Companies are always on the lookout for a way to do more with less, to simplify things while generating a greater return. Accomplishing this comes with accepting change.
Branding: Your New Favorite Term
In other words catch all the credit from every marketing dollar you spend. If you had a huge giveaway, community day celebration, or other initiative where your company played a pivotal role, you need to be fully recognized.
Here’s where branding comes in. It helps you snatch up all the good sentiment that comes about whenever your ads or imagery appears.
Just think about the McDonalds, Nike or Apple logos. The moment you see one of those famous symbols, you instantly know what you’re in for. That’s the power of branding. It gets your customers to perk up their ears because they know you’re talking. So not only does your message stand a better chance of being heard, your legitimacy as a company gets reinforced. These brands trigger your subconscious to say things like, “Yes, McDonalds is still in business and yes, they have a tasty new burger I need to try,” or “Wow, the new Apple product sounds even better than the last one. They’ve still got it!”
What Happens When You Don’t Have a Brand
If you do not put in the work and create a meaningful brand, two things will happen. First, you have to work harder to get a return on your marketing dollar.
Second, you’re at a competitive disadvantage. You may enjoy some success for a period of time; however, it’s only because a fully-branded challenger has not yet entered your market. Once they do, your business will instantly be on an even keel with this newcomer, and by the time you mobilize, you’ve lost ground. They will make leaps and bounds with every event, advancement, and expansion because they are claiming every bit of their marketing and customer engagement.
Think of what happened to local hardware stores when Home Depot arrived. What was the fate of small coffee shops in the wake of Starbucks openings? Strong branding is not exclusive to national brands either. Here at the Jersey Shore, Rook Coffee Shops, Carton Brewery and Tommy’s Coal Fired Pizza have carved out sizeable market share through consistent branding within their particular marketing segments at the Jersey Shore.
What Happens When You Do Have a Brand
Branding is an important way to elevate the perception of your business offerings. However, it also serves another important purpose: claiming ownership.
It’s why brands sponsor events, publicity stunts, films, sports teams, and anything else. Branding helps you claim ownership of the awesomeness out there. It helps get your business associated with greatness, thus increasing the likelihood for customer purchases. People love a winner, and they want to buy from winners. Your job is to have your brand always be on the winning side.
When your business has a creatively defined brand, it’s essentially the same as having an all-accumulating bolster to your reputation. It helps you claim ownership over all the advertising moves and strategic placements you make.
It’s meant to cultivate a compelling feeling or understanding for your business. However, what ends up happening is something much greater.
You want to get to the point where customers are proud to wear your colors publicly, advocate your services and put your logo on their bumper.
Taking Action
When you decide to build your business brand, you’re taking the next step in developing your marketing presence.
Branding breeds credibility, but only when it’s properly executed. When things don’t follow a predetermined uniformity, it can carry over to customers’ perceived consistency of quality. Such attention to detail is magnified in industries like food and beverage because perceptions are immediate.
Your brand standards must not falter. From the email newsletter and direct mail letterhead to the fifty-foot billboard and iOS mobile app, every area where your brand exists needs to be up to par. A crack in the armor is going to erode the quality of your branding, and lead customers to question your credibility.
Make sure your company has a professionally-created brand identity, and the expert team necessary to carry out every piece of marketing that your business needs to succeed.
