We’ve talked about the importance of branding in presentations a lot. Branding as a whole is the essence of your company, and what truly differentiates you from other competitors in the space. Most professionals can agree that branding can make or break a business, but few understand what it actually takes to build a brand. So many things contribute to a company’s branding from logo and design style to voice and tone used in communications. It’s not a one-size-fits-all approach, and encompasses so many elements across various departments. Sure, in most cases marketing will own the responsibilities of branding. However things like the user interface within a product and customer service materials also contribute to a company’s overall brand.
When you think of branding, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a cohesive aesthetic. And you’re not wrong. But content— both visual and written— plays a huge role, too. The content you’re producing, whether that be email copy or blog articles, directly impacts your brand and the opinion consumers have of it. A poorly executed content infrastructure can damage your brand identity, jeopardizing your integrity and reputation as a company. Sounds serious, right?
Why is branding by way of content so important?
How your content can directly impact your brand
Your content can directly impact your brand. Here’s how:
It builds trust
Having a consistent brand that consumers can recognize and rely on builds trust and loyalty. When your brand is recognizable and familiar— achieved through cohesive, valuable content— it becomes more relatable to the consumer. As a result, they’re more likely to stick around longer and keep using your brand. On the flip side, if you have a poor content infrastructure it might be a turn off to new customers or users who happen to stumble across your brand. For example, a brand with an outdated website might seem less trustworthy than one with a modern, clean design.
It increases visibility
This almost goes without saying, but the right branded content can increase your brand’s visibility. Having strong content that targets a specific audience or use case can help drive more website traffic through search engine optimization (SEO) efforts. Similarly, strong visual content and copy will result in better social media traction and engagement. Having followers or subscribers is one thing, but having content that they want to share and engage with can help get more eyeballs on your brand.
It positions you as a subject-matter expert
If your content is valuable to your customers they’ll view your brand as an authoritative voice in the industry. Producing content that provides value through informational pieces, how-to articles, or thought-leadership, can help position your brand as a subject-matter expert. Here’s an example: if you discovered Beautiful.ai through an article that lists out 10 presentation tips for beginners, and you found it helpful, you may be more inclined to read other articles on the site related to presentation tips. With thoughtful and relevant content, brands can establish their voice and claim authority on specific topics, which only helps to build credibility.
It creates a sense of community
Your voice and tone defines your brand, and how you talk to your audience matters. Whether that be through email copy or advertisement graphics, your content should be meaningful and directed at your target demographic. The right content will get a conversation going and build a sense of community among customers and prospects. The goal here is to generate derivative, organic word of mouth marketing through loyal customers who already know and love your brand.
It can help with conversions
And if it wasn’t clear, all of the above contributes to conversions and the bottom line of the business. Your content directly impacts how consumers view your brand and whether or not they want to spend money on your product or service. Trust? Check. Visibility? Check. Loyal customers? Check. Word of mouth? Check. If your content is strong and consistent, you’re that much closer to turning a lead into a new client or customer.
How to ensure your employees are using the right content
We want you to nail your company branding, so we’re here to help. The cardinal rule? Make sure each department has access to the most up-to-date content at all times. Nothing damages your content infrastructure more than using outdated information or an old version of a company logo. Content can cause a bottleneck between departments, but it doesn’t have to. Whether it’s the sales team sending out materials to new leads, or an executive creating a presentation for the board, make sure everyone is aligned on the newest company assets (hint: shared folders and the cloud helps).
As it relates to presentations, it can be easy to mistakenly copy over old content to a new deck to save time. (Yes, branded content matters in presentations too). Thankfully, teams can lock in the right logo and brand elements across their organization. Shared Slides and Shared Themes in Beautiful.ai give teammates guardrails to stay visually consistent from pitch to pitch. Admins can control who can create templates—and who can access sensitive slides— so that presentation content is always professional and on brand.
