Business Branding: Strategies You Need to Create a Successful Brand

You might imagine branding is applicable only to top companies such as Wipro, Unilever, Tata and others. But the reality is that it doesn’t note how big or small you are – if you are in business, you need to envisage about branding it efficiently and effectively.

Branding is the system of identifying your business. It is how your customers acknowledge and experience your business. However, a solid brand is more than just a logo – it’s reflected in everything from your consumer endeavour, business cards and premises to your marketing materials.

Small business branding is systematic today to stand out from the competition. Therefore, it is essential to be definite, or you’ll get lost in a sea of companies out there.

Around 89% of B2B marketers stated that brand awareness is the most significant goal, accompanied by sales and lead generation. (Source)

Your brand should be mirrored what your business stands for and how it sets you apart from your competitors – it indicates your business’s qualities, strengths, and character.

In fact, studies stated that, on average, 5-7 brand impressions are essential before someone will recollect your brand.

Larger companies might have a considerable amount of budget to spend on branding. But you don’t need Apple – sized bank account to build an effective branding strategy from the ground up.

Entrepreneurs should consider branding in their initial stages of starting a business – launching a company with a solid brand would give you a greater chance of triumph.

Now let’s discuss about branding for business and the different strategies you need to create a successful brand in detail:

What is branding for business?

Branding is the comprehensive voice, values and aesthetics of your business. It is one of the eminent personality – traits and characteristics you use to show the perspective market that your organization is better than the competitors.

Several areas are there to develop brandings such as logo, reputation, customer service, advertising, and promotional merchandise. These elements work harmoniously to create a brand that is unique and attention-grabbing.

Another advantage of having a successful branding in most of the business is the enhanced customer experience. As you know, branding is something you have immediately implement as this is where your consumers will have their initial interaction with your business.

Business Branding Core Phases

The branding of an organization consists of three core phases:

1. Brand Strategy

It is a plan encircling specific, long-term goals that can achieve the advancement of a successful brand – the combined constituents of your company’s personality that make it noticeable.

Your brand strategy will outline how you are different, trustworthy and memorable by your ideal customer. It will convey your purpose, promises, and how will you solve problems for people.

A great example of brand strategy is Apple, their ‘Think Different’ campaign. They realized that their customers wanted to be great, innovative, game changers and different. 

They knew that their competitors were strong and could deliver good quality products, so how can they convince their customers to choose them? It can achieve through a message of innovation followed by products that look different and work differently.

2. Brand Identity

A brand identity is a group of elements used by an organization to create a brand image. However, brand identity is different from ‘brand image’ and ‘branding’, although these terms acted correspondently.

Large reputed companies give cautious attention to their brand identity. Most companies have corporate communications divisions that centre on building brand identity, maintaining it, developing the brand identity and evolving the brand image to ensure that corporate identity smoothens the corporate business objectives.

For example, we all are familiar with the Tata logo that is eye-catching for its clarity. ‘T’ letter in blue color stands for the group’s loyalty, power, and welfare. It also denotes a tree of trust and a polymath. Being the largest multinational organization in India, Tata Group symbolizes its value over a decade. 

The present logo of Tata is an adapted version of the 1999 logo. Its the Chairman Ratan Tata’s motive to promote the company worldwide with a unique brand symbol and a slogan ‘improving the quality of life.’

3. Brand marketing

It is an extended strategic plan which continuously boosts a brand’s recognition and reputation. The main goal of brand marketing is to develop an ever-growing base of loyal customers that is achieved by consistently communicating the brand’s identity and values in meaningful ways.

Brand marketing should be a part of your overall brand strategy. It encompasses the action you take to implement the system to convey your brand message to the world successfully.

It is not just putting your logo and business name as many places and anticipating to generate sales. Many times, the significance of brand marketing gets overlooked, as it takes over time.

Design Elements of Business Branding

A company’s design and branding are crucial elements of marketing as it plays a large part in customers’ minds when purchasing a product. 

Accomplishing all the essential elements of business branding can allow you to have a positive impression on your buyers and prospects.

The various design elements are:

1. Logo

A logo is the profile of a company. Often, it’s the primary thing that a potential customer notices about your business. However, a logo is much above just an image; it is a point of recognition for consumers and a necessary foundation for your organizations branding. 

Logos are the most identifiable brand identifiers at 76%, followed by visual style 60%, brand colour 46% and unique voice 25%.

Consumers usually configure an opinion about a company within seconds. Therefore, a well-designed logo is the best way to convey to potential customers that your company is professional, trustworthy, and provides quality products or services.

Contrarily, 60% of consumers avoid brands with odd, unattractive logos, regardless of whether they received good reviews. 

It should be unique enough to be easily realized and simple to work over multiple media. A good logo is catchy and achieves the first impression. 

2. Colours

Colours play a crucial role in branding because it is where the customers register their first impressions. Thus, it helps in providing a unique identity to a business. It also assists in communicating different messages and act as a vital factor in the identification process. 

Some colours have global perceived meanings, such as blue is seen to be a convenient colour. It may invoke trust, certainty and responsibility; yellow indicates vibrancy and optimism to cause energetic feelings.

People took almost 90 seconds to configure an impression of a product that is majorly on colour. More than 95% of the top organizations use only one or two colours in their design, making their design look classic. (Source)

Let’s take the example of Toyota Red, the leading brand; they symbolize the color as “the color of energy”. According to them, it indicates the evident and conveys the spirit of excitement.

3. Fonts

We’ve all noticed company logos, graphics that made us excited. But, how many times have you noticed a brand name and immediately you wouldn’t like the company just because the logo’s look doesn’t sit well with you?

The possibility would be high because fonts played a role in your disdain for specific organizations. It helps to realize the motive of the text and relate it easier.

Our temper can change along with the fonts, too. For example, reading a paragraph in a mad font can make it more challenging to read and ruin our mood. On the other hand, reading a section in a modern or classical font that is easy to read can give us a sense of calm and lead to a better mood.

4. Imagery

Imagery is one of the significant elements of any marketing material, but its usage has become more analytic, especially with the emergence of the digital change environment. 

People mostly rely on imagery to share information, grasp new ideas and upskill themselves in their interested area. Using images in business works helps individuals feel for your product or service without depending on written messages.

It also helps in generating credibility and bond with customers. If potential customers can see the features of your product, they feel more confident that you’re selling what you promise. 

In addition, high-quality images that demonstrate your product, service, vision or value, helps to build a brand when you use them in marketing strategies.

Also Read: Product Branding: Complete Guide 2021

Five Business Branding Strategies

We have discussed the interpretation of the branding strategy above. Next, let’s have a look at the powerful five strategies:

1. Define your brand identity

A brand identity comprises your business values, how your brand communicates those utilities through its products and services. Essentially, it is the physicality and character of your business.

So, before moving head into brand strategy, you need to be conscious about who you are as an organization or your brand identity.

There are few steps to be followed in the process:

Figure out who you are:

If you don’t have clarity of who you are as a brand, take some time to evaluate yourself and search your soul.

Asking yourself some more profound questions can help you figure out who you are – and who you want to be as a brand. The more clarity you get, the more you can infuse that into branding, which will make your brand stand out and grab customers.

Figure out who your target customers are:

Establishing a target audience is a vital step in ensuring the correct tone of your business.

When you get to know your target audience, you can use it to guide your branding strategy – and the result will be a brand that genuinely connects with the customers you want to work with the most.

Also, you need to establish your Point of Difference(POD), which makes you unique. It would help if you also were clear on what’s working in your industry to make your brand stand out and be different.

2. Get visual with your branding

Once you have accomplished the above process, then start designing your brand.

What you see is what you acquire when it comes to visual branding. When your consumer experiences your brand visuals, they’ll use that encounter to make assumptions about your organization.

Here are few objects you need to create the look and perceive of your brand:

A brand style guide:

Before you begin with designing, it’s essential to know the features of your design strategy, such as your brand style, color, fonts design, etc.

A brand style guide will guide you and your team aspirants to ensure that you are on the same page with your brand administration.

A logo:

The logo is an umbrella term that describes all visual elements used to identify a brand. It doesn’t matter how your logo looks; it should be a unique signifier that introduces or reinforces your business name and brand personality.

 

Business Cards:

You need to ensure that your logo and other design matches with your business cards.

A Website:

When people visit your website, the focus and feel should be harmonious with your branding.

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3. Establish yourself as a subject matter expert with the right content

Establishing yourself up as a subject matter expert leads to protruding your professionalism and position yourself separately from your competitors.

It’s not necessary to spend enough amount to get yourself in front of the right audience. The best way for that is content marketing.

Content marketing is a great strategy as it helps to strengthen your branding. By developing a solid brand voice, you reinforce who you are, what you’re about to your customers – that enhances the relationship and help to drive business.

4. Look for partnership opportunities

Customers prefer to do business with the brands they trust. But, if you are new to the market, establishing that trust can be time-consuming. So, if you want to achieve that trust with limited time, look for partnership opportunities with other brands that have your customers. 

The best key to success with this strategy is finding a business with a similar but non – competitive audience. Then, it will benefit both the companies in one or another way. So, it is considered one of the best methods for gaining trust and customers.

5. Be a superhero for your customers:

In this competitive market, if you want to sustain yourself in the industry, you need to execute new techniques and strategies that make you different.

Your branding is not only about your logo, marketing strategy, or how you grab customer’s attention. It’s majorly about how you approach once you get connected with the consumers. The recognition you gain and what consumers’ say behind your back is the necessary part of your branding. 

The better you satisfy your consumers’, the more you’ll be known as a company that cares about its customers, and you’ll get a better result.

Conclusion

It’s not essential to invest a massive amount in your business branding. It’s all about how you implement your idea effectively.  

I hope you understand how to brand your business professionally and design your components wisely with a good logo, colour, font, and imagery. 

Under proper execution, business branding will guide you to get more exposure, achieve growth and success in the trade. 

Still confused of how to design and brand your business

Connect our branding agency today, and we’ll guide you through creating a successful brand and making you stand out from the competitors in a better aspect.

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Author: Megha Malik

As a passionate entrepreneur and creative brand consultant with experience of 14 years in digital, branding and packaging industry, it is my honest effort to put my experiences and knowledge of industry towards readers. A chartered accountant by degree but a marketing personality in blood has motivated her to take in designing industry as a career. With her fun-loving personality and sharp branding skills, she is a great motivational speaker on her YouTube channel, an active member in various business channels offline as well as online. Do connect me personally via my LinkedIn and I love to share my expertise with you.