Why bother with branding?
A strong brand presents your business as reliable, credible and trustworthy. It shows you’re serious about your product or service.
If customers are choosing between two identical products, what’s going to influence their decision to purchase? Price? Not always, people will pay more for the same product if they trust the brand. Quality? Maybe, but not always detectable within a packaged product or service. Branding? Of course! Comparing a product with a strong professional brand against a product with a weak, unattractive or out-dated brand can strongly influence customer purchase decisions.
Many businesses want to promote themselves as providers of quality products or professional services. Yet all too often, their brand doesn’t support that image.
Your brand is one of the first things potential, existing and even lapsed customers see. It appears on your advertising, packaging, website, business cards, letterhead and invoices. Promotional material that’s a mismatch of layouts, colours and designs sends a negative, unprofessional message to customers.
Stand out from the crowd
Organisations with strong brands can charge a price premium for their products, even if they’re nearly identical to those of their competitors. Look at the cola aisle of your supermarket; there are dozens of brands there offering the same product. The best-selling brand commands the most shelf space and is the most expensive. What’s the one thing that differentiates it from all the other products? A strong, recognisable brand.
Get professional help for a professional image
Some businesses fall into the trap of still using a brand or logo that was designed many years ago. Others may use a brand or logo they designed themselves. Old or self-designed branding and logos need to be reviewed and updated to ensure they present your product or service as professional and reliable. Start your branding project by having a professional graphic designer create or update your logo.
Be consistent
Now’s the time to implement and maintain your strong brand strategy and set about presenting your brand in a consistent manner. Here’s where a professional marketing consultant will help. They’ll work with you to advise the best way to ensure your brand is always professionally and consistently positioned. They’ll educate you on the importance and benefits of sticking to your new brand policy, and create simple guidelines and templates that show you how to present it to the market.
Brand guidelines will help increase sales, streamline your marketing planning and may even reduce business expenses. Designing time by graphic artists for promotions, your website and any other documentation is reduced when brand guidelines are available. New promotions or updates to existing documents can be completed in-house, as the guidelines provide clear direction for you to follow.
Enhanced perceptions of your business
After implementing branding guidelines and developing a strong brand, you’ll feel a renewed pride in your business and how professional it looks.
You’ll notice that your customers perceive you more positively too. With your new brand and guidelines in place, you’ve suddenly increased customer perceptions of your offering and leaped ahead of your competitors. You’ve created a valuable point of difference that will help increase your sales and retain existing customers – and that’s what it’s all about.
Do you have branding guidelines in place for your business? Please tell us how they’ve helped you.
“ Comparing a product with a strong professional brand against a product with a weak, unattractive or out-dated brand can strongly influence customer purchase decisions. ”
Dean Parker combines 15 years of marketing experience with a Masters of Marketing degree to help small/medium business owners maximise their profit.
