Recent studies reveal that 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from a familiar brand. As business environment takes a new shape, small brands may be required to level the playing field with big brands with their loyal customers. Many entrepreneurs tend to react quickly to market shifts and operational challenges. For them, building a branding strategy comes as an afterthought. Recent studies have revealed that a branding strategy helps a business prevail over stiff competition.
Business branding goes beyond having a cool logo or a well-placed advert. It takes consistent experience and communication for one to create a successful business brand. Even though the brand building process is simple, it does not happen in a few months or overnight. It is an ongoing process that establishes a long-term relationship with customers. A strong business brand results in increased sales, referrals, and advocacy for business products and services. Below are steps used in building a successful brand:
Determine the target audience
The foundation for building a successful brand is identifying the target audience. Before making significant branding efforts, think about your target audience. As such, you can tailor a mission and message that meet their specific needs. Consider customer tastes and competitor offerings before developing a brand. Research on the commonalities of your top competitors, and simultaneously innovate and differentiate your brand.
Convey a unique value proposition
As competition continues to tighten, the best way to create a competitive edge is by developing a brand that carries a unique value proposition. It can be a more dependable, durable or less expensive product or service than that of a competitor. Effective styling may be a successful branding strategy in the fashion and manufacturing industries.
Maintain consistent communications
Once a company develops a brand and corporate identity, it must maintain consistency with its customers at every point of contacts such as signage, public relations, and advertising. One way of creating a successful brand is getting employees on board. Employees are the greatest advocates of a company’s brand. Therefore, involve them in brand building as they are the ones that convey the brand message to the customers.
Maintain emotional connection
Astute marketers have long known that evoking appropriate emotions may improve brand effectiveness. Studies have found that nearly 90% of business communications are non-verbal. One way of maintaining an emotional connection with the customers is through the use of colors. For example, shrewd customers use green to market environmental themes, blue for water, and pink for girls’ products. Use of different colors depending on the target audience reinforces an effective brand name. You may also use music to build brand identity.
Design a great logo and tagline
The most important aspect of the brand building process is the creation of a logo and slogan. The logo is likely to appear on everything that relates to a company. The logo serves as the visual recognition of your offering and is the identity of your brand. Review examples to see how logos communicate ideas and the kind of quality services a company can provide for its customers. For you to create an exceptional logo, be willing to invest time and money.
Build a brand message
Once a business has identified its customers’ needs and developed products that meet their expectations, it has to create a brand name that conveys its message clearly. According to AL Ries, the power of a branding is inversely proportional to its impact. Therefore, marketers should give each product or service a different brand identity.
(Sourced from Margaret Francis via semissourian.com)