Business branding is important. It doesn’t matter what the size of the business is, or what it actually does, it can be branded. The thing about brands is that we tend to associate them with the big companies, the ones that become household names we all know and recognize instantly, either because of their name or logo. That is thanks to their branding and their utilizing proper brand asset management to ensure they are delivering a consistent message. I’m certain we would all like that of our own businesses, but it feels considerably out of reach.
The important factor here is your marketing, because if your marketing strategy isn’t incorporating branding then you simply aren’t doing it properly.
If you want to have a successful, branded business then you’re going to have to be willing to push your brand forward at every opportunity. It isn’t something that just suddenly happens, it is something that people get used to and familiar with over time, the more they see your brand the more they remember it and associate it with your business – which is exactly what you’re aiming for here.
Step One – Logo
Essentially your logo is your brand, or at least it should be. This means that your logo should be something simple but unique. Think of all of the famous brands you know – some use their name as the logo, which is a clear and simple way of doing things, and those that do often have a very particular way of presenting that; Think of Coca-Cola, Sony, Google – their name is their logo, but presented in a clear, familiar way that we instantly recognise. Others use imagery that we become familiar with over time; Mustang, Apple, Nike, Starbucks, Toyota, Mitsubishi (pretty much any car manufacturer) – they’re all simple logos that we instantly recognise and associate with that company. You should aim to produce a logo that is easy to recognise and can become associated with your business easily.
Step Two – Use your brand
Once you have a logo that is suitable to become your brand you can start to push that forward by incorporating it into your business. You want it on display everywhere. Your office. Your website. Your letterheads. Basically if something comes out of your company it should be branded. This is actually very simple to do. Use your logo as the image on your social media platforms (if you don’t have a business page on at least Facebook and Twitter you should definitely make one). Steadily expand your way out, use your brand in more places and ensure it gets seen more. The more it is seen the more people will associate the brand with your company.
Step Three – Market with your brand
It’s one thing if people start to associate your brand with your name. It’s another if they start to associate it with your business, not just the name, but what your business does, what your business could provide. With the right marketing this could be a fantastic way for you to attract more customers to your business, allowing you to grow and increase your profits.
Branded Uniforms; if your employees interact with customers encourage them to wear company uniforms which feature your brand. This helps your employees to appear more professional and makes them easily recognised by your customers.
Branded Messages; when you’re blogging, or writing press releases, or providing infographics or just about anything else to market your business in the online world your primary concern might be getting a backlink. However, it might be much more beneficial to you to use your brand, rather than a link.
Remain Consistent; your logo isn’t the only part of your brand. Your colours, your values, and your purpose are all part of your brand. Using the logo colour scheme in your website, office space, leaflets and so on and so forth can all help to further your brand.
Step Four – Don’t Change without Explanation
Part of being consistent is that you don’t re-create your logo or brand on a regular basis, even changing the design of your website can have negative effects if you don’t explain yourself. Take Pepsi for example; first of all Pepsi used to be known as Pepsi-Cola, and when they first came about their logo was a lot more like the Coca-Cola logo; red and white, concentrating on the text. However; at the beginning of the war there came to be more focus on two primary things; bottle caps and supporting the troops. It was during this period that Pepsi started to use the red white and blue design, and first began incorporating the shape of the bottle cap behind the words.
Then, in order to distance themselves from Coca-Cola, their primary competitor, the company dropped the ‘cola’ from their name. Over the years the design has evolved, but kept that circular shape and the red, white and blue colouration, which certainly helps with their marketing. Their brand is well known, and of course because the reasons for the chances in the brand were explained it allowed them to market it as a very positive thing.
Regardless of what changes you make to your brand, so long as you explain the reasons for the changes to your customers they are more likely to agree with you, it also helps them to feel that they have some involvement in your brand, allowing the association between your company and your brand to develop stronger and more beneficial to you.
Step Five – Sell your Brand
One of the best things about having a brand is that people recognise it and want it, and they’re willing to pay a little extra to have something that people know. Regardless of whether you start selling t-shirts or giving away pens, your brand should be present on all of the products from your company. Not only to further develop the association between your business and your brand, but also to allow your products to have a greater value.