Business leaders rightly focus on metrics like profit and sales to ensure that they’re heading in the right direction. It’s often useful to think in black-and-white terms about these figures because you know that to increase your profits, you’ll need to reduce your overheads while increasing your sales. But there are other important areas of your business that will boost you to the next level, and smart branding is one of them. This article explains why that is – and how you can make use of branding to boost your business.
In this article
Recognizability
Right up there as the primary reason firms spend millions on their branding is to be recognized from a crowded field of competitors. It’s difficult to overstate how important this is – think about Coca-Cola and its instant recognizability across the world, and you’ll somewhat explain why they sell so many soft drinks. The same can be said of far smaller firms with a strong visual identity.
So whatever size your business happens to be, being recognized by consumers will help build trust in your firm as well as encourage repeat custom. If your brand is consistent and recognizable across all of your marketing output, consumers will get to know what you’re about and the reasons they should engage with you the first time, or as repeat customers.
Cohesion
Next up is cohesion within your team. If you run a business that’s customer-facing, it’s wise to have uniforms – the sort that Anthem Branding produces for its clients. Uniformity has two benefits: it presents a united front to your customers, and it helps your staff feel part of a cohesive team, working together to achieve the same goals.
Such cohesion is also good for your recognizability and brand identity. There’s something smart and professional about uniforms – even if they’re relatively casual. They’ll boost your brand colours, your logo, and something of your style. They tell onlookers a little about what your values are, which is important if you want to inspire trust and empathy with your customer base.
Short-Cuts
When you’re putting out marketing material, you want consumers to see as soon as possible what you’re trying to convey. This is often achieved by your branding. Again, think of some of the world’s most popular brands, and you’ll realize that their branding tells you a lot about them without your having to do much mental work.
One example of this is the logos of car companies. Though they vary in shape and image, they’re always presented in a metallic sheen, which suggests that they usually adorn a vehicle. So even if you’ve never heard of the carmaker before, you’ll have a good chance of guessing the industry they’re in just by the visual appearance of their branding. This is worth bearing in mind for your business, as the sooner you can get to the point with your marketing, the sooner you’ll be able to tap into the minds of consumers.
Identity
Your firm has an identity. If you’re a startup serving young people, you want to come across as youthful, vibrant, and energetic. If you’re offering professional services, you want to seem learned and trustworthy. If you’re selling eco-friendly products, you want that to come across in your brand image too. All of these values create your brand identity, which you should see a little bit as if your firm is a person. That’s who consumers will be interacting with.
Brand identity takes time to grow and settle. It takes creative discussion with your leadership team and an understanding of what your target market segments are looking for in terms of values and personality. But once you’ve found your identity, you’ll express it through your branding – showing off to the world who you are, what you’re about, and what you’re setting out to achieve.
Merchandise
The best brands are so compelling and iconic that they’re able to see merchandise as a secondary income stream. You can think of bottles and cups branded with the labels of popular beers, or T-shirts that bear the brand of the company that created them. And you’re able to do this too, so long as your brand is boosting your business’s image in the right way.
Only strong brands with strong values can shift merchandise. You’d be surprised at how many small businesses actually make a good deal of money out of these products, with consumers so enamored by their messaging and mission that they’re happy to wear clothes or drink from cups that bear the logo of a corporation. Strong branding wins over hearts and minds, and it’s the final reason why you should concentrate hard on your branding, investing in graphic design teams and marketing professionals, to get yours just right.
Branding is a huge part of business success. Get it right, and you’ll enjoy the multiple, sales-boosting benefits listed above.
