3 Essential Elements of Successful Business Branding
Branding is a crucial part of growing and maintaining a successful business. Most of the time, people choose a product or a business because of the brand. And when choosing to spend more money on a product, it’s almost always because of the brand promise. Building a strong brand increases customer confidence in your products, sets you apart from your competitors and makes it easier to get your marketing campaigns noticed by your intended audience. Maintaining your brand is how you keep consumer trust and continue to make your customers happy. Here are three elements of successful business branding.
Visual Elements
We are all visual creatures and these days all marketing is visual marketing. Ignore this key point at your own peril.
Visual elements, such as the colors, shapes and graphics you use on your products, website, social media accounts and email marketing messages, should be consistent across all your activities. The most successful brands use striking color schemes, interesting fonts and company logos to make their products stand out. For example, Coca Cola’s red and white labels and the unique shape of their bottles make their products instantly recognizable.
The aim should be to create visual elements that are significantly different and more visually appealing than those used by your competitors. It’s also important to consider how the visual elements will affect the perception of your products. For example, colors like blue and green are often associated with professional services, while colors like yellow and pink may be associated with entertainments or children. Red can signify danger, seduction, and energy. Pick with clarity and intention.
Words and Phrases
The words and phrases used in your branding and marketing material can have a huge impact on public perception of your company. Choose slogans, taglines and sound bites carefully to make sure there are no misunderstandings, especially if you are selling to a global audience, as some words and phrases can have different meanings in other countries. Also – make sure every word and phrase is reviewed by a professional editor/copy writer, and a 14 year old. I once remember seeing a pen company pen company named Pen Island – their hashtag #penisland doesn’t do the work you’d hope for on social media.
What to say and to whom? Formal language and well-structured paragraphs will be expected if you are providing professional services, but a more casual approach may be useful when selling entertainment products. Keywords are also a consideration if you rely on search engines to drive traffic to your website, so you will need to think about the phrases your target customers might type into search engines.
Values
A strong mission statement or detailed company profile page lets potential customers know what your business aims, aspirations and underlying principles are. Depending on the type of business you are running, customers may expect your values to match their own or an industry standard. This helps customers self-select. For example, if you are selling organic coffee, your customers may expect you to strive for fairness and sustainability in the way your coffee beans are produced and throughout the manufacturing process of your finished product. Providing a clear explanation of your values can also act as a unique selling proposition (USP) that will give you an advantage over your competitors. Costco is genius at this – customers know they are getting the best deal on price, and so they tend to buy more of everything than they could possibly need.
I’m With the Brand
Visual elements, words, phrases and company values are all essential elements of successful business branding. Consumers also expect companies to have accessible customer service support, so it’s important to provide a range of options for communication, such as an email address, feedback form, telephone number and social media accounts. The more you are willing to truly connect with your customer, they more they are willing to reward you with their business.
If you need help with your publicity, marketing, branding or social – feel free to reach out today.
Let’s get your brand and your business the attention it deserves!