Branding has a full impact on how your potential clients will see your product and the company. Quality one makes your brand’s name memorable and associated with a positive reaction. According to Weber Shandwick’s study, 40% of customers amazed to have found that they like a product made by a company they are not fond of, have stopped buying that product. Reputation and the image of your company determines its future and success. In order to gain the right kind, the branding process comes in handy. Brand is the character of your company, that people will recognize you by. Careful, smart choices, and often these little ones, define how you will be perceived. Branding makes your services unique and exceptional, encouraging consumers to choose your product and stand by it. Branding is every aspect that works for the brand’s reputation, all efforts in creating the company’s character, therefore deciding if your product sells.
The Foundation – Reasoning Behind the Product
Before you get to the top of the mountain, you have got to establish the flat ground. The branding process includes many levels such as you, your team and your costumers in terms of engagement they have with the product. That depends on how well people on those levels understand values of the brand, meaning how well you are conveying your message. If you do not believe in your product – who will? And that is a big piece of branding. It is important to set, at the very start, what are your objectives and what ideals you put an emphasis on with your product. That creates an emotional bond between the recipient and the product, which is a core of keeping people involved. Once you have introduced what they are, you should make sure that people working for you understand them and work in their interest. That is also a great test to see if the values you wish to remedy are fitting your product well. If your team works with main values in their minds, they will always pick what is right for the product, and so, what you wish to get across to your customers, will be passed on with a much better result. The values you state have an impact on each choice made to what will be put into the product, from colors to how you treat your clients. Each and every decision is made to express the value, which is a psychological fundament of making a connection with the consumer of your product. That is why, your values not only have to seem ambitious, but to be relevant to your target and be real, something your customer can experience. Your message and principles you put out is the first branding process step that everything will grow from.
The Halo Effect
One useful advice for creating a relevant product, is that you actually are able to expect certain reactions from people by studying the basic human behaviour. So called „halo effect” is when a person associates an unknown object with the idea they have impinted in their mind from previous alike experiences. For example a pretty and juicy looking fruit, you have never seen before, might seem to be promising a delightful, hunger killing taste. But that does not always have to be a case, in reality it may be toxic. However, human brain associated it with the other similar food and expected a godly feast. Same thing applies to different colors, shapes or object placement that affects what is it going to be seen as and what feelings will it awake. If you gain good reputation or have first product be successful, people will subconsiously look at your other moves the same way. Many companies use that fact to, for example, promote one product with another already loved one, to give an instance, by creating an app for realizing comapny’s services. Focus on the strong point of your company and that will pull everything else further. You can take advatage of the halo effect or other behaviour patterns in order to help create and promote your product.
Express Your Product’s Values Correctly
Once you know, what you want your product to communicate, there is a need to specify many other things accordingly to that. You are building your brand around your target audience, and they are the ones to understand the values you have chosen for the product to represent. To achieve that, you need to use and determine means like:
- Logo
One of most important images, that is the first to come to mind when someone thinks of your brand, a signature you put on everything you do. With a good branding process, everything you put a signature on, shall turn into gold.
- Colors, Typography and Layout
Those three work as a visualization for the overtone of your brand. They are creating a first impression in the human brain. As it tends to analyze things separately, before overall view is shown, all little details are important and every single one of them will change the effect it has on the person.
- Graphics and Photography
These are more of a direct medium, used for your brand to develop a character in the consumer’s eyes, also can not be random pretty images, but have to be accurate to what you are trying to promote with your brand.
For your brand’s character to be clear and evident, your style needs to be consistent. To make sure it stays that way, the designer creates a Brand Book – a guideline to keep your brand’s message conveyed without confusing your clients, keeping marketing effective and having all promotion means used the right way.
Not Only What They See, but How They Are Treated
Customer service plays a big part in branding. If the audience has an exceptional experience, there is a great chance they will want to come back to you. It is like with relationships, you will go asking for solutions to your problems to people who treat you well, because you know, they have your best interest in mind. Having some sort of information exchange with your client during cooperation will definitely leave them more impressed, rather than them just realizing a transaction and forget about you fast, once they get what they want. As well, the more data you collect on your clients, the better you will fit their needs. For your customer to see, that there are people behind the product, will make them value it more, for they will equate to those of their species. They say, there is nothing more valuable than a loyal customer. So building a relationship with them is a top priority. A phenomenal example of out of this earth customer service is the Ritz-Carlton Hotel pursuit. They allow all their employees, from reception, cleaning assitance to hotel manager, to spend up to $2000 per guest each day to improve their stay to excellence. That is what it means to step up one’s game. Engaged relationship with your client bring them to say things like: „I only buy this brand’s product”. Is that not a colossal statement and a killer recommendation to anyone who hears them say it. How you are going to take care of your customers is another thing that needs to be planned in the branding process. But apart from how the client is treated, one fundamental thing for them is how you handle your employees, which is a top subject when comes to judging a company. Your brand begins with you.
All Your Tools Are A Branding Opportunity
Your most obvious and important to clients branding tool is the product you offer for them. It is the sense that make them pay attention to you. But outside of that, you might have chosen to develop tools like:
- Your Company’s Website
- Social Media Profiles
- Blog or a Newsletter
- Book or an eBook about your product
- Videos
- Contests
They all leave the door wide open for you to promote and sell. Take advantage of that and apply branding to all of them. For example, you can use social media to introduce yourself to a potential client. Things such as a Twitter bio may work for you like an elevator speech – short invitation to interest someone in your product – having a possibly future customer, to find out more about it. Branding is a base for marketing. Integrate it’s rules with all your tools.
The Branding Process in Practice
After you have obtained your basic strategy outline, you have to plan out how it is going to grow in terms of time, cost or staying relevant to the changing market and audiences. One of the things to take into a consideration when planning that, is a brand launch and keeping it up. Certainly, you wish to have a moment to shine to get things going. A moment of spotlight on you, everybody talking. That would be a great start, even if the fever does not last forever, it is a great push. But do you want to invest huge amounts of money into a brand launch? Or maybe you would prefer to invest more into the blooming process? You have to measure your chances and pick wisely, which would be the best and the right tactic for your brand. Having a bright vision is one thing, but will it work out in reality? Analyze your audience, your weaknesses and strenghts, market trends and competition.
Branding Threats
While working on your branding you have to take into consideration some possible threats. It is crucial to think about them, because it may help you greatly in the future as your company grows. What are some things you need to consider and acknowledge?
Public Opinion
Both your best friend and your worst enemy. It is definitely easier for one slip up, that might occur in your business process, to become laudly talked about, rather than many successes you might have on your account. To appear friendly to all, companies often steer from talking in favour of specfic sides in things like politics, or even prohibit individuals from publicly speaking on their own, personal behalf. You must have heard about people getting fired for similar reasons. It is all, because people like to fight for values and protect them. That, again shows, how crucial are the values your company chooses to promote with the product. Picking wrong sides in ethic and moral issues is another fast way to lose the loyalty of your clients.
Loss of Trust
If you ever do make a mistake that will turn people against you, it will be hard to get back on your feet again. Planning everything out, before a call to action, will most likely save your business. A word about negative client experience will spread as fast as a plague. Be open, honest and true to your clients. Of course, you want to show your product from good sides. But never create an opportunity for your customer to find out something about the product that will shock them and make them feel betrayed. Betrayed client will for sure cut off your chances with many other ones.
Trend Chasing
As hard as it may be to adjust to, people usually will care for certain things, only if they are popular at the time. That means that either you are the one dictating the trend or having to follow up. You need to observe the market closely and constantly. The brand never stops to evolve. Different thing to note is that you can not answer all market needs at once. You brand has to be consistent. Otherwise it appears chaotic and all over the place, which will have your clients lost and looking for a simpler alternative. If you watch over you clients interest, you will be calling the shots.
Competitors
If the project you are trying to realize has been done before, you need a fresh approach. Thoroughly study your opponents and make sure that what you offer will be the most attractive option. As far as the projects might be close to each other, you are building a whole new brand around it, and this will be the source of your profit. You product and company’s character will keep bringing people in. So make sure you spend a great deal of time creating in. Competitors do not have to be enemies. You could seek an opportunity to make friends on the market, with whom you can collaborate.
Branding Benefits
It probably seems obvious to you that branding has a great impact on your success and can benefit you, your company and your product greatly. At INVO we take great care of branding while creating digital products for our clients, because we believe it will be the foundation of their success. What are some of the greatest benefits of going through the branding process?
Creating Customer Loyalty
Astound Commerce have found in their research that 55% of shoppers like to visit the company’s website, rather than just buy from a retailer. What this means to you is that you basically get more than half of your audience to put themselves right in front of you to have your brand be promoted to them. Study finds that they are looking for the services they receive to be:
Engaging: 45 percent of millennial respondents expect a more engaging experience on the brand manufacturer’s website where they can get a strong sense of the product and brand.
Sophisticated: Nearly a third (32 percent) of millennial respondents strongly agree that brand manufacturer websites are more sophisticated than the retailers’ sites who sell their products.
Social: More than half (56 percent) of millennial respondents connect at least weekly with brand manufacturers on social media – indicating a need for more brand content in their personal feeds.
Streamlined: 93 percent of millennial respondents find same-day delivery from physical stores important.
If your marketing means will be fixed with the branding process, you raise your chance to give your clients exactly what they want and make them stay with your brand. And a good website is the key.
Recognition
Making your brand’s chracter highly noticeable leads to it’s name being remembered and become familiar, not only to your consumer but also potential clients. Once that happens, the more they get to see your logo and colors, they will want to try your product out of curiosity or attraction to the character you created.
Easier External Expansion
Sometime after you have made your good impression and gained your desired reputation, you will be able to bring new products and already having them marketed as great, without moving a finger. That is the power of branding. If one product is great, customers want to try next ones.
Easier Internal Expansion
A branding process that produced a perfect brand image, will have people knocking and kicking on your doors to work for you. Top shelf designers and developers want to work for the top shelf companies. Thanks to branding you might build a winning team. And if you ever might want to sell your company, evolved brand will be bringing offers in and let you negotiate.
More Profit
When your products are considered good and your brand promises client a secure, certain quality, the customer is willing to pay a higher price. More to say, they are happy to pay it. They believe the product is worth it. What creates this feeling is branding, provided of course it’s done well.
Work With Whoever You Want to Work With
To spice up your marketing technique you probably would wish to cooperate with well known brands or celebrities. Brand that have blossomed is a warranty that people will want to complete the job with your company, for you are a mutual provider of bigger income to each other.
Brand Types
Depends of what kind of brand you would like to generate, you will be taking different steps with it. There are many different ones, such as: personal brand, investor brand, non-profit brand, employer brand – and few more. You should know what you desire to achieve in your branding process. Writing out your objectives can help you do the research that will alow you to learn from other brands experiences and maybe avoid some obstacles or get inspired. Of course, there is no perfect plan to realize. Do not be afraid to be innovative. Do not hide yourself behind pretended computer perfection. Brand is a character after all, and it is most understable by people if it is a little bit humane.
Through Branding to Your Customer’s Heart
The branding process, like every project realization, takes up a fair amount of time, a lot of planning and analyzing, to make sure that decisions were made properly. But you will not be alone with it. You will have the whole team working on this process for you. Put your maximimum effort into it and treat working on it as if you were carrying a new member into a society, preferably one that will create a new era. Even if your product itself is satisfying, it might not make it far without branding. Branding establishes it’s place on the market and keeps consumers’ eyes on it. Remember to create a brand that is provable and relevant, in order to gain priceless consumer’s trust and to stay at the top. Create a product with heart and soul, and represent it in a captivating way. As you grow, your brand might not only have many loyal clients, but excited about every company’s act fans.
