Despite being commonly misunderstood, having a solid brand increases your businesses chance of success.
You’ve probably heard the word branding a handful of times this week. You are more than aware of its existence and probably know that it’s vitally important. However, if put on the spot, would you be able to properly explain what branding is? Well, in this blog, we’re going to give you a helping hand. We’ll break down that all-important question: why does your brand and branding matter?
Understanding branding
The best place to start is by clarifying what branding actually means. Despite how commonplace the term has become, we still encounter plenty of people who believe ‘brand’ begins and ends with just a logo. If you are one of those people, you’ll need to reconsider.
To describe what makes up your ‘brand’ isn’t an easy task. We tell our customers to think about the most recognisable global brands. Think of Coca Cola, Apple or Facebook. Of course, all of those companies have great logos, which is a large part of their branding. But ‘brand’ is something much more than the Apple icon.
Your brand should communicate exactly what to expect from your business. It informs potential customers how you operate, what you do and how you do it. Traditionally every customer-facing aspect of your business would fall into the category of your ‘brand’; however, in recent years, the definition has moved to incorporate what you do behind closed doors too.
So think of the long list of components that now fall into that bracket. Your logo, the way you chat with clients or customers, your colour schemes, your employees and much more. So, why does all that matter and why is having a great brand on par with having a great business?
How brand matters
When it comes to the value of branding, we could talk all day and all night, if you bring the snacks. Instead, we’ve decided to bullet point some valuable information. Hopefully, we can make the power of branding exciting for you.
Brand Awareness
You’ll never be recognised if you don’t have a strong brand. Your product placement and how successful it can be is primarily down to how easily you can be spotted.
Take Apple again, if you were to strip away the logo and use its packaging design on a completely irrelevant object. A frisbee, let’s go with that; people would still recognise the packaging as Apple because of how stand-out and well known it is. So there you have it, the iFrisbee, if this gets released, we want royalties.
Consistency
Having strong branding promotes consistency across everything you do. For example, if your brand sells bikes for children, we would expect a consistent message across all of your web and social media activity. Whether you choose to target the parents or the children themselves, we expect to see the same colours and an identical tone of voice.
Your branding should mention or imply your business values. For example, if you are an organisation that conducts lots of charity work, this could gain the trust and attention of potential customers, making you more memorable to them. Highlighting the work you do will let it be associated with your brand, gain the attention of clients or customers and in general, is a great thing to do as a company.
Emotional connections
As much as we may like to think our purchases aren’t emotionally geared, the truth is, consumer behaviour always will be. We are creatures who love to get comfortable with our favourite brands. Whether it’s what beer you choose to drink or your fave takeaway, our buying habits are shrouded in loyalty. Who doesn’t love getting stamps on a loyalty card?
As a business, consumer behaviours are your best friends; the customers who feel valued and connected to you will return to buy more. Building a brand that people can relate to helps a business to drive repeat sales and build on brand awareness
Extra brand value
Your branding can do far more for your business than you could imagine. You need to make sure you’re championing your brand against the competition.
Being different
Your brand differentiates you from your competitors. You need to be recognisable when viewed alongside the competition. This allows your business to compete with companies that may be more established than yourself.
For example, the energy drinks sector. Redbull and Monster Energy are very similar products, with almost identical target demographics. However, their branding is in complete contrast to each other, this allows each one to stand out from the other. It’s by standing out that a brand creates a decision in the mind of the potential customer. To buy or not to buy…
Professionalism
This last point may seem obvious, but having a solid brand makes your business look professional. No matter how big your company may be, you can amplify your size and status with brilliant branding. Branding feels expensive; when a company is consistent and tactical with its brand strategy, it can create something polished, memorable and timeless.
If you want to learn more about branding or if you are looking to find out about how we can help you, contact us today.
At Create8, we pride ourselves on helping businesses spend more time thinking about their branding. For each client looking for a brand package, we build something entirely unique and bespoke to their business.
For some of the brilliant branding work we’ve done in the last year, head across to ‘our work’ page and see for yourself what we are capable of. When it comes to branding, we love a challenge, and we can’t wait to hear what your business has in store for the world.
Take a look at some more of our blogs for helpful tips, tricks and advice:
