Branding Information Technology

What is branding

The term "brand" is often misused to describe a company's reputation, mission or core competencies. Instead, your brand's unique value proposition you offer to your customers. It is used to promote the value generated by IT functions, effective branding campaign can help mold the user perception of your department, its services, and all the initiatives undertaken.

Action Plan

is a traditional brand building marketing initiatives. However, many of the same concepts that apply when marketing your company's products or services from outside also apply when you are promoting your internal IT department. Use the following tips to help you communicate your brand value of the department from the rest of the organization:

1 Start with the alignment. Align IT initiatives with strategic business goals is a precursor to effectively brand your department. If you are not aligned, then no matter how you spin it, business users will be able to see right through her ​​"quite a package."

2 Assigning a brand manager. It may not be a formal position, but you have a social, value-driven individual in your department (this could be you) to monitor the perception of IT within the company and develop strategies to promote the value of IT.

3 Identify your target audience. Understanding your audience, their worries, their wishes can greatly improve your brand efforts. Take some time to explore the user to identify the differences between the way IT views and how it looked. What is the perceived value of IT within the organization (eg, the current image )?

4 Define the value proposition. The structure of the value they create for the organization, and decide on what the perception and image that you want to change. If you do not work to build a strong brand (and implement practices that support it), employees within a company can develop its own, less than favorable view of what it is all about. At worst, the risk is seen as expensive goods, or a necessary evil, rather than as a strategic differentiator.

5 Measure your success. Can use metrics to track and highlight the value of IT. Measures of success may include satisfaction surveys, measurements of productivity, reduced downtime, improved efficiency of help desk, or quantitative analysis of the index, such as ROI, TCO, payback, etc. The monitoring data that will improve your image. For example, if viewed as a cost center, use the ROI and economic value added measure to illustrate how it has contributed to the bottom line.

6 Communication at the executive level. Actively promote the success of IT with business leaders. Use the meetings of the Executive Committee as a forum for the promotion of IT value and transfer the benefits in terms of achieving specific business objectives. Focus on what is important to executives and put together a presentation that relates to their needs.

7 Use the brand campaign for a major project launches. Your users are bombarded suppliers campaign on the Internet and in trade publications. These campaigns often set unrealistic expectations and make an idealistic promises. Manage your own expectations and facilitate change management by building brand management in their projects. For example, if you are going to be a major ERP project, to wrap brand and communications campaigns. Without getting too techie, an overview of work that is done to improve processes, and then advertise the benefits to users.

8 Held. This is the key to success in the course of their brand image. If you are positioning your department or individual projects in a certain light, then be prepared to fulfill their promises. Failing to do so will undermine your credibility. If you are engaged in activities that do not create value, to be strong enough to admit their mistakes and identify new ways to improve your business goals.

9 Give away free samples. In the IT world, this means the pilot projects involving end-users. In the same way as free samples are used to fight marketers skeptical buyers, pilot projects can be used by an IT department to help communicate the benefits of new investments and help build a positive image for the project.

10 Treat your employees well. IT staff members are ambassadors of your department within the company.

If you are dissatisfied, then they are more likely to appeal to fellow colleagues and to work against the positive image you are trying to convey. Complaining employees are also less likely to provide internal users with friendly and helpful customer service support.

In summary

be the best at what is often not enough. In many cases, it is necessary to communicate the value you've created. Market and brand your internal IT department, so that others in the organization are aware of the value of your team generates.