Let’s start with an assumption that you either represent a business and not exactly a brand or you represent a brand but your brand does not represent what your business is all about. Branding has become one of the most important aspects of any business whether small or large. A carefully constructed and effective brand strategy can give your business a clear edge in a competitive market. But what is branding and how it can have an impact on a business?
What is branding?
It is important to understand the concept of a brand in order to understand what branding exactly is. A brand is the outlook or image of a product or service that consumers connect with by identifying the logo, slogan, design, or name of the company. Branding is the process to market that outlook or image of a product or service so that it can easily be differentiated in a competitive market. The process is about creating a unique image for a product in consumers’ mind. By creating a brand, you market a promise that explains what your customers should expect from your products and services.
Brand strategy
A brand strategy refers to the long-term planning on how to develop a brand so that it helps a business achieve certain objectives. Most of the marketers undermine the scope of branding by limiting it to company name, logo, slogan, and website. An effective brand strategy clearly defines what, how, when, where, and to whom you will deliver your brand message. It also determines the distribution channels. Your visual and verbal communication is largely defined by your brand strategy.
A journey to self-discovery
A business has to define certain things in the process of building a strong brand. It all starts with who you are and what your business is all about; an exciting journey to discover the foundations your business is built on. Being a startup or a small business, you need to work on defining the true identity of your business. After that, you need an impeccable branding strategy in order to expand your business at national and international level. Following are some of the tips to start with:
- Good logo is essential: a well-designed logo is an essential part of a branding strategy. Your business logo represents the graphical display of your brand’s unique identity. Therefore, get a creative and thought-provoking logo for your business and place it everywhere.
- Brand message: create a brand message that really resonates. It is what enriches the relationship between a brand and its customers.
- Brand integration: branding extends to almost every aspect of your business, from your website to your email signature.
- Create a brand tagline: do you know what is the tagline of Apple? “Think different”. Your brand also needs a memorable and distinctive tagline.
- Consistency is crucial: An effective branding strategy demands consistency which means you have to use your logo, content style, brand message and all other aspects of your branding strategy consistently across all platforms.
- Be realistic and honest: make realistic promises and keep them. The number of loyal customers will increase if you deliver what you promise.
Branding is the way you establish an image of your business in your consumer’s mind. Make sure that your branding strategy is progressive and effective.