Have you ever heard the word “branding” and you’re wondering what it can do for your business? Well here is a complete guide that shows how to brand your business and its many benefits. Excellent branding can upgrade your business, generate more traffic and help you earn more. Also, you gain individuality when your brand which helps you stand out amongst competitors. That being said, it is obvious that branding is more crucial to business growth, now than ever. So, come with me, Let’s take a tour together!
First…
What is a brand?
A brand is a totality of how people feel about a business or service and what they think when a business name comes to mind. It is the overall consumer experience.
Up Next…
What is branding?
Branding is the ongoing process of locating, developing, and overseeing all of the behaviors and assets that influence stakeholders (clients, investors, partners) perceptions of a brand. Additionally, it literally is the act of continually reintroducing your company’s values to your audience.
Components of Branding?
Before we delve fully into the rudiments of branding your business, it is crucial for you to know the different components of branding. Typically, the various components of branding include:
1. Brand Strategy
2. Brand Equity
3. Brand Identity
4. Brand Marketing
5. Brand Experience
1. Brand Strategy
Having a clear brand strategy is a crucial factor in knowing how to brand your business. This encompasses a plan that considers your audience; who they are, their age range, the kind of income they earn, where they are readily found, what kind of lifestyle they enjoy, what kind of products they would readily spend on, your niche in the marketplace as regards the sector or industry you serve, or what services you offer. It involves integrating all these data to push your business into visibility and growth.
2. Brand Equity
Consistent strategic branding paves the way for excellent brand equity. The term “brand equity”, deals with how much customers are willing to pay for your product or service majorly because of the premium placed on the name of your business rather than the product or service you offer. Brand equity is largely related to brand trust i.e if you have great brand equity, you definitely will enjoy a lot of trust from your customers.
Additionally, this implies that you can increase the prices of your products or service and still enjoy maximum sales or orders.
3. Brand Identity
Brand identity is what distinguishes your brand from others. It is peculiar to you. Hence, it comprises your unique logo, colors, fonts, website design, content, adverts, packaging, and even delivery systems. Furthermore, it deals with how you convey your brand to the public using messaging, and visual tools like your reels on Instagram, blogs, vlogs, and images amongst others. Therefore, it is important that your identity is consistent across all of your marketing platforms. Brand identity forms a major part of branding your business.
4. Brand Marketing
In knowing how to brand your business, you must be aware of brand marketing. This important component talks about knowing your target audience and communicating your values i. e what your company or business stands for, what you intend to offer, what your beliefs are your goals. It involves using your unique brand “voice” i. e( your own ways of communication either by blogs or videos) to the end that your target audience accepts, trusts, and remains loyal to your products or services.
5. Brand experience
In understanding how to brand your business, you must take cognizance that your audience is humans and whether they buy into what you’re offering or not deals largely with how they feel. Hence, you must think carefully about the kind of emotions you want your brand to spur in your potential clients.
So, basically, your brand experience consists of the emotions and thoughts evoked by your brand identity in the hearts and minds of your audience.
Then…
Now, we are gradually getting to hit it on the head.
How to Brand Your Business
- Know who your customers are
- Determine your brand personality
- Have a consistent voice
- Create a brand slogan
- Trademark your brand
- Create value proposition
- Have a unique business culture
1. Know who your customers are
There’s something as a “buyer persona” – it basically is a hypothetical client built by actual facts on current clients. A buyer persona is built by considering your target customers ‘ age range, lifestyle, and spending behaviors… It serves as a tool that helps you see patterns of traits common to your audience.
Furthermore, this enables you to come up with branding concepts that can help bring more satisfaction to your clients. So, in summary, to understand how to brand your business it’s crucial to know who your customers are.
2. Determine your brand personality
Your business is a man, so your brand should have a personality just like men have different personalities and different shades of behaviors. So, your brand must project a unique personality. Do you want to come across as charismatic or youthful, high-end or classy? you should choose the personal attributes and voice you want to use.
3. Have a consistent voice
The understanding that you have to be consistent is crucial in knowing how to brand your business. So, whatever style of communication you prefer must remain unchanged throughout all customer touchpoints. That is your website, social media platforms, and face-face interactions. Because, building familiarity, trust, and loyalty require consistency. People trust those that remain the same over time.
4. Create a brand slogan
One of the famous brand slogans is Mercedes-Benz’s ” the best or nothing”. And one reason it is famous is that it is a catchy phrase and hence sticks quite easily. So, you want to put out a slogan that sticks quickly while also conveying a message. Your slogan should exemplify the essence of your brand, and its personality. It should leave an impression! Now you don’t have to be a professional copywriter to do this, just coin up something that is relatable, considering your brand identity.
5. Trademark your brand
Trademarking your brand is as important as creating a website or designing a logo because it’s what protects your identity as a brand from being imitated by another. Presently, there are loads of entrepreneurs and small firms and you want to do all you can to safeguard your brand and additionally keep its uniqueness.
So, you should register your brand’s name, logo, and tagline as a trademark as soon as you put your business out there. Furthermore, trademarking your brand requires you to submit a trademark application, which is simple and cost-effective. What’s better, is that your trademark will never expire, cool eh?
6. Create a Value Proposition
7. Have a unique business culture
When we talk about business culture, we are referring to how you do business, and what kind of business atmosphere exists between you, your employees, and your clients. Is it all friendly and warm? Do you value teamwork? Do your clients and employees feel treated like family or do you prefer a formal and conservative work setting?
The key to long-term success is getting your staff on board with your brand’s business culture and values. Hence, it has to be defined from the outset.
And…
Beyond knowing how to brand your business, it is important to again remind you of what you stand to gain if you properly brand your business and give it the right visibility online. To learn more about creating and sustaining an online presence for your brand, click this link
Benefits of branding
1. Helps to Generate Genuine Traffic
When you brand your business, you acquire an edge over a competitor that runs just a business. Branding helps you generate genuine traffic i. e real customers that accept and choose to patronize your business. On the other hand, it helps you form organic ties with your existing audience which paves the way to their becoming devoted clients in the future.
2. Can Increase Employee Satisfaction and Pride
Having a branded business with all of its components that we talked about earlier communicates strength and vision to your employees. Everyone loves to follow or be associated with a company that has a strong presence and knows where it’s going.
Hence, your employees would find their jobs more fulfilling and fun if you run a branded business. Besides, strong branding makes it easier to persuade your staff members that they are not just working a job like any other employee on the street.
3. Improves Trust in the Marketplace
You know how you trust businesses that have great branding, you can cast your mind back to your favorite brands. You love and trust them simply because they aren’t just mere businesses. When you think about them, something calls out to you, and you can relate to them, why? Because of the brands’ personalities.
Hence, branding helps to find the best way to establish and uphold a level of trust between a business and its stakeholders.
Other benefits are:
4.Aiding your business or service to be above the competition.
5. Elevating your brand equity which helps lower barriers to marketing and sales efforts.
6. Aiding employee recruitment and retention efforts.
In conclusion, branding your business is the right step in the direction of sustainable business growth and success. I hope you enjoyed the tour!