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Brand development in the digital space

Key factors in branding

Brands and branding are vitally important factors in the social and business spheres. A brand reflects the business outlook, stature and credibility and how it’s generally perceived by consumers and the market in general.

In order to remain relevant, maintain and increase consumer loyalty and trust, every business must invest every available resource in developing and sustaining valuable brand assets such as products, services, images, company ethos, etc. All this is what constitutes brand development.

Brand development refers to the tangible application and utilisation of tools and interventions in order to promote and enhance the unique traits of a particular brand. This involves finding suitable tools, researching and knowing what consumers want, evaluating the strength and weaknesses of the brand and checking how competitors have positioned themselves. There is also formulating the message and strategy and very importantly, finding the right platforms and avenues on which you can positively expose your brand, and exponentially increase your brand’s equity in consumer minds and the market in general.

Ultimately, brand development strategy is not just about reputation and visibility but must be strategically aligned to set business objectives.

What types of branding strategies should a business consider?

Company name branding – This refers to a brand development strategy which is anchored around an established and recognised company name.

Attitude branding – Attitude in brand development is about the general feeling and emotional connection that consumers have with a brand. Brands can rely on feelings and attitudes like street cool, conservatism, sports, etc.

Brand extension branding – Depending on the success of a particular brand development strategy, it’s common practice to apply the same brand development strategy on to a business or product which is generally known as a brand extension strategy.

Individual branding

For businesses with multi-products lines, you can opt to give each product its own brand name, colours, packaging, etc. This however needs to feed into the broader company business objectives.

Key elements of brand development

Brand feel and look – The look and feel of your brand can make or break a brand. Brand feel and look is about brand personality and making a strong first impression which sets the foundation for the brand. Brand feel and look can be enhanced in digital platforms through brochures, sell sheets, mailers, business cards, signs and displays, logos, websites, cleverly designed social media posts, apps and content.

Target audience – What is a brand without an audience? The audience is the demographic which is likely to engage or buy your products or services. The goal is therefore to identify the audience, attract them and sustainably retain their loyalty towards your brand.

Content – Content is king. Content not only enlightens the audiences but it amplifies the different aspects of the brand through digital platforms and marketing collateral. A business must therefore curate content which is relevant, compelling, engaging and suitable for social media and other relevant platforms.

Targeted advertising – Once the audience is established and content in place, you need to communicate your message with precision. Targeted advertising and marketing incorporate information-gathering tools and mechanisms which define brand messaging in order to connect with the right audience better. This must be accompanied by selecting the right platforms which are visited by your targeted audiences.

What is Hives value proposition in the brand development process?

Hive Digital Media is now a sought-after digital media solutions provider for small, medium and large-scale businesses seeking to initiate or establish brand development initiatives in the digital space. Hive’s value proposition is anchored around key brand development cornerstones which are:

Know your audience

Hive has invested in Carbon DMP which is a publisher-oriented DMP (Data Management Platform). Carbon’s role is to provide Hive Digital Media with credible, in-depth and high-quality 1st and 3rd party data. Hive relies on this DMP to collect data & deliver relevant, targeted campaigns for brand-specific audiences that can be charged to clients at a higher premium. DMP offers a unique centralised overview of audience engagement.

Precise targeting is driven through audience interest or location data to deliver primed mobile brand messages. The audience is also directed to written article content via social media, newsletters and display advertising.  This is achieved by offering social media boosted posts as part of an overall content campaign. This translates into content on a Hyperlocal website reaching the right audiences on 3rd party platforms like Facebook, Twitter, etc. The benefit of this is that a brand is able to drive higher traffic and interested audiences.

Create your resources

Hive curates and publishes high-quality content on 59 hyperlocal community newspapers + social network pages in diverse communities dotted around the country.

By combining creativity with reliable, research-driven insights into consumer behaviour, Hive creates textual, visual and video content that captivates readers and keeps them on digital pages, engaging with your brand.70% of LNN audiences engage with content on this network through mobile. Precise targeting can be driven through audience interest or location data to deliver primed mobile brand messages where it matters.

Brands are also granted the opportunity to have their own content hubs developed for them with content provided by Hive. Content hubs showcase the breadth, scope and capability of what a brand has to offer in a centralised destination.  Hive also offers brands a dedicated catalogue advertising platform called Guzzle. Guzzle has healthy audience numbers with over 700 000 users a month planning their shopping using this platform, browsing over 11.4 million catalogue pages.

Manage your brand growth

Hive’s value proposition in the brand development process doesn’t just end with providing you with tools and resources. Hive is interested in assisting you by managing your brand growth. This is done through monitoring brand campaign initiatives and providing in-depth reports which highlight diverse brand development insights. These insights touch on audience interests, demographics engaging with the brand and possibly how the brand is being perceived in the business market.

From the above, it’s clear to see that brand development in the digital space is a process which requires planning and relevant skills in order to be successful.

For brand development products and expertise, Hive can be contacted on [email protected] .

Patrick Mumbi

DATE: Oct 15, 2021
AUTHOR: Patrick Mumbi
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