Blend Your Assets to Build a More Effective Brand

We started to talk about building your brand as a series last month, but we've been touting the benefits of brand asset thinking for longer than anyone can remember. Part of that is because vanity numbers work so well as a standalone branding asset. The remainder comes from a variety of marketing tools and techniques that should also be thought of as brand assets in their own right, but which also blend extremely well when combined with a memorable phone number. Although they aren’t the only marketing tool you’ll ever need to build a brand that stands out to potential customers, vanity numbers are especially versatile and help you to make more of your other assets. Today we'll take a look at those assets and explore how a vanity number enhances their effectiveness.  

 

What Counts as a Brand Asset?

Anything that helps to increase awareness of your business, or to make it more memorable to your target market, can be considered a brand asset. That could be a clear and tangible asset, like your vanity number, site URL, or tag line, or a more intangible asset like a logo, color scheme, music jingle, or a font. The linking factor between these disparate assets is that they can all evoke the memory and character of your brand in the mind of your customer. (If it doesn't evoke that feeling or memory, it's not much of a brand asset. But don't worry, that's what we're working towards with this series!) To stoke your thinking on how many brand assets you have at your disposal, browse the following list and check off any you can access:

• logo,
• wordmark
• slogan or tag line,
• color scheme (also called a brand palette),
• typefaces or fonts,
• character or mascot,
• long-term celebrity associations and/or endorsements,
• jingles and/or music, sounds,
• style, such as the cultural aesthetic of your physical location (think Hollister's surf shack or Starbucks relaxed, reading room style)
• tastes, textures, and scents,
• and many more!

If you can identify something unique or special about your business that you can develop, you have a budding brand asset right there in front of you. The key is spotting these asset opportunities and understanding how to make them your own.  

How Can a Vanity Number Enhance Other Assets?

Because it works in any medium, a vanity number can always be integrated in a way that works together with other brand assets. Consider a memorable number set alongside a website. Both are key brand assets in their own right, but together they can become more effective than either will be alone. [caption id="attachment_1589" align="aligncenter" width="554"] Adding a website to this image would blend brand assets and make it even more effective.[/caption] An example would be one of our premium vanity numbers, 1-800-HOMECARE, set alongside a home care company's website, such as Sheridan Care. Alone, each brand asset serves its purpose of letting potential customers know how they can get in touch with, or find more information about the company in question. Without the vanity number, however,  it's not clear exactly what type of health care services Sheridan provides. The website address indicates the care aspect but cannot communicate home care. Combined with a vanity number, both the industry and company name are incorporated into an ad. When space or air time is limited, blending the site and number is a speedy and succinct way to tell the customer exactly what Sheridan is all about, as well as offering two clear connection points for the customer to learn more. Another use case comes by way of our recent post on using vanity numbers as a call to action. If you use a lot of established advertising channels, like TV or radio spots, you're probably used to working within a 30-second window. That's fine, but it means you have to make the most of every marketing tool you have, to keep the ad as efficient as possible. In this scenario, most website URLs become quite ineffective. Even well branded URLs can become unwieldy with a www or .com to add, and anything beyond your home page is tough to integrate. Here's where other brand assets can be leveraged, alongside a vanity number to provide the unique call to action that only a telephone number can. Used in conjunction with a jingle, music, or catchy tag line, your custom number can quickly link up and tell people exactly how to get in touch with you. It reinforces the intangible assets that we discussed earlier, those that establish a general emotional pull or unconscious memory hook to your brand, with a concrete contact point that consumers immediately recognize. These are just two ways in which a more memorable number starts to work in tandem with your other marketing tools to build your brand. There are many, many more, but these should at least have you thinking along the lines Now, let's get practical about how you can start to channel them all into one concerted marketing push.

Bring Your Brand Assets Together

First, take the list that you prepared earlier (or make one now) of all your potential brand assets. You should also create a separate list of marketing channels that you currently use, or will use in the near future. With these two lists side by side, draw lines between the channels and the brand assets that you currently deploy on each to provide a memorable hook to your business. Flag any that have only one marketing tool in use, as these are the ones that you should develop as a priority. Consider which of your other assets are suitable As a guideline, it's often smart to combine one less tangible brand asset, such as a logo, mascot, symbol or jingle, with one that offers a clear call to action, like a vanity number, web address, or social media page. This helps to reinforce your brand in the minds of consumers subtly, while still providing an easy and obvious way for them to get in touch with your business. Use this simple technique as a way to identify those marketing initiatives that are making the most of the assets at your disposal, and those that could be enhanced by bringing complementary assets together. It also helps you to see which of your marketing tools aren't doing that much work, giving you a decision to make regarding their continued use or allocating your budget towards more effective tools. If you don't already have a vanity number, take a look around our extensive database now to see what style of number could slot into your campaigns. There really is no marketing channel that can't be improved with a memorable number, and the opportunities to build your brand by combining a vanity number with other assets are almost endless.