Before we discuss why branding is important in marketing…
Ever heard of a brand or brand ambassador?
Okay – I guess this will be more familiar.
Do you have a name? Surely, you do!
Do you know your name is your unique identity which is your brand? Do you know your name embodies all your core values, attributes and behaviours?
When you hear of Bill Gates what comes to your mind? — A tech guru, right? What about Elon Musk? — An engineering guru, huh? Barack Obama? — A communicator par excellence?
Your name can be your brand.
You see, your name represents you and everything you stand for, it is true to say your name is your brand, it is your unique selling point and means of instant identification. Your name does for you what a brand will do for a company, business, organization or product. But first things first…
What is branding?
According to the Entrepreneur, branding is the marketing practice of creating a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. In today’s world of marketing, having a brand image seems to be ideal for almost every aspect of business and even for the customers and people who patronize a particular company or product.
Potential clients are looking out for your brand, loyal customers are expecting that your brand continues to uphold the values that once attracted them to you, professional employees are also not left out as they derive pride and pleasure in working for a great brand, even potential investors only want to be associated with a brand that delivers. According to BigPresence, 82% of investors believe that brand strength and name recognition are one of the major factors that will guide them in making investment decisions.
We all have a go-to brand.
I guess every one of us seems to have a go-to brand when we want a product. Over time we have built an emotional attachment to that brand because of something unique/special they offer to us. For example, if you run out of toothpaste most people are already thinking of Close Up or Macleans as the case may be. Branding has become so important that it now defines people’s perception of life and values. For instance, many people believe that for you to be classy then you must be riding a Benz, so to them, class is associated with having a Mercedes product.
In essence, branding is your unique selling point. Your brand strengthens your unique standing in the marketplace as it puts you at an edge over other competitors in the market space. Your brand is like your promise to deliver; it positions your product competitively among other products.
When branding has been done rightly, it builds trust in the users and customers; they will always know that your product will come through for them.
With such trust comes a relationship and an emotional attachment, when people have a great experience using or interacting with your brand it becomes a tale of different emotions, it breeds expectations and memories. In the end, everyone wants to project your brand by telling their story and sharing memories deeply embedded in their hearts.
Branding isn’t just about logos and symbols.
Before now, many conservatives when referring to brands tend to talk just about a symbol, a logo and a mission statement but branding is deeper than that. Branding is everything; YES… You should read that again. It ranges from product design to product quality, the ability of the product to bring customer satisfaction, it involves customer services, product relatability and even customer experiences with the customer support team, product representatives and officials.
It is no wonder many great brands employ the services of great talents in different fields so as to transfer people’s passion for those personalities to their brands, which is a huge shift from what was obtainable before, where marketing tended to be oriented towards the object which is the goods and services rendered and less towards the subject which are the humans or people using the product.
Importance of branding in marketing
Branding today is more important than just selling products or offering services. Many people will not readily interact with a business or an organization that has no brand to showcase. People want to engage with businesses that are serious and look responsible.
Moreover, due to the advent of many social media platforms and the enormous amount of competition in today’s world and the webspace, it is very important to have a unique brand that singles you out among other competitors. Let’s look out why branding is important.
Importance of branding
- It helps you to build a relationship with your customers or audience. Everyone wants to be associated or emotionally attached to a great brand.
- Branding positions you: Ever felt your competitors are gaining over you? Improve on your brand and watch the magic. Even Forbes noted that branding alone increases your revenue by 23%.
- Branding reduces competition: A great brand out there will do well on its own, it is believed that 54% of shoppers first turn to brands for product information. And once they get the right information, the impression is lasting.
- Branding brings recognition: it is your brand that people relate with so it is your brand people recognize. Think of clothing and GUCCI, DIOR, VERSACE comes to mind, think of gadgets and APPLE, GOOGLE, SAMSUNG comes to mind, think of beard care and VIKING, THE B.I.G COMPANY, MARLEY MEN comes to mind.
Your brand is your unique mode of identification and recognition. Let’s look at the facts.
Facts about branding
- Branding and advertising are inseparable; they go hand in hand.
- Branding builds loyal customers.
- Branding is great for your employees: every employee will be glad to represent a good brand performing top-notch services.
How to establish a great brand
You need a strategy to create your brand and market it. And if you do it right your brand becomes your automatic market strategy. Your brand has the capacity on its own to market you, your products and services. Your brand should be able to answer the question of who you are, who you want to be and who you want people to perceive you to be. Think of many brands and what comes to your mind is excellence, skill, good communication or good interpersonal relationships. That’s the kind of brand you want to build. In trying to achieve that, you can follow these steps.
How to build a great brand
- Get to know your audience or customers. Know what they want and what they appreciate.
- Address a problem they face. People don’t use a product because they just like it but rather because it satisfies a need and addresses a problem.
- Get a brand message. Your brand message should be brief and consistent with your brand image.
- Create a unique voice for your brand. It should emphasize purpose, emotion, flexibility and loyalty.
- You can set up a website. It should contain a great logo, good colours that will increase your brand awareness, clarity, and properly sell you out. It should also be entertaining and captivating.
- Be consistent.
Final thoughts
In the end, it takes about 5 to 7 brand impressions on an average for someone to expressly remember you.
Therefore try as much as possible to make your first few impressions strong. You also don’t need to be fanciful; you only need to be consistent for your brand to be great. And if you ever need help on your branding journey, we’ve got you at Dynamite Digital Agency – the leading branding agency in Nigeria. You can trust us to provide you with professional branding assets that are designed to assist your company get the public attention it deserves.
Keep building… Be true to yourself and your brand.
