Why branding is important in marketing
Branding and marketing have been mixed up since the moment they were coined. Why is it so important to know what each of them represents? Well, how can you know how to build something if you don’t know precisely what it is?
It’s high time we busted all misconceptions and provided you with clarity. Once you have a clear picture, you’ll be able to build your brand and benefit from the success it brings you, so I am happy to present an in-depth guide to why branding is important in your marketing and here’s what’s included:
Branding and Marketing - What’s the difference?
Branding and Marketing - What’s the difference?
A brand can be defined in a number of ways. The American Marketing Association(AMA) states the following: “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. Branding, by definition, is a marketing practice in which a company creates a name, symbol or design that is easily identifiable as belonging to the company.”
Branding makes it easy for consumers to distinguish your products and services from the rest. It personifies what you do. By building a brand, you choose what kind of perception your audience will have of your business. Will you be a brand that strives for originality or one that aims to motivate its consumers? Will your logo represent simplicity or will you settle with a complex emblem? What are your brand’s core values? Each choice you make influences the way the world sees your business. Hence, choose wisely!
As for marketing, the AMA defines as “the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large”.
To put it simply, marketing the combination of activities in which you spread the word about your product or service. The main goal is of course to sell the product. It is how your customers find out that you have a new offer, course or special discount. If it weren’t for marketing, your products would be gathering dust and no one would know that your business even exists.
You’ve probably figured out by now that branding and marketing aren’t the same. However, they are two sides of the same coin. The former completes the latter and vice versa. Once we digest all those complex definitions we can conclude that marketing is like asking someone on a date and branding is why they say yes.
13 Reasons why branding is important for your business.
Why branding is important for your business.
1. Branding It makes marketing possible
Without branding, marketing would be utterly impossible since every product or service would be the same. Imagine if everyone marketed their products with the same colour, packaging or story. With no diversity, it wouldn’t matter which item you buy.
Imagine going to M&S to buy your good old Maltesers only to realize that every chocolate looks the same, tastes the same and costs the same. It would be like a scene out of a horror film!
You now see how lucky we are to have branding. Without it, competitiveness would die out and there wouldn’t be any motivation for companies to market their services.
2. Branding makes your company more valuable
Well-developed brand identity will add a few extra zeros to your business’ value. Think of branding giants such as Coca Cola, McDonald’s and Ferrari. Does the worth of these companies depend solely on their products, stores and other physical assets? Of course not. The thing that sells the product is the story behind the product.
By creating a brand personality, your company goes beyond being an establishment. Aside from increasing in monetary value, it adds a deeper meaning to your brand, which is a quality few businesses possess.
3. Branding gives your product the chance to become iconic
People don’t drink a fizzy drink, they drink Coca Cola. They don’t wear jeans, they wear Levi’s. People eat, drink, wear and buy the brand.
Let’s take the iPhone as an example. Since Steve Jobs’s famous presentation of the iPhone in 2007, Apple has solidified its brand image. With its leading marketing campaigns, it has portrayed itself as the innovative, original and aspiring brand. With those core values set, users know what to expect from Apple and given its bulletproof credibility, consumers can afford to trust and buy their iProducts. They’ve successfully tied the qualities of innovation and uniqueness to their brand and that’s why they are iconic.
Now imagine if Apple hadn’t been so creative in their branding. Let’s say that it named it’s company iComputers with the logo of a computer. Instead of enforcing forward-thinking and passionate messages in their campaigns, they only went on to talk about the specifications their devices possessed.
Would such a brandless company become the icon they are today? That would be a no!
4. choose the perception you want your customers to have of you
It’s much better to choose how you will be viewed by your audience than to let them decide and define your brand image. If you market yourself without a well-developed brand strategy will seem ambiguous and unclear to your target audience. You’d probably end up attracting the wrong people which have different expectations from the ones you can actually fulfil. Avoid this by defining every inch of your brand so you can show your company in its own true light.
5. get your company the recognition it deserves
You’re at Trafalgar square. Everyone around you has got grey umbrellas, while you’ve got a yellow one. The question is, who is most likely to stand out?
Your yellow umbrella will separate you from the rest and make you memorable. People will talk about you and mention later on how they saw a person with a yellow umbrella. No matter if they define your presence as odd or as a breath of fresh air, the news of your flamboyant brand will be spread by word of mouth. Why? Because you are unique.
In order to market yourself successfully and reach your target audience, your brand image needs to be noticeable and building a unique image can do just that. Your potential customers will be attracted and only then can they start to consider to actually buy your products.
6. Knowing your brand makes decision-making much easier
How you market your services is just as important as the quality of your services. In order to attract your targets, you need to consider what values they hold. Do they care about professionalism or do they wish to find a thrilling experience in your service? Do they seek an opportunity to enhance their skills or a way to wind down and relax? We define our brand personality based on the customer we wish to sell our products to.
When we market our service, we have to be careful with the people we choose to present us. Imagine if Nivea was looking for a new brand ambassador. They can’t decide between the comedian Ricky Gervais and Tottenham’s football player Dele Ali. Ricky is definitely more famous. With his clever and comedic traits, having an ad with him would create a certain reach on social media. But does Ricky represent what Nivea stands for?
Of course not. Ricky’s representation to the public eye is not compatible with Nivea’s brand image. Having him in their commercial would seem out of place and they probably wouldn’t be taken seriously. Nivea being a cosmetics brand, their main core values are health and beauty. Despite being less well-known, Dele Ali is a young athlete. He would be a better fit, given that he creates a healthy and sporty image.
We now see how a brand can help make the right decisions when presenting your product or service. Whenever you have a question, you can always turn back to your brand's core values and only then can you choose the best option.
7. clear branding saves time
Every minute you spend planning is an hour saved when you execute your plan. This old Japanese proverb serves as an insight into how branding can be your go-to marketing adviser. Instead of letting your marketing team ask a thousand questions to the marketing manager, they can turn to their company’s brand identity for answers.
Having a brand definition as a rulebook makes decision making easier and quicker. No longer do you have to spend hours thinking about what the right move is. Nor do you have to waste precious time on an essential task such as making your marketing strategy. All you need is a well-detailed brand and marketing procedures run smoothly.
8. branding connects your product with your target audience on an emotional level
Like brands, people have their core values. They have beliefs which serve as their system of evaluation when they consider purchasing the product or not. If the brand’s core values don’t add up with the person’s, it’s highly unlikely that anything will be sold. Ergo, when the company chooses its core beliefs, it also chooses its customers.
If you look at the majority of television food commercials, there is an omnipresent cliche of having a happy family sitting at the table laughing and eating the product which is being marketed. People whose core value is family will almost always resonate with this kind of TV advert. Given that they strive for having a happy and healthy family, this advert will connect with them on a much deeper level which will only increase the chances of them buying the product.
9. a brand builds your credibility
When a product comes from a credible brand, marketing it becomes ridiculously easier. Why? Because credibility backs up all the info you share in your ads.
Of course, building credibility takes a certain period of time and it becomes impossible if your audience sees that there is no brand behind the service. All the good deeds, customer satisfaction and positive feedback cannot be tied to something that doesn’t exist. Therefore, there is no credibility without a strongly established brand.
No credibility means that your sales potential is dramatically decreased. Therefore, build a brand to make all that hard work worthwhile.
10. a brand builds your customer relationships
No, we’re not talking about monogamous or open relationships- whether they buy only your products or not. You’ll find lots of info on loyalty in the next part. Here, we mean the approach you will have towards your audience.
Will you be motivating as Nike is with their slogan “Just do it” or L'oreal's empowering “ Because you’re worth it”. How you treat your potential customers is more important than the thing you’re selling. Even having the best product on the globe wouldn’t matter even a zilch if you’re not speaking in your client’s language. Your brand needs to tell them what they need to hear.
Imagine you’re a company that sells hand-sanitizers and you steal L'oreal's slogan. First of all, everyone knows that they deserve to have clean hands. Secondly, that kind of message would be completely out of place and exaggerated for a company that sells cleaning supplies. Your potential clients would never resonate with that message and they wouldn’t think even for a second about making a purchase.
Alternatively, if you came up with a slogan such as “The kryptonite for germs and bacteria”, there’s a much higher chance that your hand sanitizers would be flying off the shelves. If we treat every target the same, we will get the same negative feedback. Give each group what they need. If they’re looking for inspiration, inspire them. If they seek advice, advise them.
With this in mind, you can really connect with your audience and build a sustainable and long-lasting relationship. You will know how and what message to get across in order to make the sale!
11. branding can create customer loyalty
Brand loyalty is defined as the tendency of consumers to continuously purchase a brand’s products or services. Having loyal clients means that you’ll continue to have an exceptional repurchase rate. It’s the best of both worlds because they will buy from you and they won’t buy anything from your competitors. This makes your marketing process much smoother. Why? Because a loyal customer likes mentioning how loyal they are to a particular brand. They are your influencers and they not only work for free, but they also pay you!
Word of mouth has always been the most effective and trustworthy form of marketing. Proud users of a particular brand love sharing their satisfaction with a product and they are even sometimes judgemental towards people who don’t share the same preferences. You must have heard of the iOS vs. Android debate which from the looks of it, will never be settled.
Customers who perceive your brand as dependable, convenient and just right for their wallet will continue to be loyal to you. You can figure out how much brandless companies are missing out by not having a strongly established brand. Build a brand so you can have loyal clients!
12. A recognised brand sets the right expectations
Satisfaction is having your expectations met. Anyone who buys anything puts trust into the establishment and believes that their desires will be satisfied. However, if a company isn’t clear on what results their service can bring, they can seriously risk losing both their customers and their credibility. Clients will perceive such a company as dishonest and that will definitely diminish their future profits.
This can easily be fixed by building a well-defined brand. Let’s say that you’re in the car-manufacturing business. If you set longevity, affordability and fuel efficiency as your core values, you will act upon them by consistently creating vehicles of those qualities. By marketing your product as the long-lasting, economical and energy-saving car brand you will attract people who seek those traits in their next purchase. Whereas, not having a clear brand image may paint the wrong picture and you’ll probably set expectations which you cannot make. That’s why having a precise brand image and staying true to your core values are of great importance to marketing.
KFC knows that it’s selling fast food that’s not the healthiest food around. That’s why their core values aren’t health and well-being. That’s why their house rules written on their website say “be your best self, make a difference, have fun” and not “be healthy and fit”.
13. with branding your business can be more than a business
With its clever Christmas ads, Coca Cola has become an integral part of this family holiday celebration. In many countries, people cannot imagine throwing a party without having a bottle of Coke in their fridge. It has become a must for festivities and the question is never if you will buy this drink for my birthday celebration. Rather, it’s how many bottles you will buy.
The same goes for Zoom, a video conferencing platform that has recently a huge spike in its numbers of users. People see it as a way to connect with loved ones. It gives you an opportunity to have meetings and avoid commuting. Brands solve problems and create loving moments. That’s why they are valuable.
9 Steps to making a quality brand?
9 steps to making a quality brand?
Now that you know why branding is important, a certain thought might be lingering in your mind. How can you build a great brand? Luckily, we’ve got a list of key things you need to do in order to create a brand that will propel your business!
1. do your Research
One of Steve Jobs’ most famous quotes is: “Start with your customer and work backwards to a product or service”. The same can be applied in the process of building your brand. Start from the audience you want to target. Research what values they hold, what problems they need fixing, what language they speak in. By analysing this along with other important parameters, you will know what kind of brand will appeal to the people you’re targeting your ads to.
2. Pick your core values
After you’ve gathered the intel it’s time to pick your brand values. You will have to choose the ones that correspond to your audience’s. If you're selling male watches to businessmen, then your core values would be elegance, masculinity and precision. You don’t have to settle with these values but keep in mind that the slightest change can alter your customers’ perception of your brand.
3. Choose your name and slogan
Your name and slogan have to be relevant and catchy. The “Copy with pride” method is not advisable in this case. Try hard to come up with a unique set of words because it will stay with you throughout your business’ lifespan.
4. what colours are good for your brand?
Choosing your brand’s colours should also be taken seriously. Brands usually settle with 2-3 main colours which have to be contrasting. Be mindful when selecting, because each colour sparks off a different emotion.
Yellow is the colour optimism, clarity and warmth. It is usually combined with black which we can see in BestBuy’s logo.
Green is the colour of peace, nature, growth and health. A well-known symbol with this colour is the Android operating system.
Blue is a dependable and strong colour. Facebook, HP and Dell all use this colour to attract an audience that looks for a brand they can depend on.
Purple gives off a creative, elegant and wise vibe. That is why Yahoo precisely chose it.
Grey is for balance and tranquillity. We see this in Apple’s logo which is regarded as one of the best logos in the world.
Red is youthful, exciting and attention-grabbing. It’s not a surprise why there are so many summer commercials for Coca Cola.
Orange is a cheerful and vibrant colour that gives off confidence. Amazon effectively uses these colours to increase its brand awareness.
Keep in mind that you will also use these colours to design your content. All the carousel posts, stories and e-books will carry your brand’s colour palette. The same goes for products. That’s why choosing the right colours is a great responsibility.
5. Choose your font
Your brand’s font is just as important as its colours. Different font styles paint a certain picture of your brand. If you’re in the toy market, you should settle for a playful and fun- looking font. Whereas, if you offer consulting services, your font should look professional and elegant.
The fonts you choose will be used to tailor your website, social media content and just about anything that’s related to your company. Most businesses choose up to 2 fonts. The reason is that having more varied fonts could easily confuse your customers. Having just one would seem too monotonous. Usually, the first font is for the heading and the second one is for body text. However, you can have a third one but only to design your logo.
Finding the right pair of fonts can take up a great deal of your time, especially if you are a perfectionist. Luckily, there is a website that makes this choice a lot easier. FontPair is a platform where you can find the best font combinations for your company.
6. Create a logo for your brand
After you’ve settled with your colours and fonts, it’s time to create the face of your brand.
For logos, the “less is more” rule definitely applies. Instead of having an eye-popping emblem with a million features, make a simple but noticeable one that won’t make your potential clients turn away their heads.
Nike’s co-founder Phil Knight bought his company’s logo from university student Carolyn Davidson for a mere $35. Sometimes, the cheapest things are priceless and we all know how simple yet iconic their logo is. This should probably prevent you from spending thousands of pounds on a tacky and over the top logo.
If you're not design-savvy, find a skilful and relatively affordable artist. Check out just how many of them you can hire on Fiverr.
Nike’s abstract logo isn’t the only good kind there is. There are many other types:
Mascot logos are the most vibrant ones. KFC is the perfect example with their animated image of Colonel Sanders.
Lettermarks are next. This is when a company takes the initials of their name and turns it into a logo. It’s a preferred design for clothing and television companies that have 2 or more words in their full name. H&M, CNN, ESPN all chose this type.
Icon logos are used by Whatsapp, Youtube and Snapchat. This kind of logo serves as a visual representation of the company. It’s one of the more memorable ones and that’s why it’s the go-to design for social media platforms.
Wordmark logos are created by using your brand name, colours, and font into a visual identity. The well-known issue with wordmarks is that they’re usually hard to put in a scalable square design and become unclear when shrunk. Having used a wordmark logo, Facebook switched to an icon logo with the letter F. This way, utilising their logo became a much easier job.
Emblem logos are normally used by sports teams, but it’s a popular design in many other fields. Starbucks is the most famous user of this type. Having a circular and vivid emblem, it’s regarded as one of the more stylish logos around. Like with the wordmark, the flaw of this design is that it cannot be downsized without losing legibility.
Combinations are risky yet rewarding when they work. McDonald’s uses the combination of an icon and wordmark which is very rare in the business world. A great benefit of this design is versatility. They can utilize their iconic golden arches whenever their wordmark doesn’t fit.
If you’ve just started your business, it’s best not to settle with an icon logo. For small businesses, it’s recommended to choose a wordmark which will represent the business with its full name.
Before else, make sure that your logo corresponds to your brand’s core values and your image. If you strive for minimalism, having a combined design is not advisable. Opt for a design that would be a relevant, memorable and noticeable depiction of what your business stands for!
7. Write your brand story
We’ve all heard how influential the “About us” tab is. Customers who are considering spending their hard-earned money on your products or services are likely to check this section of your website. Especially, if it’s the first time they’ve heard about you.
One thing that builds trust when checking out an unknown website is the mission and purpose of the company. This is where you can explain what your employees want to achieve and why you strive for it. If your mission is inspiring, then you can use it to inspire people.
If you cooperate with charity organisations, then mention it. Imagine how great an image your customers will have of you. It’s important to reveal all the good deeds that your company has done. If you don’t tell it, no one will know about it. Be open and transparent. Telling your fascinating brand story will prompt people to give your service a shot!
8. Execute!
When you’re finished with all the previous steps, it’s time to start marketing!
As we mentioned before, all your content will be based on your brand image. You will tailor blogs, posts, ads that will present your true brand personality. You have to consider your core values before any decision you make. Stay consistent with your colour palette, font and design. Set expectations that you know you can meet.
9. Accept change
As the business world evolves, so should your brand. Be consistent with your main attributes but you can still experiment and cover new grounds with your marketing campaigns. Being in the status quo is safe and all, but the best growth is outside of your brand’s comfort zone. Explore new frontiers all while respecting your brand’s integral parts.
Conclusion
Now you know how significant brands are in marketing your business. Before you set up the first ad, think carefully how you want your company to be perceived. The more detailed your brand is the more efficient your advertising will be. You will attract the right people while saving both time and money. Using the right themes, images and languages, you will connect with your target audience on a much deeper level.
Creating an amazing brand image may be challenging and time-consuming but it will propel your products onto the market and get the money out of your customers’ pockets.
If you lack the time or expertise to build a brand for your business, you can contact us and we’ll show you how you can make a quality brand that will ensure your business’s success and longevity!
Author: Thomas Smallwood is an outsourcing specialist. Having worked in companies around Europe, from the support desk to the boardroom, he founded bizee.co to help small businesses grow through efficient delegation to skilled virtual assistants. He is an award-winning blogger and a passionate advocate for mental health awareness.
Connect with Tom on LinkedIn.