Our Proven 7-Step Branding Process

BlackWing has helped both Fortune 500 companies, as well as midsized organizations, bring new and reimagined B2B brands to market with staggering success. As you well know, any companywide effort that requires significant change can seem daunting or, at times, even impossible without expert consultation. BlackWing has spent more than 20 years helping companies produce, embrace and activate industry-leading brands that drive impressive results.

Here’s an abbreviated summary of the proven, 7-step process BlackWing would use to help your organization develop a world-class brand.

Step 1 — Immersion.

We will conduct a brand audit to understand your organization’s DNA — your mission; your vision; your values; your culture; your past, present and future plans; your current challenges; and your current brand communication system.

Why this matters: Without a thorough understanding of your company, including internal beliefs, opinions, goals and interpersonal relationships among key stakeholders/business units, any branding effort is doomed from the start.

Step 2 — Opposition Research.

We will evaluate your key competitors’ positioning and brand communication systems. This includes each competitor’s value proposition, key differentiators and brand visual platform/elements.

Why this matters: There’s nothing worse than rebranding your entire company and then having an employee or partner say, “That looks/sounds just like [insert competitor name].”

Step 3 — Insight Mining.

We will develop a strategic conversation guide and then interview a range of audiences, including key stakeholders within your organization, customers and potential customers (organizations that did not choose you). These interviews will be recorded, transcribed and analyzed in Step 4.

Why this matters: If stakeholders from key regions/divisions are not given a chance to be heard, the new brand will not be embraced. Gathering insights and opinions from a wide range of sources paints a more accurate picture in terms of a company’s true strengths and advantages. What’s more, pulling honest, unfiltered input out of key audiences takes experienced, completely agnostic interviewers who know how to uncover meaningful truths.

When companies attempt to complete Step 3 on their own, they almost always end up eating their own dog food. People tend to say what they think they’re supposed to say. Or they hold back honest opinions. Or certain stakeholders dominate conversations. Or the really gnarly and uncomfortable questions never get asked — or answered. Or all of the above.

Step 4 — Consensus Crucible.

Helping strong personalities and different company divisions reach agreements isn’t easy. We have a tried-and-true method for gaining consensus. First, we leverage our vast experience in B2B branding to synthesize all data and insights from Steps 1-3, and then we present our findings in a one-day (or half-day) collaboration workshop. This workshop includes key discoveries, opportunities and recommendations for discussion. We do not leave the workshop until there is an agreed-upon strategic brief that will guide brand positioning, messaging and visual platform development.

Why this matters: Nothing derails branding efforts faster or results in more wasted work than a lack of agreement. The Consensus Crucible Workshop is a forcing function that literally puts everyone on the same page. Our Consensus Crucible formula for reaching agreements leads decision-makers down a very logical path based on evidence, insights and opportunities.

Step 5 — The Story.

We will craft a positioning statement that carves out the place your organization owns in the market relative to your competition. We will then develop the additional elements that go into a complete brand message house — elevator pitch, key differentiation pillars, company values, etc. Once the base message house is finalized, we will version and expand messaging for specific business divisions, audiences and personas.

Why this matters: Successful brands have a story that is clear, valued, sustainable, credible and unique. The right messaging matters when it comes to owning your market and helping every employee communicate with consistency and conviction. No matter how visually stunning your brand is, if you’re inconsistent with your communications, you’re building confusion instead of brand equity.

At BlackWing, we counsel and push our clients to be big at something. Be bold. Don’t hold back on owning your place in the market. Ensuring that this happens takes strong leadership and one person or a handful of people willing to make tough decisions. Companies that try to address every opinion whittle themselves away to nothing and end up in a place that we call the mushy middle. And companies that try to say everything end up saying nothing interesting at all. At BlackWing, we help companies avoid these pitfalls.

Step 6 — Brand Visualization.

We will translate your compelling new story into an equally unique and memorable visual platform. This platform will include all elements necessary to inform every type of brand communication, from email signatures to digital properties (websites) and everything in between. Very detailed instructions on applying the visual platform will be provided in an extensive brand guide.

Why this matters: 90% of information that comes to the human brain is visual. And visuals are stored in long-term memory. Providing rigor and rules around consistently powerful visual communication is critical to building and maintaining brand awareness.

Step 7 — Energized Enablement.

Your new brand will be a rallying cry for your entire organization. To “activate” and help every employee enthusiastically embrace your new brand, we will develop a celebratory launch plan. To help every employee understand how to use the new brand, we will create the thorough brand guide we just mentioned in Step 6. The guide will provide instructions, templates, creative assets and examples that employees can use to extend the new brand into everything they do.

Why this matters: People are ruled by their emotions. And emotions are contagious. When leadership teams enthusiastically celebrate the birth or rebirth of a company’s brand, employees join in and more eagerly embrace using new communication tools, templates and systems. At BlackWing, we’ve helped companies develop brands that are so powerful that they’re now integrated with employee evaluation metrics, customer-service-level agreements and even shareholder communications.