Getting your business out there to the customers in your target audience can be an excruciating process. Some businesses just pop out into the market and find immediate success, while others try every trick in the book and come up short.
We’re here to give you a little insight into something that might help, and that’s a little extra attention to branding. What is branding?
We’re going to explore that question and a whole lot more below. Let’s get started!
What is Branding?
Branding is the process of establishing an identity in your business and expressing that identity across platforms to your customers. Branding gives your business more than just a name and a product, it allows customers to identify on another level with your entire brand.
Take a brand that you love. If you don’t think in terms of brands, what’s a product that you buy regularly and you enjoy?
Even if you’re not familiar with that much about the brand that makes the product, what is it about the name, the packaging, or the design of the thing that makes it appealing to you?
As much as we hate to admit it, branding operates on our psychology and attracts us in ways that we might not have been aware of. Let’s get back to that product that you like.
What’s the color scheme? What’s the font look like? Is there a mascot or insignia that is unique to that product?
These things all express something about the brand that creates the product. That isn’t to say that the brand actually embodies the values it portrays or has any connection to what it’s displaying, but the fact is that they’ve created an image that is appealing.
Branding is something that can happen with any business from a lemonade stand on the side of the street to the world’s biggest corporation.
How to Cultivate Your Brand
Start by asking what you’d like to portray your business as. Are you a family business with decent values, or are you a cutting edge company that’s exciting and fresh?
What are the different elements of your business that could be branded? Your storefront, your interior, your social media platforms, your websites, and products can all be adjusted to fit the brand that you’re trying to create.
The important thing when branding is to focus your efforts around one core principle or idea that you want to identify with. Let’s say that you’re a mountain climbing company and the idea you choose to express is freedom.
You want people to associate your brand with the idea that the products you sell can help them be free to live their life to the fullest potential. What are the color schemes, images, fonts, buzzwords, and designs that you could use to get that point across without actually saying “we make you free?”
The best branding efforts are those that align the company with the images and symbols that it is most closely associated with. It’s disingenuine to brand your business as something that it simply isn’t, so do your best to find what principles are embedded in your business.
What Does Branding Do for Customers?
Branding helps customers understand your company and choose it when faced with multiple options.
If it’s clear what your values and ideals are through the different manifestations of your brand voice, you’ll reach more people that align with those values. When you’re faced with the choice of a product that has no discernable ideals or values expressed through the package and another that clearly states what it’s all about, you’ll choose the clearer option.
Additionally, branding helps to reach different audiences throughout the different spaces that you can market to. For example, consistency in branding on social media is a must.
When your brand identity is the same through and through, you’ll see that you reach the same demographics and groups at the same rates across the board. This way, when something works on one of your social media platforms, you can be fairly sure that it will work on the rest.
Alternatively, a branding effort that doesn’t stay consistent will be wonky and won’t get you closer to understanding the optimal branding strategy for your business.
How to Get Started
If you’re ready to start branding, the brainstorming phase is what should come next.
Talk with your business partners about what you’d like your brand to be. Additionally, look over some great marketing and branding strategies that have worked for different companies in the past and see if there are any tips you can take from those efforts.
You can also work with product packaging design companies to create new designs that meet your branding requirements and express your ideals.
Next, make a point to invest time and effort into branding your social media accounts. You should be present on any platform that your customers use, and the accounts should clearly and consistently reflect your new brand.
Keep in mind that “branding” extends out throughout the entire buyer’s journey. That means keeping the brand voice consistent throughout the content that you write, the posting schedules that you use, and the engagement that you have with people when they ask questions about your product.
At this point, you might feel like the idea of branding sounds a little like selling your soul for profit. This isn’t true, although it can be true if your brand identity doesn’t line up with your actual values.
In order to have an honest brand voice that works, stays true to your ideals, and draws customers, it’s important that you align your branding goals with the values of your own company and your customers.
If you hit the nail on the head, you’ll have yourself a great brand that identifies with lots of people for the right reasons.
Want to Learn More about Marketing Your Business?
So, what is branding going to do for your business? It will solidify your identity in the customer’s mind and make your business attractive to new people that wouldn’t otherwise know what you were all about. We’re here to help you with more ideas on moving forward if you need them. Explore our site for more insight into marketing, branding, and a whole lot more
