Every startup or business starts and struggles to build its identity in the market. They want their audience to identify them for their products & services.
However, building such identity in the minds of your audience, either consciously or subconsciously is not a piece of cake. Consistent efforts in the right direction are the key. Several factors are taken into consideration to slowly build your business into a brand.
Therefore, a proper branding strategy is a must.
Your brand is what your audience automatically thinks of when they face any problem related to the services you are offering.
And, that’s a very profitable stage for any business; customers automatically streamline your business, referral marketing becomes automatic, the customer base upsurge and several other marketing benefits are already in action.
Today, we will be learning about the top branding factors and strategies that are needed to turn a business or startup into a brand.
Let's First Look at the Definition of Brand!
In simple words, products or services under one name can be defined as a brand.
A brand has a consistent and impactful visual and psychological connection with the customers which enables them to grow with a defined vision.
Brands are sometimes linked with the product and sometimes with the origin or manufacturer of the products. In short, the meaning of the brand revolves around the customers on how they see a product or a company for their problems or demand.
Top Branding Factors that Matters!
Branding is the practice of building your business identity among your customer or audience. It is the ultimate tactic that takes your marketing to the top level.
The top factors for branding are:
1. Target Audience
A brand knows its exact targeted audience. They know where their audience is, what and when they might need a specific product or service, etc.
Thus, if you wanna turn into a brand, discover your audience and learn to draw a bold line from those that are not your targeted audience with those that are your audience.
2. Visibility
A brand always stays in reach to their targeted audience on all the platforms such as social media, email, blogs, support, etc. without really interfering unless someone approaches.
You need to be among your audience much through your organic and inbound efforts.
3. Consistency
Brands stay consistent.
Branding is a long-term strategy and consistency is the best driving force for all forms of a long-term strategy. Thus, stay consistent in all your effort and slowly you will see yourself turning into a brand.
Get your brand standard in place, give consistent efforts with the qualities and support with your product, and you will stick to customers’ mind much better and longers; that’s how you turn into a brand.
4. Clear Intent
A brand knows what they offer; their products, their services, all remain clear; another important branding factor.
More than that, brands also keep their marketing intentions clear. So, if you want your business to turn into a brand, then discover your intention and stay clear on it.
5. Proper Visual Communication & Storytelling
A brand has a well-defined pattern of visual presentation. A perfect logo that matches with their intention and niche, and a slogan that represents their mission.
Take the help of your creative creators to design impactful visual communication.
6. Product that Provides Value
Product also matters a lot in branding. Providing a quality product or service is the best branding strategy. So, focus on your product and service, provide best support and keep your customers or clients happy and satisfied.
7. Value Proposition
Every existing brand in the world has its own unique brand value. For example, offering unique experiences is the value proposition of Apple Inc.
Right time for Branding
As branding can help to build a visual and psychological appeal to the customers as well as potential investors.
The right time for a startup to think about branding is when they are clear and confident about their target audience and what they offer.
They should be focusing on branding to build a loyal customer base &/or get investors. Branding also helps to streamline business with the aid, better automation, and organic or inbound reaches.
So, with the approaching time, when all the branding factors are in-place, it best time can easily be sensed.
Turning Your Startup Business into a Brand
Some viable methods:
1. Study the target audience properly.
2. The type of branding the startup should build would be determined by the target audience, the price point at which the product is being sold, and the problem-solving quality of the product.
3. Branding is more about storytelling and visual communication and being consistent with it to make people understand what the business is standing for and how they are providing value. The vision, mission, and story of the brand should be visually aligned with the branding components like colors, typography, copy, message, packaging, etc.
4. Keeping in mind that the social media pages should convey the same value and messages consistently.
Branding on Social Media Platforms
Here are some branding tips on social media:
1. Be consistent with the tone & message of the brand.
2. Make engaging content. (Know the secrets of content marketing)
3. Being transparent with the community. Helps in building personal connections resulting in getting a loyal customer base.
4. Making sure that the content being put up has no negative connotation or is a part of any controversy. The content should always be authentic and positive.
5. Collaborations with influencers and businesses over social media help in brand reach and there is a possibility of acquiring a whole new demographic & spreading the brand message.
6. Trend jacking and meme marketing are great ways to engage the audience and to spread brand awareness.
Branding Vs Marketing
Branding is strategic whereas Marketing is tactical.
Marketing follows a set of tools and methods, whereas branding is all about shaping your business and giving its own unique identity. Marketing without proper branding will be chaotic and it will lead to difficulties in acquiring customers.
Branding and marketing go hand in hand to create an impactful business.
Most Demading Books on Branding
Finally
Branding is a process of turning a business into a brand.
Initially, the product is just recognized by its company but after a successful branding, the company is recognized by its products and/or services.
In this article, we learned the top factors that affect the branding process. Also, we explore other factors associated with it.
Did you find the article helpful? Let us know in the comments below
Helpful article! I recommend reading for anybody who’s starting their business.
Wonderfully written! A must read for anybody interested in business and entrepreneurship. Great work Jay!