Not Just Products, We Build Brands | Digicorp

Table of Contents

Introduction

While great products are necessary to build enduring brands, branding is so much more than that. Google, Amazon, LinkedIn, and Udemy are all examples of incredible products and brands that are always at the top of our minds that have created great brand stories.

What goes into the making of successful tech-brands? In this post, we have zeroed in on the top 3 rules for successful branding of tech-products.

Let’s dive in.

Rule 1: Tell Your Brand Story Right

The human brain understands and remembers information in a story form much better than in any other form. The products that you remember, use, and relate with the most are the ones whose stories you believe in.

But what exactly is a brand story?

Think about your favorite book, film, or TV show.

You will see that a great story typically starts with an overview of the current scenario, and then presents a challenge/problem/goal that you care about. Finally, it unfolds the actual plot that revolves around how the challenge/problem was solved (or how the goal was achieved).

This, in a nutshell, is what your brand story should look like:

1. How are your customers currently fulfilling a need?

Start by talking about a need that your customers actually care about. About 5% of your brand story should be dedicated to presenting an overview of the current solutions for meeting the need that you have identified. Remember that your audience will already be familiar with much of the information that you will present at this stage.

2.What are the problems/challenges with the current solution?

This section needs to be short, yet emphatic. Research your customers’ problems well and articulate them with precision and empathy. A good problem statement resonates with your audience and makes them eager to find a solution (which you will provide in the next section). Restrict the content here to 10-15% of your brand story.

3. How are you helping your end-customers to attain their end-goal?

This section makes your product stand out from the crowd. Make the unique features & benefits understandable and memorable. Combine text and visuals for maximum effect. Remember – in branding, you sell the story and not the product!

Case Study: “MePreg” by Project Alive and Kicking

Project Alive & Kicking is a leading nonprofit in the U.S. whose vision is to prevent stillbirths by helping expectant mothers manage their pregnancy from conception to delivery. They approached us to build MePreg – an interactive personal assistant for pregnant women.

We built the product from scratch & crafted its brand-story as an innovative, all-in-one mobile app with features like:

Browsing the latest pregnancy information,
Capturing daily bump photos
Scheduling appointments, and
Tracking their baby’s daily movements.

MePreg has become a leading brand in the U.S. with hundreds of installations on Google Play Store, a 5-star rating in the Apple Store, and a 4.7-star rating in the Google Play Store.

Read the full story here.

Rule 2: Use the Lean Branding Framework to create a brand story

When it comes to building products, we adopt lean-agile methodologies and iterative development to ensure product-market fit and minimize the costs and turn-around time. Similarly, when it comes to branding of technology products, we streamline the diverse aspects by deploying the Lean Branding Framework, as depicted in the picture below.

Elements of Lean Branding Framework:

Branding is vast and multi-faceted and doesn’t work unless all the pieces are perfected and seamlessly stitched together. Keeping the process lean, clean, and dynamic is key, and we, at Digicorp, pay special attention to this.

Story: Establish your brand identity by identifying a meaningful brand name, positioning statement, brand promise, and brand personality. Then, match these with the user persona to create a storyboard that attracts, engages, and captivates.
Symbols: Visualize your brand’s storyboard through a conceptual logo, color palette, and font, and typography, as well as other brand visuals and imagery.
Strategy: The final element of the framework is the go-to-market strategy of the brand to create brand awareness, sales processes, delivery experiences, and post-delivery engagement.

Case Study: Tech Tommie

In 2017, Digicorp was approached by an entrepreneur who wanted to make everyday technologies like smartphones and laptops easy to use for the elderly.

Our branding experts and designers first sketched out the visual of the mascot by assigning the identity of a spectacled teenage girl with whom the users can easily associate. The brand identity was further strengthened by adding further attributes like language, messaging, voice tone, and timbre.

For example, the voice was a critical aspect to be tackled for various app features like ‘Talk to Tommie’ and ‘Ask a Question’ to work well and carry the brand appeal. We edited Siri’s voice to obtain the right pitch and timbre to obtain the perfect voice for TechTommie. We also adopted millennial lingo, commonly used words by teens, and common voice gestures used by them to emote and communicate. In fact, the name ‘Tommie’ was chosen because of its strong association with children’s names.

Read the full story here.

Rule 3: Align Your Branding Strategy with Your Customers’ Journey

When it comes to technology products, the three key stages in the customers’ journey are Invite, Engage, and Connect.

Digicorp to re-create the above image internally. Content for image: Invite – Create brand awareness, Engage – Get users to purchase & experience the product offerings. Connect – Create a powerful emotional bond with customers.

At the Invite stage, your product branding should focus on creating awareness around the brand without pushing too hard on actual sales. A good example of this is freemium models used by e-Learning platforms like Udemy, Coursera, and edX which use free courses as a means of creating initial awareness and product trials.

When customers progress to the Engage stage, the branding evolves to differentiation-based messaging and the focus is on getting them to pay for the product offerings. An example of this is Amazon’s deep-discount approach to creating a brand perception of cost-advantage that pushes people to their e-Commerce platform.

In the final stage, Connect-led brand messaging takes place that goes beyond sales and transactional communication and seeks to create a deeper bond with the customers through powerful emotional branding. Google’s doodle campaigns, for example, are a bold and clever way to deepen a sense of belongingness with the existing users of the search engine. Another example is Apple, a leading technology brand that is known for having cult-following among its users due to its niche positioning and user connect.

Conclusion

To remain relevant in a fast-changing market, evolving and enhancing your brand is indispensable. Brands are not static, they change and grow, and hence, while choosing your product development partner, it is crucial to choose agencies with a technical edge as well as a deep understanding of branding of tech-products. We, at Digicorp, have spent the last 17+ years building innovative products that have gone on to become renowned brands. To know more about our projects, please visit Digicorp