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Branding 101: The Impact of Branding

It’s no secret that a huge emphasis is placed on branding when it comes to marketing your product or service. Not only does having a cohesive brand make it easier to market to different customer bases across different channels, but it also raises the chances of being remembered by customers, increasing loyalty.

A brand is more than just the business that markets a particular service or product. A brand is an identity that the business has developed for itself. Visual elements like logos and graphics, in addition to intangible aspects like your marketing strategy and your business’ relationship with customers, make up the brand.

Branding and purchasing

“A brand is the identity that the business has developed for itself.”

Every business wants to establish a loyal customer base. The best way to do that is to ensure that you deliver a product that satisfies a customer’s needs, as well as make sure your brand stands out in consumers’ minds. This way, the next time they’re in the market for a product like yours, the one they used last time will pop into their head. According to Brand Anew, a sense of nostalgia is likely to keep customers loyal to your brand, despite other options like a potentially better product or even a lower price.

Exactly how important is customer loyalty to a brand? Marketing Tech Blog found that it’s pretty crucial. Approximately 59 percent of shoppers preferred to stick with familiar brands, even when purchasing items they’d never bought before. 59 percent of people also said that they decide whether a particular brand becomes their favorite option after purchasing or trying the service just once. The pressure’s on for a good first impression.

Engage with your consumers

If someone tweets you, be sure to respond. If someone leaves a disappointing review on one of your products on your website, reach out to them to correct the problem. Twenty-two percent of Marketing Tech Blog’s responders stated that authenticity was the most important brand attribute to them. It’s crucial that you leave a good impression, as a few bad reviews can really stunt a new business’ growth. You don’t want to just make a single sale, you want to build a long-term relationship with your client base.

How to brand your product or service

While a well-established brand like Coca-Cola or Ford doesn’t have to worry about developing a brand, many new small-business owners lose sleep over the concept of creating a brand identity. Developing a brand is something that happens over time, however, it’s important to know how to kick-start the process.

Here are a few tips for beginning to establish a brand for your business:

Be consistent: Whether you sell your product in person, on an official website, through a social media channel like Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, or Etsy, or via all channels, you need to have a cohesive name and logo so consumers know that all of these channels are connected. If you communicate with consumers over email, be sure to include an email signature or even email address with your product name included.

Be creative: As a business, you want to pave your own way. Be creative with your logo, slogan, and products. Don’t try to ride the coattails of an already-established brand with a similar product. You don’t want potential customers to view yours as a knock-off, and using a cheap ploy like mimicking what already worked for another entity will lower your credibility as a brand.

Here are a few ways to maximize the impact of your brand over time:

Promote: Always have a marketing plan for short term and long term promotion of you brand. Maximize impact with Signature Graphics’ high-quality fleet graphics, window graphics and environmental graphics that creatively showcase your branding and choose temporary graphics as an attention-getting way to advertise short term and seasonal promotions.

Be authentic: Your brand identity is what makes you unique among competitors in the marketplace. Being true to your brand will build trust and loyalty among your customers. Always be genuine, transparent and consistent in your brand communication, including tag lines, mission statements, values statements and vision statements.

Establish brand guidelines: Brand guidelines document all the elements that make up your brand, including logos, colors, fonts, imagery and tone — as well as the rules on how these elements work together to create your brand identity. These guidelines are an important tool for anyone who creates advertising and promotional materials for your business, such as fleet graphics, window graphics and environmental graphics.

Be consistent: Follow your brand guidelines and ensure that every message is authentic and true to your brand.

Evolve and adapt: Evaluate your brand regularly and measure customer feedback. Evolve and adapt your brand over time to stay relevant and meet changing trends in your market.

Good branding brings lasting benefits

The impact of branding, especially when it’s used consistently and creatively, will be felt across your business. These benefits include:

Recognition and recall: Customers will be able to identify your business immediately upon seeing just one element of your brand, such as a logo, color, packaging or slogan.

Trust and credibility: An authentic and consistent brand gives your business the professional edge and builds trust among customers, meaning they will turn to you to meet their needs.

Loyalty: Authentic branding creates true and emotional connections with customers. They support you because you are an important part of their community.

Perceived value from your audience: Consistent branding and customer experiences help people see that your business offers better quality and better service than your competitors.

Competitive advantage: Branding is your unique signature and helps your company stand apart and reach your most important customers.

Longevity: Businesses last and grow by having a memorable brand that’s built on a strong set of values that matter to customers. 

Let Signature Graphics Help 

Signature Graphics has been meeting the needs of our clients since 1986. We’ve helped businesses of all sizes with their branding needs from design to fleet graphics, to retail or environmental graphics. Our professionals are ready to guide you through the process. Contact us today to get a quote!

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