What is Branding?
In today’s online clutter, one thing can help you stand out; and that is your “brand”. Branding is the consistent and impactful image of your business recognized by your consumers.
We have observed customers today relate to people and brands in a more personalized way. Building authentic relationships and providing value to them will work better in the long run to build trust.
What are the benefits of Branding?
Branding is essential for any successful small business. Its the initial impression of your Brand to your audience. Branding is not just about marketing materials is much more;
- generates new and retain existing customers
- branding gives you credibility
- builds customer loyalty
- helps with getting referrals
- keeps things consistent
- makes it easier to introduce new products and services
How to create a brand?
Creating a brand is a time-consuming process. But there are a few things you can do to start creating it; remember, it’s an iterative process.
Here are 5 simple steps to create a successful brand
- Identify your target audience
- What your brand represents
- What’s your tag line
- Choose a look for your brand (logo, colors, and fonts)
- Spread the word
Our Branding Process
We kick off with an initial meeting to understand your business needs, which occurs in the Discovery stage. Based on what we learn about the business, scope, and timeline. We start working on a proposal for your approval. A 50% deposit is required before we can begin any project; the remaining is due at the end. Review and approvals occur at the end of every stage.
Discovery
Discover is the first critical step to understand what your Brand stands for? We set up a meeting with you to understand your,
- Mission and Vision
- Core Values
- Products and Services offered
- How consumers perceive the Brand
- Competition
It will help us understand your business, audience, and competition and come up with the right Brand Identity.
Brand Identity
Brand identity is based on what we discover; we start working on more exciting parts of Branding, visual design. We are talking about your brand personality – color palette, logo design, website, illustrations, logos, icons, typography, and other visible components.
Visual Identity
Here Brand identity aligns with how your target audience perceives your Brand. It’s time to create the logo and get ready for promotional prints to build the visual identity. We review designs with you and obtain relevant reviews or approvals to move to the next step.
Deploy
Once approved, it’s time to use the designs on the website, infographics, images, branding materials, social media, and print. It’s crucial to be consistent in Branding, as inconsistency will confuse your customers.
Measure
You did it! Now it’s the moment of truth. All this effort and time spent on Branding, is it working? We use Google Tag Manager, Google Search Console, and Google Analytics to monitor and track web traffic, conversions, and more.
Why is Brand Awareness important?
Having Brand Awareness with your target audience is a huge advantage. Your brand is what differentiates you from the competition. You want to build that relationship with your audience; it’s not about just a sale. It would help if you were socially interacting with your audience sharing stories, asking questions, commenting on posts.
In short, Brand awareness helps to increase
- Customer loyalty
- Trust and Credibility
- Stronger business reputation
- Building an audience
- Generating more leads
- Brand Equity
How to increase brand awareness?
These days being social online is critical for increasing brand awareness. You also need to demonstrate genuine interest and engagement; that can only be done if you care about the product and services you offer.
To thrive in business today, nurturing a social brand is necessary. The importance of traditional drivers of reputation remains, but an online presence is key to success—things you can do to increase your brand awareness.
Build that human-to-human connection
A story is a powerful way to get the message across, as long as it’s true. The human-to-human connection is key to building that relationship with your target audience. Interesting stories keep your audience engaged, and they want to know more.
Make it easy to share
It is imperative to create content that your target audience is interested in, providing value to them. If you don’t, you will miss out on brand awareness opportunities.
You also need to make it easy for them to share the information you’re publishing, such as blog posts, infographics, videos, and other downloadable content.
Use Chatbots
This tool has transformed the way we interact with current and potential customers.
It also makes it easier for consumers to connect with your Brand for instant problem solving, instead of calling or sending an email.
Sponsor local events
It’s a great way to get your brand in front of potential local customers. Co-sponsor events that align with your business values and goals will associate your Brand with them and attract audiences who have similar interests.
Create an Online Community
Creating an online community lets you discuss Brand-related information such as offers, tips, FAQs, trends, insights, increase brand awareness and loyalty, and provide value to consumers.
Giveaways
You can give away a product or service for FREE.
This is a great way to engage with your target audience and generate interest in your Brand. It’s also helps with capturing perspective leads.
Encourage giveaway participants to share promotion by getting additional entries.
Use Infographics
Research shows that infographics are one of the most shareable pieces of content because it is more straightforward to understand than text and more engaging.
Use Social Media
- Use Hashtags – easy way to build your social media presence.
- Create a custom business hashtag
- location-based hashtags
- promotion hashtags
- Use hashtags closely related to your products
- Post consistently so your Brand is always at the top of their mind.
Which Social media platform to use?
There are so many social media platforms today, and it’s not feasible to focus on all of them. Pick the platform where your current and potential audiences hang out. Get smarter using analytics and expand to other platforms as needed.
Use Advertising
Use social media and PPC advertising for brand visibility, get impressions and, build brand awareness.
Re-market to people who visited your site but did not convert.
Build relationships with influencers in your niche to promote your brand, products, or services.
If your target audience is familiar and recognizes your Brand, they are more likely to buy from you than a brand they are unfamiliar with.
FAQs
Branding FAQ
What is branding awareness?
Branding awareness is the consistent and impactful image of your business recognized by your target audience.
Why is Branding important for small businesses?
Branding helps small businesses increase,
- Customer loyalty
- Trust and Credibility
- Stronger business reputation
- Building an audience
- Brand recognition and visibility
- Generating more leads
- Brand Equity
How does Branding work?
Refer to our branding process (link)
Is Branding and marketing the same thing?
Branding is the consistent and impactful image or personality of your business recognized by your target audience.
Marketing is a set of activities to increase brand awareness, such as creating, communicating, and delivering products or services that provide value to your target audience.
In short, Branding is a tool to raise awareness among your target audience, and marketing is a tool to inspire your target audience to convert or buy.
Brand Marketing FAQ
What is brand marketing?
It is marketing your products and services, links to your overall brand identity.
What is brand equity?
Brand equity is the perceived value by consumers over others in your niche. The benefit of strong brand equity gives you the option to charge a premium for your products and services.
How social media impacts brand marketing?
Social media not only helps your target audience discover your Brand but also express their loyalty, promote, receive discounts, research products and services, recommend, and leave reviews.
What is brand identity in marketing?
Brand identity is your brand personality and visible elements like logo, color, values, and how consumers feel when they see your marketing campaign.