Branding: The Idea of Standing Out from the Crowd
Ezekiel Muoneke
Content Writer
- Blog
- June 8, 2023
- 3:59 pm
Branding is one of the most important aspects of any business, whether it is a small start-up or a multinational corporation. Branding is not just about having a catchy logo or a memorable slogan, it is about creating a unique identity and personality for your business that sets you apart from your competitors and resonates with your target audience.
But what exactly is branding and why is it so important to incorporate into your business’s life? How can you create a strong brand that stands out from the crowd and attracts loyal customers? In this article, we will explore these questions and provide some tips and examples of effective branding strategies.
What is Branding?
Branding is the process of creating a distinctive name, symbol, design, style, voice, message, and image that represents your business and its values, products, and services. In a nutshell, it is the way you make your customers feel when they interact with your brand, and the way you communicate your values, vision, and mission.
Why is Branding Important?
Branding is important because of its ability to make or break your business. Strong branding can give you a competitive edge in the market, increase your customer retention and loyalty, boost your reputation and word-of-mouth referrals, enhance your profitability and growth potential, and create a lasting impression on your audience.
On the other hand, weak or inconsistent branding can confuse your customers, damage your credibility, lose your market value, and invariably hinder your growth potential, making you forgettable or irrelevant in the sphere of things.
According to a study by Nielsen, 59% of consumers prefer to buy new products from brands they are familiar with, and 21% would opt for a new product because they had an affinity to the brand. What this simply means is that strong branding can help you:
• Establish a clear and consistent identity for your business that reflects who you are, what you do, and why you do it.
• Differentiate yourself from your competitors and highlight your unique selling proposition (USP).
• Build trust and credibility with your customers and stakeholders by delivering on your promises and exceeding their expectations.
• Create an emotional connection with your customers and inspire loyalty and advocacy.
• Increase your visibility and recognition in the market and attract more leads and sales.
How to Create a Strong Brand that Stands Out from the Crowd?
1. Define Your Brand Purpose
Your brand purpose is the reason why your business exists beyond making money. It is the core value that drives your actions and decisions. It is the impact that you want to have on the world. Your brand purpose should answer these questions:
• What problem are you solving for your customers?
• How are you making their lives better or easier?
• What difference are you making in the society or the environment?
• What is your vision for the future?
Your brand purpose should be clear, concise, compelling, authentic, and meaningful. It should inspire you and your team to work towards a common goal. It should also resonate with your customers and make them feel that they are part of something bigger than themselves.
For example, Nike’s brand purpose is “to bring inspiration and innovation to every athlete in the world”. This statement reflects their passion for sports and fitness, their commitment to excellence and innovation, their inclusiveness of all people regardless of their abilities or backgrounds, and their aspiration to inspire others to achieve their potential.
2. Identify Your Target Audience
Your target audience is the group of people who are most likely to buy your products or services. They are the people who share similar needs, wants, preferences, behaviours, values, demographics, psychographics, lifestyles, etc. You need to identify your target audience so that you can tailor your branding strategy to suit their needs and expectations.
To identify your target audience, you need to conduct market research using both primary (e.g., surveys, interviews, focus groups) and secondary (e.g., reports, articles, statistics) sources. You need to collect as much information as possible about their:
• Age
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Education
• Occupation
• Family status
• Pain points
• Desires
• Aspirations
• Values
• Beliefs
• Attitudes
• Opinions
• Behaviours
Based on this information, you can create buyer personas or fictional representations of your ideal customers. (We talked about this extensively in a previous article.)
For example, Spotify’s buyer personas include:
• Chloe, a 22 year old college student who loves music and podcasts and uses Spotify to discover new artists and genres, as well as to relax and have fun with her friends.
•David, a 35-year-old lawyer who loves music and podcasts and uses Spotify to stay updated on the latest news and trends, as well as to unwind and escape from his stressful work.
•Emma, a 45 year old motherof two who loves music and podcasts and uses Spotify to enjoy to her favourite tunes annd shows, as well as to bond with her family and friends.
Buyer personas help you to understand your customers better and communicate with them more effectively. They also help you to segment your market and target your marketing campaigns more precisely.
3. Develop Your Brand Identity
Your brand identity is the visual, verbal, and emotional expression of your brand. It is the way you present yourself to the world and how you want to be perceived by your audience. Your brand identity includes:
~ Your brand name: The name that identifies your business and distinguishes it from others. It should be catchy, memorable, easy to pronounce and spell, relevant to your industry and audience, and legally available.
~ Your brand logo: The symbol or graphic that represents your business and conveys its essence. It should be simple, distinctive, scalable, adaptable, timeless, and consistent with your brand personality.
~ Your brand colours: The colours that evoke certain emotions and associations in your audience. They should be appropriate for your industry and audience, harmonious with each other, and consistent with your brand personality.
~ Your brand fonts: The fonts that communicate your message and tone of voice. They should be legible, readable, compatible with each other, and consistent with your brand personality.
~ Your brand imagery: The photos, illustrations, icons, graphics, etc. that support your message and enhance your visual appeal. They should be high-quality, relevant, diverse, authentic, and consistent with your brand personality.
~ Your brand voice: The tone and style of your written and spoken communication. It should reflect your brand purpose and values, resonate with your audience, differentiate you from your competitors, and be consistent across all channels.
~ Your brand personality: The human traits or characteristics that describe your brand. It should be based on your brand purpose and values, appeal to your audience, differentiate you from your competitors, and be consistent across all channels.
For example, Airbnb’s brand style guide includes:
✓ Their brand name: Airbnb
✓ Their brand logo: A stylised “A” that resembles a paperclip or a location pin
✓ Their brand colours: Rausch (red), Babu (green), Arches (yellow), Hof (blue), Foggy (grey), Raconteur (black)
✓ Their brand fonts: Circular (sans-serif) for headlines and body copy; Avenir Next (sans-serif) for navigation; Tiempos (serif) for editorial content
✓ Their brand imagery: Photos of real people in real homes around the world
✓ Their brand voice: Warm, friendly, inspiring, adventurous
✓ Their brand personality: Belonging, adventurous, curious, creative
To develop your brand identity, you need to create a brand style guide or a document that defines the rules and standards for using your brand elements. A brand style guide helps you to maintain consistency and coherence in your branding across all touchpoints.
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4. Implement Your Brand Strategy
Your brand strategy is the plan of action that outlines how you will achieve your branding goals. It includes:
• Your value proposition: The statement that summarises the benefits that you offer to your customers and why they should choose you over your competitors. It should be clear, concise, compelling, unique, credible, and customer-oriented.
• Your positioning statement: The statement that defines how you want to be perceived by your customers in relation to your competitors. It should include who you are, what you do, who you do it for, how you do it differently or better than others, and why it matters.
• Your messaging framework: The set of key messages that communicate your value proposition and positioning statement to different segments of your audience. It should include your headline (the main message), subhead (the supporting message), body copy (the detailed message), call-to-action (the desired action), and proof points (the evidence or testimonials).
• Your marketing mix: This is the combination of marketing channels and tactics that you will use to reach your target audience and deliver your value proposition. It should include your product (the features and benefits of what you offer), price (the amount that you charge for what you offer), place (the locations or platforms where you offer what you offer), promotion (the methods or tools that you use to communicate what you offer), people (the staff or partners who deliver what you offer), process (the steps or procedures involved in delivering what you offer), and physical evidence (the tangible or intangible elements that enhance what you offer).
To implement your brand strategy, you need to create a marketing plan or a document that outlines the objectives, strategies, tactics, budget, timeline, and metrics for your marketing activities. A marketing plan helps you to execute your brand strategy effectively and efficiently.
For example, Apple’s marketing plan includes:
√ Their value proposition:
“Think different.”
√ Their positioning statement:
“Apple is the leading innovator in the technology industry that creates products and services that empower people to unleash their creativity and productivity.”
√ Their messaging framework:
(Headline); “The most advanced dual-camera system ever on iPhone.”
(Subhead); “Lightning-fast A15 Bionic chip. A big leap in battery life. Durable design. Superfast 5G.”
(Body copy); “Meet iPhone 13. The beautifully bright 6.1-inch Super Retina XDR display. Ceramic Shield with 4x better drop performance. Incredible low-light photography with a new Wide camera and 1.5x more light capture…”
(Call-to-action); “Buy now.”
√ Their marketing mix:
Product (iPhone 13), Price ($799), Place (Apple Stores, online store, authorized resellers), Promotion (TV ads, social media, website, email, events), People (Apple employees, influencers, loyal customers), Process (easy ordering, fast delivery, free returns, customer service), Physical evidence (packaging, warranty, logo).
5. Evaluate and Improve Your Brand Performance
Your brand performance is the measure of how well your brand is achieving its goals and objectives. It includes:
~ Your brand awareness: The extent to which your target audience recognises and recalls your brand name, logo, colours, fonts, imagery, voice, personality, etc.
~ Your brand reputation: The extent to which your target audience trusts and respects your brand and its values, products, and services.
~ Your brand loyalty: The extent to which your target audience prefers and recommends your brand over others and repeats purchases from you.
To evaluate and improve your brand performance, you need to collect and analyse data from various sources such as:
• Your website analytics: The data that shows how visitors interact with your website such as page views, bounce rate, time on site, conversions, etc.
• Your social media analytics: The data that shows how followers engage with your social media posts such as likes, comments, shares, clicks, impressions, reach, etc.
• Your email marketing analytics: The data that shows how subscribers respond to your email campaigns such as open rate, click-through rate, unsubscribe rate, etc.
Based on this data, you can identify the strengths and weaknesses of your brand performance and take actions to improve it such as:
✓ Improving your website design and user experience
✓ Optimising your website content and SEO
✓ Creating more engaging and relevant social media content
✓ Encouraging and rewarding customer feedback
✓ Addressing customer complaints and issues
✓ Launching new products or services
✓ Expanding to new markets or segments
✓ Partnering with other brands or influencers
✓ Rebranding or refreshing your brand identity
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As has already been established, branding is important because it can make or break your business. In order to create a strong brand that stands out from the crowd, you would need to follow these 5 steps outlined. And by following these steps, you can create a brand that is not only distinctive and memorable, but also meaningful and valuable for your customers and your business.