Smart Branding Creates Certainty During Uncertain Times & Empowers Businesses to Be Nimble

By AIT News Desk On Apr 14, 2021

Mighty Fine Design Co. outlines the importance and benefits of strategic branding

If 2020 was the year of disruption, adaptation is absolutely paramount in 2021.

As millions of business owners around the world have learned in the past year, you have to be ready for anything. This collective moment of clarity has directly led to a significant surge in virtual communications, from holding meetings on video-streaming apps like Zoom to revamping websites, launching targeted email campaigns and beefing up social media content.

In this current business climate, smart, strategic branding is the key to helping companies adapt to our current world – both gracefully and effectively.

“There’s no better time for businesses to become nimble and transition to different platforms with ease,” said Frank Rodriguez, owner and creative director of Mighty Fine Design Co., an Ybor City-based creative ad agency that’s operated in Tampa for the past decade.

Once your brand assets and design systems are in place, new marketing can be developed quickly across various platforms.

While branding has become a somewhat ubiquitous term, many people don’t fully comprehend the process of building a brand from the ground up. When done correctly, branding is a considerable undertaking that involves a lot of thought, strategy, creativity and work in general.

On a basic level, a company’s brand is its reputation – the perception that its target audience has about its business, its values, and its products and/or services. Branding helps companies establish unique personalities and visual identities that enable them to differentiate themselves from competitors and connect with customers on an emotional level. You can set the tone at the start of the branding process. Is your brand more buttoned up or casual? Serious or playful, maybe both?

“Branding is empowering,” Rodriguez explained. “If you haven’t gone through the process, it’s sort of like a ‘secret weapon.’ Through sophisticated ad copy, powerful visuals and strong design ideas, branding can give you a competitive advantage and further legitimize what your company does.”

In order to achieve the benefits of branding, you must first establish what are known as “brand assets”: your company name, logo, color palette, typography, iconography, copywriting and messaging style, signage, photography and more. Since these assets are all crucial to the success of your brand, having them produced professionally is ideal.

“It may be a little pricey to get your branding in place on the front end, but it will actually save you money in the long term,” said Rodriguez. “You can leverage these high-quality brand assets across the board, from print and digital to social media and beyond.”

“We look at these design systems as a grand library full of assets that can be checked out at any time,” he added. “You’ll never have to wonder about where to begin.” This is crucial for businesses that need to transition their advertising or website development on the fly due to external disruptions beyond their control.

Consistency is key to the whole concept of branding. “You have to apply the quality standards of your brand to every facet of your business to achieve that desired consistency,” Rodriguez explained. “Your branding, your website, your copy – they should all have the look and feel of a national company.

“The design chain is only as strong as its weakest link.”