We interviewed Olesya Yemets, a brand manager at Israel IT. Talked about how to create a brand, what is PR, what impact does marketing have on the brand and why is branding expensive? Let’s get started!

Перш за все маю просте і в одночас складне запитання. Що таке бренд? 

I really like Marty Neumeier’s definition. The brand is the customer’s sixth sense of your product or service.

Essentially, a brand is communication. As a brand, we convey certain moral principles of the company, our mission, we have a certain character, tone of voice. We also communicate our corporate visual concept, which is mega-important.

I like to compare the brand to the Christian concept of the soul. It was with the help of such a comparison that I was able to explain to my grandmother who I work 🙂

Що означає комунікуємо? І як ми це робимо?

We communicate – it means we broadcast in the media space, or in the offline environment, the initial messages that are formed on the basis of the principles and needs of the brand. For this, we use many tools – PR, SMM, content marketing, sometimes targeted advertising, design. This is briefly.

Давай трохи глибше розкриємо тему PR в рамках бренд маркетингу. В чому полягає завдання PR спеціаліста в IT компанії? Які перешкоди на шляху? Та чому так дорого? 🙂 

As in any other company, a PR specialist has the task of building relationships between the company and the external environment. Such relationships are forged through close work with the media.

A PR specialist knows which news feeds can be covered on which platforms, where it is better to publish an article, with whom it is profitable to create a special project, where an event for high-quality networking will take place.

In general, everyone who would like to engage in PR should understand that, first of all, you are a brand ambassador for whom you create close ties with the media. How the journalists accept you, what opinion they will make of you affects the perception of the brand. This is a great responsibility.

Obstacles? None, you just take it and do it.

Але якщо серйозно, то це така діяльність яку дуже важко вести чітко по плану. Особливо під час пандемії, коли багато зйомок, записів подкастів або публікацій зриваються через те, що хтось з учасників захворів. Через відкладення утворюються накладки в розкладі. Також перешкодою у великих компаніях може бути бюрократія.Часто стається, що тобі в руки потрапляє якась дуже крута можливість, наприклад, стати спонсором події, і рішення потрібно прийняти вже зараз, за декілька годин. Але тобі потрібно затвердити бюджет, скласти правильний лист і відправити його, дочекатись відповіді… і час вже сплив.  

Why so expensive? Publishing is really not a cheap pleasure. Usually, the work of a PR specialist is associated with constant requests to expand the budget 🙂

But there is a very good explanation: it is so expensive because human consciousness is not cheap. The media don’t just publish texts, they shape thoughts.

З PR все ясно. Давай поговоримо про дизайн. На якому етапі він потрібен Бренд менеджеру?

From the very beginning of the brand creation. Brand identity is one of the key points of brand communication. We can broadcast a lot of smart and incredibly important messages in the media space, but if all this is not united by one visual concept, we have problems – no one will remember that all these incredible things were said by us.

Therefore, yes, the brand manager really needs a design, preferably with a designer 🙂

But at the stage of creating a brand identity, of course, everything does not end there. Probably the most voluminous and funniest thing is the creation of visual content. And when I say “visual content” I mean literally everything: from banal presentations of info-reasons to commercials using animated graphic elements, even AR masks.

Як створюється бренд? 

It all starts with a briefing. The client has an idea and you need to take as much information from him/her as possible. The essence of the briefing is to provide an opportunity to formulate a brand passport.

A brand passport is a document that describes the character of the brand, its mission, vision, principles, important communication points, important points on the use of identity, and more. Depending on the size of the company and its strategic goals, the brand passport may have different items.

After the passport is formed, you can start the communication strategy.

It is important to decide on the channels of communication, to understand with whom we communicate and how; what kind of content we will submit, and with what frequency.

Communication channels can be social networks, sites for guest posting, media, website, instant messengers, webinars, etc.

In parallel with the communication strategy, a marketing strategy is usually developed. This is followed by the development of commercials, slogans for them, jingles, and the like.

It is very important to consider the identity and communication strategy for creating commercials. So that commercials, the purpose of which is to collect more money, do not interfere with the positive perception of the brand from the user.

Of course, if this is not supposed by the conception.

In turn, the marketing strategy sets specific goals and this forms the field for the brand for creative tasks.

When all the strategies are approved, the budgets are drawn up, there is an action plan and a media plan, the real birth of the brand begins.

Work on texts, visual content, all those channels that the communication strategy describes, publications in the media, creative projects, events, and a lot of other interesting things. Here is the answer to the question “How to create a brand”.

Який вплив на бренди мають соціальні мережі?

Colossal. It is a very powerful tool now. A brand can rise very quickly and high on social networks, but by taking the wrong step, it will get hit by a wave of hate and never come to its senses. Such situations happen.

Brands really need social media, there are people who are ready to love the brand. People’s love is what brands need. Brands definitely need to have pages there.

But now there are so many of them on any social network. The environment is incredibly saturated with competitors. Therefore, just making a page is not enough for a long time. This is the difference between “doing business” and “how to create a brand”.

You don’t just need to create a picture that you are cool, you need to be cool. And then a little more money for targeted advertising and everything will be great :)

А що скажеш про особисті бренди? Яким професіоналам вони потрібні? 

Having a well-promoted personal brand is very cool. This adds value to the specialist.

Many people are skeptical about this, but in fact, in the real world, a popular specialist is more likely to be noticed by a cool company and more likely to receive a high salary.

However, sometimes it can be unprofitable to pursue a personal brand. This requires an incredible investment of time. Therefore, sometimes it is more rational to use time for something that brings money now, and not in the future.

It all depends on the goals of the person.

Що найбільше драйвить в роботі бренд менеджера?

Personally, I do like working with concepts.

And it’s very cool when you don’t have to stamp projects using templates, but you have the opportunity to create a unique brand concept every time. For which I am very grateful to my company.

The more tools you possess, the more elements your concept can contain. The more tools – the more possible options for uniqueness :)

It’s just space, not a profession.

It’s even cooler when you are not alone when there is a team where everyone exchange knowledge, insure each other in case of difficulties. Strong brands are born in such teams.

Join Israel IT

If you are looking for your dream team, then go to the vacancy page Israel IT, leave your resume and join our team!