Branding

It is the foundation of your identity, the summation of your products or services and – most importantly – the inspiration for customers to choose you over your competitors.

Branding is not an instantly measurable investment like, say, pay-per-click advertising. But, it can pay huge dividends in the long run. The value of branding to a small business lies in loyalty – the stronger your brand, the more connected your customers feel. Instead of simply purchasing from you, they’re identifying with everything you stand for. Other options (aka your competitors) don’t exist, because they know and love your brand.

When building your brand, you need to consider these six key elements – target audience, brand promise, brand perception, brand value, brand voice, and brand positioning,

Your target audience is the person or entity most likely to buy your product or hire your service. You will need to connect with the people that make the decision to purchase.

Your brand’s promise is your message that speaks to your target audience. It informs them what to expect from buying your product or hiring your service.

Your brand’s perception is what your target audience thinks of your brand. Understanding how your brand is perceived by your market is valuable to direct your business strategy in the right direction. One way to know how your customers look at your brand is through surveys.

Your brand’s value embodies the totality of how your customers behave and relate towards your brand. It is the core foundation of your decision-making.

Your brand’s voice is your brand’s personality. It is the way your brand speaks to your target audience. Whether formal or fun, your voice should perfectly match your target audience’s voice.

Your brand’s positioning, in the mind of your customer, is the position your brand holds or desires to hold in your niche or industry. It should tell what sets your brand apart from your competitors.

Define your mission – Why have you started your business in the first place? What is your purpose beyond making money? Why did you choose to be in this particular industry?

Define your business goals – To create a clear framework for your brand strategy, you need to define and set realistic business goals.

Identify your customer – You may think everyone uses your product and is a potential customer, however, it is important to carve a niche and focus on a particular segment in your target market. Identifying your customer and understanding their specific desires are what will set your brand apart.

Create strong messaging – It is imperative to stay in close contact with your customers. Tap into current and relevant trends for your campaigns. Translate your brand’s positioning into a series of strong messages that embody your mission.

Ensure consistency – Maintaining a consistent appearance and experience for the customers is a good brand strategy – from your physical stores and products to your online channels and marketing communications. Consistency converts to brand equity.

Adapt to local culture – While consistency is key to good brand strategy, it’s not to mean you can’t offer some variety especially when venturing into new markets. Show respect for local culture by incorporating elements that suit a specific customer base.

Brand strategy is your long-term plan for developing a successful brand. It affects all aspects of your business. A clearly-defined and well-executed brand strategy translates into achieving specific goals that serve customers’ needs even in the most competitive environments.

Marketing plays a significant role in any successful brand. Branding is more about the lifestyle related to your product or service. Marketing, on the other hand, is all about getting your customers to notice your brand and convince them to buy your product or service. Marketing should reflect your brand’s identity and help you create a powerful brand.

First you need to understand what is branding. More than a logo or a catchy tagline, your brand is everything your target audience factually and emotionally perceives about your business, your products, or services.

You also need to understand the brand creation process. You have to clearly define your brand promise, positioning statement, voice, elements, traits, and styles.

Know your target audience. Who are your target consumers? Narrow down your target market into specific segment profiles. Research will help you understand your clients’ needs, priorities, and perspectives. Your brand’s voice should match theirs when you communicate. Develop buyer personas. These are examples of actual buyers who make decisions about the products or services you offer. Doing so will help you develop strategies that will make your target consumers choose you over your competitors.

A branding agency starts with a brand guide, which usually consists of:

• Logo
• Color scheme
• Fonts
• Stationery
• Support graphics and direction for use

Once the brand guide is determined, the branding agency can evolve into creating consistent marketing materials:

• Website
• Printed materials
• Business cards
• Stationary

Pure branding relates mostly to new businesses. Creative agencies like Netwave help to give visual and contextual identities (out of thin air!) to businesses so that they can launch with confidence.

Brand image is how your customers perceive your brand. Your brand’s identity leads to your brand image. It is the most important aspect of branding because without a well-established brand image, your business is just another name or logo that can easily be forgotten.

Logo design is an important part of your brand’s identity. An effective logo that will help maintain the identity of your brand is one that is simple, versatile, and easily recognizable. Color plays a vital role as it can either increase or decrease brand recognition. Colors can also help your brand connect emotionally with the public. The practice of color psychology in logo design is a powerful marketing tool for decision making.

Branding is a holistic process that brings virtually every part of your business into the picture. The most important thing to realize here – and it’s essentially a reiteration of our previous point on where branding comes from – is that the foundational factors involved in branding are the more conceptual components, such as:

• Strategic positioning
• Brand voice
• Company culture
• Values

The visual identity of your brand is what the customer pictures in their mind when they hear your brand name. It is more than the design of your logo. Visual identity incorporates all visual elements associated with your brand such as your brand colors, interior design for physical stores, overall atmosphere, website design, packaging, print materials, and advertising campaigns.

Branding is the process of establishing an image of your company from the customers point of view. Rebranding is expanding on your already established brand to fit with your business as it has expanded.

Investing in a good logo design is extremely important for your business. A logo identifies your brand. It is your brand’s visual cornerstone, which makes it an important part of your brand’s identity. A good logo sets your brand apart from others and easily captures the attention of your target audience.

Everything!

An attractive brand has a great personality. This means having a unique, authentic, and consistent identity while creating and maintaining great relationships with its target audience. A persuasive and professional brand offers value to its consumers and delivers its promise perfectly on time, all the time. It is genuine, honest, and transparent.

Branding is the process of creating a brand that exudes a unique and authentic image and identity for a company’s products or services. Positioning refers to where the brand is in terms of ranking in relation to its competitors in the customer’s mind. It is used to create a unique impression for customers to find the brand more desirable and preferable over competition.

Branding is lead generation – it is the promise you make to attract your target audience to come to you; sales is lead conversion – it is the actual exchange you make with your customers once they come; service is client fulfillment – it is the delivery of the promise you made to your customers before they leave.

Brand loyalty is a valuable aspect of marketing. Your brand’s reputation is built over time. It can be achieved through having a consistent, personalized customer interaction, and support all the time. Developing brand recall also increases brand loyalty. You can do this by keeping your customers informed about your latest offerings and relevant trends. Reach out to your customers and ask about their experience and opinion on how to improve your products or services. Make your customers feel valued by going the extra mile. Offer them choices that will cater to different tastes and environments.

Once your brand has been established with the help of an effective branding strategy, advertising, and marketing costs are reduced. Your target audience will remember and associate your brand without constant reminding.

Yes! Our branding agency in Point Pleasant Beach, NJ, has a conference room for your team to meet with ours.