The battle to stand out online and get recognised by your customers and potential customers alike is a constant struggle in the digital age. Thanks to the internet, you might find that you’re competing with other businesses all over the world. This is where branding comes in and needs to be spot on.
Many businesses leave their branding to the last minute, treating it like an afterthought and believing that just sticking up a logo on social media or their website is their branding done. However, by taking the time to research, plan and build your brand, you’ll have a brand that customers can quickly identify, which builds up authority, trust, and visibility.
Here at Suki Marketing, we frequently work with brands that believe at first that branding is just how nice or well-designed your logo is. And whilst your logo definitely plays a part in your branding, it’s not your whole branding story.
To ensure that you have a strong, identifiable, and successful brand, you need to be passionate about your product, customers, and the market that you’re selling in. By utilising solid and effective branding, you’ll see the rewards in ROI, with higher sales and increased customer loyalty and retention.
So, what goes into creating your branding?
Crafting your origin story
Like all superheroes, your business will have a brand story, basically the hows and whys of doing what you do. It will also include your brand’s vision, values, and mission, as well as your brand’s promise to your customers. This is what you’ll deliver and how you’ll meet the expectations and needs of your customer. By sticking to your brand promise, mission and values, you’re more likely to build up a loyal following with lots of trust in your brand.
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Although creating the different elements of a brand identity can happen in parallel, we recommend getting these pieces of your brand story created before you move on to creating a logo.
Work out who you’re speaking to
Just as important as your visual identity is your tone of voice and your brand’s personality. Are you looking to be friendly and approachable? Cool and laid back? Authoritative and knowledgeable? A solid understanding of your ideal customer and your industry will help you identify the best tone of voice to use. You then need to stick with this tone of voice across all communications, from emails to social media marketing and web copy to apps. Everything needs to be consistent and identifiable as you.
Designing your logo
Obviously, it’s essential to get your logo right, and it can be challenging to fit so much meaning into one piece of design. You need to captivate your ethos, personality, and mission in your logo.
Brand identity and choosing a brand palette
The look and feel of your brand don’t just come down to your logo, but also the colours that you choose to use, plus the psychology of how specific colours and aesthetic elements will appeal to your customers. Market research and understanding your ideal customer will help you choose visual elements that will appeal to them.
Who’s this all for?
Your logo, palette, visual ‘feel’ and brand story are all equally important in creating successful branding. However, to create a brand that connects with your audience, you need to work out who your ideal customer is. Use avatars or personas to develop a vision of your perfect customer and build them out with likes, hobbies, demographics, and even their interests in other brands.
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This research and planning will help you create effective branding that speaks to your ideal audience.
Need some help building your branding? Here are our top ten tips:
- Take your time to really define your brand, its vision, values, and mission
- Do your research and know where your product or service sits within your industry and market
- Identify your ideal customer, research their needs and concerns, both physical and emotional
- Have a clear brand personality, human and relatable characteristics that your customer can relate to
- Be clear about what you want from your brand strategies, such as sales or customer loyalty
- Carve out your own identity that’s original, authentic, and personable
- Keep a clear and consistent messaging throughout your brand
- Once you’ve created your desired branding, develop a set of brand guidelines to help keep your visual elements and copy consistent
- Integrate your brand strategy into your marketing and comms plan
- Regularly request feedback from your customers to ensure your branding is speaking to their opinions and views
Branding is such an essential element of your business, and hopefully, we’ve shown you it’s more than just a logo. It will factor into your sales, and customer loyalty and keep those customers coming back for more.
So, whether you’re starting a new business or just thinking about branding for the first time, ensure you have a clear message, vision, and values to incorporate into your brand strategy and marketing. Don’t forget, research is key to understanding your customers and their needs! Need some help getting started?
Here at Suki Marketing, we don’t believe in simply creating branding that ‘ticks the box’; we create a brand strategy that connects with your ideal audience. So, why not contact us today to see how we can help with your brand strategy?
