7 Time-Saving Tips for Managing your Branded Marketing Assets

Any good brand or marketing manager will tell you how hard it is to effectively manage a brand’s marketing assets. When working with multiple files in multiple formats, it can all be very overwhelming trying to manage all these assets. This is particularly true of organisations that operate across multiple locations with large teams distributed across sites.

On average, a marketer will look for an asset up to 16 times a day and fails to find it 35% of the time. This is  a huge waste of time that could be better spent on business activities that actually make money. So how can you reclaim this time and enjoy more profitable collaborations with your colleagues? With the right brand asset management (BAM) platform, you can effectively and efficiently create, edit and distribute all of your marketing assets, giving you greater control.

#1 – Keep all assets in one, central place

Within large organisations, marketing and design teams can spend countless hours creating assets. From uploading branded assets, to incorporating new assets into the creative, a large proportion of the workday is spent handling them. When working with so many files, it can be difficult to manage all assets because the likeliness is they are stored on personal drives or desktops. This in turn makes it difficult for other people to access them when they are needed, especially when an employee leaves, is off sick or is simply away from their desk.

But if you were to store them in one, central repository – this wouldn’t be the case. You would have instant access to the files, without having to field requests from other people. Perfect for those looking to do their job quickly and effectively! By also having one repository, everyone knows exactly where to look when they need an asset.

#2 – Approve assets as they are uploaded

When you are working with hundreds, or even thousands of assets in various formats, checking and approving all assets can be a time-consuming task that slows down time to market. With a BAM, you can upload pre-approved templates with editable elements so that you can ensure all marketing assets produced are on brand. Everyone that has access to the BAM platform with access rights will be able to produce new assets using only the pre-approved templates; removing the need for a designer to artwork smaller jobs. Elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down while other elements can be edited with no design skills necessary.

With less time spent approving assets or waiting for assets to be artworked by a designer, marketers and brand managers can spend more time planning and working on the business activities that are actually going to make money.

#3 – Store files online

A recent study conducted found that 80% of organisations still relied on an email system to share brand assets internally. With marketers constantly looking to improve efficiency, storing files online for many has become an indispensable alternative.

By storing files online, brand managers and marketers can gain instant access to all of their latest assets. Assets can be accessed anytime, anywhere in the world using a single sign-on or through a company’s intranet. And because they’re stored off of your internal IT system, you can rest assured that they’re safe in the cloud. This also means that you can upload files from any location in the world, so important assets are available immediately.

#4 – Keep files clean

When handling very large volumes of assets in numerous formats, it can be very easy to fill up computer files with out-of-date assets. It can also be very easy to keep adding to the pile as new assets are created. This can very quickly result in a cluttered mess on your computer which becomes difficult to navigate.

By keeping files tidy and organising assets into clearly labelled files, you’ll always be able to find what you need. Archiving out-of-date assets is also a worthwhile task as they could be recycled or reused at a later date. Although organising existing files may seem like a laborious task, it will be worth it in the end.

#5 – Backup marketing assets

Misplacing or accidentally deleting assets and files is not only inconvenient, it is also costly to a business. One of the largest costs associated with producing assets is the use of a graphic designer’s time. So, the cost of having to reproduce assets from scratch every time they go missing can quickly add up. Backing up your files will ensure that this isn’t an issue. Saving them on a hard drive as well as on the cloud will have you covered from all angles. Your files will be online as well as stored online – meaning you have access at all times.

#6 – Control who can access what

If you have ever gone into a file to find someone has moved, or even worse deleted an asset, you know how irritating it is. With a brand asset management portal, you can limit who has access to what and restrictions can be set. By controlling who has access to your brand assets you can limit this kind of thing happening. If you can limit this kind of error from occurring, then you don’t need to worry about wasting time locating files that have been relocated, or perhaps even having to recreate the asset from scratch.

#7 – Make sure only the most up-to-date assets are available

When  producing assets, there is likely to be various drafts and versions. If various versions of an asset end up on a shared drive, there is a possibility that the wrong version of the asset is going to be used in marketing communications. Not only is this unprofessional, but it can be damaging to your brand. If you have spent the time to build up your brand, you want to protect it. By ensuring only the most up-to-date assets are available to departments, you can rest assured that no one is going to use the wrong version.


Brand Centurion

Would you like assistance when it comes to managing and controlling your assets?

Brand Centurion by Burst Digital can solve many of the issues surrounding asset management. By providing sales and marketing teams with instant access to the right version, of the right asset, every time, organisations are saving both time and money. A dynamic portal that enables organisations to maintain brand consistency, prevent costly mistakes and order branded print marketing materials

Web-To-Print: Taking the Steps Towards Choosing the Right Solution

Having made the decision to invest in web-to-print, the most immediate requirement is deciding what platform to use. There is rarely a ‘one-size-fits-all’ solution for web-to-print and a careful analysis of organisational wants, needs and requirements must be conducted. This means finding the right solution for your organisation can be a bit of a minefield unless you have a firm plan in place.

Knowing the challenges that web-to-print can help you to resolve is one thing, however choosing a solution is another. Here are three key steps towards helping you choose the right solution for your organisation:

Step 1: Define Your Goals and Objectives

The implementation of a web-to-print solution is determined heavily by your strategic objectives. Once you know what your goals are, you will know what processes you need to consider. If your objective is to streamline your marketing workflows through faster image and asset production, you will need to look at your current asset creation workflow. Consider how images are shared throughout the organisation and how they are being used. Look at how much time and resource is spent on the creation of these assets and find a solution that will either remove or speed up some of the steps involved.

There may be multiple objectives, but one primary objective should be determined early on as the top priority. Once this has been decided, other objectives can be tackled as a follow on phase. If used correctly, a web-to-print solution has the ability to enhance the sales and marketing efforts of a business, and improve the efficiency of workflows.

When defining your objectives, work with all key stakeholders within your organisation and identify the wider needs by asking yourself:

  • Where is the company today, and where do we want it to be?
  • How many assets are we currently storing? Knowing how many files you have now, and how that number will grow, will help you to plan capacity requirements.
  • How will web-to-print integrate with the software tools and workflow solutions you already have in place?
  • What files types are you looking to create and store? Web-to-print solutions will vary in regards to the file formats they support. You’ll need to know what files users store and if the system can optimise how you work with them.
  • How many people will use the system and what access do you want to permit?
  • How quickly do you want it up and running? If you want it set up ASAP, then you need to look for a vendor who can provide the system and train your teams quickly.

Answering these questions will give you a clearer vision of what you want to achieve from implementing web-to-print. Failing to distinguish a clear view of what you want to accomplish will ultimately result in money being wasted on a solution that isn’t right for your organisation.

Step 2: Outline the Critical Features You Will Require

Investing in software is a large commitment. Not only will it potentially require monetary investment, but it also entails time and resources. Therefore, it only makes sense to compare all options and adopt the solution with the critical features you’ll need.

After analysing your goals and expectations, decide on a list of critical features that will help you and your team to get the most out of your solution day in, day out. Ask yourself:

  • Do I need a system that can help me manage brand consistency and messaging?
  • Are you looking for a solution to not only store and manage your assets but also help you create assets?
  • Do you want a solution that will act as a central resource point which facilitates an approval process?
  • Do you want a solution that runs online and doesn’t require the need to download software?
  • Is the solution easy to use? Web-to-print software should be used to help your company and simplify its marketing efforts. The solution should be user-friendly and consideration should be taken into how much time the end user is going to need to get the hang of it.

Here are some key features you may want to consider looking for when you decide on a web-to-print provider:

Asset Repositories: One of the biggest issues multi-site marketers face is that different internal teams will manage different projects such as a website, a social media campaign or the production of sales materials. As a result assets associated with these projects get stored within their individual department and not in one collective repository. Implementing a web-to-print solution with asset storage makes it incredibly easy to access, create and distribute approved design assets. This ensures that your teams are using the right version of the right asset ensuring overall brand consistency.

Accessible Online: It may be essential to adopt a web-to-print solution that is hosted online, especially if the business operates across multiple sites and there is a requirement to access assets from various locations. With no software to download, it can be accessed 24/7 on any device, anywhere in the world.

Editable Templates: One of the biggest costs relating to the production of marketing assets is the use of a graphic designer. From the original designs to re-edits – the costs can quickly accumulate. With some web-to-print solutions, you can upload pre-approved templates that allow you to customise only agreed elements. This could remove the need for a designer to artwork smaller jobs such as business cards and letterheads. This means your designers time can be better spent on the more important tasks.   

Order Print Runs: Starting print runs can be a laborious and time consuming process. Calling multiple vendors, requesting quotes, designing and sending files, waiting for proofs, making corrections, and waiting for print products to arrive can massively slow down time-to-market. A web-to-print solution can eliminate many of these tasks making the process of starting print runs more streamlined. The order process can take a matter of minutes, instead of days. 

Track Orders: If you have numerous people ordering printed assets from numerous vendors, costs can very quickly spiral out of control. With an effective web-to-print solution, you can manage budgets by seeing exactly who is ordering what before approving the order. By using a single vendor you have much tighter controls over your budgets.

It’s easy to get distracted by a sleek user interface or flashy functionality without a clear understanding of your requirements. Having that understanding of your requirements will ensure the solution you adopt is best suited to your needs.

Step 3: Find the Right Provider

Choosing the right provider is crucial to your web-to-print experience. It’s important to build a relationship with a vendor who will support you, not only in the initial implementation stage, but also into the future. When looking at vendors, follow these steps:

  • Look at the features that each solution offers. Do you feel confident that the solution will meld with your organisation?
  • Read customer case-studies about potential providers – they’re an honest indicator of how satisfied a vendor’s customers are.
  • Ask for a demo or a free-trial. This is not only a great way to explore the functionality for you, but it provides an opportunity to see how the vendor operates.

Remember, whichever web-to-print solution you choose, it has to be right for your organisation. This is an investment and a decision that you will need to work with daily, so spend the time evaluating all your options to ensure you’re making the right decision.


Brand Centurion

Choosing the right web-to-print solution for your company can be a time-consuming exercise, especially during the research period. Brand Centurion from Burst Digital is a powerful marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities that can help you overcome many of the issues faced by multi-site marketers. For a demo of Brand Centurion and its full capabilities, contact us today!

Continue Reading: Making the Business Case for Web-to-Print

5 Signs You Need Web-To-Print Software

You may have considered adopting a web-to-print tool or marketing portal on a number of occasions but not quite got round to it. You can always find an excuse as to why now is not the right time – i.e. you don’t have the staff to implement the software, you don’t have the budget or maybe you already use Dropbox or other cloud storage tools so you don’t need a marketing portal.

Whilst many marketing portals will offer similar benefits to cloud storage, there are a number of portals that can deliver so much more. For large businesses with multiple business locations, marketing portals with web-to-print capabilities really are indispensable. This is especially true of organisations that produce large volumes of print marketing content on a regular basis.

If the above sounds all too familiar, then managing your assets digitally is likely to be the path you need. With increased productivity, better workflow and a more structured system of operating, the benefits are extensive.

Here are 5 signs that you need a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities:

Time Wasted Searching for Files

On average, marketers spend an hour a day fielding requests and searching for the right version of an asset. Not only is this frustrating, but it also results in valuable time being wasted. This is time that could be spent on more important business activities. There may be more than one person producing these assets which results in assets being stored across shared departmental drives, individual desktops, and cloud storage which you might not have access to.

Keeping all files in a central repository that brings everything together in one place can alleviate this bugbear. You’ll be able to narrow things down even further by utilising powerful search capabilities to accurately pinpoint files. Not only will you save time and money, it’ll allow your teams spend more time doing what they do best.

Producing New Assets

One of the biggest costs relating to the production of marketing assets is the use of a graphic designer. From the original designs, to re-edits – the cost can quickly accumulate. Even the simple task of re-working of business cards can be a time consuming exercise. Spending time and resources re-creating misplaced or deleted files can easily be avoided by adopting a marketing portal.

Enabling you to search through previous work, a marketing portal will provide a central store of work that could either be reused or re-edited. New templates can also be uploaded with editing rights. Brand elements that shouldn’t be changed can be locked down, while other elements can be personalised. This saves time and money that would be spent on producing assets from scratch.

Campaigns and Branding are Lacking Consistency

Inconsistent branding tends to be a result of the wrong style of imagery used, the wrong font used or perhaps even an old logo being used that is now out of date. For multi-site organisations that are sending out a lot of messages, this can become a real headache. If you’ve spent the time to brand your business correctly, you need to ensure each department is representing the corporate image in the way it was intended. Using the wrong version of an asset can dilute the brand and make your communications incohesive. It’s important to monitor the assets that are available and how they are being used.

Implementing a marketing portal allows you to control individual access, and make sure your employees can only access the right version of an asset. This includes the latest logos, promotional material, and the right corporate documents. This ensures you maintain brand integrity across all touch points.

Miscommunication between Creative Teams

Within large organisation, the likeliness is there will be more than one person working on or producing creative marketing assets. Everyone has their own way of working, and processes can quickly become confused, especially if new people join the organisation. With different systems for saving and naming files, it can be difficult to find the latest version of an asset. Workflow redundancies can very quickly creep in that can slow down important business activity.

By creating a central repository within a marketing portal, all project members have instant access to the same shared resources. Even those working remotely can access the files produced, wherever they are in the world. As a result, miscommunication is minimised as everyone is working from the same assets, using the same system.

Excess Admin Procedures

Ordering printed marketing material can be a laborious task. Calling multiple vendors, requesting quotes, designing and sending files, waiting for proofs, making corrections, and waiting for your products to arrive all slow down the time to market. As a result, valuable time is taken up that could be spent on the more important tasks. Adopting a marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities can eliminate many of these tasks. It can also help avoid costly mistakes such as sending the wrong files or not proofing prior to printing.

Costs can often be negotiated ahead of time, approved templates are uploaded onto a web based dashboard so you have instant access, and only agreed elements can be edited. The order process can take a matter of minutes – instead of days. With less time spent on the admin involved in locating, editing and distributing files, your teams can devote their energies on building strategies and driving revenue.


Brand Centurion

If any of the above issues affect your ability to work to optimal levels of efficiency, it’s time to consider adopting a marketing portal. Brand Centurion from Burst Digital allows you to manage and track all of your branded print and digital marketing assets through one easy-to-use, powerful and cost-saving marketing portal with web-to-print capabilities.

Continue Reading: Making the Business Case for Web-To-Print

Building a Brand: The Building Blocks of Success

Building a Brand – The Building Blocks of Success

We all know that there is no recipe for success when it comes to business, especially when there are so many internal and external factors that can either make or break a business. We cannot prepare ourselves for all eventualities but there are a number of steps that can be taken to minimise risks. When we think of large successful businesses, the key players that come to mind are Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Apple. But what have all of these companies got in common that have made them so successful? Strong branding!

Branding is bandied about a lot when it comes to talking about successful businesses. You brand represents everything about your business and it resonates with your customers and prospects. With this in mind, it is vital that you get the basic building blocks right. But what are the building blocks that have enabled these brands to triumph over others?

Building Block #1: Clear Strategy

Before launching any brand, you have to ensure that you have established your brand foundation. Your brand foundation can be identified by answering a number of questions:

What are our core values? What do we believe in? How do we want our customers to perceive us? What is our core messaging and visual identity? What do we want our company to represent?

After answering all of these questions, you will have a clearer understanding of what you foundation strategy should be. These foundation principles could be a list or statement, or a selection of carefully selected words. They essentially need to be referenced to by everyone who touches your brand internally, at every stage of any business decision making process.  Also, by understanding who your ideal customers are, you can ensure that you’re building a brand that aligns with their wants and needs.

Building Block #2: A Strong Logo

This is a given really but once you have established your foundation, you need to address your visual elements. Designing a logo is no easy task as there are so many components to consider. To put it as simply as possible though, make it unique, make it adaptable, make it timeless but most of all, make it memorable.

This is the first element that the public will probably come into contact with so it needs to be striking.  Remember though, your logo will set the standard for all your marketing collateral so it needs to be adaptable. Logos need to translate across different mediums but still evoke the same meaning.

Never underestimate the power of your logo either. Throughout a single company’s history, various logos serve as indicators of values, loyalty and togetherness. One of the most iconic brand logos of all time is the Nike “swoosh”. The logo was introduced in 1971 and since its introduction, it has only undergone four revisions but the Nike “Swoosh” has remained. It has now gone on to become the most iconic images in the world, so much so that in 1995 the company chose to remove the brand name of the original design, leaving the “Swoosh” as the sole symbol of the company.

Building Block #3: Guidelines

Once you’ve established your identity and you have a logo to match it, you need to ensure your other visual elements match the image and personality of your brand. This is essential as it helps develop a sense of familiarity for your customers. Fonts and colours which will be heavily influenced by your logo will have a big impact of your branded marketing materials. You need to consider how your fonts and colours portray your brand.

For example, if your brand is corporate, then your font should be slick, easy to read and professional. No Comic Sans please. However, if your brand is a bit more fun, then you can use a font that is energetic and slightly more elaborate.

Research has shown that colour also plays a vital role in the perception of brands. This is why it is so important in understanding your ideal customer. If your customers are looking for a brand that is exciting, you may choose to use red in your marketing collateral. Or if you want to convey sophistication, you may look to use purple. There are no clear cut guidelines when it comes to colour but when it comes to choosing colours, you must test. You cannot know how your audience will respond to your colours in your content and layout without testing to determine which colour combinations work best.

Your guidelines will also cover elements such as writing guidelines, web design and print design.  Once you have a set of brand guidelines, as long as they have been clearly established, it should help everyone from your team to your suppliers designing your marketing material make sure that everything is consistent and looking like it’s from the same company.

Building Block #4: Tone of Voice

Your tone of voice is not what you say, but how you say it. In relationship to branding, it embodies and expresses your personality and reflects the overarching foundation.  The words you use on your website and in your marketing collateral can define how people perceive your business.

When establishing your tone of voice, you need to think carefully about whom you are talking to. Do you want to appear casual and friendly or formal and sharp? Your tone of voice needs to be distinctive and recognisable. Carefully selected words can heavily influence customers and by picking a voice that fits your brand and culture can make you more memorable to customers.

One brand that hit the nail on the head in their very early days was Innocent drinks. Their branding is often held up as a shining example of how to get copywriting and marketing right. One of the most significant things about Innocent’s brand voice is that it is relatively informal and friendly. Instead of coming across as a company, it sounds more like a friend who has just made you are smoothie. If you have a look across any of their customer touch points though, you will see that this friendly, off-the-wall formula has been used across all of their content. By having this consistency, consumers are instantly able to recognise a marketing message from Innocent.

One of the most important lessons that can be learnt from Innocent is that success comes from building a unique brand voice. By developing this distinct tone that your customers are comfortable with, your customers are more likely to return to your website or connect with you digitally.

Building Block #5: Consistency 

Consistency is key for your business and does a multitude of things for your brand. It can contribute to generating trust, attracting more customers and also creating a professional feel across the business. Ultimately, consistency contributes to brand recognition, so you need to make sure all your marketing elements and messaging is cohesive. Not only does this help strengthen your brand, but it also drives positive sentiment and trust in consumers which ultimately leads to brand loyalty and lifelong customers.

New and returning customers are heavily influenced by the stability that is associated with a solid reputation, and this can only be perpetuated by consistent branding. By keeping a tight rein on brand consistency, marketers are able to drive customer perception for the onset of the engagement all the way through the buyer decision process.

We have seen the power of consistent branding in recent years with Apple. In the early stages, Apple was able to establish an identity that meets their needs, and they have stuck with it. Changing the look or approach of the Apple brand could easily undermine the consumers’ understanding of who Apple are as a company so Apple consistently places a lower case “i” on new digital products – the iPhone, iPad, iPod, iWatch. This ensures that consumers can easily identify a new product as coming from Apple, even if they haven’t heard from them. As a result, Apple is now the world’s most valuable technology brand, and has been the front-runner for the past six, consecutive years.

Apple’s global domination continues, and although their brand success would be hard to replicate, their strategy and tactics are easily transferable to any brand. Unfortunately it won’t come easily but the consequence of brand consistency is so crucial to a brand’s success, it’s worth investing the time.

Building Block #6: Brand Centurion

Consistency is the key theme that runs throughout all of the points above and any brand manager will tell you how vital it is for a brand to succeed. One of the biggest tasks faced by brand managers though is keeping their marketing consistent. With Brand Centurion, many of the daily struggles are alleviated by providing organisations with one, easy-to-use, powerful asset management tool. Brand Centurion automates all the demanding creation and distribution jobs and ensures that all marketing collateral is consistent every single time.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 30/08/2016


If you’re interested in developing your brand, call us today and up your marketing game!

Web-to-Print: The Must-Have for Multi-site Marketers

You may have considered implementing an asset management tool on a number of occasions but not quite got round to it. You always seem find an excuse as to why now is not the right time – i.e. you don’t have the staff to implement the software, you don’t have the budget or maybe you already use Dropbox or other cloud storage tools so you don’t need an asset management tool. With their wealth of benefits though you are potentially missing out on an tool that for many successful marketing departments are indispensable.

There are basic asset management tools will essentially act as centralised repository in which business can efficiently store, organise, access and distribute a large number of marketing assets. Whilst they offer similar benefits to cloud storage, there are a number of asset management tools that can deliver so much more.

When producing large volumes of print marketing content on a regular basis and delivering it to different audiences across different stores,  adopting an asset management tool with web-to-print capabilities offers an array of added benefits.

Brand Uniformity

Your brand is your strongest asset as it represents your company identity and your corporate values so it is vital that this is maintained across all your business locations. Your brand needs to communicate the same message across all channels because a lack of uniformity can weaken your brand. Within large, multi-site organisations, there will be more than one person responsible for branding and if tight controls aren’t in place, branding mistakes will be made. A web-to-print solution improves consistency across all marketing as design elements can be locked down meaning they can’t be changed. This allows you to have tighter control over your marketing assets.

Increased Efficiency

Ordering printed marketing material can be a laborious task. If you have to call multiple vendors, request quotes, design and send files, wait for proofs, make corrections, and wait for your products to arrive all slow down the time to market. This is valuable time that could be spent on more important tasks. A web-to-print solution can eliminate many of these tasks and help avoid costly mistakes. Costs are negotiated ahead of time, approved templates are uploaded onto a web based dashboard so you have instant access, and only agreed elements can be edited prior to printing. The order process can take a matter of minutes – instead of days.

Centralised Purchasing

If you have numerous people ordering printed stationery from numerous vendors, costs can very quickly spiral out of control. It can also become difficult to track what you are spending. With an effective web-to-print solution, you can manage budgets by seeing exactly who is ordering what before approving the order. By using a single vendor, you have tighter controls over your budgets.

Personalised Marketing

A massive 79% of people will act on direct mail if they feel like it is personal to them. Unfortunately though, many marketers are missing opportunities by concentrating their personalised marketing efforts online. With some web-to-print solutions, you can integrate and manage your CRM data to enable personalised marketing.  This means artwork can be pre-populated with personalised information so your direct mail piece makes a greater impact.

Digital Repository

As well as storing print marketing assets, many web-to-print solutions can also be used as a store for digital assets including Facebook banners, email signatures, videos, PDF’s or photography. This makes it incredibly easy to share approved digital assets. This ensures that your teams are using the right version of the right asset ensuring overall brand consistency. And because web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software, you can rest assured that your files are safe.

Cost Saving

One of the biggest costs relating to the production of marketing assets is the use of a graphic designer. From the original designs, to re-edits – the cost can quickly accumulate. Even for the simple task of re-working of business cards can be a huge expense if you have to produce multiple versions for different people. With a web-to-print solution, you can upload pre-approved templates that allow you to customise only the agreed elements. This could include elements such as the name field, telephone number and email address of a business card. With simple drag-and-drop, this removes the need for a designer to artwork these jobs. This means your designers time can be better spent on the more important tasks.

Web Based

As mentioned, web-to-print software works away from your internal IT software. This means there is no software to download and it be accessed 24/7 on any device, anywhere in the world. This also removes the hassle of phone calls and emails to get a print run started – you can do it all from the portal.

Brand Centurion

If web-to-print sounds like something that your organisation could benefit from, Brand Centurion from Burst Digital could be the right solution for you. We can work with you to ensure your branded marketing assets are consistent, accessible and centrally stored so you can access them as soon as you need them.

If you’d like more information about Brand Centurion or a demo, simply call 01293 660722.

Continue Reading: 5 Signs you Need Web-To-Print Software


Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 08/08/2016

Direct Marketing Facts & Statistics, CMO Council, 2015

https://www.cmocouncil.org/facts-stats-categories.php?view=all&category=direct-marketing

How to Utilise Your Strongest Asset: Brand Consistency

Whether you like it or not, every business has a brand and it has the potential to be one of the strongest assets you own. Your brand represents everything your business does and is the impression people have about your brand. For that reason alone, it is vital to nurture your brand and make it a priority. Your brand should convey what you do, what you stand for and what makes you unique. This collection of interlinked attributes essentially give your business its identity.

Branding Blog

Now caring for a brand is often easier said than done. I’m afraid to say it but there is a lot to consider and a lot of work required. Putting your logo on all your marketing materials or using the right pantone is a step in the right direction but it simply doesn’t cover it – building a good brand takes time. Strong, consistent branding reinforces your identity and creates a positive sentiment. This can only be done though by aligning the look, feel and tone of voice throughout your brand messages.

But why is it so important?

Consumers trust brands that they recognise and can get to know of a more personal level. We all know that making a purchase is more of an emotional decision than it is a practical one. John Lewis is one of the UK’s favourite household brands and it is all down to their strong brand identity. The brand resonates and this has allowed customers to connect with the brand. As a result, this has implanted a real sense of loyalty and trust for the brand.

We buy the same brands because we know what to expect, feel at ease purchasing and know we like the product. This same concept can be carried across all our marketing channels to ensure there is a seamless look and feel on all our customer touchpoints. Consumers will feel more comfortable with your brand and are more inclined to become a lifelong customer.

‘Just Do It’ is one of the simplest, most recognisable slogans of all time and is a line that Nike has used for the past 15 years. Compare this with major competitor Reebok though who has changed their slogan 14 times since 1988. Nike’s strong branding has enabled differentiation against the competition as it has allowed people to identify Nike’s products and services at a glance. And it seems Nike’s consistency has paid off as it is now the global market leader in the sports shoe market. Consistency goes far beyond a slogan or a logo though.

Consistency Equals Dependency

Whilst a CMO may have the final say on what marketing content is released, it is at that point that they lose all control. With the array of social media platforms, review sites and blogging sites, customers can constantly talk to each other and share their opinions (both positive and negative) about your brand. People love telling others about the brands they like and this can very easily sway another person’s opinion. Strong brands create followers who are not shy about sharing their stories and these endorsements are extremely important in building a brand’s trust factor.

Coca-Cola is an outstanding example of how brand consistency increase company value,

Without brand consistency, you lose the ability to cut through all this noise and position your brand positively in the consumers’ minds. Consistency across all your marketing channels and customer touch points is essential as brand inconsistency immediately leads to poor brand experiences.

Consistent branding doesn’t mean that all your communications should look exactly the same, far from it in fact. But it does mean you should strive for cohesion by sticking to a set of visual standards that can be developed through your brand guidelines. Keeping your visual identity consistent will help effectively distinguish and give your brand recognition. As a result it creates the ‘desirability’ factor for existing and potential new customers, supporters and stakeholders.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 09/05/2016


Burst Digital

We can help control your brand consistency through a dynamic asset management portal. Brand Centurion allows business with multiple locations a portal to access, create, monitor and print their latest marketing assets quickly and efficiently. This includes everything from posters to leaflets, business cards to digital assets. Brand Centurion can maintain your brand consistency; prevent costly mistakes, save money in reduced design and artwork time and enable you to order your branded print marketing materials instantly.


Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!



Why Personalised Marketing is Critical to your ROI

When it comes to marketing, a massive 94% of businesses will tell you that personalisation is vital to their strategy. However, only 72% of marketers know how to successfully implement a personalised marketing strategy.
Personalised Direct Mail

In the age of the connected consumer, most marketers focus their personalisation efforts online due to the relative ease associated with it. However, opportunities are being missed by excluding offline personalisation in delivering a multi channel marketing campaign. With the variety of communication and social platforms available, brands have to work harder in getting their message across. Although online personalisation is a cheaper and time saving option, it doesn’t have the same impact as offline marketing.

The importance of personalisation comes from the customers need to be shown that you understand their preferences and their lifestyle. Brands need to be able to talk about individual products and services that may be of interest. When customers like what you have to offer, they are more likely to keep your company on their radars. Relevant and personalised communications across multiple channels can deliver a 20-30% increase in ROI!

How to Add Offline Personalisation into your Multichannel Marketing Campaign

One of the key factors affecting the success of personalisation is the  used to understand your customers behaviours and habits. The more detailed information you hold on your customers, the easier it is to personalise your marketing materials. Collecting data on demographics, preferences, past behaviours and real-time behaviours all help build up a well-rounded picture of the customer as an individual.

Customer data can be gathered through social media profiling tools, customer service interactions, internet searches and transactional data to name but a few. It’s not sufficient enough just having the data though; it’s what you do with it that will impact the success of a campaign. Whether you are sending out personalised marketing by name, location, past transactions, interests or a combination of these, it’s vital to ensure the data you have is correct and up-to-date. There is nothing more frustrating for the customer than receiving personalised marketing with the wrong information. Ensuring your customer data is clean and correct will instil confidence in the customer. It also increases the chances of them responding to your marketing efforts.

The Digital Print Revolution

With the introduction of digital print technologies, the production of relevant and responsive direct mail has now been made easier. The process has become flexible enough that it allows businesses to customise anything from a single line of text to an entirely different piece for each customer or prospect. In a recent survey from the Royal Mail, it was established that it is now 25% less expensive to implement a digitally printed communications than it was 5 years ago.

Personalised campaigns can be rolled out across a number of channels, giving you the opportunity to speak to your customers through their preferred channel. Customers increasingly expect to have a personalised experience when they engage with a brand. The is no secret formula to success with personalised marketing but having a clear understanding of your audience is a great starting point.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 25/04/2016


At Burst Digital we believe that combining print media with smart technology creates better campaigns. We house some of the latest digital printing technology that will allow you to produce dynamic, personalised direct mail that will open up channels to your customers and prospects. In short, it can mean more conversions, more enquiries and more sales.
Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!

Data from Smart Focus, “Why True Personalization is Critical to your Business”, 2016
http://www.smartfocus.com/en/system/files/smartfocus_ebook_-_true_personalization.pdf



Direct Mail: A Vital Tool in Your Marketing Strategy

Personalised direct mailIn this digital marketing revolution, there has been a rapid change in marketing and communication planning. There are now many marketers who will dismiss direct mail and accuse it of being obsolete. The fact is though mail is still thriving! With the introduction of modern technologies, the way mail can be used has transformed and direct mail no longer has to be considered as just a piece of “junk mail”.

With the availability of refined personalisation techniques and carefully targeted data, a highly creative DM piece should play a vital role in any integrated campaign. You may be surprised to hear it but many people actually miss receiving personally addressed mailings. Customers like to feel that they’re engaging in conversations directly with a brand and this can be done through DM.

A well-crafted piece of personalised mail is hard to ignore and can be a direct entry-point into the consumer’s consciousness. As a result, it can create a pivotal moment in the customer journey. According to the Royal Mail, over 92% of all personalised mail in the UK is opened. Furthermore, a DM piece is essentially delivered directly to the customers’ hands so they’re virtually guaranteed to see your message.

This fact shouldn’t be taken advantage of though. Time still needs to be spent ensuring that a personalised message is relevant to the individual. The more relevant the DM, the more likely it is a consumer will engage and respond. On average, 79% of people will act on a DM if they feel like it is personal and of value to them. However, only 45% of people said they would act on an email, so are you really willing to miss out on potentially reaching that other 34%?

We are not saying that DM is the “silver bullet” and should be sent out as a standalone, but incorporating DM into your overall marketing strategy can act as a pull-through to get your customers talking to you. In conclusion, hitting them with a well thought out DM campaign could be the first step to breaking down walls for closer communication with your potential customers.

Written by Liam Beauchamp for Burst Digital – 11/04/2016


Burst Digital

We believe that combining print media with smart technology creates better campaigns. Using DM to compliment your campaign will allow you to open up channels to prospects and nurture them into a customer. In short, it can mean more conversions, more enquiries, and more sales. Using our digital printing capabilities, we can create those high-impact pieces that will stand out on the mat.

Ready to up your marketing game? Talk to us today!

Data from Royal Mail, ‘It’s All about Mail and Email’, 2016:
http://www.royalmail.com/corporate/marketing/insights/mail-and-email