One of the things that are often emphasized for business owners looking to successfully navigate the business sphere of this digital age is the need to build a brand. We get it that you believe in your business and you are confident in what you have to offer, but how do you convince every other person that you are better than the one thousand other options they can choose from, sometimes at a cheaper rate? A brand embodies much more than a name, logo, tagline or online marketing platform.
What is Branding?
Branding can serve as a representation of what every prospective customer should expect and what they will get when they patronise you. Branding is crucial to every type of business be it B2C or B2B, large or small. An effective branding strategy can elevate you from a business that caters to 100 customers to one that caters to 1000 customers.
Every branding strategy should be formed based on what your business is, what you want your business to be and how you want your business to be perceived. It is important that you don’t try to bite more than you can chew. The truth of the matter is that your business can’t be all things to all people, are you building a brand that offers expensive, high-quality or the less expensive, high-value option; these things should be based on the target audience you have decided upon.
What are the attributes of a brand?
Many brands get it wrong because they put so much time into external expression and have a certain level of oversight of the internal culture. To have a guaranteed pull in the market, your actions must match what you have portrayed in the business. You are catering and relating to people, therefore it is expected that opinions are based not only on your products but also on the experience they have with the employees or yourself. Personally, a business is not getting my money if I have a bad customer experience with them, there are too many options for me to be a patron of a business that disregards me as a customer.
Strategic branding will result in a distinct and important brand. It allows:
- Communicate the true worth of your brand
- Increase brand consistency and clarity
- Make employees firm believers in the mission and vision of your brand.
Defining a Brand
Defining a brand is not child’s play, it needs a lot of introspection. You must choose to build an image that resonates with you and your target audience. It is time-consuming but it will be more beneficial if you deal with all the crucial aspects before launching a brand that will flop.
Make research. Find out what your potential and present customers need and want. Additionally, don’t rely on what you think your target audience needs, know exactly what they need.
We understand creating a brand strategy and defining your brand might be challenging. You can always go through the route of utilizing the expertise of a digital brand agency.
Brand Positioning
After defining, you need to know how to know the best possible ways to go about brand positioning. Brand positioning explains how a brand differs from its competitors and how it appears to customers.
Brand positioning strategies directly impact consumer loyalty, consumer-based-brand equity, and the eagerness to patronise the brand. Effective brand positioning can be defined as the degree to which a brand is regarded favourably, distinctively, and credibly by customers.
In 3 simple steps, you can get a suitable brand positioning.
- Identify the wants of your consumers relative to your brand’s capability.
- Form a compelling positioning statement.
- Be intentional about reflecting the values you have associated with your brand.
Business Branding and Equity
Building a compelling brand includes strategies on how you communicate with your audience and in what ways you choose to promote your brand, the platforms and the mediums you choose to utilize. A brand strategy also includes the verbal and visual messages you provide.
Strong brand equity results from strategic branding that is consistent and add value to your company’s goods and services, enabling you to charge more for your brand than similar competitor product.
A practical example is Samsung, there are easily five other android brands that will give you your money’s worth but Samsung has built a solid brand over the years and customers are more willing to offer their loyalty and patronage, hence, they are willing to choose them over seemingly cheaper options.
The perceived quality or emotional attachment are prominent ways in which brand equity adds value. For instance, Tiffany & Co has associated their products with Beyoncè and other celebrities in the hopes that customers will attach themselves to the product as much as they do to this icon. For many brands, the selling points exceed just the functional aspects of their product.
Benefits of Business Branding
Why should you go through this rigorous journey for your Business Branding?
Branding offers numerous benefits for a business. Asides from the fact that it helps with building credibility and it influences consumer loyalty. Additionally, business branding influences marketing and aids businesses in launching new products and services. Customers are more inclined to spend money when new products are released, even if they are more expensive because they will remain loyal to brands they know and trust and with whom they already have a relationship.
For example, PlayStation has amassed a sizable devoted customer base that they are willing to overlook the cost of products like the recently released PS5. When the company launches new gadgets, many of its existing consumers are more than happy to replace their current ones.
Read Also: Hacks for Developing Efficient B2B Marketing Strategies
Conclusion
Branding plays an important role in a business, especially those operating in the internet market. There is always a need to stand out and be in the mind of your prospective consumers to drive sales which conversely drives the growth of your business. If you think you cannot do a good job, you can always contact a digital branding strategist. Branding also works hand in hand with content creation, the end goal is to make sure you are marketing your brand in the best ways possible.
Let Uptrend Digital help you with your Digital Marketing needs so you can focus more on your business, Contact Us today and you would be glad you did