Ongoing Refinement And Optimization

By partnering with search colleagues, a new wealth of information can be gained.

Ongoing Refinement And Optimization
Often, branding, rebranding, and brand strategy are thought of as projects or undertakings that are done once and then done again years down the road – that they aren’t ongoing or continuous processes.

My friend, who owns a highly-regarded branding agency, noted that it is often about once a decade that a lot of companies in the niche industries he serves do a rebrand.

They view it as a one-time event rather than an ongoing strategy or thing to measure, refine, and optimize. That’s a very different approach from search marketing.

By leveraging the insights, partnerships, and opportunities that search marketing and other digital marketing channels offer, branding can become more ongoing and more effective.

Not in the sense of rebranding a company every year, month, or week, but in the sense of being able to make refinements and updates to make it as goal-oriented and effective as possible over time.

make it as goal-oriented and effective as possible over time.

Ability To See Implementation All The Way Through
This one is something I was a stickler about in the days that my agency was still doing branding.

It can be deflating, if not frustrating, to invest so much into a complete brand strategy over months and, ultimately, see it not be fully implemented or activated as intended.

In so many cases, the project ended, and even when my team was in charge of implementing the look and feel or messaging in certain places, it was handed off to others to carry forward.

We could find implementations that didn’t follow standards, missed assets, or content that broke the rules.

When search and brand work together, there’s an opportunity to ensure that, down to the keyword and display ad level, there’s a two-way street between search best practices and the brand strategy.

This is to make sure the implementation and activation of the unique aspects of how search is delivered to prospects and customers.

Bringing It All Together
While branding processes and teams might be far away from search tacticians, who are often at the bottom of the funnel driving conversions, and might not seem to have much in common, I contend there’s a big benefit to partnership.

Whether it is a connection to KPIs all the way through, access to data and research, ensuring full and proper implementation, or other factors I unpacked (and even more that I didn’t), in short, brands benefit overall.

We don’t get stuck in as many situations being considered a commodity. Sales teams can be teed up for success without competing on price. Brand affinity can start much sooner, enhancing lifetime value and customer loyalty, which impacts profitability and growth.