative allegation but depends on its credibility. A brand reputation might take years to construe, but a tiny hiccup or obstacle to disrupt – it encompasses the value expression.

A business can capitalize on this – attracting investors and boosting clients amidst other factors interlinked to its growth and success.

In a research paper titled – “Corporate Reputation: Being Good and Looking Good” (2019), the author questions – is reputation about having a positive image or doing good (ethically)? The modern challenge identifies a cross-connection between both these aspects. It’s the same angle that the HBR article provides on reputational risks – identification of the gap between the perceived image and the reality.

This could introduce a wide rupture in the public perception and the actual standing of the business.

The consequences?

Negative marketing could lead to a dip in sales and challenges in customer retention, damaging the overall reputation. This is why business leaders should draw on creating value through strategic reputation risk management.

How to Effectively Implement Reputation Crisis Management Strategies?

Reputation management evaluates how the market perceives a business and then seeks to execute strategies that ensure a positive image. For a long-term and noticeable effect, reputation management should be integrated and adapted to align with the business-wide processes. Here, stakeholders’ perspective goes a long way.

Building back a positive and streamlined reputation – whether an internal or external overview – requires management insight. This ensures that the beliefs and long-term requisites align with stakeholder expectations.

Moreover, a proper reputation management strategy should be followed by significant performance indicators, illustrating which factors affect a brand’s reputation. Only then can an organization continue to build a roadmap.

However, this isn’t all. Reputation management is a consistent process that requires dedication. For robust reputation crisis management planning, the following take the front wheel:

1. A thought-out code of conduct

What if a stakeholder, an employee, or a partner instigates a reputational crisis? What is the primary approach to managing such a crisis? To handle conflicts, an organization has to be aware of the model behavior – the conduct and ethics everyone who’s part of the organization should follow.

In 2019, following the #MeToo movement, organizations decided to hold CEOs accountable, ramping up ethical standards at the C-level. This was on the basis of professional and personal conduct and led to over 120 CEOs resigning and 580 of them stepping down.

When specific stakeholders are directly tied to a brand’s identity, this could hit the brand’s reputation and create a crisis in their market perception.

However, a well-planned and meticulous code of conduct helps establish what is and isn’t acceptable in a professional setting. And when these rules are not followed appropriately, corrective measures should be placed.

When well-designed code of conduct highlights core values and purpose – it’s much easier to map a smooth pathway in handling a crisis. The organization then entails an offensive solution when a stakeholder or employee gives root to a crisis such as the one mentioned above.

The brand’s code of conduct holds them accountable and establishes their awareness regarding how one should behave. It also includes evaluating employee sentiments along specific ethical indicators such as accountability, trust, and decision-making. It has to be an inclusive process where the attributes resonate with diverse stakeholder groups.

Thus, to influence the ideal behavior in the organization, these standard codes have to be woven within the organization’s culture and mission. This way, it extends across departments and hierarchies.

2. The philosophy behind the brand’s vision and mission

It’s true that a brand doesn’t receive a bad reputation overnight. There are specific mistakes leading to such a displacement in brand positioning and loss of market trust.

Here, the primary thought is questioning where the business stands and what the values it stands for. If there are any hiccups between what the audience expects and brand values, rebranding could be a potential next step.

If a business loses its direction toward engaging its audience, it could be time to reassess its mission statements and values. It is specifically fruitful in aligning with where the company hopes to be and its overall strategic framework.

The current channels and partner websites on which your brand is present should reflect the edited messages, descriptions, trademarks, guidelines, and logos.

3. Periodic audits

Periodic audits investigate what the market is saying across variable platforms – social media, review websites, user reviews, and Google searches, amongst others.

These require extensive research, offering a different perspective on where your team is lacking in its crisis management strategies. The point is – people are already talking, so you need to know where.

The in-depth research will help assess the extent of damage done – what exactly happened, the subsequent backlash, and how it affected the company. It’s important to continue tracking the scenario – whether the backlash is increasing, moderate, or decreasing.

Doing so will highlight the areas of the crises which require primary attention.

4. The following steps are monitoring, reacting, and improving the reputation.

Once you’ve mapped the conversation around the brand, it’s time to take some measures. What if the reviews and comments are negative or moderate? The next step is to think over strategies to improve them.

You have to turn the tide. But how?

Study the market trends and customer experiences. Both these factors are revealed through the conducted audits. Create a consistent management strategy around this:

1. Who will oversee/monitor the implementation and evaluation of these strategies?

A brand reputation manager or a new group of employees? Building a team leveraging employees who indulge in customer-facing activities could contribute toward effective communication.

They’re already talking to customers, so they are aware of the tone and messaging they should use.

However, businesses must acknowledge that those on top are sometimes the only ones with the resources to preside over reputation crisis management. The communication isn’t merely with the customers but also with the stakeholders who decide whether a risk should be managed or avoided.

Additionally, there should be a brand reputation manager, i.e., the point of contact, who will help bridge the gap with the decision-makers and improve coordination.

2. Do the reviews or comments deserve responses?

Legitimate and genuine feedback, whether positive or negative, that transcends trolling should be responded to. Arguing with trolls online may backfire and damage the reputation further. However, addressing real concerns and providing them with solutions could improve the derailing opinions.

It could additionally prove that, as a business, you care about the well-being and time of your clients.

3. Establish readiness, even for favorable audits

Even if the audit reports demonstrate consistency in maintaining a positive brand reputation, a business should be ever-ready. Crisis could easily be deviated by undertaking efficient precautions.

Because once it occurs, there should be a previously thought-out plan on handling it.

Planning for emergencies will also help develop the ideal response.

Execution of brand crisis management requires a reactive and all-inclusive approach.

The rupture between the reality of a brand and its reputation should materialize into a positive public perception instead of deteriorating. Media in the age of information overload plays a modular role in shaping the market’s perception.

This is why there should always be a communication and a trust-building strategy set in stone. Companies also undertake PR managers to build robust plans to manage media images.

But image and reputation aren’t the same. Reputation is built on a long-term collective opinion, once destroyed, takes decades to reinstate.

This is why a reactive approach to crisis management is the key – an actionable route to assuring audiences of the guidelines the brand values.

Modulating the strategies according to the source of the crisis can be a vital step in reputation crisis management. If it was due to data breaches, execute new cyber policies; if it was due to employee/stakeholder misconduct, develop a standard model for the ideal behavior.

And, there is one aspect threading them all into ball of yarn – strong communication. Technology has increased the stakes for everyone involved. When someone has a negative experience, the news travels faster across social platforms. This works reversibly as well – in case of a positive brand reputation.

Building a strong brand image helps you accelerate your sales pipeline. But how do you set the right KPIs to measure growth?

For a brand that wants to scale, it makes sense to invest time and resources toward your market presence. Having your brand appeal to a wide audience may seem tough to begin with. However, studies highlight that 81% of buyers will purchase from a brand they trust.  Brands can leverage tracking to gauge how well the brand performs among the target audience.

It keeps your brand’s health in check, helping you understand how your customers perceive your business and their patterns of purchasing your offerings. A solid brand tracking shows you what has worked well and what requires improvement. Popular brands have established a strong brand identity by fostering awareness and more loyal customers. 77% of marketing leaders believe branding promotes sustained growth. To become a strong brand, you must understand how this powerful tool can be leveraged in your favor.

Why consider tracking your brand?

Effective brand tracking allows you to identify factors that positively impact your sales cycle. Using the data derived, you can predict the potential threats and opportunities. Optimizing your overall marketing strategy is another key highlight of brand tracking.

It is equally useful whether you are starting up or have successfully established your brand voice. Brand tracking helps you gather customer-centric data, including their feedback. Such details give you a better idea of what your target audience thinks of your brand and its products/services, how they benefitted, and what challenges (if any) need attention.

You can also benefit from this approach by testing strategies, watching out for competitors and what they are up to, and performing a comparative analysis. These enable you to determine your strengths and uncover new opportunities. When you continuously track your brand, it allows you to assess its performance over some time. The good thing about real-time tracking is the scope to flag issues before they become a problem.

With the booming tech landscape, customer engagement with your brand can happen across various channels. When you integrate the right brand tracking tools, you can assimilate data with KPIs relevant to brand awareness and preference among a target audience. The key significance of brand tracking is to identify trends and acquire data-driven insights that uncover potential threats and opportunities in the market.

Use cases of brand tracking

Let’s look at the top three use cases of brand tracking

Understanding your brand’s performance

You can utilize metrics to track shifts in customer perceptions and evaluate the ongoing trends that can impact your brand’s performance. This approach lets you tweak your marketing strategies to stay ahead of the competition.

Finding out your potential threats and opportunities

Brand tracking brings you closer to analyzing changes in customer preferences and awareness. You will tap into the competitive brands that can impact your performance and growth. Once you have these details in place, you can proactively address the roadblocks, make the most of the new opportunities, and protect your brand reputation.

Optimizing your marketing efforts

Since brand tracking provides data-driven insights, it optimizes marketing strategy and allocates budgets accordingly. It makes the marketing activities behind brand growth clear. You can allocate your resources to the initiatives likely to create a large impact and move the audience.

The Metrics for Measuring Brand Tracking

Measuring your brand health with a tracking tool is a way to understand the commercial value of your brand while recording changes and optimizing your strategy. While doing so, you can decide on a timeline for tracking performance efficiency. If you are running a few ad campaigns, it’s a good idea to have more frequent analyses.

You need to measure your brand regularly. This will make it clear the metrics that work best for you over time, enabling you to identify the scope for improvement. However, if you’re launching new advertising campaigns more regularly than this, it’s a good idea to increase the frequency of metric analysis. This allows you to see how they’re contributing to your brand.

Brand awareness

It’s a perfect KPI to measure how many customers know your brand and its offerings. The brand awareness metric is also a reflection of your brand’s marketing efforts toward connecting with your audience. When you can foster awareness, it wins audience trust and ultimately, boosts the sales cycle.

Brand recall

This metric stems from the lasting impression of your brand among your target customers. When that happens, they can remember your brand when prompted or when they think about a specific pain point. With the help of brand recall, you can understand the depth of your brand positioning and the efficacy with which the brand message is retained in the audience. It promotes greater awareness and holds the potential to influence purchase decisions.

Brand consideration

The B2B landscape is highly competitive. Your customers will probably check several options before purchase decision. Keeping tabs on brand consideration will help you assess how potential customers perceive your brand. It also offers the benefit of crafting marketing strategies to increase the chance of being considered for purchase.

Brand preference

There are so many brands in the market and more than one could be offering similar solutions or products as your brand. Your target customers may be weighing these competitors as potential options. Brand preference offers clarity on the chance of them choosing your brand. It gives you an idea about the competitor’s position and your brand. Brand preference also sheds light on the factors that can influence customers’ purchase decisions.

Brand loyalty

To think of it, brand loyalty is the ultimate goal for every brand. If there is brand loyalty, customers are likely to keep choosing your solution or product. The brand loyalty metric gives you an idea of the probability of customers to continue purchasing from your brand. If it is strong, the chances of customers returning for purchase is quite high. This metric is perfect for eliminating doubts about whether a client is there for the long haul or only temporarily. Moreover, you can receive an estimate of the proportion of customers likely to purchase again from you.

Brand associations

As customers continue to choose your brand, they may form opinions and create a perception about what you stand for. The brand associate metric helps you see whether the brand image in the market aligns with how you want to portray it. However, the targets should be achievable, allowing you to measure what makes you unique. Ensure that your strong points are highlighted and if not, there is time to make that change. It’s all about conveying the uniqueness of your brand and letting the customers know your values. A way to execute this could be to measure associations through open-text feedback, which gives you an accurate picture of how your audience feels about the brand and what connects them. You can dive deep into the negative and positive associations and then work on having more positives.

Brand usage 

Your brand is out there and you have a fairly decent number of customers. But how do you calculate their dependency on your brand? This metric will give you a clear picture of how often customers buy your products or services. You can add questionnaires or surveys on your website or purchase page to track user frequency.

Best practices for brand tracking

Although brand tracking may seem like a complicated marketing activity, it is worth your time and effort. This step-by-step guide will help you develop a complete brand tracking report.

1. Define your goals

Setting clear objectives is the starting point for a smooth brand-tracking experience. Focus on improving your brand identity or calculating the ROI from a particular campaign. The idea is to utilize these goals as a roadmap for choosing the right metrics. Your KPI must align with the business objectives and help attain the desired results.

2. Select Your Brand Tracker

Once you have identified your objectives, the next step is to pick the methodology you’ll go by. You may supplement the brand tracking studies with questionnaires, interviews, and digital analytics to collect relevant data. Different KPIs will require different brand tracking tools, thereby providing relevant data. While making the selection, verify whether it supplies the information to calculate these metrics.

3. Collect and Analyze Data

Assessing your brand performance data is a key benefit of implementing tracking. Use the tools that align with your brand to process and download data. As you conduct the analysis, stay tuned to the trends and patterns you observe in the information. You may be surprised to stumble upon some valuable insights.

4. Monitor Continuously and Adapt

Tracking brand performance with metrics is futile if you miss adapting. You can easily accomplish this by setting up automated tools for collecting real-time data. It’s advisable to review these metrics and understand the emerging trends or shifts in customer behavior. The findings revealed in the data can serve as a guide for developing new strategies. But you must be willing to adjust your approach as and when needed.

5. Report Findings and Take Action

And we come to the final step of brand tracking— report what you learned and implement insights-driven actions. To make the most of this step, focus on creating clear, concise reports highlighting metrics and trends. Create a visually appealing report by adding elements, such as charts and graphs for a quick overview of complex data. These insights will drive your next strategic action plan. Don’t forget to measure the impact of these actions on your brand’s overall performance.

Summing up

Branding is all about making an impact on your target audience. This requires tracking how your brand is performing every now and then. Utilize the right metric for getting clarity on how popular your brand is and how often customers purchase. Such details are important to help you understand brand positioning. The insights gained from brand tracking will guide you to making data-driven decisions that optimize your marketing efforts and allocate your budgets more effectively. By understanding which marketing activities drive the most significant improvements in brand performance, you can focus your resources on the most impactful initiatives, ensuring the best possible return on investment.

Design and Branding are always constrained to visuals. These limitations hinder a brand from fully coming into its own. But what if you could go beyond?

Design is humanity’s greatest invention. Or rather a discovery. The language of design helps us understand, visualize, and create symbols that make sense.

Everything man-made that you see has been designed with the intention that someone might use it or find it exciting. The design makes something memorable. With this usage of abstract symbols and design choices, we are able to use and program commands in machines and create a brand.

Branding and design are linked together like a coin with two sides. They are an inescapable part of each other. The discourse online surrounding brands and design is about the fundamentals of branding design.

But who doesn’t know that? A good brand has a good design. And if you want to be memorable, create an aesthetic that visually appeals to your user.

Is this it? No. To design something entails far more, especially from a brand’s perspective. And while logos and color are a major part of it, it is not something that marketing leaders do not know about.

When it comes to your brand, you know how it should look and feel. If you know your customers, you know what typography, pictures, and logo should reflect their personality.

But what goes beyond these fundamentals? Understanding timeless design principles makes brands successful. It is communicating an idea to another almost instantaneously. And staying in their mind.

The design creates trust, recognition, and belonging.

Image Description/ Caption: Designed for Perfection

The Vitruvian Man is one of the most recognizable sketches on our planet. Its creator does not need to be named. That is branding and design.

Why is it so that some visual pieces evoke a memory in our heads? When you see an iPhone from the side or front, even without looking at the logo, you understand it is the iPhone.

It is association. Your brain puts thousands of pieces together to recognize the device in an instant. When speaking of branding and design that goes beyond logos and typographies, this is what is meant.

Brands that stay on top of your head communicate who they are through subtle cues. Trust us, aesthetics are part of it, but brand design should not be confused with its sub-part— Graphic Design.

Brand as a system

Within the school of system thinking, any object is broken down into parts, and the interconnected relationship of the parts makes it work as a whole.

Brands are the same. They are dynamic systems that constantly evolve and adapt to feedback. As with any system, the brand is made up of many moving parts. From customer experience and aesthetics to the product/service/personality your brand has formed around, branding design has to consider everything.

Brands are like a movie. The entire experience must be directed to create positive outcomes for the organization and tell a story worth being part of.

This is where branding and design come into view. It is a strategic and scientific approach to creating trust within the buyer and becoming a natural choice for whatever you’re selling. It involves educating, delighting, and retaining your audience.

Build meaningful interactions

In marketing, the interactions your customer has with your brand are known as touchpoints. And marketing teams describe the customer’s path to the bottom funnel as a journey. Yet, among the noise of marketing messages, these concepts have become redundant. Explore effective Email Marketing.

But they do matter if we look at it from a different perspective. Many online resources talk about frictionless touchpoint interactions or journeys. Yet, the reader is not left with an understanding of what the content is trying to say.

These pieces beat around the bush to tell you one thing: Build meaningful interactions.

Directing your customer’s journey is crucial for brand building, as it may. But how do you do this?

You must think like a designer. Because that is what the successful brands do. They design every touchpoint with awareness of what the customer should feel or act like.

Let’s illustrate this with an example exclusive to B2B.

The concept of self-buying

You must know that self-buying has become popular since the pandemic. As more business leaders began preferring the self-buy options, the industry had a wake-up call.

They needed to get on the self-buy train like their B2C counterparts. And they did. But what does the industry find?

B2B buyers felt more regret when they self-bought. Why do you think that is? One of the reasons is that they couldn’t understand what the product had to offer.

One of the drawbacks of self-buying is not having an SDR to talk to and ask crucial questions.

But there was one more caveat: Buyers preferred remote selling. I.e. after the pandemic, in-person sales were not the preferred option for them.

This is a design problem. And shows us customers themselves don’t completely understand what makes their experience good. The design anticipates the problems the buyer may face under possible conditions. And provides an intuitive solution for it.

The intuitive design solution is to understand that your SDRs are not just outreach agents but consultants to the buyer. And through tools like Zoom can interact with the buyer.

Any good brand designer understands through instinct the value of human-to-human interaction. That a loss of it might cause some obstacles. Buyers need meaningful interactions that affirm their values. And this happens through an SDR during the final stages of the purchase.

Companies that jumped on the trend without this thought process may have faced a lack of high-quality sales.

On the other hand, businesses with hybrid models with their sales teams working as consultants and helpers to ease buyer choice must have reported better deals.

And that is not mere conjecture. In the report we linked above, proves buyers were 1.8x more likely to complete high-quality deals when the model was a mix of self-buy and rep-assisted.

Let’s make branding and design into actionable principles.

Image Description/ Caption: Let Design guide you home

Designing Belonging

SEMRush is adored by a large community. And equally, some who adore Ahrefs.

Both companies are known to feud. They are SEO tools. SEMrush is supposed to be great for keywords and Ahrefs for backlinks. Teams fight over which one is better.

Countless blogs pit the two against each other for commercial purposes. Yet, the SEO community manages to stay passionate about both.

Why do these two brands evoke such appreciation? Because people feel a sense of belonging with them. Both brands have managed to capture their intended audience and hold their attention. Especially SEMrush.

But how do you create belonging through branding? The simple answer is to align with something. There is a debate in the community between keywords and backlinks. And maybe…just maybe. SEMRush and Ahrefs decided to support these polarizing communities by design.

This created a sense of belonging between the community and the brand. If a product is good and does what is needed, its brand can quickly create a passionate community.

And nothing exemplifies this like Notion

The community of Notion

Credit:https://www.reddit.com/r/Notion/comments/1bwo4tc/i_am_worried_about_notion_community/

Do you see the affection Notion gets from its users? Go and read the comments. They are passionate, to say the least.

Why does this platform have such an avid fan following that people wear Notion merch, and why does the San Francisco Standard say that people use it to run their lives?

If you are creative, you know Notion. For those who do not— it is a connected workspace for wikis, projects, and docs.

It’s an all-in-one tool for creation and management.

But if you ask any creative, the tool is more than that. It helps you make your ideas into reality. Notion works on the concept of customizable databases, and these databases can get as creative as you. Offering what seems to be endless possibilities. People even monetize their databases because they are effective.

Notion, coupled with marketing, high-quality content, and a tool that satiates the want for premium stationery items, creates a unified experience of satisfaction.

Notion is designed for people to want to ask more. All through intentional design.

Here is the co-founder’s interview. Through his words, we can understand that he and Ivan designed Notion by understanding the needs of the knowledge worker and creating a tool that lets them personalize through building blocks.

Revolutionary.

“Design means everything here. We’re a tool that solves people’s daily problems.” — Ivan Zhao

Look at Ivan’s comments – A tool that solved people’s daily problems. And they designed their brand to exemplify this.

From the community meet-ups to incorporating customer feedback and app integrations. Notion is everything a tool wants to be.

Notion has such a Zen way of organizing and creating programming, writing and designing, and whatever you want to use it for. That it hooks you in. And makes you passionate. Explore Programmatic advertising.

Do you want to create a second brain? Notion’s got you.

Let’s break down the design principles behind belonging: –

1. Understand what your product/service/personality stands for
2. Let the customer explore and find out what it can do by sprinkling in clues
3. Let them talk about it (Or create discussions around it)
4. Enable their thirst for knowledge.

Creating Trust and Recognition

Image Description/ Caption: Trust made tangible

In the Soviet Union, things were not branded till the 60s because of socialist rules. This created a huge problem. Quality was bad, and factories could not be held accountable.

After a fiasco involving rivets, ships, and sinking, the USSR realized branding and design were crucial.

Very crucial.

And so started the boom of state-owned design teams that made logos and had names of the manufacturing factories etched into their products.

Have you ever wondered why brands were ideated into existence? It is because of a need. The a need to distinguish between high-quality goods and trustworthy creators.

Great design plays the role of enforcing this idea. Look at McDonald’s. The undisputed king of fast food.

What do you think made McDonald’s so popular? Is it the Iconic logo? Is it McDonald’s the clown?

Of course. But let’s take a granular approach. They dominated because of design. The winner was their kitchens and the Speedee System created by the brothers Richard and Maurice McDonald.

It was revolutionary.

It was the lever of McDonald’s success and why Ray Kroc believed in the brand. Let’s take it a step further.

After World War II, drive-in competition in San Bernardino grew, and the McDonald brothers discovered something surprising about their barbecue restaurant: 80 percent of their sales came from hamburgers. “The more we hammered away at the barbecue business, the more hamburgers we sold,” said Richard McDonald, according to John F. Love’s book McDonald’s: Behind the Arches.

The brothers closed their doors for three months and overhauled their business as a self-service restaurant where customers placed their orders at the windows. They fired their 20 carhops and ditched their silverware and plates for paper wrappings and cups so that they no longer needed a dishwasher. According to Love, they simplified their menu to just nine items—hamburgers, cheeseburgers, three soft drink flavors in one 12-ounce size, milk, coffee, potato chips, and pie. — Source: https://www.history.com/news/how-mcdonalds-became-fast-food-giant

The McDonald brothers thought like pioneers. The success of their business was possible because their brain picked up on design choices— whether through instinct or training.

1. They realized burgers were selling more
2. And created a system to deliver it to the customer quickly and in their hand.

Can you see something here? The McDonald brothers created a lean start-up. A quick and agile entity. And their echoes are still heard 75 years later in 2024.

Let us talk about design principles: –

1. Identify your product or service offerings and analyze what is popular with your customers.
2. Is there an opportunity to enhance customer experience by becoming aware of what they want or need?
3. Is there bloat in your design? Something you can eliminate without affecting your main product. Even elevating its speed in some aspects.
4. Ask yourself: If this choice is so powerful, can a brand emerge through this, or can your brand become synonymous with that offer?

A brand that designs itself to provide value to its user and anticipates their needs will get the opportunity to associate itself with a concept.

Like Apple with design. Like Google with search. Like McDonald’s with Fast Food. And HubSpot with Marketing and Sales.

Design principles put you on par with the giants.

Bring it together for the user to feel, see, and touch.

Image Description/ Caption: Can you feel the heaviness in their backs?

Great design excites all the senses. You must have interacted with tools and software that seemed tangible. The software almost anticipates your responses and helps you grow. As it guides you through its challenges, you feel the joy of discovery.

SEMRush is such a tool. It knows what the user wants and, through design helps them grow their marketing skills. Another is Google.

Imagine the head of Google’s designers- they thought that search should be simple and made the software easy to use. You cannot touch Google but feel the experience through your keyboards.

Or look at the advent of AI. It is an intelligence designed to derive ideas and help us find new thought processes. Perplexity, Claude, and ChatGPT encourage exploration through simple UIs.

You talk. The AI responds.

Think about it. Such simplicity is born from the complexities of immense computational powers.

The question is: How can you do this with your tool and make it part of your brand’s identity?

Branding and Design as a reflection

Brands are a reflection of strategies, design choices, and the product (or services and personality) your team is selling.

Unique brands manage to bring out their traits through visual, industrial, and software design. Are they special? No. The only difference between good and bad design is not understanding user needs. And anticipating failure.

There’s no point in adding features that will not elevate the user or make their usage easier. In marketing, good design asks itself— will my base customer find value in this message? If not, how can it be?

Branding and Design is asking yourself the right questions.

And Ciente can help you.

Ciente.io produces high-quality content to help you strategize and provide an edge over the competition. Our in-house creatives and strategists provide the data and expertise to help you orchestrate buyer experiences.

Whether design, content, or maximizing your reach, we help leaders grow their businesses and achieve bottom-line growth.

“Your brand shouldn’t have to be a competing priority for your demand gen partner; it should be the only priority.”

With demand-gen marketers grappling with economic turmoil, it’s safe to say the challenges marketing faces this year look different. Your channel partners must be adept at branding (not just demand gen) to know your brand, how it speaks to its audience, and why they should remember it.

Dilution

Start with creating a plan, including all your channel partners, to ensure they don’t dilute the marketing you do. Remember, they’re doing it not just for your brand but also for other companies that encompass your competitors too. All customer journeys are not similar, and your brand needs a tailored approach.

For instance, at Ciente, we ensure that one team only works for a partner at a given time. A plan like this establishes the authenticity of the marketing plans for our clients.

Transparent Communication

Open, honest communication is key to a successful partnership. Create partner programs that help both teams to work on feedback with agility and pave the way for aligned goals and messaging.

No one can deny the significance of how crucial it is to get buy-in from stakeholders for channel partners. If your channel partner can help you translate this value for the internal ecosystem, it’d make it easier for you to score better investments in the future.

Shared Experiences

Your partner shouldn’t act as a vendor; but as an extension of your brand. Shared wins can help you and your channel partner form a real relationship, achieving success and innovation cost-effectively.

Like any partnership, mutual wins would help market to your customers with the combined power of two brands.

In the end

With limited budget, time, and resources, there’s only much you can do alone. Your channel partners should be as excited for your success as your team, helping you better sense how your product and technologies fit in the customer’s life.