media update’s Nicole van Wyk shares four tips you need to know about corporate audio branding.
What is an audio identity?
An audio identity is the signature sound of your brand. Think of your brand as an individual with a personality. Different personalities have varying forms of expressions and your brand’s audio identity needs to adopt its own personality, and by extension, sound. A distinctive voice makes it easier for consumers to recognise and engage with the brand.
Consumers live fast-paced lives, and listening to a radio show or podcast on-the-go is more convenient than viewing an image or taking time out of their day to watch a YouTube video.
“Audio makes people feel things, and that's what makes it such a powerful medium for brands … with the explosion of podcasts, music streaming and smart speakers, an audio strategy is no longer a 'nice-to-have' for brands – it’s a necessity.’’ says
Matt Lieber, co-founder and president of a podcasting company Gimlet Media.
Audio consumption is also cheaper to consume and engage with because radio adverts, for example, are free to listen to whereas an instructional video would require mobile data or Wi-Fi to view.
Now that we understand the basis of what an audio identity entails, we can get started on the process of creating an audio identity.
1. Conduct rhythmic research
The first thing you need to do is find out who your target audience is. Where your audience is located, the age group categories they are in, as well as the pop culture they find appealing, are all examples of what you should be looking for when trying to determine your target audience.
Conduct research based on the product or service you are offering and don’t skip a beat. While conducting research, it’s important to consider both external and internal contributions to the brand. Internal contributors involved in your research are employees investors and board members. The external contributors consists of your client base, users and customers.
There are two types of research to consider: qualitative and quantitative. Quantitative research uses a mathematical approach to gain insight whilst qualitative research relies on social sciences or underlying motivations of participants to collect data pertaining to the study. Some examples of qualitative research are focus groups, webinars and interviews, while surveys, online polls and experiments are categorised as quantitative research.
2. Perform an audio brand analysis
Your research participants, or rather, contributors, will help you to determine your target audience based on research demographics. Using the insights from your research, you’ll be able to gauge public interest in the product or service your company is offering.
Once you’ve established your target audience based on your filtered results, you’ll be able to work on content that will appeal to the right audience.
Your marketing team can then brainstorm the fundamental aspects that will make up your brand’s signature sound. These aspects include (and are not limited to) brand heritage, mission and vision statements, your brand’s personality as well as your corporate values.
3. Set up your classic creation
Your analytics will help you make an informed decision about the tone of your signature sound. Remember that the purpose of a signature audio clip is to leave a lasting impression so that your audio identity is easily recognised by clients or consumers.
Decide on your core message early on. This will ensure that your signature sound evokes the right emotive response from your consumers. A memorable melody, if you will.
The duration of your audio is an important factor to consider. Deciding on the duration can be made easier if you have an elimination process in place based on the platforms you’re going to use. For example, radio airtime can be limited to a 10-second jingle, whereas a Spotify playlist could be extended up to an hour.
Do not neglect the visual component of your brand’s identity. Creating a visual and audio alignment is imperative because consistency equates to visibility.
If your consumers are able to match your brand’s sound and visual identities it makes it easier to recognise, thus creating awareness. Your brand becomes more visible if it is heard and seen simultaneously.
Remember that your internal community can act as brand ambassadors. Your audio identity is essentially a brand anthem for your internal community. It instills loyalty and pride – and it reflects in your customer and client-based service. Think of it as an upbeat tune in return for upbeat efficiency.
Now that you have created an audio identity, you need to ensure that you are equipped to move on to the final phase of an audio identity creation – the implementation stage.
4. Launch an instrumental implementation
Serenade your consumers with multi-sensory marketing. Including an audio component to your brand’s identity allows the consumer to gain a holistic experience of your product or service. Taking this route also allows for a win-win situation because you will be able to engage with clients and provide a response in real time. As a result, you won’t be exhausting company resources, and, as an extra bonus, you’ll have a more a personalised consumer interaction. Remember that convenience is paramount.
Now that you have completed your research, analysis and creation for your brand identity, you need to decide on the platform you’ll use to communicate with your clients and consumers. A voice prompted app, a company podcast, radio adverts, a Spotify playlist and SoundCloud links are just a few examples of the avenues that you can explore.
Having an active social media presence increases brand visibility and is an important tool to utilise during the implementation phase of your audio identity. For example, you could link your company’s Soundcloud page with all of your jingles or product jingles to your brand’s Facebook and Twitter pages, or use Snapchat to provide audio snippets of the creative process, thus creating a channel for interaction with your brand’s external community.
Now it’s time to prepare for an encore: keep your consumers happy and reap the benefits of creating a successful audio brand identity.
Do you think that visual branding is as important as a brand’s audio identity? Let us know in the comments section below.
*Image courtesy of Vecteezy