Verbal Identity: Your brand's in a conversation with consumers (Whether you like it or not)

www.verbalidentity.co.uk

e: yowesty <at> verbalidentity.co.uk t: @yowesty

Right now, your brand is in a conversation with consumers.

Whether you like it or not.

http://www.verbalidentity.co.uk/



mailto:[email protected]





Just standing around in a conversation isn’t attractive.

You need to be interesting.









“I’m not interested in what your marketing department thinks of the brand, I’m interested in what real people think of your brand.”

(Harvard Business Review, Dec ’10,took 1790 more words to say this than me.)









Tip:

Adopting the voice of g*d does not work in Social Media. (Extra tip: or in any conversation.)









Brands need to adapt their voice for Social Media spaces.

Because it’s a dialogue, in a shared space. And your consumers got there first.







Different layers, different media. Different media, different messages.



Different levels of engagement, different media.

Different media, different messaging.









A brand’s Verbal Identity is a competitive tool.









Half of a brand’s Verbal Identity in Social Media:what the brand can say, and when, and to whom.

And, yes, how, it can say it.









The other half of a brand’s Verbal Identity in Social Media?The values of the consumers in that space, at that time.

Their expectations of the brand’s values,and the way it reacts to them.









The only HBR case study I’ve ever enjoyed...

HBR Dec 2010: Forget the funnel analogy for marketing.Pre-purchase, brands are deleted/included as a result of ongoing SM research by the consumer.Post-purchase, the consumer repays the debt to SM, amplifying the good/bad purchase experience.









How do you build a Verbal Identity for a brand in Social Media?

1. Listen2. Here comes the science bit: Discourse Analysis3. Produce the ‘pyramids of engagement’4. Write it, revise it, try it. 5. Only then codify it.









The 7 elements of a brand’s Verbal Identity in Social Media:

1. The brand in six words or less2. The consumer layer in six words or less3. How the brand wants to change the world4. Tone of voice document5. The different media, the different flavours6. Time: 1 month – 3 months. You can’t have it tomorrow.









Who is Chris West anyway?

1. 10 years as an award-winning copywriter in London ad agencies, including Saatchi (Conservative Party, BA); BBH (Levi’s, Audi), Legas Delaney (adidas, Guardian,) and finally Mother (a small shop of 8 people that grew...)

2. Since 2000, running a project-based ad agency with clients including Sky, Unilever, Selfridges, Myla, BP, Kaupthing, Harry Winston, Tourneau.

3. He can write (Sunday Times, Lusso – Contributing Editor)4. He can be reached on yowesty <at> verbalidentity.co.uk

& of course: @VerbID on Twitter.







Verbal Identity: Your brand's in a conversation with consumers (Whether you like it or not)

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