With so much to consider within the digital marketing space, we’ve noticed a worrying trend emerging amongst businesses – start-ups in particular – who are underestimating the power of good branding.
Branding is clever because it’s elusive. The beauty of great branding is that it makes an impression without you even knowing about it. Brilliant branding isn’t obvious or ‘in your face’. It’s subtle and covertly connects with customers or clients on a subconscious level.
But because of this, many start-ups don’t place as much priority on the branding phase as they should. They don’t allocate sufficient time or money to onboarding branding professionals or managing the process as a whole. This can have a variety of knock-on effects further down the line for the business, impacting and even limiting its growth moving forward.
So why exactly is branding so important? Here we share five important insights:
1. Secure recognition
Branding is famously about recognition. Some of the world’s most trusted, iconic brands are instantly recognisable simply from a logo or even a collection of colours.
A distinctive and memorable brand is literally unforgettable. It keeps you front of mind even when potential customers are not actively looking to spend money on the products or services your business provides. And when they do, they’ll think of you.
2. Build trust
Trust is essential when it comes to getting people to spend their hard-earned money with your business. Building trust can take some time – but great companies know that branding plays a crucial role in this process and can even speed it up in some cases. Genuine trust can only happen when people connect on a deeper level with your brand values and feel confident you deliver on all aspects of the –000 you promote.
If any aspect of your brand messaging and identity isn’t professional, clear or industry-appropriate, it won’t give the impression of an established or credible business. Branding sets out and aligns expectations early on, so be sure to take time to consider exactly what type of messaging you want to put across and how clearly you can communicate your values and vision to potential customers.
3. Advertise more efficiently
Investing in a great brand can save you a lot of money and effort when advertising your business. Advertising is all about getting noticed in the right way, by the right people – and brilliant branding does a lot of the heavy lifting for you. Often the brand is the first or second thing people see when they interact with marketing across various platforms – from social media and billboards to display advertising and print. Your brand message and visuals should inform your marketing and vice versa – get this wrong, and it could be jarring and off-putting for your target audience.
4. Attract the right people
We’ve covered the ways in which good branding can be effective when attracting and engaging with your target audience – but many companies forget that it can also influence your access to talented employees. With intelligent and innovative branding, a company can create a persona that professionals really connect with and want to be a part of. In fact, many employees say they picked a company based on its branding and the perceived values and culture this communicated.
Organisations that do this well ensure that their branding permeates every aspect of their company, from mission statement, vision and values to interior design and even staff uniforms or dressing guidelines, where applicable.
This can save you thousands on recruitment and enables you to naturally attract the very best prospective employees who also have values aligned with those of your organisation and your customers.
5. Improve customer retention
Customers who connect strongly with a brand remain loyal – often for many years. Think about friends and family members who refuse to drink anything other than one brand of tea or coffee – or will only wear a certain brand of trainers. Fierce brand loyalty is common and isn’t restricted to multinational or blue-chip organisations – it’s attainable even for independent and localised companies.
This type of loyalty is usually earned over time – but if you crack the branding code, you can very quickly recruit lifelong customers who will generate regular revenue for your business without spending a penny on remarketing.
Need expert branding for your business?
Whether you’re just starting out or need to refresh an established brand, our team of branding professionals are on hand to help. Get in touch today for a discovery call: hello@candymarketing.co.uk
