What makes a brand successful? The following content is for entrepreneurs looking for additional insight on the contributing factors in the success of a brand. A summery of some of the key aspects of successful brand.
First Let's Start with "What is brand Identity?"
Through the ongoing development of the internet and social media, people in the world are so much more connected than they used to be. If you don’t have, at the very least, a well-functioning website, you’re behind.
Adapting For The Modern Customers
Customers are moving more and more to online shopping for both merchandise and services. Instead of checking a phone book, the public is searching online for their day to day services and products.
What this means for you as a business owner is this – you need to be available and recognizable throughout all the platforms available to you.
From your website to your Instagram, you need to leave a lasting impression on the people who view your profiles so they will give you their business and keep coming back for more.
So how does this happen? How do you ensure that your customers are able to find and recognize you throughout the multitude of platforms available to them? How do you make sales out of these customers?
It’s all about branding.
What Makes a Brand Successful: Branding Tips for Entrepreneurs
What is branding?
So what is branding? Branding, in a nutshell, is your business’s identity. It’s what makes you stand out from your competitors. It’s the impression you leave with your customers and guests.
Branding is a combination of everything that your business is. Customer service, your logo, your product – they are all huge parts of what people will say about your business to their friends.
Where do you see branding on a daily basis?
Basically, all you have to do is look around the room to find a good example of branding. What are you eating right now?
What made you buy that particular brand’s meals? Do you recognize their packaging right away when you see it?
Most computers and laptops people use daily have the brand’s logo design or name on them. Whatever you may be using have a company's name or logo on it.
Can you remember what features made you choose the computer or laptop or even cellphone over the other ones available to you?
All of this is branding. Anything that makes a certain business stick in the mind of the customer is considered the specific brand of that individual company.
A good example of great branding is Apple. Every time you see their logo, it is unmistakably them providing that product.
Additionally, many people trust Apple’s quality and systems to support their specific needs. Apple has mastered the art of individualized branding!
What Is Branding?
Developing your own personal identity
Know your audience
The first thing you need to know is what audience you are targeting.
The branding that an audience of 18-30 year old females will be drawn to is definitely not the same as the branding that the 55+ community will prefer.
Try to think of your ideal customer. Take a look at what demographic the majority of your customers are. Then look at other brands that provide similar services or products to a similar audience.
Understanding what your audience is looking for will help you build your brand to suit their needs thus boosting sales!
Know your mission
What is your vision for your company? What is the goal? What do you aim to provide to your community through the products or services you give?
Whatever the answer to that question is, you need to be able to convey that to your customers on your website, your social media, and anywhere else that people can find you.
There are a few ways that you can do this. The design of your logo combined with the topics you discuss are highly influential.
For example, politically charged posts are really only suitable for businesses trying to promote social awareness on a certain topic.
Even then, political posts related only to the topic they want to promote are worth talking about. Know what you want your purpose to be, and tailor your content to promote that!
Determine your personality
This is huge in branding. Two companies can provide the same product but to two completely different demographics of audiences simply due to the personality of the company.
What makes up your brand’s “personality,” then? Like many of the other elements of branding, it’s a combination of many working parts. Simple things like the color pallet that you choose for your brand can communicate your voice.
For example, dark colors like black and grey communicate masculinity and firmness. More pastel colors communicate relaxation and ease.
Another huge part of personality is typography. Large, bold fonts come across more aggressively than script fonts and lowercase letters. Customer service is incredibly important as well.
Do your employees or representatives show how welcoming you are? Or how cool your brand is? Or seem approachable to your targeted demographic? All of these questions are great to consider as you determine your brand’s personality!
Analyze your results frequently
You need to know what’s working and what’s not. If you hit a boost in sales or followers, try to figure out why!
Did you post something different? Did you change your product packaging? Did you hire someone new who connected more fully with the customer?
Find out what triggers success. Find out what triggers downfall as well! If you hit a lull, examine what you’ve been posting.
Does it all seem the same? Has your customer service gone down? Did you have a few products that people didn’t like?
All of this is incredibly important to know so you can figure out the best way to effectively reach people all over. There are many programs out there designed to track and report all of this!
Additionally, social media marketers and analysts are available to coach you through the ins and outs of reaching people!
Truly, the most recognizable and obvious form of physical branding is your logo. That’s why it should probably be the first part of your branding package that you should focus on. Hiring a graphic designer, even just a freelancer, can aid quite a bit in this process if you don’t have the skills to design your own.
The Iconic Logo Design's Purpose
What is the purpose of your logo? Using different design elements, a logo can show your personality, your mission, and your audience in one simple picture.
Colors bring certain feelings while shapes and typography communicate varying levels of aggression, passiveness, strength, masculinity, femininity, softness, and purpose.
Usually, business owners hire designers to create logos for them. This is typically the best way as a professional’s work is usually better than a beginner’s or hobbiest’s.
Freelancers are amazing at one off projects and getting you set up with a solid foundation of graphic branding!
Hiring a designer
When you hire a brand designer, you will want to give them a general idea of what you are looking for.
Give them some key words that they can use to better understand your brand. Some of the key words used above will give them a great idea of what you desire to see in your logo. Sending them photos of examples that you like will aid in the process as well.
Once they send back some drafts, go through them very carefully. Try to put yourself in your audience’s shoes. Would you buy from a company with that logo? Does it show what you want it to show?
As you move forward with brand design, voice, and frameworks another thing to consider is what templates you will need. You’ll definitely want business cards.
Types of Content for Marketing and Advertising
Knowing The Right Content Formats For Your Brand Marketing
You might want Instagram stories templates, email templates, or even pamphlets and booklets depending on what type of business you run. These are all tasks that can be moved forward much more quickly by a graphic designer!
The last thing to keep in mind with logo and graphic design is to be reliable yet adaptable. If something isn’t working, don’t be afraid to make a change. A color pallet is a great example of how you can stay true to your brand while trying different things.
A branded color pallet contains a few colors that you have chosen to use throughout all of your platforms. While staying in this color pallet, you can create new designs and new slogans. It’s still true to you, but encourages new ideas and the possibility of growth!
All in all, logo design and anything that branches from logo design is simply about communicating what your brand is about to the people you want to become customers. If you can do that, you can develop a unique and successful brand identity.
Visual Branding Language
Language Used In Brand's Messages and Content
Another really influential part of branding is the language that you use. More aggressive language isn’t going to attract the same audience that descriptive captions with flowery words will attract.
Certain keywords and phrases will be match better with your brand identity than others. Identify those phrases and words and use them over others that aren’t as useful to you!
The goal is to connect with people who want what you provide. The best way to do this is to use your genuine emotion and passion for your business. Communicating that excitement to your people will plant a seed of excitement in them too.
Telling stories of how you got to where you’re at and why you’re excited to keep growing will foster an emotional connection between you and the buyer thus motivating them to buy more from you.
Advertisement is important in language as well. You don’t have to be an annoying solicitor to advertise. Letting people know where they can find you and your products or services is an awesome way to advertise without being pushy. Just remind them that you exist and your business is up and running!
Adding a call to action at the end of any post and on your website is a great example of how to include advertisement without pushing too hard.
A simple “Contact me for more info” or “Click here to purchase now” will do a lot for you!
The last part of language worth touching on is social media. Social media has blown up in popularity thus most people are using it to find brands and services.
Getting your business on there and using the proper language and branding across all of your platforms has the potential to grow your business exponentially!
