Branding is a process that has evolved a lot over the past 50 or so years. What was once pretty much seen as a subject that just involved visual identity (logos & brand colours etc) now has rich and detailed planning frameworks and is a huge subject.
Particularly since advertising is so readily available through platforms like Meta and Google, it’s more important than ever to make informed decisions about brand based on your target market to ensure you stand out from the competition.
An often overlooked aspect of branding is using digital tools and the data that is gathered from them to steer some of the creative direction. Let’s take a look at a few examples.
Search engine data
At Woven we work on creating brands with purpose, which we follow with marketing campaigns with purpose. One thing we find most organisations aren’t taking advantage of when it comes to branding is search engine data – and it’s important to keep in mind here that search data is demand data. This is a key component in using digital data for branding decisions and search engine data is one of the most powerful market research tools we have.
There are a number of different SEO tools with a number of metrics for search. Our favourite tool so far has been SEMRush.
Search volume data
Search volume data is the amount of monthly searches for a specific keyword tracked within a tool like SEMRush. There are two types of data you can look at when it comes to search volume:
- The volume for the keywords a website already shows for – this is shown by inputting a URL into SEMRush and visiting the organic performance section
- The volume for the keyword and its related terms – this can be seen by inputting a keyword into the keyword magic tool in SEMRush
For new brands or brands expanding into a different sector, keyword volume data can be very useful when considered alongside a competitive set. If you are thinking of targeting a certain product category, how does the competition for that keyword look, feel, present itself? How can we stand out with our USPs – and how are those translated into a strong market position? Sometimes this can be as simple as choosing a set of brand colours that stand out. Often it means refining your messaging to differentiate from the competition.
For existing brands you may be looking to rebrand to help your offering differentiate, or perhaps again stand out from the competition. Sometimes it is a case of checking search intent. It is useful to look at what you are ranking for, the average position, and the search volume for those terms.
There may be keywords that would be great to show in a high position for in terms of generating traffic, but when it comes to it the traffic wouldn’t be that relevant – i.e. the intent (to convert) is lower. Here, we often find “hidden gems” that have lower competition but are extremely relevant to a brand’s offering.
From there we think about conveying the brands core values and position through intelligent copy across all landing pages related to that keyword (and service or product).
Creative storytelling is something that often gets missed when it comes to creating new content such as blogs. If we use search volume data we generally see that a subject covers many many questions and answers, and from here we can create larger and more engaging pieces of content that weave with a powerful narrative and visuals.
Keyword trend data
SEMRush and Google Trends offer ways to look at how a subject (via keywords) is performing across a period of time. Google Trends even lets you look back 5 years or more for a certain search term to see performance across that time period.
The most obvious consideration with trend data when it comes to branding is seasonality. How is your brand responding to seasonal changes within visual identity and marketing campaigns? Can we use trend data to plan in valuable resources for certain seasonal periods?
This might include campaign messaging, digital or offline advertising, copy changes to your web pages and more. It’s often the case that brands will be creating last minute campaigns for something like Christmas or Mother’s day. The issue with this is that these often don’t align with a brand’s strategy – mission, values, vision and position – something we’ve covered in our piece on digital transformation. Using trend data can help you plan in advance and ensure consistency across marketing campaigns that aligns with overall strategy.
What people are actually searching for
This is worth a separate point from the search volume section above as we see it so often.
Sometimes branding decisions can impact websites so much to the point that the brand stops showing in search engines. This is particularly the case when terminology is used – to describe products or services – that people simply do not search for.
Of course, you want to create a memorable brand and a unique offering. It is important however to keep search engine data in mind – the channel is “always on” and we have seen brands lose potentially hundreds of customers monthly simply by changing the name of a product based on a brand decision. A smart branding campaign will consider everything in this respect.
Analytics data
Analytics such as Google Analytics 4 are common tools used in day-to-day reporting, yet often aren’t considered much at all within more ‘high level’ area such as branding projects.
But a large part of successful branding is focusing on the customer experience. And we know that this permeates right from your marketing strategy all the way down to your website landing pages.
Analytics data can be useful for a number of things, but the most clear is User Experience. Under “User Attributes” reports, GA4 can show you which devices and browsers users are primarily on. This goes further than just ‘are we mobile friendly’ – are we ensuring our position/USP is clearly show on key landing pages? Are we conveying our values on these landing pages? Is the design of our product pages on mobile incorporating our unique branding elements?
Within the funnel explorations reports in GA4 we can see where people are dropping off in our user journey. Again, this is often reported on in silo – failing to take into account the full spectrum of the customer journey.
For example, if we are sending potential customers to our website from an OOH ad it is likely they are landing on the homepage. What is the average journey here? Are users navigating somewhere specific then immediately dropping off? Are we considering how the page they are dropping off at satisfies the need/want/promise we made in the OOH ad? Could we improve copy to be tailored to new customers who arrived from an offline channel?
Sentiment analysis
There are tools such as Brandwatch which have a whole host of social media listening features built in, but one that stands out is sentiment analysis – a technique to determine and categorise the emotional tone of text – with the aim of understand the attitudes, opinions, emotions etc expressed about a brand from a range of sources including things like reviews.
Understanding consumer perceptions
Sentiment analysis allows us to gauge the overall mood of the market regarding a brand’s products or services. By tracking social media, forums, blogs, and news articles, with tools like Brandwatch, we can identify how consumers feel about specific aspects of a brand. You can probably already see how useful this could be when it comes to branding.
For instance, if sentiment analysis reveals a predominantly negative sentiment towards a recent product launch, we can delve deeper to understand the issues and address them with creative campaigns. On the other hand a positive sentiment can highlight successful strategies that can be replicated or expanded upon.
Marketing tactics
With sentiment analysis, brands can refine their marketing tactics based on real-time consumer feedback. Positive sentiments can be leveraged to create testimonials, case studies, and user-generated content that reinforces the brand’s strengths. On the other hand, identifying areas of dissatisfaction allows us to adjust messaging or customer service approaches to better meet expectations. In a way, sentiment can be used to determine the direction of PR as a channel too.
Visual branding
Sentiment analysis can also play a significant role in informing visual branding decisions. By analysing consumer reactions to different visual elements such as logos, colour schemes, and design aesthetics, brands can identify what resonates most with their audience.
For example, if a brand’s social media analysis shows a positive sentiment towards a specific campaign’s visuals, these elements can be incorporated into broader branding efforts. And again visa-versa, negative feedback on visual elements can prompt a redesign to better align with consumer preferences.
Marketing strategy
Sentiment analysis provides insights into consumer values and expectations, which can inform a brand’s mission, values, and vision. Understanding what consumers care about most enables brands to align their core principles with the audience’s values.
For instance, if sentiment analysis reveals that sustainability is a major concern for the target audience, a brand can incorporate environmental responsibility into its mission and values. This alignment not only strengthens brand loyalty but also ensures that the brand’s strategic direction resonates deeply with its audience. The main thing of course is that the brand actually embraces the values you aim to address with core marketing strategy by adjusting tactics.
Conclusion
We hope this article sparks some thoughts as to how you should be using digital tools to inform the whole of your brand development, not just using them for the specific channels. At Woven we use a range of tools to inform our strategic thinking. If you think we could help you do the same, get in touch.