We can say that a successful brand is the one that has attained prime space in your target customer’s mind so that the brand can be recognized (and remembered) as your customers preferred solution to their problems.
But, have you asked yourself what makes good branding exactly? And how can you increase your current customer base through the best brand practices?
Or, on the contrary, how can you start a brand from scratch with zero branding experience whatsoever?
There are five overarching ingredients to understand what makes a brand powerful within a certain market. And to be able to provide an answer all of the above.
At least to start.
Getting the following five ingredients to work together in harmony is how you can totally succeed in creating a successful brand that sticks in people’s head like chewing gum. Or maybe, what you need is to improve your current business by embracing new challenges.
Maybe you want to improve your customer service, your selling tactics or your marketing efforts.
No matter what you need, focus on these 5 core attributes of branding.
First of all, it’s really important that you determine your brand values in detail and make sure that they accurately reflect your business philosophy in the way you present your business to people.
One way to test it is this scenario:
If you took away any one of the values that represent your company, would your brand cease to exist as it is?
If the answer is no, then the value isn’t a true one.
Your brand values will always depend on the specific products and services you’re offering. And also, on that unique touch you´ll be able to give to your particular niche, which will distinguish yourself from the competition.
It’s extremely difficult to come up with something entirely new these days because it seems that the ultimate solution to every problem on the planet has already been created.
However, successful brands are able to offer a particular, fresh and interesting perspective to consumers. And most importantly, the brand’s vision of the company is perceived exactly the same by the people. Sometimes companies make this big mistake.
Also, successful brand positioning requires accurate contextualization within the context of the specific market.
On the other hand, we have the brand value proposition.
We can understand the value proposition of a brand as the emotional and rational benefit that your customers will get if they purchase its products from you.
In order to make your brand thrive, you’ll want to determine or develop a positioning strategy that makes your brand a leader in your industry or niche.
This is not some fluffy slogan that merely inspires. However, it´s something that potential customers can resonate with at a deep emotional level—and in many cases pay a higher price!
It takes a lot of work (and time) but it’s totally worth it. Jumpstarting a brand without a solid strategy is a suicide mission.
Because, unless you get a clear detailed picture of your target audience first, you won’t be able to communicate the right brand messages to get their attention. This way, money, and sales come as a natural consequence and not as a primary objective.
Your ultimate goal during the initial stage of your brand strategy will be to raise brand awareness. That means you have to let potential customers know that your company exists.
And how do you do that?
Content will be one of the major pieces of the branding puzzle. (Especially video.)
It’s mostly through
content that potential consumers will become converting clients one day. Through the right content delivered to the right audience, you’ll see significant results for your business.
You ought to own your distinctive color palette. Seriously.
Look around to your competition and establish color as an icon that will be representing your brand exclusively.
Think UPS for example. Their color use is unmistakable.
It’s mandatory that your color palette remains consistent along with all your content formats, including social media, printed content, and each and every visual element that your brand puts out there. Especially marketing content, advertising campaigns, and your site.
Keep in mind that the human brain processes visual content 60.000 times faster than we can process text. The phrase that an image is worth a thousand words is not a metaphor then. It's literally like that.
So, within the huge color realm, you can take a look at the different meaning and messages that you can easily transmit appealing to the psychology of color.
That way, for example, you can choose a primary color and a secondary one according to what you want to project to your audience. Maybe it's a combination of luxury and trust, so black and blue will do the trick. Or maybe, you want to appeal to the spiritual side of the client and you ́ll need violet shades.
If you want to learn quickly about the psychology of color, take a look at this visual.
Is your brand logo totally in sync with your brand culture? Does it need revision, updating, revamping, etc.?
Many graphic design firms and ad agencies believe branding completely starts here—pity.
Your brand logo should strongly reflect your values and also help to differentiate you from the competitors.
And of course, a brand logo should be aligned with the color palette of your particular choice.
To sum up, your logo is essentially the face of your brand.
And it’s how people will be able to easily identify with you visually. Or quickly forget you.
You should always have conversations with stakeholders to be sure that their perception of your brand accurately reflects the reality of your brand, such as mission, vision, and values.
Having this kind of relationship in which there ́s open communication gives you an excellent opportunity to validate your value proposition as well and refine your brand strategy where you´re falling short. Not only for the positioning phase but also for the upcoming brand stages.
In case you want the whole roadmap to a successful brand strategy, we can summarize it in the sequence of these 10 steps to be followed:
Brand equity proves that if a client can connect on a deep emotional level with your brand and decides to buy from you, they’ll be willing to pay more for your product more, even if the competitor offers the same product or service for less money.
So, we can understand the concept of brand equity as the value premium that a brand generates from a product/service with a recognizable name when compared to its generic equivalent.
Companies create brand equity through different tactics. For example, making brands memorable, easily recognizable, and superior when it comes to reliability and quality.
Read more about brand equity here.
Naturally, there is so much more to the world of branding.
But, if you are able to build these five steps into a cohesive message first thing, you will be well on your way to strengthening your brand.
And making it easier for you to sell your product or service.
Following all these steps can’t be a one-person task. You’ll need a lot of help in order to make your brand thrive.
If you delegate all the tasks that you don’t want to do to a virtual assistant, you’ll be able to focus on growing your business. Or you can start with tasks you like but are really time-consuming, like social media management.
Uassist.ME has considerable experience helping small and big businesses with their delegation processes. We’ve received important awards and recognitions that you can see here.
Call us today and see how your life can change with the help of a VA. At both personal and professional level. Your life can totally change for the better when you only do things you love.
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