When you start a business absolutely from scratch, it’s hard to reach your target audiences without them having an idea of what your business is about. When you’re new in the market, it’s almost as if you are a new student in the classroom whose name everyone only knows just because you are wearing a name tag. If you want your audience to know and be interested in what you do as a business, you’re gonna need to do more than just letting them know of your name.
The world of business is a huge world of competition especially in the digital market where even big and small businesses can treat each other as competition. The way to carry on in a competitive space is to find a way to stand out—finding your edge to set your business apart from your competitors.
Many start-ups and small organizations neglect the fact that they have to pay important attention to creating their brand thinking they don’t need to since their business is small with only a few competitors. What these businesses fail to realize is that the growth of a business also comes from good branding.
If you want to understand why good branding is important for all types of businesses, keep reading.
What is a brand? And why is branding so important for your business?
A brand is more than just a terminology businesses use to sound legit. It is more than just a name, a design, a logo you put your name on, or a symbol that represents your business. A brand extends to how your business is represented in social media, how your staff handles customer service, how you offer your products and services, and more.
A brand is the representation of all that your business evokes and carries the way your customer who experienced it perceives you. When your brand is not defined, the customer experience that your brand is supposed to represent will come off as disorienting. This leads us to conclude that businesses should strive to find ways on how they will be able to satisfy what the customers think of your brand as it also represents your reputation which is the basis of customer’s trust. The goal of having a brand is to differentiate your business identity from your competition while effectively positioning your business in the market. When your branding is good you can easily create brand awareness for your brand which can step you up in the market.
What is a brand identity?
Brand identity basically pertains to what your consumers can identify you with such as color, design, a logo, and even a tag line. It refers to the visible elements of your brand. When doing brand development to establish your brand identity, you are essentially applying your brand values to whatever visual material your brand will represent —- your logo, ads, website, product packaging, and other traditional and digital marketing materials.
Why is brand identity important?
With millions of businesses trying to make a name of themselves especially in the online market, having a strong brand is crucial. With strong competition in the market, your brand identity is what differentiates you from your competitors. Essentially, your brand identity is the face and personality of your business; a promise that you leave to your customers.
Creating an effective brand identity is what essentially brings your brand personality, consistency, differentiation, brand awareness, and loyalty.
Brand identity essentially sets the tone of your brand which you can use to elicit a reaction in your audience. With the visual elements that you use, you will be able to show your consumers the brand’s personality which they may relate to.
Creating a brand identity and differentiating your brand against all the other businesses in a similar industry or line of expertise ensures that your brand is at the forefront of all your marketing materials. This helps increase brand awareness and of course, improves your brand recognition from your customers. The more you feature your brand to various places and introduce it the way you want people to recognize your business, the more memorable your brand identity will be.
Developing a brand identity also allows you to create and send a consistent message across all your marketing materials online or offline. An effective brand identity allows customers to make a connection between a product and the company which can help build customer loyalty and trust to the brand.
A good product yields customers, but a good brand yields advocates.
How to Create a Unique Brand Identity
If you want your business to become a well-known and beloved brand name, it’s going to take some work. The following steps will help you build a brand identity.
1. Do your Research
Research your audience, value proposition, and competition. To do market research is the first step in creating a brand identity. Through market research, you will know that different people want different things. In this sense, you can’t expect people to have the same interest, much less want the same things. Learning what your audience wants from a business in your industry is vital in creating a brand that is tailored to what the audience may accept and love.
Knowing what makes your business unique and stand out in your industry is essential because it is what gives your business an edge from your other competitors. This knowledge is imperative in establishing a successful brand. Keeping an eye on your competitors will also educate you on the things that you need to improve with your brand and learn branding techniques would work well for your business and those that won’t.
Know what your business really offers. Establish a clear and direct statement about your brand that represents your vision and goals as a business or company. In other words, know your business’s purpose. When you know the purpose of your business, you’ll be able to create a brand identity that truly represents your company.
2. Create your Logo
Your logo is not the entirety of the brand identity, However it is an important element in the branding process because it’s the most recognizable part of your brand. Your logo is what visually represents the name of your brand — from your website to your business cards, to online ads and to your products. If a logo is placed on all elements that represents your brand in the market, it will help put your branding in place. To enhance your identity, create a color palette that your consumer can recognize as your brand.
3. Integrate your brand within your community.
Once you’ve established your brand within your company, what’s left to do is to integrate your brand within your community by providing quality content. Create content with your audience in mind and provide the content that they need. People love stories that move and relate to them. A good brand identity can establish a connection with your consumers which can build lasting relationships that benefit each other.
4. Know what to avoid.
Be cognizant of the red flags. Do not confuse your readers about your branding. Know what you want to say, and use the appropriate words and visuals to relay it. be clear about your message. Be creative and unique as much as possible so your audience can differentiate you among your competitors. Do not copy your competitors, instead be different. Take account of what they do instead and add your own twist to make your business standout from your competitors.
5. Track your brand performance
Use Google Analytics, surveys, comments, social media discussions, etc., to monitor your brand and know-how and what people say about your products and services. This will allow you to implement changes to improve your brand as needed and to fill in what’s lacking. Whether it’s to correct a mistake or to improve your brand identity, you need to listen to what your customers say about your brand to know what exactly they want and you will know what to offer them next.
The way to establish your business in the market is to develop your identity and image as a brand. Branding goes far beyond just a memorable logo, an engaging website, or good looking graphics. When you think about building your brand, you need to think about the entirety of what makes you a business including what you would want your customers to think of you as a brand.
A good brand doesn’t just happen overnight. Even huge companies from huge industries with an established branding under their name have carved it themselves for many years so they can get ahead of their biggest competitors.
