“Branding” seems like today’s marketing buzzword, tossed around by companies big and small. Are you looking for what it actually means for your own business? To understand the concept and why you need to actively develop your branding strategy, let’s start by defining “branding”.
What is branding in business?
Firstly, branding makes more sense in context with the terms “product” and “brand”. A product is anything that can be marketed to meet a need. A brand is a distinctive persona surrounding a seller’s product or services.
Branding is the strategy of creating that persona through features that work as identity markers. With different strategies, multiple companies can sell similar products from completely unique angles. Branding focuses on constructing a lasting image that compels consumers.
Next, you should know what the results of your development strategy might look like. It appears in the artistry of printed or digital design but also through written messages, staff uniforms, or even emojis in Instagram captions. To give you a better idea of the forms of brand identity, here’s a short list of common examples:
- mission statement
- tone of voice
- professional logo design
- color scheme
- designated fonts
- packaging design
- storefront and signage
- online advertising
- website experience and more.
To summarize, you can think of a brand as any idea or mental image people have when they think of a company and its product. With that said, understand that that image is more than just visual features, but also feelings that surround the product. You can see this through social media campaigns, which typically use images, captions, and calls to action to create a vibrant personality that meets the consumer where they’re at.
What is the difference between a brand and a logo?
A logo is considered a “mark” of a business’s overall identity. A logo’s function is similar to any other component of a brand strategy: to make a recognizable and marketable impression for your business. In short, a brand is more than an attractive logo. Developing a fleshed-out persona for your product or services will earn you trusting customers.
Why is it important?
The process of branding gives meaning to a business and its products or services. Branding is important because it forms the consumer’s opinion of what you’re selling. An effective brand strategy gives people a reason to pick your product. The purpose of branding is to create a memorable identity for your target audience.
Have you recently gone through business changes? Does your brand identity not align with current market trends or properly represent your vision? Then it’s time to revamp your brand!
How to create an effective brand strategy
When you’re a serious business owner and you’ve already been briefed on the basics of brand building, you want to start fleshing out your strategy. Take the image of your business up a notch with a deeper understanding of the successful brand building.
Keep in mind these simple goals throughout every aspect of your brand strategy development:
- Signify the core traits of your business.
- Communicate the purpose and benefits of your business.
- Ensure that both graphics and language are appealing and easy to understand.
- Always be original when creating content.
Developing a brand strategy for business unfolds across multiple avenues. Anywhere from website user experience, social media marketing and email campaigns to SEO, content marketing and pay-per-click advertising is a great place to show your brand’s personality. With so many channels to market on and so many choices to make, you want the absolute best brand identity. Whether you’re entrusting the project with a professional agency or taking on the job yourself, the three following objectives will inform how you build your brand strategy.
- Define the details. To maintain a cohesive identity, it’s vital to clearly lay out the qualities that make your brand. Consider color scheme, hard-hitting tagline, sales talking points, font styles, product descriptions, and any other language and imagery you’ll use.
- Get to the point. Branding should be more than beautiful — it needs to be meaningful. An effective brand expresses the values and benefits of your business and products or services. Share what makes your company and product value.
- Focus on core concepts. It’s impossible to add every selling point to each aspect of your brand identity. Don’t generalize or water down your message, just highlight a few important attributes.
Moving forward
Finally, you know how to approach building a brand with the values of your company in mind. Again, the importance of branding is its impact on the B2C relationship. Moving forward, prioritize the look and sound of your business to connect with consumers and control what the potential customer perceives. Ultimately, your brand strategy development will resonate with customers’ emotions and produce more successful business results.