How can I Improve my business brand?

Are you trying to promote a product or a service? If you really think about it, everyone is either selling or promoting something, whether it’s a slice of paradise in the Mediterranean Sea or a Miami Dolphin's baseball cap. If you are marketing and promoting your business or service, then chances are you are developing a brand identity.

The first thing you think of when you think of your brand identity might be your logo. But your logo is just one part of your brand identity. Your brand encompasses a range of items, including anything and everything that differentiates you from your competition. Copy tone. Graphic style. Colors. Images. It's what people perceive you, your product, service, person or company to be. So how do you protect your brand?

Think of the money spent to develop and maintain a brand – to develop the original logo, the ads, the point of purchase materials, the television campaigns, the product photography…and on and on. All of this “stuff” is actually your company’s brand identify, which equates to your company’s digital assets, which in a nutshell is your intellectual property. And what are you doing to protect it?

Many companies, will say, “I keep it on my server and whenever I want it I can just go and search and get it.” But in reality, it's never quite that easy. Most of the time, you are searching through several listings of folders and files. Often, digital assets are kept in multiple locations – on site, at your ad agency, at the printer, etc. And often, there are multiple versions. How can you be sure you’re accessing the most current file? When you do find the right file, maybe you have the right software to actually open the file or maybe not. For example, the ad agency that you use sent the file in a format that requires special software and now you have to call them to resend the file in a format that you can view and then you have to send both formats to the printer. And darn, it's not quite right, you've sent a logo file that is for the web and not for print-- and not only that, the other graphic files that went with it could not be sent via email. Now, you have to use their FTP site. My, this is starting to get a bit complicated.

The ugly truth? Shared drives, individual drives and FTP servers are all black holes, where your marketing assets, digital assets, brand identity and--don't forget--your intellectual property, go to die.

If you aren't using a true central repository where employees in offices across the hall and around the world, as well as your ad agencies, your graphic designers, your copywriter, your printer and maybe even your boss can easily access those digital assets …then you don't have an effective digital asset management solution.

Many companies use HubCentrix’s virtual desktop to safeguard their brand . This web-based software allows them to have their digital assets at their fingertips. Not only for the internal marketing department but to all of the members of the team. The company keeps complete control of all of their digital files therefore complete control of the brand. The users credit HubCentrix with huge savings in time and it helps them make money by keeping their brand fresh. You can see how HubCentrix works by visiting their site at http://www.hubcentrix.com.


But in the meantime, here are three things you must do to improve your brand:

- Keep your digital images accessible
- Have all of your logo formats in one place
- Have the ability to distribute your digital assets easily


We would love to hear from you. Tell us your story. How are you managing your brand?