Can you name the colours of the company Mcdonald’s? Do you know how the Logo from Apple looks like? If the answers are yes, it means these companies have a strong branding, which is one of the reasons that their business succeeded. Unfortunately, small-sized businesses often overlook or underestimate the power of branding. They don’t realise what they are going to miss. Today, simply a great product or an outstanding service is not enough.
Table of content
1. The definition of brand
“A brand is a name, term, design, symbol, or any other feature that identifies one seller’s good or service as distinct from those of other sellers” (American Marketing Association).
It means, that your brand is the identity of your business. Every aspect above defines who you are (as a company) and for whom your products/services are made for. But a strong brand is more than just colours and styles. Your brand is also message that awakes emotions: it can be physical, emotional or both (example: “this product makes me successful”).
2. The definition of branding
Branding is a process, where you put the facts/numbers/sciences/psychology behind your brand. The key is to create the perfect brand for your costumers. It means, that you have to think with the minds of your audience through the whole branding process. If the branding is successful, the people (your target audience) are more likely to choose you over the your competition. That results in your brand standing out.
3. The benefits of strong branding
People will recognise your brand
Defining your target audience and creating a brand they can empathise with is crucial for your business. The colours, the fonts and style itself are your first advertisement. If you find the people who are interested in the type of products/services you sell, the more likely you are to be successful.
Let’s take an example: McDonald’s. Their color is red and yellow. Red is an active and activating color with an immediate release of dopamine (the “need hormone”). With those hormones in your body you feel immediately more hungry. On the other hand, yellow is the best color to spot an object in daylight. Since the target audience for McDonald’s are people who are on the road and/or on the rush, there is a simple situation that can happen: someone is driving her/his car and sees the Logo of Mcdonald’s. Firstly the yellow pops, the driver recognises the restaurant, and the red makes her/him hungry (or hungrier). This company offers fast food, which means she/he has enough time to stop and grab some food on the way. This is the real power of branding.
Loyalty clients
To win consumer's loyalty is not easy and it takes time. The goal is to connect a positive customer experiences time after time and if you have a strong branding, people will connect your logo, colours, fonts, brand name with the experiences. And this is what gives you loyal customers. Example: Apple.
Apple released iPhone in 2007, and they put 3 things together: a mobile phone, an internet browser and an iPod (or MP3 player). But the key factor was, that they created a product which lasts longer than the other phones. They offered amazing customer experiences and that is in your pocket, every day and every time.
Mouth Marketing
Devoted customers more likely talk about their favourite products or services. This is a strong power! You can pay a lot of money for advertising, but these loyal customers going to tell their friends and familym how much they love your product.
More effective advertisement
Any advertisements that originate from you – the ‘strong brand’ – will be met with curiosity and reliance. Think about the strongest brands you know and how you feel when a new product comes out. When Apple releases its newest iPhone, are you curious about the new features? Most of us are!
Better sensitivity of your pricing
Strong branding means you are more likely able to raise your prices. Why? Because you are their experience provider, they going to care less and less about the money they pay (but pricing is still really important!!). If they really like your product and experience, they going to pay more for your unique product/service.
Easier to involve more business partners
As your business grows and your brand recognition is getting better and better, not only your costumers going to recognise you. Your competitors, and other businesses will be interested in what you do, how you do it and what comes next. This is a huge opportunity for you to involve more interesting people to your company/brand.
Attractive for the employees
Working for a big and strong brand is always attractive. Experiences are not only important for your clients, they are important for the employees as well. If working for you is amazing and you can create a great working environment, that will lead you to be more attractive for the next generation attendants and also increase productivity and creativity.
4. Branding best practices
So you ask, how can I create a strong brand? There are several tips and tricks for you:
Define your target audience
If you know the people who are interested to buy your products / services, you can start to build your brand. Example: your target audience are 5-10 year-old children, or more specified: girls. Which color scheme are they going to like more?
You see, this is why the first step is to find your audience.
How can we help you to find your target audience?
We are experienced in researches, we know exactly where we have to search and what we have to find. At the end of our research phase, we deliver 2 personas made only for you and your business.
Research your competition
If you want to find inspiration, the easiest way to analyse the brands that are similar to yours.
How can we help with competition research?
In this phase the UX-designer comes into the picture. We are not only checking the design and style your competitors have. We also figure-out what kind of functionalities they have and why they placed there where it is. Example: analysing a Call-to-Action button is one of the most important aspects in the research.
What are your Unique Selling Points?
It is really important to define, why are you better than the others? What can you offer for your clients what they can’t get at other brands? If you know the clear answer, you have to give this message to the people. So the next one what you need is:
Phrase you Brand Message
Tell people in a creative way, that you are a unique brand and let them know, they are going to miss something, if they won’t use your product/service.
Talk about you and your business
Simple as that. Enthusiastic people are always interesting to listening to. Talk about you, talk about your business and talk about your feelings and emotions you have for your brand. You are going to wake empathy, which makes your customers feel, that they want to be a part of your passion. Nowadays, it is also a way to share your thoughts: Social Media. This is why it's called “Social” media. Be active, tell people about your business. It is definitely a must have, don’t pass the chance of online advertising for free.
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