5 STEPS TO BUILDING A STRONG BRAND IDENTITTY

Once it was enough to publish an advertisement in classifieds to reach out to potential customers. However, with changing socio-economic factors, marketing and branding has undergone massive transformation and surely for better.

Brand is now not only about your product but the emotional connection that you establish with your customers. People have ample options to choose high-quality products from but out of millions of brands, they prefer to stick to one. The reason is not limited to availability or product quality but how a particular business managed to establish a strong connection with its customers.

With the advent of social media, it has become easier to connect with customers and communicate the philosophy and ideas your brand stands for. Most of the time, people unknowingly choose brands with the ideas that resonate or influence their own personality in some manner. For example, some sport goods companies come up with very strong messages which become synonymous to their brand, and people, especially youth, recognize the brand with its message.

So, let’s have a look how we can create a strong personality of our brand through social media.

Colors are the Cues

Using consistent colors throughout your entire brand communication material is imperative to make people identify your brand even without reading the name. Colors can be the best way to communicate about your ideology as colors speak loud about your essence. If funny and humorous, go bright and vibrant- choose pinks and greens liberally, whereas professional and formal themes call for shades of blue. Being consistent with theme, design, logo, and colors with offline and online media will create a distinct recognition for your brand.

Communication

Communicating your beliefs, ideas and quotations is as essential as posting about your products or services. People connect to the thoughts and motivation behind your business. If you have an element of humor, do post witty messages about what is happening around in the world so that customers can also react to your posts and express what they believe and this is what develops a two-way communication. Interaction with your followers, exchanging opinions and respecting their feedback go a long way.

Social Media

Your social media page is your window to the world. Do let the world know who you are, what you do and think, and how you can be contacted. Many business owners do not fill their page with complete business information and some do not even provide contact information. Go a little over the board and show your customers that you are reachable and reliable. They should know there is a person and not just a virtual live chat to understand, respect, and respond to their concerns.

Company Site

If you have a website, make sure to embed or link your social media pages to the website in a prominent place. This will help the customer trust you more as a brand, and he will be able to follow your page, leave feedback in a two-way communication platform rather than just send feedback form with no scope for further interaction. Expose the customers to your complete presence, and express your personality in each word you post to engage and interact with your customers and involve them in your journey as you grow.

Social Media has opened new channels of communication for businesses all around the globe, and has provided interactive platforms to connect with larger communities and customers in almost real time. It is amazing to see how millions of businesses thrive only by creating a common connection with their customers on social media and have grown manifold. The shift from conventional branding to social media branding is more about creating an emotion that gives a character and personality to your business which people relate to.

Create A Compelling Brand Association

Have you ever wondered what attracts customers to shop more? Ever thought what really determines our needs and compels us to buy more clothes or to change our existing home furnishings or electronic items; or for that matter what makes us visit the same coffee shop every time?

It is rightly said – “A brand is a voice and a product is a souvenir”!

Branding is important because not only it makes a memorable impression on consumers but also allows your customers to understand what to expect from your company. It is a way of distinguishing yourself from your competitors and clarifies what you offer and what makes you a better choice. Thus, good branding ensures the success of your business.

"One of the key elements for the successful branding is Brand Association"

Specific physical artefacts that make up the brand are known as brand associations. This includes logo, name, colors, fonts, image tagline, and packaging.

Why Is Brand Association So Important?

Majority of the customers buy the product if it is appealing to their eyes. Thus, the brand association is a crucial element in brand designing. How you want to showcase your brand to your customers, whether it is the vision, promise or traits of your business - the brand associations must reflect it all.

Think of the world's most recognizable brands and how fast you recognize them, for example, Apple`s half munched apple, a slight glance and you know this is it. Some companies just nailed the secrets of branding and have succeeded to become synonymous to the products they sell. Let’s not forget Nike and Xerox! They programmed our brains with their amazing brand strategies and associations.

Some of the most instrumental elements of brand associations are explained below.

1. Logo

A good logo can be a synthesizer of a brand that is used by customers for identification, differentiation and positive associations.

The studies have shown that it is easier for consumers to visually process descriptive logos and understand what a brand markets as a result. It is also found that, compared with a non-descriptive logo, a descriptive logo makes a brand appear more authentic in consumers’ eyes. It favorably impacts consumers’ perspective of the brand. It leads to increased willingness to buy from brands and thus boosts net sales.

2. Color Palette

Colors have been used strategically since ancient times to evoke certain emotional reactions. Branding and marketing is no exception as the same theory goes very well in attracting customers. By choosing a certain color in logo and overall theme, signage, packaging, and other means of advertising, brands can greatly influence consumers to buy on impulse, and choose their product over their competitors.

Red

The color red creates a sense of urgency, which makes it suitable for clearance sales. As the color is strongly associated with increased appetite, it is often used by fast-food joints.

Green

This color is associated with health, tranquility, fertility, power and nature. It is used all over the globe by healthcare brands, eco-friendly and sustainable businesses. Its use in stores works well to relax customers.

Blue

Blue is related to water and sky so it instantly creates feelings of peace, reliability, and tranquility. This color offers a great sense of security, brings appetite down, and also helps stimulate productivity. It is also the most common color used by conservative brands looking to promote trust in their products.

Orange and Yellow

These two colors are cheerful and promote optimism. The yellow works very well to attract the young target customers as it exudes vibrant energy, happiness, excitement, and creativity.

Purple

This color is commonly associated with royalty, wisdom, and respect in color psychology. Spiritual endeavors often use purple for branding purposes. In fact, it is also used a lot to promote anti-aging and other beauty products.

Black

It is associated with authority, power, stability, confidence, and strength. Black is tricky to use in marketing, but some have done it very successfully.

White

White creates a strong sense of purity, though it is also linked with cleanliness and safety. It is a very powerful hue with which a lot can be done. Ever noticed how wonderfully Subway’s use of white for branding suggests the blank slate concept. It is your sandwich to create, with endless possibilities offered by fresh, clean ingredients.

The effective use of color in visual merchandising and packaging is used to announce the new collection and discount offers in the stores to attract customers.

3. Other Imagery: Photos, illustrations and artwork

Images and visuals do communicate. They entice us by making us curious and stimulate our minds. Each visual narrates a story; when viewed by a customer, images impact their decisions by working on subconscious and rather intuitive levels. For the hotel industry, restaurants, tourism companies, photography and images can be a make-or-break.

Experts believe that images impact us on a deep psychological level and influence us way beyond just being nice to view.

The photographs and visuals have become even more important with the rise of online shopping trends. For the online shoppers, website design and images are the only way to get information and form an opinion about a brand or a product.

4. Packaging

Customized packaging solutions to suit the product and brand identity enhance the overall shopping experience of the customer. It can also provide ease in handling the product by the customer. For an example, a plastic bag packaging is not suitable for eco-friendly bamboo or organic cotton textile products, for which sustainable packaging surely offers a better feel.

Custom packaging with a brand's specific elements like logo, color, images etc. will help you become a brand. These features communicate with the customer and create a brand image influencing purchasing decisions.

Print About It offers customized packaging solutions and some very helpful insights into branding to suit varied business needs.