Branding is the process that builds the perception customers have about your business. It is about your business name, the logo, the designs, its colors, the services and everything that when it is about your company people think of.
Your brand is the public face and the personality of your business. It is, to repeat Jeff Bezos “what other people say about you when you are not in the room”. It is what makes your business different from a competitor.
When we talk about Coca cola, what comes to people’s mind is the red color, the white unique font of the text, the shape of the bottle, the taste of the product, happy emotions and other aspects that help people identify Coca Cola Company.
How to build a successful Brand?
Think of the perception you want people to have about your business or organization.
What do you want people to think about when it comes to your business? What do you want to be in their imagination? Is it the name of your company? But is the name of your business bringing any negative feelings? Do you want them to think of a color? Which color? Is that color giving positive feelings? Is it your logo you want them to remember? Is your logo embedding any image that can hurt feelings of the majority? You want them to think of how you provide your services? Are you providing good and in a good manner your services? Did your choices make your business look similar to that of your competitor?
Answering these questions may be subjective. But it is possible to determine what the majority of your target audience perceive as positive and negative.
And as you are starting, keep listening to your customers, and if necessary conduct surveys to collect opinions and slowly adjust your branding.
Create the perception in people’s mind
After defining how you want to be perceived, what comes next is inserting that perception into people’s mind. It will be more related to marketing and advertising. You will make your company visible and heard. Make your customers get used to your logo, to the colors, to the sound of your company name. Be part of their daily life, of what they see or hear during the day, when they walk on the street, when they are connected on social media, when they look at the tv…
Be consistent
For people to be able to recognize your business, to be able to think of something when it comes to your business, you must be consistent. In other words, do not change the aspects of your brand oftenly. Stick to the same good symbols and habits which are the foundation of your brand. If your main color is blue, keep it blue and do not shift from one color to another everyday. If you are known for the huge portion of food you offer for a good price, do not try to reduce the quantity of the food or to raise the price. The idea here is to build the trust, to make the illusion a reality for the customer. In the long run your brand will no more be an illusion or perception but an expectation.
You can be freshly arriving in a country. You don’t know exactly where a restaurant or a fast food is, but once you spot a Mc Donald you know the services you can get there. All Mc Donald places look the same, serve the same food with the same taste everywhere you go.
Why is branding important?
Branding creates value and build trust
Branding increases the value of a product and builds trust between your business and the customers. A product can cost up to 5 times its price when it is affiliated with a brand. People are more likely to buy flip flops branded Nike than flip flops without or with an unknown brand for the same price.
Branding brings new customers
Good branding favors referral marketing. When customers are satisfied with your services they tend to recommend your business whenever their friends, families, and neighbors want to purchase a product or service that you are providing.
Furthermore if your brand is widespread, known and used by a good number of customers, it means there is a clear positive impression of the company among consumers. And that tends to influence other people to become your new customers.
