Music, with its profound impact on human emotions, has the power to inspire and motivate.
It unites us, divides us and everything in between.
When used in connection with your business, it creates a solid emotional connection with your target market. The strategic use of music can make you, your brand, and your business more relatable and memorable.
Creating a memorable sound is an essential part of audio branding. Like visual branding, your sound should be distinctive, consistent, and aligned with your brand identity, piquing the curiosity of your audience.
But how do you do it?
Planning before you reach for the kazoo, recorder, or any other instrument is essential before you start making music.
Step 1 - Reflect on your Brand Personality
One crucial aspect of developing your sound is to deeply understand your company's personality and values. This understanding will guide you in creating a sound that resonates with your brand and connects emotionally with your audience.
To do so, it can often help to
Think of your company as a person with its own identity.
What is its history? How old is it? What would it wear? What does it like to watch on TV? How does it spend its time?
I imagine you had similar conversations when you defined your Brand Story.
Is your brand modern and hi-tech? Does it have open-plan offices with breakout rooms and glass walls? Or are you a red leather chair in a 300-year-old academic institution, surrounded by rows of old books?
Both look different and sound different.
Step 2 - Consider your Target Audience
As part of your business strategy, you market to a target audience often described as an ‘Ideal Client.’ Different types of Ideal Clients have different needs and expectations….and other styles of music resonate and connect with various groups of people.
By understanding your audience, you can create a sound that will appeal to them and strengthen their emotional connection, making them feel valued and considered.
Consider the preferences and tastes of your target audience. For instance, if your Ideal Client is from Generation X, they might not resonate with Grime-style music unless there's a specific brand reason for it. Understanding your audience's preferences will help you create a sound that appeals to them and strengthens their emotional connection.
Step 3 - How will it be used?
Using music as a strategic asset is essential to creating a cohesive and universal customer experience.
By developing an ‘Audio Universe’ for your company, you can ensure that the music and audio are consistent across all customer touchpoints. This audio universe can be used in advertisements, videos, phone prompts, podcasts, a YouTube channel, telephone On-Hold music, and in-store experiences.
Your brand sound should be consistent across all these touchpoints, as consistency helps reinforce your brand identity and makes it more memorable for your audience.
But the music or audio doesn’t have to be the same in each place. Using an Audio Universe allows for different pieces of music or audio to be created that the customer considers to be part of the same brand family.
Step 4 – Create, Test, and Iterate.
Now is the time to start creating music.
Developing an Audio Brand for your business is similar to growing your brand story, website, and company logo. You get creative and try various designs until you find one that resonates with your brand values and target audience.
It is the same for Audio Branding. As I say to many clients,
To change direction, you must be moving.
All legendary creative works started from a single idea developed following feedback from trusted friends and clients. So, take all the branding information you have collected through steps 1 – 3 and start creating and refining.
Remember, the process doesn't end with the creation of your sound. It's crucial to test and iterate your sound to ensure it reflects your company's position and resonates with your target audience. This refining process is key to creating a sound that truly represents your brand.
Once the audio branding has been launched, seek customer feedback to see how it is received. Importantly, monitor your sales growth to see if your returning customers have increased. This article explains how to evaluate the success of your audio brand.
In summary, there is a lot that goes into creating a memorable Audio Brand, but with the right planning and being prepared to test and iterate, your business could be as memorable as McDonald's whistling five notes.
If you would like to know more about Audio Branding or how music can help to develop your business, then please get in touch via our website at www.blacklabmusic.co.uk
I look forward to hearing from you.
Michael
Michael Coltham is a film and media Composer and audio wrangler who specialises in composing emotion through the medium of music. He runs Black Lab Music www.blacklabmusic.co.uk, which specialises in helping build emotional connections with audiences. He is a published Indie-classical/Neoclassical composer and artist. You can find his personal work at https://songwhip.com/michaelcoltham or www.michaelcoltham.com
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