The Five Key Elements of Successful Branding
Whether you own a large company or you are just starting up, branding is everything. Your company’s brand is what separates you from your competition. The importance of a good brand cannot be emphasised enough as it can either make or break your company. One bad slogan can ruin your company’s reputation, while one creative logo can skyrocket it past your competitors. Here are five key elements to help you successfully brand or rebrand your business.
Brand Position
Before creating your brand, you need to take a moment and ask yourself what your customers gain from using your service/product. What does your company do? Whom does it cater to? What makes your company unique and stand out from others in your field? Once you answer these questions, you’ll be able to narrow down your target audience and know what you are selling and to whom.
Brand Promise
The next thing you need to think of is one specific promise your company is making to your customers. For example, do you promise business growth? Is your value proposition 100% eco-sourced products? Whatever your brand promise is, you need to back it with 100% certainty and incorporate that into your brand.
Brand Personality
Your brand personality is what your company is known for both inside and outside of the company walls. You need to define a solid 4-7 traits that people can associate with your brand/company. If you’re struggling to narrow down your company’s personality into a few words, try sending around a survey to both employees and customers to see how they reply.
Two significant advantages will come from seeing what your employees and customers think about your brand. Firstly, you will see what words they are using the most, and you can then add them to your traits list. Secondly, if the comments come back differently than expected, you can think about ways to embrace these qualities or improve your brand to fit your original thoughts about the company.
Brand Story
From the beginning of human existence, people have connected to storytelling. Stories have a way of pulling in an audience and helping them connect parts of stories to their own lives. Your company will most likely have a higher engagement rate if you tell the story of how your business began and what makes your company uniquely yours.
Maybe your story is about your grandfather who started the company after immigrating from another country, or perhaps it’s a story about how you wanted to see a change in the world, or maybe it’s a story about how your company’s vision has changed over time and why. By telling your company’s unique story and incorporating it into the brand, you will connect to people emotionally and help them become more engaged with your company.
Brand Associations
The final element you need to brand your company successfully is brand associations. Your brand associations can include your logo, name, colours, fonts, image, tagline, and any other aspect of your business that will believe will be a first and lasting expression on the consumer’s mind. Seeing that these are the first things your customer is likely to associate with your business, you need to be sure they align with your brand personality. Your companies first impression with someone can be a long-lasting one, so be sure it has a strong impact.
Branding is everything in a crowded market. It’s the unique factor that helps one company stand out over another, something that customers either connect to or push away. Branding can make or break a business. Whether your company is old or new, you’ll be positioned for success after examining your company’s brand position, promise, personality, story and associations.
