Why Branding is Important in Marketing
Decades ago, branding has been defined as a name, slogan, sign, symbol or design, or a mixture of these elements, that differentiate one company, product, or service from another. Today, branding is more complex and even more important.
What Should a Brand do?
Branding isn’t only about getting your target market to choose you over the competition. It’s also about getting your prospects to see you as the sole provider of a solution for their problem or desire. In its character, branding is a problem-solver. A good brand will:
- Clearly deliver a message
- Confirm the brand’s credibility in the marketplace (ex. reviews from previous roofing clients)
- Emotionally join target prospects with a product
- Motivate the buyer to purchase your services (ex. cabinet painting services, roofing services, or lawn mowing services)
- Create user loyalty
Branding and Understanding Your Customer
To be successful in branding, you have to understand the wants and needs of your customers and prospects. You can attain this by integrating your brand strategies throughout your company at each stage of public contact.
Think of branding as your business or organization were a living, breathing individual. Imagine this individual explaining who they are, why they are valuable, and also what they exactly have to offer.
As consumers begin to identify with you, your brand will reside in the hearts and minds of consumers, customers, and prospects, and they will connect on an emotional level.
The Importance of Branding and the Three Key Questions
Your brand is your source of a promise to your consumer. If you’re billing yourself as the best long-life lightbulb, your brand has to live up to that.
In creating a strategic marketing plan, your brand acts as a guide to knowing the purpose of your key business objectives and lets you align the plan with those goals. Branding does not just count during the time prior to the purchase–the brand encounter has to continue to make customer loyalty. You can make that by answering these three questions:
- Did the service or product function as anticipated?
- Was the quality as good as promised or better?
- Was the entire customer experience favorable?
If you can get positive responses to these 3 questions, you have created a loyal customer.
Beyond Loyal Customers
Branding not only generates loyal clients, but it also creates loyal workers. A quality brand gives people something to believe in and something to stand behind. It helps employees understand the purpose of the business they work for. They feel like they’re a part of something important and not just a cog in a wheel.
A Basic Checklist to Evaluate Your Brand
How do you know if your brand is strong enough to give you the internal and external value which you need? Start by asking yourself the following: Does the brand relate to my target audience? Will they immediately “get it” without a lot of thought?
- Does the brand relate to my target audience? Will they immediately “get it” without a lot of thought?
- Does the newest talk about the uniqueness of what I am offering and why it is important?
- Does the brand reflect the promise made to my target audience and hold value for my internal crowd?
- Does the brand reflect the values that I want to represent to my customers?
Let these questions act as a guide in the development of your own brand. If you are not sure about the responses then you might want to revamp your advertising efforts.
Message From This Post’s Sponsor
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