The Power of Branding: Building your small business into a powerhouse
A strong brand is a powerful tool when it comes to attracting and retaining customers – so much so that brands like Hoover, Volvo, Club Med and thousands of others have been sold for millions. Why would someone pay so much just for a name and a logo? Because, a brand so much more than that. It’s how customers perceive you. Brands make it easier for customers to recognize products that they know and trust. Over time, a brand can become known for being more than just a reliable source of quality products. It can become synonymous with a particular lifestyle or aspirational values. But it’s hard work to build a powerful brand that consumers are willing to pay top dollar for.
These are five key elements that sophisticated marketers use when building successful brands.
Defining your brand: The first step to building your brand is to workshop who you are and what you stand for. This includes developing a clear understanding of your company's values, vision, and purpose. Consistency is key. You won’t be able to build a successful brand if you come across as erratic or unreliable. Think about how you want people to feel when they interact with your brand. As you work to define your brand personality, try focus on what makes your story, experience or products stand out and differentiated from your competitors. Make sure your brand is authentic. Remember, you are setting expectations that you’ll have to live up to for years to come.
Finding your voice: Once you have defined your brand, it’s time to develop a consistent tone of voice that reflects your brand's personality and values. This can be achieved with the careful use of language across your written and spoken communications. Any brand mascots, ambassadors and social media influencers you choose to work with need to epitomise your unique tone of voice, as well as your values. What you say, and how you say it, could have a big impact on how people relate to you. Do you want people to think of your brand as a trusted advisor, a BFF, an amusing eccentric or a purpose-driven eco-warrior? Whatever you decide, it’s important use a common tone across all channels, from your website and social media to email and in-person interactions. Consider recruiting an experienced copywriter to help you get it right first time.
Strong visual identity: Your visual identity is a critical component of your brand. And the images and fonts you choose will need to work across a broad range of channels and assets including, product merchandising, social media accounts, newsletters, signage and more. Starting with your logo, your look and feel helps to reinforce your brand's message and creates a consistent visual experience for your customers. If you’re successful, your logo will evoke strong emotions, aspirations and behaviours. Investing in a professional designer is money well spent to ensure that your visual identity cuts through the clutter and looks good on all your channels, whilst still reflecting your brand’s personality.
Market research: Before embarking on a branding exercise, it’s important to understand who your current and potential consumers are. Market research doesn’t have to be a particularly costly undertaking and there are plenty of free digital tools available. Survey’s, questionnaires, social listening and the data you already hold about your customers can tell you a lot about buying habits, demographics and what your competitors are up to. Understanding the competitive environment is key to your ability to define your Unique Selling Propositions in a way that will appeal to your target audience.
Engage with customers: All your channels and touchpoints are an opportunity to let consumers know who you are, what you stand for and what you can offer them. This isn’t just about telling customers your story – it’s about listening too. Engaging with customers works both ways. Creating content that inspires customers to comment, share, like, click on a link, or press that “buy now” button, can be done through ongoing conversations via face-to-face interactions, social media, email, and reviews. By listening to your customers and responding to their needs, you can build a loyal customer base and create a positive brand reputation.
Is it worth it? A whopping 57% of consumers say they’d spend more money on brands they’re loyal to.1 So, although building a successful brand can be time-consuming, difficult and expensive, it’s a highly effective way to position your small or medium business for growth. It’s easier for powerful brands to roll out new products. And recruitment is less onerous when influencers, potential partners and staff seek you out, rather than the other way round. But whatever you decide, remember this: There’s no point in spending thousands on branding if you can’t deliver a quality product and good service. Fail to do so and you’ll undermine consumers’ faith in your brand – faster than the speed of Twitter.
Sources
1https://www.accenture.com/us-en
