The importance of branding

When you hear the word "branding", you naturally think of a company logo. The swishes, the shapes, the way the letters integrate. If you think Mercedes, it’s the three-pointed star. For Nike, the iconic swoosh. A company logo can be an incredibly memorable thing, but it isn’t everything. In fact, it isn’t even what’s most important. 

It seems a strange thing to say, but it’s true. Branding isn’t just about having an eye-catching, colourful logo. Far from it. Branding is about creating a brand – that’s an ethos, a hallmark, a style; something that your customers associate with you over any other brand, and that creates a connection between the company and its customers. A pretty picture isn’t going to do that.

There are multiple examples of this of course, but perhaps the clearest way to explain it is by using a company like Nestlé. Claims, lawsuits and campaigns have resulted in mass boycotts across many of their major buying countries. When it came down to it, nobody was loyal to their carefully-designed logo. People are loyal to what a brand stands for and for many, what Nestlé appear to stand for isn’t in line with their ethical beliefs.

 

 

So, what is branding then, and why is it important? Put simply, branding can be broken down into a few key elements:

• Creating value for customers
• Creating awareness of your service for a particular trait, known as brand personality
• Creating a bond with your clients.

If you achieve these three goals with your brand, you will give yourself a massive advantage in the battle for supremacy in your sector.

Creating value for customers

When we think about value, it can be separated into tangible and intangible benefits.

• A tangible benefit is something promotional that strengthens the bond between your company and your customers; for example, mouse pads or mugs.
• Intangible benefits, meanwhile, are an enhancement of some kind, whether that be a better price point or a tailored, improved customer service experience for the client.

Part of this, of course, is making it easier for customers to discover the key features and benefits of your service, as this reduces their own time output, which in turn creates better value. And to do this, you need to be able to get information about them, about cost, benefits and worth. This requires careful thought and can be time-consuming, but imagine if you could sell several services under a single brand name, with customers and businesses being happy to buy them because the brand you have created is strong, recognisable and trustworthy: now you’re talking value for yourself and that can in turn translate to value for your customers.

Creating awareness of your service

To sell something, you need to get it out there and the best way to do this is through brand positioning.

• This could be your slogan, or your promise to your customers.
• On a more micro level, this means providing information and assuring your customers of the service’s quality.
• Your brand promise is the single most important thing that you give to your customers, as it ties into the third and most important aspect of successful branding.

Creating a bond with your clients

Your promise is the most important thing you can put out there. Break your promise, and you’ve lost the trust of your customers immediately. And trust can be something that can be hard to win back. This, of course, means that you are looking to speak to your customers not just on a physical level with the product itself, but if you create an emotional connection, the bond you are creating is far more valuable than anything visual.

How can BeUniqueness help you?

To start with, we can help you establish a clear brand position so that it delivers a clear message of who you are and what you offer to your customers. Ideally, you want a market specialist to be leading brand creation for you, and that is exactly what we are. BeUniqueness is a team of specialist digital marketers – we know the market, we know the services and we know the competition.

As leaders in digital marketing, we can achieve a wide-reaching picture of your brand across multiple forms of media, which delivers consistency, reach and clarity of message. And reaching more people means more opportunities to deliver the message we have helped you create – the one that helps you speak to customers on a physical and emotional level.

In terms of value, we aim to help you speed up your operations, streamlining what you do and saving money in process completion time. We also offer a range of product bundles, including a Freemium model, so that by using us, you could actually reduce your branding costs. The range of data we can supply to you also means an increase in efficiency in terms of how your branding is performing in the market.

Branding isn’t about logos – it’s about message, value and trust. We understand this at BeUniqueness, so give us a call and let’s work together to grow your brand.

Back to Stories