Your Brand is your identity. Branding helps make people aware of your existence, as well as the existence of your products and/or services. An effective brand not only sets you apart from the pack but also drives the customers’ expectations in such a way that your target audience sees your product as the only answer to a specific need.
Importance of branding your business:
• Name Recognition
A company brand increases public recognition of your core business or product. It builds trust and credibility. Customers are willing to pay more for branded products than for unbranded products.
• Value Addition
It says something is different in your company. If you want to extend your product range, customers’ perception of the new product will be enhanced by your existing brand. This helps your business to foray into newer market sectors without changing your core brand identity. Remember, if you’ve got a brand, you are not selling a commodity but a lifestyle to your customers.
• Efficient Marketing
Creating a unique brand makes the product stand out and creates an impression in the minds of consumers. This impression motivates customers to choose a particular product or service from thousand other competing products. Thus, branding helps boost sales.
Easy-to-implement and Cost Effective Ways of Branding the Business:
• Know Your Audience
Successful branding begins with the customer. The first thing to do is figuring out who your target audience is and how to accurately target them. Understanding their needs, values and lifestyles will help you to come up with a brand that will appeal to the customers and make an instant connection with the product they are purchasing and a sense of trust with the company selling it. So before launching into an ad campaign, do a little research.
• Brand Differentiation
It pays to decide early on what separates your brand from the rest. If every other brand is the same and highlights the same qualities, the customers are likely to not connect with the business at all. Here are some collaterals and image materials to help you bolster your company’s brand: web stationery, jingle, logo, tagline, cards, brochures, newsletters, mascot, spokesperson and so forth.
• Advertisement
This is the best way to introduce your brand to the world as advertising helps customers to feel connected to the product before actually purchasing it. There are many platforms of media advertizing available that you can use to lift the business brand even higher. Whether it would be through Yellow pages, local listing sites, newspaper inserts, cable TV etc., advertizing can get things started for businesses, both big and small.
• Commitment
Introducing a brand is easy. Keeping it consistent and maintaining its integrity is the difficult part. Businesses must ensure that they build the same attributes and characteristics into all areas of their operations. This will help in recognition and customer loyalty.
The entire concept behind branding is to give your business the push it needs to start operating as a successfully commercial enterprise. Branding is relevant not only to the established high-end businesses but also small start-ups. It can work for everyone, provided it is used smartly and carefully.
