Sonic Branding
The Business of Sonic Branding — What Everybody Should Know
Women in Voice Mentorship Team, Sonic Sound Byte Series Part 4
Audrey Arbeeny, the Founder/ CEO/Executive Producer at Audiobrain, is a pioneer, the original woman in voice, and Emmy award-winning global leader in Sonic Branding and Interactive Audio.
We’d highly encourage you to view the links at the end of this article for Audrey’s amazing 15-minute video presentation and to read the other three articles in our four-part Sonic Sound Bytes Series featuring experts in the field of Sonic Branding.
“Sonic branding is defined as the art and science of strategically and creatively crafting an essential narrative for a brand that is authentic, communicates the brand’s attributes and leverages it across the brand for a unified and clear communication.”
- Audrey Arbeeny
Sonic branding is being pushed to the forefront by two complementary forces: technological innovations such as multimodal or smart devices on the one hand, and the online captive audience fostered by the pandemic on the other. In both cases, having a strong sonic brand creates the one-two punch needed to fill the inherent emotional void and to create more meaning in a virtual world.
While sonic branding is not anything new, the digital environment has changed to give it the proper recognition that it finally deserves. It has become the new business card and along with that honor comes both opportunity and pitfalls, especially while navigating the business landscape.
Read on to learn how even a small brand can make a big footprint in Voice.
The ROI of Sonic Branding
The return on investment (ROI) that comes with the alignment of sound, music, and voice with your brand’s persona and company’s overall mission is nothing short of magic. A small company or brand can look big, and a bigger company can look even larger. Why? Because a sonic brand backs the creation of something that is broad-reaching, genuine, infinite, and ownable in one-fell -swoop.
The payoff becomes even more apparent when creating a unified sonic experience across all platforms. Once the upfront strategizing is complete, it can be repeated multiple times across products, campaigns, and environments; Web, Apps, Products, TV, Radio, Webinars, Video, Social.
You also have the advantage of being able to quickly duplicate, translate, and distribute text into multiple languages and to other countries to create a seamless global brand. A good example of this is an audiobook’s worldwide distribution or an ad campaign done for a sporting event trying to capture a global audience.
Start Smart, Build a Foundation
The touchpoints for sonic branding are endless and everywhere. It’s an easy way for your company to differentiate itself from the noise. Brands and companies large and small can increase awareness and trust at all levels from prospects to customers, employees to prospective employees in order to create a sense of community.
A simple cost-effective way to start is with a sonic logo or a jingle. This is used primarily for advertisements and can be readily expanded to include music-on-hold, ringtones, room warming or walk-on music, video and podcast bookends, transaction or call to action (CTA) notifications, in-house employee communications, and your unthinkable ideas yet to come.
“From the opportunity side, you are developing something that is strategic. The same way you would have a business plan, you would have a sonic branding plan“
Capturing the “sound” of a brand takes teamwork. For instance, Audrey’s team works together in order to provide the research, strategic development, positioning, and competitor analysis for every touchpoint, using a series of proprietary tools and methodologies.
Though it can happen in stages, the end result is to have a foundation that would include a sound branding strategy, sound logo, branding theme, and sound branding guidelines to build a consistent message across all touchpoints. The benefits of having a cohesive, unified message in and of itself will automatically differentiate your company. Going beyond that and conveying the essence of your brand will help you to reap the largest payoff and corresponding positive return on investment.
Read on to get more ROI tips, and business takeaway’s when working to create your own sonic brand.
Top 5 Business Mistakes to Avoid in Sonic Branding
There are many facets to the business of sonic branding. Below are the top 5 pitfalls to avoid when embarking on your journey to create music, sound, and vibrations into your ‘own’ proprietary sound base.
Note that what is discussed below does not extend to commercial, licensed music or sound or vibrations that are environmental, natural state and not part of a more proprietary offering. And with the exceptions to the above, references to music include musical compositions, sound, and vibration.
(1) Contracts and Ownership
Not owning your music. You get rights as a Music Publisher like the ability to register the music, which in turn gives rights to collect royalties every time the music is played anywhere and anytime.
Takeaway: Become the Music Publisher and own the rights to your music and the potential for more ROI via alternative revenue streams when your music is played or even downloaded.
(2) Voice, Translations, and Localizations
Not working with reputable voice experts and talent that are native speakers. Sound carry’s meaning so one word or sound out of place on a translation can be embarrassing and disastrous to your company or brand’s reputation.
Takeaway: Carefully screen the voice actors, service providers, and whenever possible perform triple translation before presenting work or campaigns to the general public.
(3) Clearance, Legal, and Insurance
Not checking your vendors for Errors and Omissions (E&O)/ Professional Liability Insurance. This type of insurance helps protect individuals and companies from legal claims for mistakes or negligence in professional services provided. Any person or company can claim to ‘own’ your music.
Takeaway: Only work with professionals that have E&O/Professional Liability Insurance to avoid any mishaps with your sonic branding.
(4) Budget
Not scoping the project in a way that is realistic to the amount of funding that is available plus any overruns. And not knowing what you are required to pay upfront and at each key milestone before signing a contract to do business.
Takeaway: Understand your budget upfront and manage internal and external expectations accordingly. If you have champagne taste but a beer budget, it’s okay to start small with a simple sound logo then customize till you end up with a full sonic branding strategy and components.
(5) Buy-in from Decision Maker
Not knowing who the key decision maker is. Usually, the person that has the power to make financial decisions, and in some cases writes the checks for the project is the decision-maker. That person could be your business partner or even a group of board members. Either way, you need to know who that person is, keep them involved, and updated.
Takeaway: The key decision-maker(s) must be involved from the beginning of the project. This is done to avoid any roadblocks or delays in the project.
ROI on Steroids: Create an Immersive Experience
“ When you combine sound with a visual; it’s not that you remember twice as well…it equals 1+1=8”
Building your sonic branding strategy alongside your visual strategy is powerful. It’s like going from mono to surround sound stereo. Your brand awareness ‘potential’ intensifies, and blossoms into conveying what your brand “feels” like in a very succinct way to your audience. This amounts to an immersive experience, automatic brand recognition, association, and conveys trust.
Click below to view Audrey’s amazing video presentation and make sure to join Women in Voice to be notified of future events and activities.
👉 Sonic Branding will elevate the value of your brand! You can start today, contact Audrey Arbeeny and the AudioBrand Team on Linkedin or Twitter
💼 Enjoyed this article? See other published articles in the Sonic Sound Bytes Series: Getting Started in Sonic Branding, The Nitty Gritty of Sonic Branding, and The Future of Sonic Branding
🎧 Prefer to listen and learn? Tune into the Women in Voice YouTube Channel and hit Subscribe to get updates!
Special thanks to Erica Gardner for her feedback!
