The art of branding is a skill that every successful company will have mastered, and one whose importance every business must surely recognise. Large corporations have whole departments solely dedicated to this purpose, emphasising its fundamentality, but luckily for smaller business owners it’s not necessary to have an entire marketing department devoted to the purpose. Branding is something every business can and should be doing. Here’s a blow-by-blow account of the process to set you on a steady course to success.
Create Your Brand
There are numerous ways to create a brand, and those with some marketing or graphic experience may wish to design their own. However, if you’re less artistically inclined, or just don’t want to chance getting it wrong, then hire a graphic designer to put your ideas on paper. This initial step is the most important part of the whole process, and if your brand fails to reflect your business or grab the eye of your target audience, then your brand is utterly pointless. It won’t bring in more customers. It won’t generate more income. Only a good brand will do that. No matter how long it takes, make sure that you end up with a design that will work for you and your business.
Be Consistent
Consistency is fundamental to brand success. Once you’ve got a great design, don’t deviate from it. Have faith in your creation and plaster it everywhere, across all of your advertising mediums. In this case, it’s no good to put your eggs in multiple baskets; using a variety of brands only serves to confuse customers as to who you are and who’s behind the products they love. The brand message and logo must be consistent across all advertising and marketing channels, so that when your company gets it right, it takes all of the credit for its success.
Market Your Brand
Once you have your elusive brand, it’s time to unleash it on the world. The very best brand won’t do anything to benefit your company if it stays hidden away – after all, out of sight really is out of mind. Your brand is an asset, and as such it should be put to work. The eventual goal is for your brand to be instantly recognisable and for people to automatically associate it with your company every time they see it. To forge that link, it must be eminently visible: the more a consumer sees a brand, the more familiar they become with it; and the more familiar they become with it, the more likely they are to buy from it.
You have many existing assets which you can use to publicise your brand, including things as simple as company clothing and your office space. If you have faith in your team and know that your employees are providing quality service to your consumers, making sure that customers know they work for you will enhance the reputation of your enterprise. To utilise this asset, get in touch with a retailer such as Brookes and arrange to have your employees’ work wear personalised with your company logo.
Brand your office, too. You’re delivering excellent service, so make sure that clients are reminded of the quality of your enterprise and their familiarity with its public persona every time they visit your headquarters. Branding the interior helps to demonstrates pride in your endeavour, as you clearly want people to recognise who you are and the work that you do. Add a simple touch with branded pens, paper, letterheads and office supplies.
Who knows? Maybe one day you’re brand will be up there in the branding hall of fame, nestled in between Coca-Cola and Nike as one of the most easily recognizable and successful companies in the world. Remember to give us a wave from those lofty heights.
