Digital branding is more than just a splashy logo and catchy tagline. A good, professional brand introduces and reinforces your core business values, culture, and reputation to the world. It’s a critical component of your business’s identity, both in terms of how your business presents itself to the general public and how your customers feel and react when engaging with your business in person and online.
Strong branding is rooted in good storytelling, professional authenticity, and cross-platform recognizability. Your customers should react and want to engage with your online digital brand just as much (if not more) as they do in person. Capitalizing on digital branding basics, technology, and trends is key to elevating your brand and attaining online success.
Digital Branding: A Basic Refresher
The best way to strategically set your business up for success is by sticking with a few basic digital branding best practices. The world of online marketing is vast enough to fill volumes of books with tutorials, knowledge, and tips, but by starting small and continually investing in the foundational elements of your digital branding approach, you can make a massive difference in your business’ online appeal in a short amount of time.
Digital Branding File Types
Selecting the right file type for your various digital branding components helps create consistency and a professional look across multiple online platforms. Each file type has its own benefits, drawbacks, and ideal use or formatting opportunities. A few of the most common digital branding file types include:
File Type: PNG
Pros: Transparency options, freedom to scale without losing quality, good for websites and social media graphics.
Cons: Large files can slow site speeds, best used for graphics and logos as opposed to photographs.
File Type: PDF
Pros: Easily viewed online without advanced software, responsive, scaleable, high-quality, translate well to printed material, easy to share and read.
Cons: Require Adobe software to edit.
File Type: JPEG or JPG
Pros: Small, quick to load, capable of robust color ranges, compatible with web browsers, great file choice for photos, social media images, and websites with white backgrounds.
Cons: No transparency options.
File Type: SVG
Pros: High-resolution, scalable, editable flexibility for all digital branding needs, won’t become pixelated, can enhance SEO strategies, can be animated.
Cons: Can require coding knowledge to unlock high-level features, sometimes don’t translate well to printed materials .
Digital Branding Application and Placement
Your digital branding, like your business values, culture, and reputation, needs to stay consistent across all online platforms. Customers should see your logo, color scheme, and tagline anywhere you have a digital presence, including websites, social media, email signatures, and online directories. Brand positioning requires strategy and repeated articulation for your target audience to keep you top of mind and set your business apart from the competition.
- Keep it Consistent – Maintain a consistent digital appearance by sticking with the same branded profile image, color scheme, and content tone for all online platforms.
- Keep it Professional – Stick with your niche when developing content and avoid injecting personal opinions into your posts, responses, and public-facing platforms.
- Keep it Competitive – Always emphasize the value your unique business brings to your customers, and don’t be afraid to evolve your approach as your business (and customer base) grows.
The Tech Effect: New Digital Branding Technologies
Emerging technology has a strong effect on digital branding. Less than 20 years ago, consumers were ordering Friday-night pizza from their landlines and choosing toppings based on a printed ad in the Sunday newspaper. Today more than 70% of Americans shop online, with 32% of digital shoppers purchasing directly from social media. The importance of staying tuned in to advancements in online technology gives business owners a competitive edge when prioritizing digital branding placement and improvement efforts.
Digital Branding Technologies to Watch
Pivoting your digital branding strategies to meet the ever-evolving demands of online audiences means making strategic use of emerging technologies to maximize impact and revenue. Today’s customers understand their individual value better than any other generation before, and they prioritize their dollars for businesses willing to provide convenience, customization, and branding creativity. These are just a few evolving technologies to consider when crafting your digital branding strategy:
Virtual Reality
From virtual home tours to digitally trying out furnishings, paint colors, and clothes, virtual technologies allow customers to experience your brand in person from the comfort of their own living room. Consumers love gaining access to products and testing them out before committing to buy. The unique, personalized convenience of virtual reality makes it a digital branding trend that should not go ignored.
Voice Search
Close to 1.5 billion Google users search by voice – and that number is expected to climb nearly 50% in the next 5 years. Ensure your business doesn’t miss out on this growing population of potential customers by keeping your digital branding language consistent, adding accessibility features to your content and website, and investing in solid SEO strategies. Speak in a language your audience can understand regardless of how they search for your products or services.
Accountability and Online Transparency
Today’s businesses are on full display thanks to the convenience and ever-present cameras we all carry in our pockets. A friendly, welcoming tagline can’t overshadow a misplaced, off-tone social media comment or business owner review response. As technology continues to create limitless connections across the globe, the importance of consistent digital branding, tone, and messaging earns top priority, especially in social channels. Off-brand content, images, and opinions can quickly derail even the most well-designed and widely-recognized logo.
Interactive Chatbots
Artificial intelligence (AI) technology is ramping up, with new digital branding and free marketing tools popping up in the form of interactive chatbots like ChatGPT. Chatbots enhance your brand by upholding customer service consistency, accessibility, and tone. Close to 42% of consumers use chatbots when purchasing online, making this emerging technology well worth the investment.
2023 Digital Branding Trends
New technologies and innovative customer interaction tools aren’t the only things influencing today’s digital branding strategies. Just as technology evolves to meet the changing needs of target markets, digital branding trends continually pivot to catch the eye of new customers while maintaining the attention of long-time, loyal audiences.
This year’s digital branding trends are all about vivid minimalism. Branding experts suggest capitalizing on the increasing popularity of straightforward imagery combined with Y2K hues and eye-catching colors.
Keep it Simple – 2023 digital branding trends favor simplified designs, from stripping away gradients in logos and packaging to choosing san serif typefaces over intricate script fonts.
Color Me Retro – Now is the perfect time to channel your inner 90’s and early 2000’s design style, with bold, retro color combinations topping 2023’s digital branding design charts.
Magenta Magic – Pantone’s 2023 Color of the Year is Viva Magenta 18-1750, a powerful, fearless hue designed to capture attention and wow target audiences worldwide
Weaving digital branding trends into your daily marketing efforts is easier than you may think with the experienced branding team at GreenCup Digital. We take your business strategy, target audience, and vision and combine them with the latest and greatest marketing technology to deliver exceptional digital branding strategies for every online platform. See our digital branding efforts in action by checking out our Instagram page and connecting with us here to learn more about a customized quote.
