Starting a new business is relatively easy in today’s modern age. You create a logo, a website, open a business account and off you go, right? Wrong! In this day and age, a business simply cannot survive without branding. Great branding will help convey a vision and connect with potential customers.
“Products are made in the factory; brands are made in the mind” – Walter Landor (Brand Pioneer)
If you want to succeed you will need to capitalise on creating a brand identity as this will deeply affect the consumer at every stage of the buying process. Putting your product or service to market is far more than placing it onto the worldwide web.
The use of digital marketing will help push you out to specific audiences, but if your brand is not strong you will not succeed.
“A brand is a voice, and a product is a souvenir”- Lisa Gansky (American Entrepreneur)
So, what is a brand?
In short, it should be everything!
To fully understand what BRANDING is, you first need to understand the fundamental difference between your business logo and your brand.
Your logo is the MOST IMPORTANT part of your business BRAND. So what is the difference between a LOGO DESIGN and a BRAND?
LOGO DESIGN vs BRAND
Your LOGO = Identifies a business in its simplest form via the use of a symbol or mark
Your BRAND = Is the perceived emotional image of the whole company
In this blog I’m going to demonstrate the role of branding and how this can affect the consumer buying process of a product or service and break it down into 5 steps:
1.Recognition
This is the light bulb moment when the buyer realises, they have a need to be fulfilled. They need a service or product that you are providing.
2. Information Search
Next, the search begins and perhaps most commonly today, it will be the internet that the consumer may first search. However, don’t expect an immediate sale at this point, browsers to a website will more than likely be on a fact-finding mission, maybe with an idea of what it is they are after, this is where the process really starts.
A company’s brand image plays a vital role here, if you have a great brand image, this will greatly help convert the customer when they are looking at the multitude of different options available to them. Think of your branding as the magnet that will draws them in. They may still not be ready to make that purchase but have now discovered you, and if your branding is great, you will be in the forefront of their mind when they are ready to make that purchase. Branded content across all digital marketing platforms will make you stand out amongst your competitors and allow you to shine!
Your Brand Message – Think about personalised messages, how you can convey a message about how the product/service will make the person feel. This will generate brand loyalty, if you can make people believe that they share common traits with your brand, they will always keep it a priority.
A great brand is not one singular thing, it should evoke a sense of emotions, be it a promise, a strong bond or pleasurable experience not to be forgotten. However, this does not happen overnight or after one website hit, but consistent branding will help build this loyalty. Just think of Coca Cola, Nike and Apple and how the big brands play.
Digital Marketing Tip –
- Capture Email information at this point
- Great SEO with help with your organic reach here and if you are clever and offer an incentive at this point to capture email information, you can future remarket to this new engaged audience. It could be as something as simple as a 10% discount on your first order within an exit intent pop up or a FB lead ad
- Create an organic social media schedule for brand awareness
- Google campaigns
3. Evaluation/Belief
The consumer has now searched and found several different options available to them to help fulfil their specific need. Its at this point they will make the decision on other aspects of your overall brand. Now is the time to make that silent promise. You need to convince them that you are trustworthy, that they will get nothing but the best if they buy into your brand.
Is the product/service of quality, is it value for money, do you provide an excellent service? This is all part of your overall brand. Be confident, make your communication clear and believable, assure the potential customer, what you have is what they want and need.
Digital Marketing Tip –
- Be clear and concise with your content
- Use customer testimonials
- Remarket to your audience, via emails
- Organic social media posts,
- Pay per click campaigns
4. Purchasing Decision
Ensure you do not fall at this stage by not having a clear path to sale, by not having consistent marketing. Great brand communication is so important at this stage. Think about any added benefits you can promote, how is your brand going to make them feel, are they going to be able to talk proudly about your product or service to others?
Digital Marketing Tip –
- Engage with your audience, automated emails
- Automated abandoned cart emails
- Offer promotions/incentives to existing customers
- Be clear and concise with your content
- Use customer testimonials
- Remarket to your audience with FB Pixel and Google Cookie
- Organic social media posts,
- Pay per click campaigns
5 Evaluation
You may have made the sale/provided the service, but this is the point at which the decision will be made as to whether the consumer will return, or place recommendation. This is where they will decide if their decision was right or wrong.
- Did the brand fulfil its promise?
- Was the quality of product or service good enough?
- What was the after sales service like?
- Was it worth the investment?
- Will they choose to act as an ambassador of your brand?
Digital Marketing Tip –
- Following up emails
- Customer surveys
- Monthly newsletters
- Promotions to valued/repeat customers
Summing up
I hope I have demonstrated in this article just how important having a strong brand is to any business. It is practically impossible to run a successful business without effective branding. Brands sell because people love associating with personas, they want to feel in some way associated with you, so create an image with which they can link to and inspire them to make that purchase over and over again.
Branding Quotes
“A brand is a voice, and a product is a souvenir”- Lisa Gansky (American Entrepeneur)
“You can’t build a reputation on what you are going to do” – Henry Ford (Founder of Ford Motor Company)
“A brand for a company is like a reputation for a person. You earn reputation by trying to do hard things well. – Jeff Bozos – (CEO of Amazon)
“Brand is just a perception, and perception will match reality over time” – Elon Musk (CEO od Tesla Motors)
“A brand is the set of expectation, memories, stories and relationships that, taken together, account for a consumers decision to choose one product or service over another” – Seth Godin (Marketing and leadership expert, author, blogger and entrepreneur)
“Products are made in the factory, brands are made in the mind” – Walter Landor (Brand Pioneer)
“Your brand is the single most important investment you can make in your business” – Steve Forbes (Editor-in-chief Forbes Magazine)
“Brand is the sum total of how someone perceives a particular organisation. Branding is about shaping that perception” – Ashley Friedlein (CEO and founder of Guild)
If you would like to know more about our Digital Marketing Services, please feel free to get in touch with InSynch and we’d be happy to help.
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