Every interaction, in any form, is branding
- Seth Godin
As a former marketing student one of the first things I learnt was that branding goes way beyond logos and colors. And I cannot count how many times I've gone through brand components such as identity, image and reputation. It could actually get quite messy since there are so many ingredients in a successful branding recipe...
But one thing is for sure, as the marketing guru Seth Godin once stated; "Every interaction, in any form, is branding". Based on this, shouldn't your office, where employees spend most of their waking hours and where you invite visitors, be branded as well as your products? Of course! So, let's talk about the benefits with a branded office and how a seemingly trivial thing as digital conference room signs can bring value to your brand.
It is often said that proud employees are a company's most valuable asset, and I couldn't agree more. But, there are many factors that contribute to pride and motivation, where one of the crucial elements is participation. If employees feel that they are a part of the brand and the company culture, they can become real brand ambassadors! One part in achieving this is through reinforcing the company's attitudes and values and this is where the office spaces come in to the picture.
Besides employees, visitors' perception – image of your company, is also affected by what they see, hear or feel when visiting your company. As soon as a visitor enters the door, their experience and judgement of your brand starts immediately. What can you do then to brand your office? Here are three straightforward tips:
Boring walls? Use them to project company goals and values! Another very effective way of boosting motivation among employees is to use screens that display real-time dashboards. For example, at the Sales and Marketing Department, the dashboard can show ongoing and closed deals, social media engagement, website traffic etc. While the dashboard at the Customer Service Department can show the rate of solved or unsolved customer complaints. This is a way to help employees work in the right direction and to make, sometimes abstract goals, concrete.
Colors is a powerful tool when it comes to branding since they affect people on a subliminal level. Don't limit yourself to the walls! Things like furniture, coffee cups and mousepads can be branded in your colors as well (don't go overboard though...). If you're using digital meeting room signs from Meetio, the digital signage can be customized to fit your company profile – reminding employees what they're part of and give visitors a sense of place.
You know the feeling of being lost at a place you haven't been to before? It could make you feel stressed and insecure. Not the type of feelings you want your brand to be associated with, huh? Therefore you have to help your visitors to navigate. But far from all companies have a receptionist that can tell visitors where to go for their meeting.
Meetio has developed a solution to this called Meetio View, a digital room finder that informs your visitors which room that's booked for their meeting and when the meeting starts. Now that the visitor knows which room to go to, he or she can just look for the room name on the room signs outside the meeting rooms.
Read the case study with Malmö FF here.