Branding: The Meaning & Importance Of Building Your Brand
Building a brand from scratch is not easy. It takes vision and a commitment to consistency and authenticity. We have compiled some helpful tips so you can help take your brand to the next level.
Building a brand is essentially making a promise. Think about entities like Ford, BMW, Coca-Cola or Apple, and you’ll immediately realize what they promise. In other words, consumers know what they will get from a well-branded business. If we’re talking about Ford, you think of speed, efficiency, and safety. When Coca-Cola is mentioned, you think about the sweet, dark and carbonated sweetness inside the classic coke bottle.
But in another sense, branding consists of a special combination of a creatively-designed logo, fonts, colors, pricing, and services. It could also consist of bundles of attributes. Take BMW for instance. They represent comfort, well-built, Bavarian machines. Above everything else, they represent an attribute of safety.
The combination of promise, aesthetic, attributes and personality create a unique patina called the ”me appeal.’ If you’re buying a particular product, it says something about you.
Corona, on the other hand, has built their brand around festivities, relaxation, and escape from the monotony of everyday life. Their “Find Your Beach” campaign is a perfect example of them reinforcing their brand.
Both of these are great examples of well-known brands that still must continue to reinforce their brand identity. Developing a brand from scratch takes vision, commitment, and consistency. If you’re questioning your brand or wondering why branding matters, think about the following things:
Creating the halo effect
Edward Thorndike has developed an interesting scientific concept he calls ”The halo effect”. His concept is psychological and extremely complex. It also goes beyond the advice of making your brand stand out.
It is based on the following rationale:
There’s a type of cognitive bias an observer will develop on the overall impression of a product or service. This is entirely based on the properties/character of what they’re observing.
To put it in layman’s terms, we mean people can either love, hate or perhaps feel indifferent towards your brand based on their initial impression.
He is of the view that this tool can be extremely powerful when used to your advantage, though it can backfire on you when not used properly.
You see, as an entrepreneur, you need to ensure that your company, brand, website and all the other aspects of your business are sitting well with their audience. However, this is scientific, and one needs not to guess on how to do it — there are studies that show what colors, fonts or imagery appeal most to people.
Consistency
Consistency brings loyalty. If you’re able to maintain consistent brand practices across all business aspects, whether online or offline, you will gain the trust of your audience. This also works best when married to an attractive design. If your branding is visually-appealing, you will attract the attention of potential customers, and this will work to your advantage.
Statement of Quality
When shopping at the supermarket, you automatically tend to pick products that are familiar to you. It all has to do with familiarity and packaging. If you take time to carefully design your products, you will target your potential buyers, and this is how successful entities do business.
The original cost of branding can be high. However, if you consider a 2 percent growth in potential customer interest as a result of effective brand management, you will realize that it’s a win. In the long term, it’s worth, instead of continuing to simply save the petty cash you’re worried about now.
