Well, it’s no longer news that Slack—one of the best business communication tools in the market—was bought by Salesforce, a leading choice in customer relationship management, CRM. 

Slack was bought for a shocking $27.7 billion. That’s a lot bigger than the $8.5 billion Microsoft paid to acquire Skype, and the $22 billion Facebook paid to acquire WhatsApp.

According to Marc Benioff, President, and CEO of Salesforce, the sale perfectly combines two software giants. In his own words,  “It is a match made in heaven. Salesforce and Slack will shape the future of business software and transform the way everyone works in a fully digital world that works from anywhere”.

Now, although Slack was a leader in its industry, one thing that contributed to its massive sales value was the strength of its brand. Slack’s brand was so strong that during its early days, less than eight months after its creation, the company was valued at over $1 billion.

Very few companies hit this mark. And how do they do it? For Slack, it was by building a strong and reliable brand that customers could rely on. But even though there’s a lot more to building a great brand than meets the eye, a good place to start would be understanding how to position your brand. 

How Slack Built a Solid Brand Identity

Slack’s branding strategy is focused on user experience. Every facet of Slack is tailored to keep the user interested.  And this has led to Slack claiming a startling 70% market share in the business collaboration space.

So how did Slack establish their brand identity?

1. An Excellent Brand Name

Obviously, Stewart Butterfield wasn’t slacking when he chose Slack as the name of his startup. Butterfield was careful to choose a name that’ll draw attention to his company.

Slack—a pretty unusual name for a platform that hopes to foster communication in businesses—was extremely appealing to customers not only because it was interesting but because it communicated an appealing idea, work-made-easy.

Slack’s name contributed to the company’s elevation within its industry. It was the key to building a positive brand that lives up to the true meaning of its name, Slack, Searchable Log of All Communications.

2. Great Brand Visual Identity

Although Slack had an intriguing name, it was Slack’s visual identity that imprinted the brand in the minds of its customers. Slack did a superb job of setting up its visual identity by using a playful and multi-colored hashtag for its logo when the company launched in 2013.

And when the time came for Slack to evolve, it ditched the old logo for one that worked better, one that captured their brand’s core values, and allowed their business to scale.

Slack understood that words alone aren’t enough, so it leveraged the power of a great brand logo and colors. Why? Because it takes only 13 milliseconds for our brains to process an image and decide if it’s worth our time. And one-way customers decide if a brand’s worth their time is through its logo.

3. Playful Brand Tone

Slack not only maintained a consistent brand image across the board, but they also spoke with a captivating, confident, and playful voice. A voice that carefully aligns with Slack’s goals, mission, and identity.

Slack’s playful voice wasn’t only tied to its content but also in the informal way its platform operated, making it fun to use. And trust us, customers found the idea of working in a fun and playful environment really appealing.

4. Great Domain Name

That Slack owns a one-word, dictionary term, domain name that’s both easy to find and wasn’t influenced by any of the countless trends that have plagued the domain world means that slack.com would continue to thrive even as those trends phase-out.

Slack’s domain name isn’t confusing but very easy to say, spell, and search online. In today’s world, where all the single word domain names are already claimed, Slack locked down on a one-word domain name, the holy grail of domain names.

5. Customer-Centered Brand

With everything we’ve listed above, it shouldn’t come as a surprise to you that Slack is a customer-centered brand. Slack relies heavily on improving its platform based on the feedback provided by customers at steady intervals.

Slack’s improvements aren’t only limited to feedback gathered from their customers because every employee in Slack uses Slack, making it a lot easier to discover areas of improvement. But it doesn’t end there because everyone at Slack also serves a weekly support shift so they can empathize and also get a better understanding of what their customers want.

What You Can Do

Besides the fact that Slack was one of the early players in its industry, It set itself apart from email by embracing its playfulness and making key improvements like threaded messages, customizable status alerts, and integrations to its overall service.

So, just like Slack, focus on building a brand with a strong culture that reflects your values and goals. By building your brand, you build your business’s value.