Branding is more important than ever in today’s fast-paced business environment. The internet and social media promise dozens or hundreds of solutions to any problem a consumer might have, all at their fingertips. It is important to fully understand what branding can do for your business, not only in terms of capturing the audience’s attention in an instant but also for building a business identity that resonates with the masses.
What Is Branding?
Your company branding is the voice, language, and appearance you use to represent your business to the public. This includes your company logo, product design, website appearance, and more. Anything that a consumer might associate with your business and your reputation is part of branding.
Consistency is a core principle of branding as well. For example, using similar color schemes across all marketing and speaking with the same tone or phrasing style across all mediums are important. These contribute to your business identity, helping the target audience relate to your brand by conveying a specific personality.
Branding is different from marketing and advertising, though they all go hand in hand. While marketing represents a very active method for promoting your business or raising awareness of your products, branding is a passive and constant process. Maintaining a brand is something a business must always be mindful of, not just when there is an ongoing campaign.
What Is the Purpose of Branding?
The purpose of branding is to encourage the public to remember you positively. When your brand leaves a good impression and your product solves a consumer’s problem, that potential customer is much more likely to remember you the next time a problem arises. On the other hand, a consumer is not likely to return to a business that lacks personality.
In an article for Forbes, CEO Cloé Luv emphasizes the importance of crafting a customer experience through branding. “With a brand strategy, you can craft a truly unique customer experience,” Luv explains. “It builds trust and loyalty with the customer. It gives a clear and concise message. It keeps you relevant. In today's world, staying relevant is needed.”
Luv goes on to say, “A great customer experience can be achieved with clear and consistent imaging and communication across all platforms.” It is worth remembering that the forward-facing purpose of branding is, in fact, a great customer experience that ultimately results in increased business.Why Is Branding Important?
Branding affects how the world perceives you and your business. Positive branding portrays you as a trustworthy entity that delivers a quality product and serves your customers well. Ineffective branding can paint you in a negative light, possibly leading to a visceral reaction in your target customers that compels them to go away or choose someone else. You need positive branding to drive longevity and growth.
Even choosing to “play it safe” by not risking investment into a branding strategy is, in itself, a branding decision. A lack of branding will still influence public perception of your company, likely in an undesirable way. It can create the idea that your business is low-effort or uninteresting.
Fostering a positive reputation is of the utmost branding importance. The benefits of branding your business include:
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Customer loyalty
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Passive “word of mouth” marketing
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Favorable price sensitivity
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Positive employee engagement
The positive effects of branding can be exponential — each customer who has a positive interaction with the brand can become a repeat customer who also spreads positive feedback about the business to multiple other future clients.
Why Are Brands Important?
The reason why branding is so important is, above all else, recognition. The modern consumer receives an inundation of information every day. When faced with a problem, a person can comb their memory to think of at least a handful of products they’ve seen in advertisements to solve their situation. The most recognizable brands are likely to stand out in their minds.
Business competition only becomes fiercer with time. The other companies in your niche will try to come out on top in every marketable aspect, and that includes branding. There is a limit to how much you can reasonably lower prices or how far you can physically go to reach your customers, but your ability to beat your rivals in terms of branding is limited only by your imagination.
What Is Branding in Marketing?
Branding is a constant factor in your business’s perceived identity, even when you are not actively engaging in a marketing campaign. Even so, branding also does directly impact marketing strategies in a significant way.
Branding in marketing is the process of promoting products, or the company itself, in such a way that elevates the entire brand. Not only does the brand need to elicit a positive reception and the products need to appeal to the customer, but the customer should naturally associate the brand and product with each other for perpetuity.
In a dedicated marketing campaign, the goal is to raise awareness of a product on a large scale within a certain timeframe. Branding is a powerful tool for achieving that result. Having a strong brand and utilizing it effectively can escalate marketing success beyond projected expectations.
The Importance of Branding in Marketing
Marketing professionals assert the importance of design in marketing, and that emphasis on design shines through, particularly in how businesses build their brand. For example, studies suggest that color consistency increases brand recognition by up to 80 percent. Achieving such a high degree of recognition is a dream come true for any company.
In many of the most successful brand marketing case studies, major well-known businesses choose just a few core concepts to serve as their brand foundation. In the case of Airbnb’s iconic rebranding, they placed people, love, places, and the Airbnb name itself at the core of all their practices. This made it easy for all other company practices to fall in place seamlessly, and the resulting fame of Airbnb exemplifies the importance of branding in marketing.Branding Examples
For an example of an effective and well-thought-out branding strategy, look to the popular music streaming app Spotify. The platform presents a simple yet iconic logo and maintains a consistent black and green color scheme. The mindful use of colors and unobtrusive design elements places the focus on music and creators, resulting in a brand that appeals to music fans.
Spotify knows that branding success comes from consistency. That is why Spotify’s design guidelines are so thorough, and following them is a requirement for partners and developers collaborating on Spotify projects. Any product, partnership, or interaction involving Spotify will feature elements of the company’s recognizable brand identity, further boosting public acknowledgment and generating trust.
Even an institutional newspaper like The Guardian must be constant in its branding efforts. This is all the more true at a time when people have so many accessible sources for obtaining news. To set itself apart, The Guardian focuses its brand strategy on conveying an identity of prestige and directness.
It is clear to see this in The Guardian’s design guide. The guide outlines rules regarding font, content structure, and brand use. Each design decision is subtle, but together they create a personality and facilitate an atmosphere of authority. When a reader arrives at a page on The Guardian website, they know what to expect.Brand Strategies To Keep in Mind
First and foremost, you need a strategy for identifying your target audience. Your brand must speak to the consumer, but there is no such thing as a brand that can appeal to everyone. Determine your ideal customer by conducting market research or surveying various demographics. This will reveal which group has the most interest in your product, thereby informing future brand decisions.
It is also important to have a messaging strategy that integrates with your brand. Ask yourself what message you want to convey to your target audience. You might wish for them to know that you are a fun brand for all ages, or perhaps you want to tell them that your brand is serious and results-oriented. The language you use and the design decisions you make should all be in service of that message.
Like many of the world’s top brands, you can maintain a design style guide to help ensure consistency in your brand strategy. Create rules for content tone, font and design choices, and all other perceivable elements of your brand. If you and your collaborators follow these rules precisely, you will achieve a level of consistency that solidifies your brand identity.Examples of branding strategy success include:
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Old Spice with its emphasis on brand personality
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Chipotle with its focus on health-conscious audiences
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Starbucks with its commitment to a specific brand vision
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Apple with its establishment of actionable brand values
How To Brand Your Business
Branding in business, especially for small businesses, requires creating attractive assets. If you are just getting your new company off the ground, it can seem daunting to invest in assets like logos, professional photographs, and custom designs. The sooner you create these assets, though, the sooner you can start gaining recognition and find clients who will take you seriously.
Another effective branding tactic to employ when starting out is to build a brand story. This is especially important in the formative stages because it can act as a jumping-off point for many future decisions. Tell a story that explains your company's beliefs, goals, and desire to help people.
At the same time, it is crucial to consider branding for company differentiation. Even if you have a unique entrepreneurial idea, odds are there are at least a few other businesses operating in your same niche. Research the competition and ensure that your designs, story, and overall identity help you stand out.
While standing out is an inevitable challenge, it is fortunate that building a brand is easier than ever thanks to digital tools and social media. There are a number of beginner-friendly graphic design tools that make it possible to create a highly effective logo without hiring a professional. You can then take to social media to start promoting your services, using consistent language and attractive imagery to catch the attention of your ideal audience.Branding Services
A DIY approach to branding a new business can certainly be viable, but it can only take you so far. Working with a professional branding service ensures the utmost quality for all your marketable assets. You can hire skilled freelancers or proven agencies to supply you with logos, design imagery, or social media posts that match your desired tone.
Many highly rated branding companies will provide full-service business branding options to supply you with all the assets you need to establish a strong company identity. These agencies can also rebrand your business, meaning you are never locked into an identity that your business has outgrown.
With so many dependable branding services to choose from, though, you need to know how to narrow it down to the right one for you. Start by accounting for your budget and unique needs. For example, you might choose a branding agency that emphasizes social media branding if you plan to have an active presence on Facebook or LinkedIn. On the other hand, you might choose an agency that focuses on web design if you plan to sell products through your own e-commerce site.
There are limitless possibilities when it comes to branding your business, and nearly as many possibilities for finding the right professionals for the job. Our list of the best sites to hire branding experts can help you arrive at the best recruiting solution for your circumstances. Evaluate your choices based on ease of navigation, platform costs, and quality of talent.