Steve Forbes, the Editor-in-Chief of the business magazine Forbes, says, “Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business.”
We call branding the “central piece” of your marketing puzzle because it connects all your efforts to your brand. Be it brand marketing, brand pitching, or any aspect to make your business huge. All products are commodities until they become a brand. Whether you buy a Gucci bag, an iPhone 13Pro, an LG washing machine, a Bose audio system or any branded product, its value is multi-fold because it is no longer a commodity or utility item you are buying; you are investing in the promise of the brand, the intangible high value it holds.
Sometimes people confuse branding with marketing, but they are very different. If you have a well-established brand, you don’t need to worry about marketing as the brand name is already earning it for you. But if you are trying to build a brand from scratch, then marketing is the key that will help you grow.
That is why you can say that branding and marketing are different branches of the same tree. So now, let us get more clarity on branding and understand it in depth.
What is Branding?
You will find much discussion and confusion about the definition of this word. Marketers have varied perspectives, but the grounds for defining this big word are the same.
You can define branding as your deep understanding of the brand. When you have a detailed knowledge of your business, you will promote it to an extent so that you can generate profits out of it. This whole process is called “branding.”
If you still want a crisp concept definition, you can read it here.
“Branding” is a conceptual and strategic approach of the owners and employees of any business to reach out to the customers and convince them psychologically about the brand’s goals, visions, mission, and anything that defines their business and themselves.”
Branding covers almost all the aspects that help one to promote their brand. It is a huge concept, and that is why we will, straight away, take you to the importance of branding so that you can easily define it in your own words.
Why is branding important?
Marty Neumeier, the author of The Designful Company, says, “Branding is the process of connecting good strategy with good creativity.”
A brand owner considers branding the roots of the huge fruitful tree they want to plant. Nothing is more important than a good brand strategy for your business. Without it, there is no meaning in running a business.
You can easily understand the importance of branding and brand strategies if you understand the profits you can achieve. So let us discuss them one by one.
People recognize your business from branding.
To establish your brand in front of people, you need to make 5 to 7 impressions of your brand. Imagine doing this job without having a strong brand strategy.
You must be as compelling as possible to turn people into your customers. You can only do it with a brand strategy worth converting the public.
To promote your brand so that people can recognize it, you need to remember the three pillars of branding mentioned below:
Brand Development
To make yourself unique from others, you need to create a brand image that has distinguishable colours, designs, and fonts.
It also includes other aspects like creating a vision and mission statement, aligning your brand with your goals, creating and understanding the strength of your business, and creating a target market.
Brand development is the first and one of the most crucial parts of your success. It can be called creating a roadmap for yourself and your business.
But we are focusing on the logo because 75% of the customers recognize a brand by its logo. Spend a good amount of time to finalize a logo as it has a life span of 10 years. But, there is a lot more to branding once your logo is created.
Brand Positioning
Brand positioning means creating a deep brand image in your customers’ minds so they can understand what is different about you from others.
The focus of your business for a successful brand positioning is to create a successful brand strategy that helps your brand create trust and reliability with your brand.
Remember the following tips to position your brand:
- Keep an eye on your competitors.
- Provide your consumers value in every product or service.
- Be distinct from others. Don’t try to copy.
- Conduct regular market research.
- Target the problems and provide solutions for them.
Brand Awareness
After brand development, you must develop a sense of awareness in front of your future customers. Therefore, the most important part of developing a brand is creating a sense of brand awareness.
You can use the following methods to create it:
- Provide customers with what they are searching for.
- Use the freemium models to attract consumers.
- Provide them with content that creates value in their lives.
- Try to personify your brand.
Branding gains loyal customers
Branding creates trust in your customers if they get the value they want. A loyal customer is a great asset for your business as they do mouth publicity for your brand. Simply put, creating a positive brand image that you can perpetuate is what your goal should be.
A great brand will always try to satisfy its customers in whatever they are searching for. Loyal customers denote that your brand or brand strategy is strong and well enough to stick in someone’s mind.
You can do great advertising
Advertising and branding are two different sides of the same coin. However, they both go hand in hand. The only difference between advertising and branding is that you can only advertise your business when you have a successful market strategy for your brand.
Advertising your brand means you must showcase your strength and goals with an attractive frame in a short form of content. You can only make it successful when your brand strategy is strong enough.
Branding proves to be great for your employees
Not only for the front of the company, but branding is also crucial for the inside of your company. When you work to make your market strategy a great success, all your team members work together, and the work creates wonders.
The employees also develop a sense of oneness and feel they are part of the success. Therefore, a successful brand strategy also proves to be great for your employees.
It is what a business needs to be consecutively successful. The brand will only succeed with trustworthy and loyal employees.
On the other hand, a company must never ignore its workers. Provide them with a proper office space and other perks that keep them interested in your vision.
Rebranding to rebuild a brand
Everything in business gets old and needs to change its concepts and beliefs. A brand does that every decade or when they feel the need to do so.
Rebranding means changing the business’s concepts and other aspects to recreate brand awareness among the customers.
A business needs to keep checking their customers’ choices; if they feel so, they can change their ideas accordingly.
Conclusion
Branding proves to be the most important and missing part of your marketing strategy. It helps you to develop awareness, trust, and reliability in the customer.
A happy customer is all you need to build a brand; you can only get a happy customer if your branding is top-notch.
