Every brand has its own language. Terms created that have been used, modified, and ingrained into a company’s core year after year. Brand language can be words and even images aimed to define a company’s purpose, tone, or explain its products or services.
INTRODUCTION
Every company has its own unique internal language. When you’re first hired at a new place, you may be sent vocabulary terms that define the processes and workflow of the business. If not, you may find yourself confused in meetings and unsure of how things work. Clearly defining this internal language has several important benefits. Failing to, meanwhile, can significantly decrease productivity within your organization.
BENEFITS OF DEFINED INTERNAL LANGUAGE
Internally, using brand-specific language can be a way to shape company culture and define workflows. Teams often naturally begin using random words or abbreviations that if spoken outside the office walls would result in confusion. When this happens, you can begin identifying and standardizing this vocabulary so it applied to your processes. A great example of this is within digital asset management.
For digital asset management purposes, all the terms you just identified and documented should now be compiled into what we call a master keyword list. Then, it can be applied to your assets as keywords or implemented into your folder or file naming structure. These processes make assets searchable. As your team sits down to search for that perfect asset for their next campaign, they will be aware of the perfect word or phrase to search for. This way, they can find the perfect asset in minutes.
Want to learn more about creating effective search processes using metadata and folder structures?
Learn more here.
Once you’ve defined your language and turned those terms into powerful search tools, you will transform and optimize the search capability of your library. Each is an internal benefit of having a strong company language, but what do you do with those outside your organization?
In such a case, already have a list prepared of terms a freelancer, consultant, or client may see when working with your brand. Remember that a third party might experience some confusion when first encountering the internal language of a new organization. Having defined and documented standards will make it far easier on them.
CONCLUSION
While this result is appealing, many brands see their internal language as difficult to understand for an outsider. Internal language can be, and sometimes needs to be complex, but identifying, defining, and standardizing it certainly doesn’t need to be complicated. The key here? Preparation.
Take the time to simply write down the words your team uses most often. This may seem trivial, but if you’re serious about getting your workflows and assets organized once and for all, the task will be invaluable. It will allow for faster onboarding, a greater understanding of workflow, and lightning-fast search and retrieval of specific assets.
If you know it’s time, but just aren’t sure where to start, shoot us a message! We’re always here to help.
