Have you ever taken an English Springer Spaniel for a walk? They hunt about, quartering the ground, following their noses down trails and truffling in the undergrowth to track down whatever it is that has seized their attention. And they come back wet, covered in mud and burrs, but triumphant with the excitement of the find.
I spend at least part of every day taking an extended walk through corporate websites. I’m looking to see how well they communicate with their intended audiences, so I hunt about, covering all the ground and following interesting trails. And, just like my springer, I’m also delighted when I find something unusual or particularly pleasing… though I do tend not to get muddy.
Our focus here at Corporate Eye is the corporate website, and how best to use it to support your corporate brand – and, just as important, how to avoid the risk of damaging the brand.
We know that it is a complex task, with a lot to consider. After all, we have over 1000 criteria we use to assess a big corporate website, never mind the work we do to help clients select the right software and agencies.
So it is always fascinating to go to one of the Communicate or Transform conferences on this topic: they bring together a mix of expert speakers, including those with front-line experience of making corporate branding work, and those with deep expertise in related areas.
Since we have a particular interest in employer branding at the moment, the mix of speakers at the Transform Europe conference looks great; among others, it includes people responsible for employer brand for EDF Energy and IHG, and also includes experts in sensory marketing, audio branding and experiential branding.
Fascinating… a corporate website may rely heavily on vision, at the moment, but there is usually some audio available. Sensory branding may be mostly intended for retail, but it will be very interesting to see how it might be applicable to the corporate website.
I suspect, though, that olfactory branding on a corporate website is going to be a long way off. It’s going to have to be a virtual scent trail for me still…
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Find out more about the Transform Europe conference on 21 April
Check out the shortlist for the Awards too.
Lucy is Editor at Corporate Eye
