Consistent, successful branding is kind of like business magic. The right branding message, meme or image can permanently change the way people see your company. This is especially true if your branding is catchy, timeless, and practical.
Think about some of your favorite brands and their iconic catchphrases and logos. It's hard not to recognize a Pepsi or Coke product from the logo alone, and it's even harder to forget just how much money that little Geico gecko can save you on car insurance.
Or think about some brands that you absolutely hate because their branding was so irresistibly catchy. Is a jingle or slogan still stuck in your head years later? JG Wentworth is where you go if you need cash now. Nationwide is on your side. And that Energizer bunny keeps going and going and going . . . .
Branding is business magic when done well. Just ask marketing professionals who have made their mark with a tagline or logo. That's why it's important to brand your business with purpose and keep your company's branding consistent across the board. Discover your brand voice and use it to create brand loyalty!
Why Branding is So Important
Branding isn't only a logo or a tagline. These can be pieces of your branding strategy, but there's much more to branding than graphic elements and a catchy quip. Professional branding creates an identity for your company.
Your company's branding is a roadmap for the messaging and design elements found across your marketing and corporate assets.
Traditionally, branding helps sell a particular product, concept, or business ideal, and effective branding can dramatically impact your business's profitability.
Good branding:
- Motivates customers to commit to purchases
- Connects with customers on an emotional level
- Delivers a clear, concise message
- Establishes credibility within an industry or marketplace
- Creates lasting customer loyalty
Clever branding clicks with customers in a way that draws their attention and nurtures a connection with your business, product or offer. An impressive logo, appealing tagline, and consistent strategy and messaging are all elements of successful brand strategies.
The quality and reliability of shared values presented through your branding are more important than your number of impressions, says the Harvard Business Review. This means customers connect more with the values and mission of your business than they do with that catchy logo or tagline. The good news is that your branding strategy encompasses everything, including logo, slogan, values and your company's mission and goals.
Elements of a Successful Branding Strategy
Remember, effective branding is more than a logo or tagline.
Customers want to know more about companies these days. Do you support the same causes they do? Are your business practices respectable and environmentally friendly? How are your products made? How do you treat your employees? These are all questions that today’s customers ask when they decide to associate with a brand or business.
Successful marketing managers understand that branding influences decision making as well as marketing material across the entire company.
Consistency is key. Think of your company’s branding strategy as a foundation upon which you build trust, loyalty and awareness. The stronger your branding foundation—and the more relatable and respectable your business practices—the bigger and better your business will be.
Branding strategy starts with a thorough evaluation of current brand messaging and practices. If you've yet to create your brand, you get the benefit of a clean slate. Effective branding strategy may include:
- Brand evaluation
- Name development
- Logo design
- Corporate identity
- Brand guidelines
- Taglines
- Product naming
- Content strategy
- Copywriting
- Product marketing
Each piece of the branding puzzle creates a more explicit and effective brand strategy. Additionally, each element in your brand strategy needs to be consistent and supportive of your big-picture goals.
Benefits of Effective Branding
Consumers like transparent branding and business practices. They don't like it when you try to sneak a product placement into a heartfelt branded message, and they especially don't like it when you don't tell the truth about what you're selling.
Consistent and transparent branding establishes trust and brand loyalty. The benefits of effective branding include:
Customer Awareness
Coca-Cola claims that more than 94% of the world's population recognizes its logo. Ninety-four percent of the world's population! Effective branding is the easiest way to become a blip on a consumer's radar. The first time they see your logo or read your tagline, and every subsequent viewing helps build customer awareness.
Brand Identity
It can’t be said enough that branding is more than a logo or tagline. Branding is the business for many companies. It’s a company identity that tells consumers your business cares about more than making a quick buck. Your brand identity is a promise to consumers that you’ll consistently deliver quality products and service offerings.
Your brand strategy determines how effective brand identity messaging will be. Customers will do more business with your company if they connect with your brand identity.
Brand Loyalty
Continued customer awareness—coupled with transparent business practices and branding efforts—lead consumers to brand loyalty. There's a good chance you know someone who will only buy Apple products or Starbucks coffee. You build brand loyalty when a consumer trusts what you do and how you do it. They believe in and support your brand identity. Consumers are more likely to buy new products or continue to purchase current products if they're loyal to your brand.
- A transparency ROI study conducted by Label Insights in 2016 showed that 94% of consumers were more likely to be loyal to a brand that offered complete transparency.
- Forbes confirmed the impact of consistent branding when they said consistent brand presentation across all platforms increases revenue by up to 23%.
- And in a Circle Research B2B Marketing Research Report, 77% of marketing leaders said branding is critical for business growth.
The point being: effective branding has measurable benefits for your business.
You Don’t Have to Tackle Branding by Yourself
Company branding is a complex process that requires forethought, time, and resource commitment. You’re not just drawing a logo or scribbling a slogan. Instead, you’re defining a brand identity that will create lasting brand loyalty.
Fortunately, experienced branding professionals know the ropes, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel when assessing and acting on a new branding strategy. The pros know that branding is more than a logo.
Your brand tells a story. Is yours going to be one that customers remember for years to come?
