Now that your strategy, tone of voice, and visual identity are in place, it's time to implement them. This step requires careful attention and diligence. In my experience, many organizations lose momentum after completing the strategy work. This is partly due to the lengthy and strenuous process but also because there's often an assumption that everyone now understands the strategy and it's simply a matter of execution.
However, successful implementation requires more than that. It's crucial to create a detailed plan and consistently communicate it with your organization. Let's explore some key learnings from the implementation process that can help you achieve your goals effectively:
Set up measurements and KPIs for your strategy.
Before implementing, define your baseline for all the KPIs identified in the previous step. This allows you to continuously measure the impact of the implementation and assess whether the new strategy is propelling the company in the right direction. For instance, at Cryos, we created a brand perception questionnaire on our website to gather customer and visitor feedback, and we conduct it annually. Demonstrating the value of effective communication through measurable results is crucial when presenting to management.
We measure the following KPIs:
- Average visit time per web page
- Conversion rate on new content pages
- Increase Net Promoter Score
- B2B sales
- Number of Google searches and lift in SEO ranking
- Brand perception surveys
- Number of times we’re invited for speaker sessions and scientific research
- Positive press coverages
- Social media engagement
Here are a few other examples of KPIs you could use:
- Brand Perception Index: A survey-based KPI that measures the target audience's perception of your brand before and after the transformation. It assesses factors such as brand awareness, image, and loyalty.
- Website Traffic: Track the number of visitors to your website before and after the brand transformation. This KPI helps gauge the effectiveness of your marketing efforts in driving increased online engagement. Remember that many factors influence your traffic numbers, like spend, SEO performance, events, influencer collaborations, etc
- Social Media Engagement: Measure the level of engagement on your social media platforms, including likes, shares, comments, and mentions. Increased engagement can indicate improved brand awareness and resonance with the target audience.
- Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT)or Net Promoter Score (NPS): Conduct post-transformation surveys to measure customer satisfaction. This KPI reflects how well the brand transformation has resonated with customers and impacted their overall satisfaction with your products or services.
- Conversion Rate: Monitor the percentage of website visitors or leads that convert into customers. An increase in conversion rate indicates that the brand transformation positively influences customer decision-making. Also, an area where many factors influence your results, but you can drill it down and look at how new content pages convert.
- Employee Engagement: Assess employee satisfaction and alignment with the transformed brand values and messaging. This can be measured through surveys, feedback sessions, or employee retention rates.
- Market Share: Evaluate your brand's market share within your industry or target market. A growing market share can indicate successful brand transformation and increased competitiveness.
- Brand Equity: Track indicators such as brand recognition, brand loyalty, and perceived brand value to measure the strength and value of your brand in the market.
Train your organization
Conduct tone-of-voice workshops for departments that have customer contact, such as customer service, sales, marketing, e-commerce, reception, HR - and, in our case, also donor coordinators. Encourage the team to share t examples of written and oral communication that they use in their daily work, and train them how to implement the new tone of voice. It’s important that the departments grasp the practical application of the guidelines. This approach fosters a shared language and makes it easy for colleagues to receive feedback on their daily communications. Feedback should focus on optimizing communication to align with the designated tone of voice rather than personal preferences.
Following the workshops, collaborate with departments to develop communication templates that reflect the new tone of voice. By rewriting all "standard" communications in the new tone, you create a best practice approach that simplifies daily communication and training for new employees. For example, at Cryos, as part of our brand transformation, we even looked at department names. We renamed our Customer Service department to Customer Care to eliminate the stigma associated with customer service teams, highlighting their role as providers of high-quality service and guidance.
Marketing and E-commerce
This stage requires significant effort to rewrite web content according to the new tone of voice and adapt graphics and photos to match the new corporate visual identity (CVI). The same principles should be applied to other marketing materials such as brochures, flyers, videos, and trade show materials. Additionally, while working on these updates, it's crucial to create a content plan for the upcoming year. This ensures your team maintains focus and guarantees that all content aligns with the overall strategy. Remember to incorporate the unique selling propositions (USPs) identified in the previous step across all communication channels.
Based on our experience, diligently working with the strategy framework creates a shared language and focus every time new content is developed or existing content is improved.
Here are some examples of new content we created:
- Employer branding videos
- Purpose video (instead of corporate branding video):
- Mini documentary about our founder
- New donor recruitment campaign highlighting our donors as everyday heroes
- New content universe “kids are awesome”:
Communication compliance
Ensuring "communication compliance" is essential for keeping the organization on track even after a year. While it's easier to adhere to new guidelines when enthusiasm is high initially, the challenge lies in maintaining focus year after year. To achieve this, conduct follow-up workshops and collaborate with internal teams to integrate and utilize the communication strategy. This way, the designated tone of voice becomes ingrained in every interaction. When it becomes an integral part of your company's DNA and culture, it forms a solid foundation that strengthens brand perception.
In today's competitive market, every brand aims to find its unique platform for communication—a "blue ocean" that sets it apart. While achieving complete uniqueness may be challenging without a monopoly, success lies in the details. By diligently working with all communication touchpoints and implementing the designated tone of voice and visual identity internally and externally, you can create a powerful brand persona. Although it may not be a true blue ocean, the execution comes remarkably close—something we proudly refer to as Cryos blue 😉