When a business grows quickly, things evolve fast. Company leaders find they are always busy, managing constant change, setting strategic goals and refining their vision of where they want the business to go, all while maintaining a strong culture that will help retain top talent. Consistent communications might not be the first thing on their radar, but they’re critically important to the continued healthy growth of the business.
During periods of rapid growth, it’s important for a company’s messaging to stay on-brand. Here, 15 members of Forbes Agency Council explore different ways for fast-growing companies to maintain continuity in all communications and remain recognizable to (and trusted by) current and potential customers alike.
Forbes Agency Council members share ways for a business to stay on-brand during stages of rapid growth.
Photos courtesy of the individual members.1. Reinforce How Your Values Should Be Reflected
Culture is a hugely underrated factor influencing communications, especially as your agency grows. It’s vital that your values are clear, concise and reflected by all. In order to remain in control of an evolving brand, constantly reinforce how your values should be reflected in creative work and outline strong guardrails for review. - Chris Martin, FlexMR
2. Repeat Your Vision In All Team Communications
In all communications with team members—on calls, in memos, in emails and so forth—leaders should not be afraid to repeat their vision for the company and brand. Keeping up a high frequency of messaging is the best way to ensure your team remembers your company brand and builds it into their daily communications. - James Ross, Hype Partners
3. Hold Summits With Marketing Vendors And Partners
Companies should invest in regular marketing vendor or partner summits where company leaders share goals, initiatives and learnings so that all partners are on the same page. In a fast-paced environment, it’s easy for vendors to work in silos that can result in duplicative efforts or work that deviates from new goals. These summits ensure all marketing efforts work together toward the same goals. - Donna Robinson, Collective Measures
4. Manage Your Brand Story Through Definition And Expression
Brands should be managed in two different ways: through definition and expression. First, define your brand through lenses such as reasons to believe, purpose and mission, then share the definition and brand story with staff members who express it via external touch points. And—this is important as you scale up!—reshare it with new hires. Second, a manager or CMO should monitor brand expression on an ongoing basis. Stay focused! - John Dutton, Camden Advertising
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5. Make Sure You Have Your Branding Nailed Down
When you are in a period of rapid growth, it is critical to make sure that you have your branding nailed down, and a big part of that is ensuring that you have the right colors, logos and more on all your assets. Also, having official copy means that the entire team will be on board with what you are trying to share and always use the official copy. - Jon James, Ignited Results
6. Create A Detailed ‘Brand Bible’ For Communications
With the help of communications experts, create a detailed “brand bible” for all visual and verbal communication elements that you associate with the brand. Align the bible to your vision and mission, and distribute this brand communication bible to every stakeholder in your organization, asking them to consider this the Holy Grail for achieving uniformity in all communications across the board. - Candice Georgiadis, Digital Day
7. Establish Core Values, A Mission Statement And Brand Guides
This is where it is important to have a set of core company values, a mission statement and brand guides established. While your company grows, these brand “touch points” can be common threads of reference for both internal and external teams. If there is ever a dispute, these articles can be referred to: “Does this message adhere to our values? Is this ad creative aligned with our mission?” - Bernard May, National Positions
8. Be Prepared To Pivot As Needed To Maintain Consistency
Keep an open mind about change, and leave space in your plan for pivoting. Rapid growth means that things are constantly evolving—which can be good and bad news for your brand identity. Be prepared to make changes as needed in order to maintain consistency across all channels. - Evan Nison, NisonCo
9. Create An ‘On-Brand One-Pager’ For Company Leaders
Create a simple, one-page document for company leaders that clearly outlines what to say and, more importantly, what not to say. This way, as they are interviewed or attend events, they can easily refer to the “on-brand one-pager.” Once a quarter, add any new key messaging to the top of this document and conduct a quick media training session to ensure company leaders are updated on it. - Azadeh Williams, AZK Media
10. Create And Share Branding Guidelines With All Departments
Many companies avoid this step, but you definitely need to develop your brand voice to avoid inconsistencies. Create branding guidelines in which you specify all of the details—your mission, vision and values; your tone; your design specs; and so on. Once you have it documented, share it across all the departments in your organization. - Solomon Thimothy, OneIMS
11. Continually Reiterate Your Brand And Messaging
Reiterating your brand and messaging is critical. Talking about the company’s values and vision once will likely not do much; instead, businesses should continually talk about the vision and the steps they’re taking to reach that vision. If employees have a firm understanding of those concepts, then communications will align better. - Jonathan Franchell, Ironpaper
12. Organize Branding Guidelines In A Shared Team Folder
Organization is key to consistent branding during a stage of rapid growth. It’s crucial that you document your branding guidelines to maintain this consistency, including details such as your color palette, fonts and company voice. These branding guidelines should be stored in a shared team folder along with assets such as your logo, product images and other elements that are pertinent to your branding. - Adam Binder, Creative Click Media
13. Create An Easy-To-Follow Formula For New Employees
Managers need to have a firm grasp of the brand’s voice and tone. Then, assign key managers to create a checklist or guide for new employees. A company can only grow rapidly without missing a beat by creating an easy-to-follow formula that the team can reference. Sending exercises that help the team practice their communication and understanding of the company’s brand is helpful! - Alex Valencia, We Do Web
14. Develop A Brief ‘Messaging Architecture’ Document
I recommend developing a “messaging architecture,” which is a two- to three-page document that clearly articulates the core message of an organization and brings to life the most important value propositions offered to a target audience. The messaging architecture should be created in partnership with the organization’s key decision makers so that you are not relitigating the messaging with each piece of communication. - Nathan Miller, Miller Ink, Inc.
15. Set Clear Rules For Visuals And Messaging
Brand consistency is critical for a fast-growing company to continue building brand equity. Setting brand guidelines with clear rules for visuals and messaging is a vital first step toward establishing brand consistency. Organizing brand assets to be accessible to your teams also helps keep your brand consistent across all channels. - Yan Zhang, XYZ Advantage
