our startup branding journey - part 2: how to create brand consistency
TRANSCRIPT
Our startup branding journey
PART 2
How to create brand consistency?
Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat
Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat
We want to go from this
Hi! We are CustomerIcare Live Chat
We want to go from this
To that
So we’re sharing our branding journey with you!
Few days ago, we shared the 1st step of our journey
SEE SLIDEDECK SEE ARTICLE
To sum things up, here’s what we want to achieve:
BECOME MEMORABLE
STAND OUTTHINK LONG-TERM
CREATE CONSISTENCY
CONNECT WITH CLIENTS
CREATE CONSISTENCY
In this deck we’ll see how to
- Add consistency with brand design
- Pick a brand voice and tone
- Improve employee onboarding
- Build a great, consistent team
Our 4-step program to consistency:
- Add consistency with brand design
- Pick a brand voice and tone
- Improve employee onboarding
Our 4-step program to consistency:
- Build a great, consistent team
Use a color palette
That’s Zendesk color palette. Their branding rocks!
If, like me, you couldn’t match colors even if your life depended on it, here are 2 killer websites
COLOUR LOVERS COOLORS
Choose 2 main fonts to use across designs
Check this out for cool web fonts you can use all over your website and presentations:
GOOGLE FONTS!
Define a style for your images
Don’t freak out if you aren’t a design superstar. It’s ok! Just use a photo filter.
- Add consistency with brand design
- Pick a brand voice and tone
- Improve employee onboarding
Our 4-step program to consistency:
- Build a great, consistent team
First, what’s the difference between voice and tone?
1 Voice Multiple Tones
It’s your brand’s personality. !
Like you, your brand only has one personality (hopefully).
It’s what makes it unique and recognizable.
It’s the way you talk in different situations.
!You wouldn’t use the same
words talking to your grandma and talking to your friends?
How can you define your voice?
Use brand archetypes
Define your relationship
with customers
Think about brands you like
1 2 3
Use brand archetypes
1
Ask yourself these questions:
Use brand archetypes
1
Ask yourself these questions:
1) If your brand was a person, who would it be?
crazy party boy tech geek busy new-yorker
Use brand archetypes
1
Ask yourself these questions:
1) If your brand was a person, who would it be?
crazy party boy tech geek busy new-yorker
2) List 4-5 adjectives to describe your brand
fun cool safe knowledgeable classy
Use brand archetypes
1
Ask yourself these questions:
1) If your brand was a person, who would it be?
crazy party boy tech geek busy new-yorker
2) List 4-5 adjectives to describe your brand
fun cool safe knowledgeable classy
Read more about archetypes here
2Who do you want to be to your customers?
Define your relationship
with customers
a teacher
a friend
a mentor
a parent
a person they admire
a friendly neighbor
a serious coworker
2Who do you want to be to your customers?
Define your relationship
with customers
a teacher
a friend
a mentor
a parent
a person they admire
a friendly neighbor
a serious coworker
Coca cola is your easy-going, optimistic friend
3Think about
brands you like
3Think about
brands you like
Which brands do you like interacting with and why?
eg. I like Coca Cola because they are fun and light hearted. Their content always makes me smile.
3Think about
brands you like
Which brands do you like interacting with and why?
eg. I like Coca Cola because they are fun and light hearted. Their content always makes me smile.
Which brands do you dislike interacting with and why?
eg. I don’t like Redbull because they are extreme and manly. They stress me out more than anything.
How about your tone then?
Adapt your tone to:
Users Feelings
Content Format
The best example out there is MailChimp Voice & Tone Guide
CLICK HERE TO SEE IT
Let’s look at their « Twitter, Facebook » example
Know who you are taking to and what they think about your brand
Adapt the message to amplify positive feelings (and make negative ones disappear if needed)
Voice your users’ thoughts to help you make your
messages sound more like a dialogue
Give your team tips that are specific to the situation / medium
Always try to give a concrete example of a good message
You could also add:
- examples of what NOT to write
- practices specific to the platform (eg. hashtags for twitter, use of words like OTP, ship, fandom for
Tumblr…)
- Add consistency with brand design
- Pick a brand voice and tone
- Improve employee onboarding
Our 4-step program to consistency:
- Build a great, consistent team
The MailChimp guide is an amazing onboarding tool
Now, let’s look at how other companies share their culture and
values with new employees!
4-WEEK CALL CENTER TRAINING
with the customer loyalty team
for every new employee!
A new employee joins the Zappos family
A new employee joins the Zappos family
He spends 4 weeks taking calls from Zappos customers and experience the Zappos’
culture
A new employee joins the Zappos family
He spends 4 weeks taking calls from Zappos customers and experience the Zappos’
culture
Gets to choose between staying or
leaving and receiving $4000 at the end of
training
Customer service is at the heart of Zappos’ culture. The Customer Loyalty Team everyone goes through
allows them to see if new employees will fit in well within this service culture.
45-DAY BOOTCAMP
to make sure new hires are a good
fit for the company culture
A new employee joins Buffer
A new employee joins Buffer
45-day bootcamp where hires are encouraged to take
on different tasks to find their place within the team +
1-on-1s every 2 weeks
A new employee joins Buffer
45-day bootcamp where hires are encouraged to take
on different tasks to find their place within the team +
1-on-1s every 2 weeks
Receive an offer and become a full time employee if they
accept it.
For Buffer, culture is everything. From being a self managed team to always experimenting with new ideas. The bootcamp helps them introduce new hires to their
culture and way of doing things.
This is what onboarding really is:
The employee’s own experience and personality
The company’s culture and core values
Good onboarding will make sure the 2 are brought together from the beginning
- Add consistency with brand design
- Pick a brand voice and tone
- Improve employee onboarding
Our 4-step program to consistency:
- Build a great, consistent team
We don’t always realize how important having a great team is.
You need people who fit in well within your culture but also work
well together.
Hire for culture fit first
Most technical skills can be taught. Soft skills can’t!
We’ve been through employee onboarding and training with the
Zappos and Buffer example but it’s not the only thing they do well.
They also have amazing hiring processes.
Here are the questions you get when applying for Buffer
Culture fit
Knowledge of company
And that’s what they are looking for in applications:
Alignment with the 10 Buffer values
Buffer user with understanding and love
of the product
Skill and experience in
the role
Strong startup mindset biased
towards action
Great match
What happens then, before someone is offered to join
their bootcamp?
That’s their stats from January 2014:
3,864 applications 13 Stage-1 Interviews
5 Stage-2 Interviews
3 Offers made
They review all applications but most people don’t make it to the first stage interview
Ok, that’s great but I’ll assume you don’t have the luxury to be so picky…
That’s our case, we are far from getting as many applicants as Buffer!
Ok, that’s great but I’ll assume you don’t have the luxury to be so picky…
That’s our case, we are far from getting as many applicants as Buffer!
But culture fit is still very important.
Here’s how you can get more qualified applicants:
!
Look for candidates through non-traditional channels.
Facebook groups and social media
in general
New communities like Somewhere
Employee referral
Whatever you do, be more proactive in the way you hire!
Don’t wait for good candidates to come to you, go to them!
Believe me, they won’t come!
Once you’ve hired awesome people, give them the tools to thrive
SOUTHWEST « We like to think of ourselves as a Customer Service company that
happens to fly airplanes (on schedule, with personality
and perks along the way). »
Just search for funny SouthWest flight
attendant on Youtube and you will see « personality » is not only just a fancy
marketing word.
Fine! I know I’d be too lazy to search too. Here’s a link to one of the videos:
CLICK HERE TO SEE
I was happy with Ryanair’s flight attendants before. Now I really
feel like I’m missing out…
And this didn’t happen because of 1 guy.
!
It happened because South West give their employees freedom to do
what they think is right to make customer happy
If you missed it, remember to check out the 1st part of our journey
SEE SLIDEDECK SEE ARTICLE
That’s it for now folks! !
Hope you enjoyed the presentation and we’d love to
hear your thoughts!
Tweet us @customericare
Chat with us on customericare.com
Also, !
if you you want to follow the rest of our branding journey, you can
sign up for our newsletter
CLICK TO SIGNUP
(Next order of business: Building a long-term vision)
THANK YOU!