Brand Asset Management / BAM

Brand Asset Management / BAM, Brand identityLeave a Comment on What is a brand platform?

What is a brand platform?

Papirfly
4 minutes read

Tired of colleagues who don’t follow the brand guidelines and do their own thing? Or perhaps you’re always stressed because you’re lacking resources and enough hours to do your marketing responsibilities properly? The feeling of constantly being behind, missing important deadlines, is not pleasant and stress doesn’t tend to result in quality either.

It’s time to take control and become a marketing superstar! You need a brand platform.

Applying a consistent brand is hard

How do you distribute and enforce brand rules? PDF’s and emails or intranet? Do you know if your colleagues find it easy to find and use brand collateral or even understand your brand guidelines?

There are surprisingly many questions that come to the surface when we start looking at brand identity guidelines and how employees adopt them. In fact, 15% still lack guidelines and 31% indicate that their guidelines are followed selectively.

There’s not a single marketer who would disagree with the importance of brand consistency. But the journey of getting there is proven to be bumpy and lengthy, in the mentioned report it is found that the creation of off-brand content has only dropped 4% in two years, a staggering 77% still see off-brand content in circulation. In other words, we understand the importance of consistency, but we are incapable of achieving it.

A typical challenge related to off-brand content is the marketing team’s ability to deliver on demand. Ad hoc tasks and support requests tend to drain resources and it gets hard for the team to deliver as expected. Instead, colleagues do their own thing, off-brand of course… Another factor that’s related to off-brand creations is the usability and availability of the brand guidelines. Where can one locate the guidelines? How can one apply the rules to the actual assets being made? And where are the assets stored?

Also read: You know you need a brand management system when…

A brand platform unifies your brand

A brand platform digitizes your brand management. Driven by powerful CMS technology you’ll be able to create stunning online brand identity guidelines that perfectly matches your brand image. Like creating a website, you’ll collect and structure your brand guidelines as you see fit and create a logical online brand platform that your employees and stakeholders can easily use.

No more looking for the last PDF version of your guidelines. Just like your company website, your brand platform will have its own unique URL that every employee can access, 365 days a year.

With an online brand platform, managing and developing your brand is easy. Regardless of changes or updates, everything happens in real time. The risks of colleagues using outdated marketing collateral is eliminated and you can rest assured your brand looks the same everywhere.

Also read: Surely, you have a brand portal

A brand platform simplifies brand development

Just like brand consistency is important, so is growing and nurturing your brand. The market changes, consumers change and technology advances. A good example of this can be taken from the Covid pandemic. Many marketers learned then how important it was to swiftly adapt to changing consumer behaviour to stay in the game. Without proper technology at hand, the ability to adapt consequently has an impact on your branding initiatives and you risk falling behind your competitors.

A proper brand platform allows you to expand and grow your platform to quickly adapt to unexpected changes. Whether you need to update and inform, create and add new brand assets, or update templates, you can do it quickly and easily, without breaking with the guidelines. A proper system will also allow you do integrate with other necessary marketing tools such as video creators or banner creators to name a few. Simply put, a proper brand platform enables brand development on demand.

Also read: This is how Brand HUB streamlines your day

Benefits of a brand platform

Hopefully by now you’ve realized that investing in a brand platform should be your next step. But we know that you perhaps need to convince management or other colleagues that this is the way to go.

Also read: Why you need to invest in brand management

We advise you to do a thorough map up of your challenges and needs before you choose your desired system, in the meantime have the following benefits in mind as you complete your analysis.

  • Managing your brand strategy is straightforward:
    A brand platform brings your strategy to life, organizing your brand to secure quality and consistency across all channels.
  • Protecting your brand identity is easy:
    Protecting your most valuable asset is crucial, and with a brand platform this is a done deal. Everything is neatly stored and organized to simplify brand asset management.
  • Your brand becomes practical:
    When it comes to brand guidelines, the more user-friendly your brand is, the more likely it is that everyone will use your brand as intended. With a brand platform, you’ll link the rules and the actual brand assets together. Users don’t have to think; just act and your brand identity remains intact. This is brand asset management at its best.
  • Streamline your branding processes and operational efficiency:
    When time is of the essence and you are looking to avoid being a bottleneck and frustrate your colleagues, a brand platform saves your day. A proper platform enables self-service, allowing anyone to create their own marketing collateral, quickly and on-brand.

Also read: How to choose a branding system

Take the step and invest

To summarize, a brand platform enables seamless brand asset management, creating a home for your brand. This is the platform that allows you to focus on the big picture while resting assured that your brand looks the same everywhere. And remember, when you master your brand, your business will grow.

Want to dig into more details on how a brand platform can benefit your brand, download our free whitepaper

Because you’re getting tired of not having brand control. You’re exhausted from continuously trying to get colleagues to use correct brand assets and following your brand guidelines.

Sounds familiar? If managing a brand was a one-person job and there were limited selections for brand presentation, branding would be simple. But reality is the opposite. Not only does branding concern everyone in the company, but there is also a huge number of platforms and channels where your brand needs presentation. Unless you are The Flash, you can’t possibly manage your brand without having a brand asset management system in the 21st century.

What is brand asset management system?

Let’s keep this short and sweet as we have written about this topic in earlier blogs, and you can also find everything you need to know here. In short, a brand asset management system is the solution that connects your brand assets and your brand guidelines with the purpose of streamlining your brand processes. It differs from digital asset management because it puts your brand in context and makes your brand usable for everyone.

Continue reading “Why you need brand asset management”

Because you’re getting tired of not having brand control. You’re exhausted from continuously trying to get colleagues to use correct brand assets and following your brand guidelines.

Sounds familiar? If managing a brand was a one-person job and there were limited selections for brand presentation, branding would be simple. But reality is the opposite. Not only does branding concern everyone in the company, but there is also a huge number of platforms and channels where your brand needs presentation. Unless you are The Flash, you can’t possibly manage your brand without having a brand asset management system in the 21st century.

What is brand asset management system?

Let’s keep this short and sweet as we have written about this topic in earlier blogs, and you can also find everything you need to know here. In short, a brand asset management system is the solution that connects your brand assets and your brand guidelines with the purpose of streamlining your brand processes. It differs from digital asset management because it puts your brand in context and makes your brand usable for everyone.

Continue reading “Why you need brand asset management”

Brand Asset Management / BAM, Brand strategyLeave a Comment on What are brand assets?

What are brand assets?

Papirfly
3 minutes read

Brand assets are the visuals and elements that define a brand’s identity and create value for your company. As simple as that? Yes, but not quite. Brand assets can have a different meaning to different brands, this article will look at the diversity of brand assets and best practices related to how to protect them.

Digital asset or brand asset?


It’s easy to mix up the two. Digital assets are any digital file or document a company owns regardless of who created it or what purpose it serves. Brand assets however are directly related to the brand and marketing. Whereas a digital asset excludes nothing, a brand asset excludes everything but the brand.

And with that out of the way…

Physical brand assets establish brand recognition

Colors, typeface, logo, slogan, packaging, illustrations, patterns, icons, and more including the actual company name, are all elements that define the look of your brand. Designed to distinguish your brand from everyone else with the purpose of establishing successful brand recognition, creating a competitive advantage.

Examples of brands that have successfully achieved brand recognition with brand assets are Dunkin Donuts with their pink and orange letters, or McDonald’s yellow arch. These are perfect examples of how colors are powerful brand assets. For Adidas, it’s their distinctive shoe patterns, and let’s not forget the famous apple icon by Apple. These brands have spent years building their brand consistently, creating that unique identity that makes people instantly think of their brand when they see the physical brand elements, both in and out of context.

Non-physical brand assets establish emotional brand connections

There is more to a brand than what you can see and touch. How your brand is communicated through the voice of your employees is just as important as the physical parts of your brand. Every day, employees are in contact with external stakeholders, whether it is potential or existing customers, vendors or investors. How your employees represent your company and your brand shapes the stakeholder’s interactions and can mean the difference between a long-term relationship or a non-existing one.

Rules of engagement, code of conduct and social media rules are brand elements without a physical form, yet crucial for your brand identity. It is essential that how to communicate is controlled and established across your entire company to ensure unified and consistent brand building.

Also read: This is internal employee branding and how you get started

Brand assets create brand value

The purpose of brand assets is as stated earlier to define and create the uniqueness that puts you in front of your competitors and helps you become the preferred brand. Your brand’s value will be the reflection of how successful you are at establishing this competitive advantage.


Also read: How do you measure brand value?

Manage your brand assets

Knowing how important brand assets are to a brand, how you manage them can mean the difference between success or failure when it comes to establishing brand recognition

  • Make sure your assets are available: If you want colleagues to use the correct assets, you need to make sure they are easy to find. Establish a single location where everything is searchable.
  • Make sure your brand assets are understandable: Don’t expect everyone else to understand your brand like you do. Asking colleagues to read pages of information on how to use the brand before getting hold of the brand assets is not realistic. Instead, make your brand rules are bulletproof with the help of digital brand guidelines.
  • Make sure your assets are usable: It’s not uncommon that brand assets need adjustments before use. By transforming your assets into digital templates, you allow your colleagues to be self-sufficient. There is no need to involve a bunch of people and they can quickly get hold of the assets they need.

Curious to learn more about how you can manage your brand assets? Download our free whitepaper for more valuable insight

 

 

Brand Asset Management / BAM, Branding templatesLeave a Comment on How online layout design templates protect your brand identity

How online layout design templates protect your brand identity

Papirfly
3 minutes read

50% of companies say their customers expect great design and cross-channel consistency from their brand.

Staying consistent in every channel, on every platform, anywhere and anytime… Yikes! You can feel the stress, right? Unfortunately, the importance of proper and consistent branding is growing simultaneously with the evolving Martech stack. And if you don’t have the proper tools to manage your brand going forward, you’ll soon be in brand trouble.

So, how do you enforce brand consistency? There is no magic recipe as brand management is extensive and there is no single tool that can fix everything. However, if there is one tool you should take a closer look at, it is online layout design templates.

This marketing tool is a must-have for marketers and brands. It simplifies how you manage and protect your brand identity and it streamlines company operations. Let’s take a look.

3 reasons how online design templates protects your brand

Strong brands outperform weak brands by 20%. It’s safe to say that all brands are aiming for brand consistency and with online layout design templates at hand, this job becomes a whole lot easier:

You’ll have one source of truth
  • One of the biggest challenges with maintaining brand consistency is the issues with asset distribution and storage. With assets spread all over the place, it is difficult knowing what file is valid and which is not, and the risk of brand inconsistency is huge. By collecting all assets in one place, this challenge becomes redundant.
You’ll get brand control and brand development happens from one single place
  • Not only do you get to control your brand output with online templates, but you also get to keep your brand alive and keep it up to date matching current market needs. Whatever design update or additional format options, you can easily update your brand in real-time.

Staying brand relevant is easy

  • Market demands, and consumer behaviour is changing fast, and timing becomes a crucial factor for marketers and their brand. With online design templates you don’t have to worry that your brand will fall behind its competitors. Anyone can create brand assets in seconds without involving anyone else.

Also read: How to ensure brand consistency with digital design templates

How to get started with online design layout templates

Map up what brand assets are frequently used
  • There is probably no need to digitalize every brand asset your company has. Focus on assets that are repeatedly asked for and which need adjustments before use. E.g. posters, in-store promotions, menu’s, business cards, social media assets, ads and similar.
Map up what adjustments your colleagues ask for
  • You decide what can and can’t be changed, but you also need to make sure your template is matching the user’s need. Are they frequently asking for image changes, then you should allow images to be replaced or changed? Or how about the logo? Do you need to allow for different logo placements or even different logo colors? Regardless, with templates, you stay in complete control.
Digitalize your brand asset templates:
  • Transform your assets and make them available online. This tool allows anyone to create their own brand assets without risking brand disruption.
Make sure your brand asset templates are available
  • No tool alone secure usage. It’s crucial that everyone can access your templates 24/7. If not, it won’t take long before they give up and create something on their own.
Monitor usage and asset needs:
  • Your brand identity evolves, make sure your templates keep up with the development. But here’s the beauty with online templates, you can make changes and update your brand online, your colleagues will have access to the latest updates in real-time.

Also read: Just like that you’ll increase efficiency with template technology

What kind of brand assets can be digitalized?

In marketing there is more to brand assets than static images and documents. Although this blog mainly mentions assets based on Adobe Indesign you need to know that with the right tool at hand, you can also create templates for video marketing and banner advertising. With a full range template suite at hand, your marketing efforts will never be the same again. 

Grow your brand, grow your business

Branding and business growth are closely connected. Not only is proper brand building and the ability to secure consistency important for your brand awareness and company growth, but a solid brand identity also attracts potential investors. According to a study done by Reuters, 82% see brand strength as an important factor for investors.

In other words, proper brand building is mandatory if you want to attract customers and establish brand credibility that keep you market relevant for the long-run. And online layout design templates is one tool that will make this job a whole lot easier. 

Brand Asset Management / BAMLeave a Comment on Why a Brand Asset Management system is important to your business

Why a Brand Asset Management system is important to your business

Papirfly
4 minutes read

Continue reading “Why a Brand Asset Management system is important to your business”

Have you ever asked yourself what the most powerful corporations in the world have in common? Nike, Coca-Cola, Disney.. What are they doing to achieve success? The common denominator in these companies is that their success has been driven largely by the strength of their brands. 

Your brand is your most valuable asset – there is no question about it. The fact that you have reached this blog means that you probably agree. Taking care of the most valuable asset in your company requires hard work, and your brand in itself consists of several assets that you need to take care of if your brand is going to thrive. So, let’s start with the basics of why a brand asset management system, or BAM system, is important.

Also read: How do you measure your brand’s value?

Continue reading “Why a Brand Asset Management system is important to your business”

Have you ever asked yourself what the most powerful corporations in the world have in common? Nike, Coca-Cola, Disney.. What are they doing to achieve success? The common denominator in these companies is that their success has been driven largely by the strength of their brands. 

Your brand is your most valuable asset – there is no question about it. The fact that you have reached this blog means that you probably agree. Taking care of the most valuable asset in your company requires hard work, and your brand in itself consists of several assets that you need to take care of if your brand is going to thrive. So, let’s start with the basics of why a brand asset management system, or BAM system, is important.

Also read: How do you measure your brand’s value?

Continue reading “Why a Brand Asset Management system is important to your business”

Brand Asset Management / BAMLeave a Comment on What is Brand Asset Management?

What is Brand Asset Management?

Papirfly
4 minutes read

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Trending words are something marketers are used to. The Martech space is in constant movement and forces us to stay alert and pay attention. You don’t have to embrace all new trends, but at least you need to familiarize yourself with the trends and base your decision on know-how.

One word that perhaps you have heard but not paid attention to, is BAM or Brand Asset Management. Did your brush it off as a trend? Then get back in, this is not a trend, this is an essential tool all marketers should acknowledge.

This is Brand Asset Management (BAM)

A Brand Asset Management solution is the extension of Digital Asset Management, BAM starts where DAM ends. This is the solution that connects your brand identity guidelines and your brand assets, putting your brand in context.

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Trending words are something marketers are used to. The Martech space is in constant movement and forces us to stay alert and pay attention. You don’t have to embrace all new trends, but at least you need to familiarize yourself with the trends and base your decision on know-how.

One word that perhaps you have heard but not paid attention to, is BAM or Brand Asset Management. Did your brush it off as a trend? Then get back in, this is not a trend, this is an essential tool all marketers should acknowledge.

This is Brand Asset Management (BAM)

A Brand Asset Management solution is the extension of Digital Asset Management, BAM starts where DAM ends. This is the solution that connects your brand identity guidelines and your brand assets, putting your brand in context.

Continue reading “What is Brand Asset Management?”

Brand Asset Management / BAM, Brand managementLeave a Comment on How to choose a branding system

How to choose a branding system

Papirfly
4 minutes read

Continue reading “How to choose a branding system”

Making sure that your brand is always on-brand and target relevant is a challenge. As brand responsible you have probably experienced both brand disruption and the feeling of falling behind on your brand management numerous times. Who hasn’t?

Truth is, managing a brand requires time, resources and structure. Do you have enough of that during your workday? If the answer is no, keep on reading. We are here to tell you that there is a way to step up your brand management a notch – With a branding system. 

Continue reading “How to choose a branding system”

Making sure that your brand is always on-brand and target relevant is a challenge. As brand responsible you have probably experienced both brand disruption and the feeling of falling behind on your brand management numerous times. Who hasn’t?

Truth is, managing a brand requires time, resources and structure. Do you have enough of that during your workday? If the answer is no, keep on reading. We are here to tell you that there is a way to step up your brand management a notch – With a branding system. 

Continue reading “How to choose a branding system”