Many businesses give a lot of thought to the visual components of their brand, but spend very little time considering their audio branding needs. Audio branding has numerous benefits that will only strengthen your visual efforts. Audio branding can help clarify your organization’s vision as well as encourage employees and customers make deeper connections with your brand. For example, imagine a MGM film without the lion’s roar or an Intel commercial without the short, electronic tune. Both of these audio components help make the brand memorable.
By choosing audio that helps capture the essence of your brand, you can help customers connect to the characteristics that you want to express. For instance, if your company produces yogurt packets that can be eaten without a spoon, your audio branding could capture the adventure, fun, and family-friendly nature of your product.
Incorporating a cohesive audio brand can give your organization a competitive advantage. Greeting customers with well-planned auto attendant greetings, on hold messaging, and voicemail recordings can enhance your company’s professional image. Your company could use this same audio branding to create audio tips in newsletters and podcasts for your website. All of these subtle cues help your customers connect to your company and associate certain music and sounds with your products and services.
If you’re ready to bring audio into your branding, consider these tips:
- Identify the key characteristics of your brand before deciding the music or voice that will represent your organization.
- Keep your audio simple, remember people can connect with your brand with only a few musical notes or a distinctive voice. The music and the message don’t have to be complicated.
- Identify where you can use audio to reach customers. Get creative! There are far more opportunities than you might initially think.
- Create an audio branding guide, just as you have for your visual components.
- Only use audio to enhance your brand. It’s not a filler – it has a purpose.
- Make sure your music and voice choices represent the image you want your brand to convey. Don’t make choices based on your personal preferences, ensure your selection will appeal to your customers.
- Consider hiring professionals for your voice and music needs. There are numerous services available at reasonable prices for this type of work. Remember, you can’t incorporate any audio (songs, voices, etc.) that you come across. Permission for use will most likely be needed or you’ll face stiff penalties (another reason to turn this portion over to the professionals!).
- Give thought to how your music and voice selections will be received by your target audiences (for example, consider the variety of cultures and genders).