How to Manage Your Brand Within Your Organization

By: Les Barker

Many organizations want to be known as the best at what they do. They want their brand to stand on its own without any explanation, and they want their brand identity to align with their brand image. Think, Coca-Cola, Jaguar, Tesla, Google, Apple, Chipotle, etc.

But, it can take years to build a solid brand – from logo creation, to the company mission statement, and the strategies used to deploy content. All these items require brand strategy, patience and thought to create. On the flip side, it could only take moments to ruin a brand …

Somewhere among the complex digital web, your company brand is out there representing everything you stand for. But, it can also pose as a liability if not managed correctly. Just one wrong use of the logo could even be catastrophic.

So, what system can large companies put in place to secure their brand’s integrity and ensure protection? I have an idea:

Marketing Asset Management

Marketing Asset Management (MAM): The use of a central repository to customize, organize, and distribute finished sales and marketing content to both offline and online channels. Includes workflows, dynamic and locked content, integrations, security controls, and measurement.

Without a marketing asset management platform, it is easy to have digital files residing in an unmanaged state. Content can be scattered across the organization in local computers, external devices, and/or messy network drives.

Here are some warning signs that can lead to potential liabilities:

• Content is being put in inconsistent and/or unsafe locations
• There is no brand management software in place to manage compliance and regulatory updates
• Employees in Sales or other departments cannot locate previously created assets and intellectual property
• Costs for managing assets are rising and more assets are being maintained

Any one of these examples present an issue, not to mention all of them happening at once.

Investing in a marketing asset management platform can help you manage your marketing materials and cut out any potential brand liabilities. Within the platform, you’re able to set-up rules and policies to govern and enforce brand management and the proper use of your assets.

Before you implement a marketing asset management platform, be sure to check out this blog. 

Brand Standards Matter

After spending 34+ years in a large organization, I’ve heard it all …

“That document isn’t compliant” … or, “The project doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to be done.” And everyone has heard, “Time equals money!”

But what do these statements have in common with marketing asset management, large organizations, and standards and policies?

When it comes to implementing a marketing asset management platform in any large enterprise (finance, education, healthcare, nonprofits, etc.) the development and adoption of brand standards, policies, and guidelines is the first step to manage and protect what is important to your organization so that you can maintain a strong brand reputation, both inside and outside the company.

What standards? What policies? What guidelines?

You’ll want to come to consensus on the way you do things, name things, and keep things in certain places. But everyone has a different idea.

Some simple examples of these decisions on standards and policies could include:

• What content or assets to keep, and where?
• Where is your data going to reside in the platform?
• Do you have a naming convention set-up for your files?

The complex part is agreeing on how to do all of this and get to a win-win for all stakeholders. This is the importance of using standards and policies for brand consistency.

When an organization implements a marketing asset management strategy, there also has to be some consensus on how things will be structured. These are where the guidelines come into picture.

Working in conjunction with a defined set of standards, policies and guidelines within your organization will reduce liabilities as well as create a more efficient process along the way, aiding in your brand’s long-term success.

MarcomCentral’s marketing asset management solution offers a number of applications and processes that work well within any organization wishing to take control of their personal brand assets.

About the Author:

“Les Barker provides strategic and tactical technology solutions related to the management of rich media content. Les spent over 30 years at World Bank Group, helping to reduce global poverty through technical education, sustainability efforts, and research and development. His current work involves creation of rich media assets for projects that include Augmented and Virtual reality content.”