Branding

Your business has a brand image, whether you are conscious of that image or not. Your brand is the collection of public impressions that forms the overall public persona of your company. This is affected as much by your company’s history of interactions with customers and other businesses as it is by marketing. Over time, every business builds a certain reputation, whether good or bad, or often some of both.

Having a brand strategy is all about leveraging your brand reputation in your marketing efforts to your business’ advantage. Strong brand strategy gives you a way to put emphasis on the most attractive parts of your business. It gives your current customers reasons to form personal connections to your business, which further enhances your appeal to potential customers. Truly great brand strategy elevates the work of the whole company. It provides employees with a sense of belonging to something greater than themselves. It also unites the entire company behind a common goal that is more than just sales figures.

Strategic Advantage

What are the benefits of good brand strategy? Ultimately, good branding is about putting your business’ best strengths at the forefront of your communications. You should always be working toward a complete, compelling image of your company, drawing in new customers and building trust in current ones.

 Primary Benefits

Greater Brand Differentiation: Differentiation means that your customers see your brand as different from “the others.” The last thing any brand wants is to be one of those others, what some brands used to call “Brand X”, in their own advertisements. Strong branding gives your product or service a way to stand out on the shelf, literally and figuratively.

Customer Loyalty: We all have favorites, and most people have more favorites than they realize. What’s your favorite brand of soap, favorite brand of milk, favorite brand of shoes, headphones, kitchen appliances…you name it? One of the prime benefits of good brand strategy is that it gives you the chance to build a bond with a customer. This leads them to buy your brand consistently, and maybe even tell others about it.

 Customer Retention: Retaining existing customers also becomes easier with a good brand strategy. This provides a more secure revenue stream for your business than the cycle of constantly finding new customers. Retention is always best for your bottom line. It takes fewer resources to make a current customer happy than it does to go out and find a new one.

Putting It Into Practice

To really take advantage of your brand’s potential and reap the benefits of your brand strategy, you’ll need to identify key aspects of your brand:

Personality. Your brand’s personality is made up of characteristics or themes that you want your brand to embody.

Voice. Your brand’s voice is the tone and overall style of your brand’s language. Your voice comes across in all of your verbal and written communications.

Visual Expression. Your brand’s visual expression is composed of the visual cues that you use to convey your brand’s personality. These are the colors, visual themes, logos, and other design elements used on your products and in your communications.

The Basics of Local Branding 

Local branding is one of the most crucial skills for a small business owner. Not only is it one of the most viable options for generating more business, it also helps search engines recognize you as a priority listing. 

 Mobile. Ensuring your brand translates through a variety of mobile platforms can make the difference between being a referral-only business and generating new business. Referrals are great, but real company growth means both.

Get Local. Use social media to tag yourself locally and to engage with your community. There are a variety of ways to geo-target your market with social media. This not only helps with finding your ideal clients, but it supports local brand recognition.

Google Business Profile. Claim and optimize your google business profile. Update your information and products on their platform as your brand grows and/or changes.  There are messaging and support tools that local businesses can use to connect with potential customers. Use them! 

Your brand’s personality is not something you should choose lightly, nor is it something you get to choose in a vacuum. If you’re already an established business with an established reputation, then so is a lot of your personality. Taking ownership of your brand strategy ultimately means taking control of that reputation, and finding ways of making it work for you.

It is important to remember that brand strategy isn’t a fix-all for bad business practices. If what you are doing is consistently upsetting customers then no amount of brand strategy can change your reputation. Focusing on your brand instead of the way you operate your business is the same as putting lipstick on a pig. Successful businesses offer top-notch services and have a carefully crafted brand.

We Can Help!

Want to learn more about how to build a compelling and memorable brand for your business? We’re here to help! Contact us today and see what we can do to enhance your brand’s identity for the better. Are you ready for your free SEO Analysis?