Your business has to become more than just a set of products, services, employees, and marketing words to be remarkable. Beyond just a memorable logo, effective branding increases the value of your business and builds loyalty from customers and employees helping to build the momentum required for success.
Branding is the first impression you give to your audience and it's what makes you stand out among your competitors. Your brand is a direct reflection of what your customers should expect from your products or services and the type of experience they will have with your company. This makes it very important to develop and implement a brand strategy that works in tandem with your business model. Here are key reasons why your business needs a brand strategy.
1. Business Branding Improves Recognition
Your brand should support efficient recognition, from your logo to every other touchpoint a customer has with your business. These touchpoints can include the way your marketing team answers your customer's phone calls, how the packaging of materials is done, to the kind of voice that is used on your social media posts. Your brand should have a level of consistency and affirm the positive attributes you would like your target audience to associate with your business.
This experience should give your customers and prospects an instant, recognizable, and memorable experience. Familiarity increases the chances of prospective customers will consider utilizing your products or services. To establish a recognizable brand, start with a branding strategy that aligns with what makes your business unique from competitors.
2. A Brand Builds Customer Trust
A branding has an intangible quality, which is part of the challenge of establishing a strong brand presence. Branding is a composite of your internal efforts, but also the perception of an audience of target customers that are external to your business. This means that your brand helps determine how people feel about your business when they hear about it, and the trust they put in it. To cultivate that trust, it is important to be transparent, honest, and authentic. Clearly identified values help you in creating a trustworthy brand.
A brand audit is a powerful tool that you can use to take a comprehensive look at your entire brand ecosystem and identify opportunities to improve the customer experience as well as strengthen your customer relationships. You should know that customers usually trust your business when their experiences consistently meet or exceed their expectations.
3. Higher Engagement Through Social Media
Among the many low cost and effective ways to communicate with your customers, social media ranks among the top. People use social media profusely, which is why your company needs to have an active social media presence that is organized around an editorial calendar.
Social media is a two way communication platform that people utilize to directly engage in conversations with brands. Developing branded content for social media is a great way to offer support, product recommendations and value add information to your audience.
4. Builds Customer Loyalty
When you create an emotional connection with consumers, they are more likely to stick with your products or services. Just think about how much easier it is to say "no" to a telemarketer that you have no connection to, than it is with someone that you have an affinity with. When branding is at its best, you create a more personal connection that customers want to be a part of.
Building this level of loyalty takes time. The goal is to move your brand from being unknown to your target clients to having them be indifferent, to liking your brand, to loving your brand. This progression only occurs by consistently delivering a remarkable experience to your clients over time. These positive interactions with your brand help build an emotional connection. All your marketing efforts become more powerful if you can develop this level of relationship.
5. Branding Inspires Employees
Your employees need more than just work and tasks to complete. They need something that inspires them to work towards your business goals. When employees understand the mission and vision of their business, they are more likely to feel the urge to work together in order to achieve a common set of established goals.
Having a compelling and well articulated company vision can be a powerful motivator that your employees can rally around. When work is imbued with purpose, your employees feel passionate and are more engaged with the work they do. This unity can sustain the whole team even when faced with challenges.
6. Branding Your Business will Save You Money and Time in the Long Run
As a business, it's important to watch where your money is being spent. You have to prioritize the allocation of your resources to what will have the biggest impact for your business. Without a well defined branding strategy, it’s more likely that marketing communications will be inconsistent, making it harder for your audience to appreciate what is truly unique about what you offer.
When you have a clearly defined audience, brand position and key points of differentiation you can be more efficient with your ad spend and other marketing initiatives. You also have a better likelihood of retaining the customers that you acquire through your marketing and sales outreach.
7. Branding Supports Your Marketing Efforts
Branding supports your marketing efforts and vice versa. Fundamental to any business is a strong understanding of your target demographic. You need to be careful of selecting too narrow of a marketing focus, or you will risk being "pigeonholed" and losing your ability to expand into new markets. You should also be careful about having too broad of a marketing focus, which can result in an inability to create a definable impression of your business in your customers' minds. A formidable brand strategy supports your marketing effort by creating a visual, written and experiential presence that connects with your customer demographic.
8. Branding Helps You Differentiate from the Competition
Why should people choose your business over others? If you don't have clear points of differentiation, they won't choose you. Your business brand helps you stand out in an original way from the competition. Whatever position you claim in your market, you need to show your unique qualities through well defined branding efforts. You don't have to be another business within a crowded marketplace, you can take an original approach and show your customers that you understand their problems better and can meet their needs more effectively.
At Harlo Interactive, we dedicate time to understanding how your prospective customers engage with your company, allowing us to create a plan that builds loyalty and wins hearts. Whether you're building a new branding strategy or reinforcing an existing one, we are your digital partner. Contact us today to learn more and get started!
