Branding Is MoreThan Just A Logo, Here’s Why
Your brand is more than just your logo or the colours you use on your website. It’s the entire experience your customers have with your company, from their first interaction with your marketing to the customer service they receive after they make a purchase. In short, your brand is what sets you apart from your competitors and drives customer loyalty.
That’s why it’s so important to create a strong, consistent brand that accurately reflects your company’s values and mission. Your brand should be an extension of everything you do as a business, from the way you answer the phone to the way you package your products. By taking the time to create a winning brand, you’ll reap the rewards in terms of customer loyalty, increased sales, and higher profits.
Branding is a long term game. Some people think branding is just a logo, font and a colour palette — the visual side of the brand. As you can see in the iceberg picture above, the visual aspect of a brand is the ‘tip of the iceberg’ and the psychological/personality elements of the brand make up the larger portion of the brand as a whole.
A brand is a set of Expectations, Memories, Stories, and Relationships that, taken together, account for a consumer’s decision to choose one product or service over another. If you want to create a strong brand that will inspire loyalty among your customers, you need to take a holistic approach that encompasses everything from your product design to your customer service. In this blog article, we will touch on why you should create a strong brand identity & some of the reasons why branding is so much more than logo design.
Creating a Strong Brand Identity
There are a few key elements that go into creating a strong brand identity. First, you need to define what makes your company unique. What sets you apart from your competitors? This could be anything from your company history to your commitment to customer service. Once you’ve identified what makes you special, you need to find a way to communicate those points of difference through your marketing materials. This could be anything from choosing specific colors and fonts for your website and marketing collateral to developing a tagline that accurately reflects your company’s mission.
A good way to differentiate yourself from your competitors is by creating your very own ‘purpose-driven business strategy. A purpose-driven business strategy places the sole purpose of the business & brand at the centre of all business decisions. For example, patagonia has their ESG (environmental, social & governing) philosophy embedded into their brand culture. Every decision they make takes into consideration their brand purpose and philosophy. As a company that sells outdoor apparel, they create/support causes that help preserve the environment, create better working conditions for staff and form a company culture that is synonymous with the type of people they hire.
It’s also important to ensure that every touchpoint someone has with your company reinforces your brand identity. This means training all of your employees — from customer service representatives to salespeople — to be familiar with your brand messaging and values. It also means creating consistent branding across all of your channels, from social media to email marketing. By doing this, you’ll create a cohesive experience for customers that will leave them feeling positive about doing business with you.
It Establishes Who You Are and What You Stand For
Your brand is the sum total of how your customers perceive you. If you want to control the narrative and ensure that your customers have a positive experience with your company at every touchpoint, you need to take a comprehensive approach to branding that includes everything from the language you use in your marketing materials to the way your employees treat customers.
It Differentiates You from Your Competition
There are tons of companies out there selling products or services similar to yours. In order for customers to choose you over all the other options out there, you need to give them a reason to do so. That’s where branding comes in. By conveying what makes your company unique — whether it’s your commitment to environmental sustainability or your innovative approach to product design — you can convince customers that they need what you have to offer.
It Helps You Build Lasting Relationships with Your Customers
A strong brand inspires loyalty among customers. When people feel positively about a company, they’re more likely to buy from it again in the future and recommend it to friends and family members. On the other hand, if they have a negative experience with your company, they’ll likely never do business with you again.
Your brand is one of your most valuable assets as a business owner. It defines who you are as a company and sets you apart from your competitors. By taking the time to develop a strong, consistent brand identity, you’ll reap the rewards in terms of increased sales, higher profits, and loyal customers. So what are you waiting for? Start brainstorming ways to make your brand more powerful.
