5 Tips on the Importance of Branding
There’s nothing more helpful or more detrimental to a company or person than their brand
The importance of branding goes far beyond the look or logo. It’s not about packaging or other business materials.
Whether you’re just starting out or have been in business for decades, the importance of branding should be reflected in your business plan, mission and every decision that your company makes.
Check out these 10 tips on the importance of branding and learn why it should be a priority for you.
What is a Brand?
A brand is what a consumer thinks of or feels when they see or think of a specific product.
Your Brand invokes one of the general responses: positive, negative or neutral. There are varying degrees of each response and they can be emotional or intellectual.
The goal of a brand is to become a beloved household name.
Kleenex is the name generations use when they need a tissue.
People don’t walk into a restaurant and ask for a “cola”. They’re loyal to their favourite brand Pepsi or Coke.
You want customers to have that kind of devotion for your product. You want them to love your product enough they’ll debate others to prove it’s better. You want them representing your product.
Your brand could make every human being become a walking marketing campaign. That’s the potential of a great brand.
It’s not something that happens by chance. It takes a strategic and intensive plan to get to that point.
The importance of branding is critical in making your company a success.
There are things you can do to focus on the importance of branding within your company. You need to integrate that knowledge into your marketing and branding strategy.
1. The Importance of Branding Consistency
If your product quality or customer service is up and down, your brand won’t be a household name.
Negative customer experiences, product recalls and controversies can have a negative effect on a brand. Some companies have had to entirely rebrand products because of negative brand experiences or bad branding choices.
Consistency doesn’t mean an outdated stagnant brand. It means consumers can trust your brand to consistently be what they want.
Ensure quality customer service and deliver what customers want in your niche consistently. Companies and brands often get a facelift or complete overhaul to be more consistent with the times.
As long as the changes you make improve the quality of the customer’s experience and increase their affection for your brand, you’re succeeding.
2. Make a Name for Yourself
Making a name for yourself is what branding is all about. You want to stand out from the competition for all the right reasons.
There are thousands of products a client can choose but you want to be their go-to first thought.
In today’s world, individuals are their own brand. The world wide web and social media platforms like Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube have given anyone the ability to promote themselves to the rest of the world.
This can be a good or a bad thing for your brand. As they promote themselves they express their opinions for all to see as well. Whether people love or hate a product millions take the opportunity to tell the world what they think.
Whether they have one follower or 100 million like Justin Beiber their post about your brand has the potential to affect your brand.
This is why branding is important. It’s how you engrain yourself into the lives of consumers so you’re a natural choice.
You don’t want to be one of twenty options on the shelf at the store or in a list of google results. Your goal is to be the brand they go searching for in the first place.
3. Free Advertising
Word of mouth advertising is your most powerful and effective form of marketing and the added bonus is it’s free.
Over 92 percent of consumers trust family and friend recommendations over any other form of marketing.
The importance of branding is that you can harness the power of word of mouth advertising to reach your full potential.
Think of a small ice cream shop in Stratford Ontario that ends up in a tweet by Justin Beiber. It’s only one tweet but it reaches 104 million other people, and it’s shared thousands of times by them.
It was Justin Beiber’s brand that got them the exposure but their brand is now known, so they have an opportunity they never imagined. You never know when a big opportunity for your brand to shine is going to come so it’s important to always represent your brand well.
Beyond your initial product or company mission, your brand has the potential to create revenue in ways you may never have considered.
4. Brand Potential Profits
In 2011 more than $10 million worth of Coca-cola memorabilia was auctioned off and the items were only valuable because they were vintage and carried the Coca-cola brand logo.
Think about Walt Disney and the Disney brand. He started with a name, a simple idea, and a huge imagination. His name is now internationally cherished by generations.
Disney understood the importance of branding and successfully markets each project under the Disney brand but with an identity of its own. New projects are excitedly anticipated and billions are made just on brand merchandise sales.
In fact, the brand is so beloved that many projects are successful because they are from the Disney brand. Without the name attached the project would be unviable. Even with controversy or the occasional flop, Disney is such a cherished brand in the world it continues to be successful. No matter how expensive or unpractical the products or services may be.
These are only two examples of the power of branding. People don’t pay for the product itself, they pay for the brand name.
5. The Three Stages of Green in Branding Success
There are three stages of green in branding success:
You’re Green
You can be an expert in your niche with twenty years experience, that doesn’t mean you know anything about branding. It’s okay to admit you’re green.
It’s not easy being green. There’s no shame in admitting you have no idea what you’re doing when it comes to branding today. Social media brings an entirely new dimension to the importance of branding.
There are many companies or individuals who are experts at helping brands build their identity and manage their reputation in today’s digital age. Outsourcing this critical task could save you in the long run.
It’s easier to be proactive in managing your brand than to do damage control if you’re not. You can’t be successful without building a successful brand name.
Brand marketing experts can see the possibilities. Think of your brand in front of a green screen. Don’t limit yourself to doing a cartoon about a mouse named Mickey when your brand could be amusement parks, retail stores, production companies and so much more.
The right brand strategy can take you far beyond your wildest dreams.
You See Green Profits
The more you understand the importance of branding and it’s potential, the more profits you’ll see.
There’s no limit to what you can do with your brand. Brand merchandise is a billion dollar cash machine for several industries.
Entertainers brand themselves and then profit from their brand by being able to charge more because their name is on it.
Celebrities like William Shatner spend decades building a brand out of themselves.
Shoe companies, sportswear, clothing and just about everything you think of has brands that charge more simply because their name is attached to it.
Prescription medications are a prime example of brand name profits. There are generic alternatives to brand-name drugs. They are the exact same product but a specific medication can have hundreds of dollars difference in pricing because of the brand name attached.
Other industries the brand name is earned more by quality than celebrity or power. The brand has proven itself over time. They’ve touched the hearts or engrained themselves into the lives of customers because customers know they can depend on the brand.
Your Competitors Are Green With Envy
As you build a reputable brand your competitors will be green with envy because a loyal customer for you is a loss for them.
And once you gain a loyal customer it’s hard for them to get that customer from you. People are creatures of habit. They like the comfort of the same quality product or a name that they know.
A Coke lover may have a Pepsi if nothing else is available but they always ask for Coke first and sigh when they have to switch.
Your Brand is Everything You’re Associated With
Your brand is more than just packaging. It’s every comment made on company social media accounts, it’s staff conduct when representing your company, and so much more.
A brand can be positively or negatively affect by association or by circumstances. Understanding the importance of branding can launch your business into new levels of success you’ve never dream of.
A little imagination and a lot of determination can make those dreams come true if you build your brand to be one of unimagined success.
For more tips for business success check out our other blog posts.
