A respected and highly revered brand is a valuable asset to every company. It is not easy to build a strong brand that resonates with your customers and make your customers always turn to you over and over again.
In 2018, when we decided to position RONEL as an agency – end-to-end marketing and communication service company – which our clients feel there is no replacement for, we knew that we have to go beyond just fulfilling the basic requirements. There were a lot of things we had to consider including tapping into deeper motivations and values to attract the kind of customers we want to serve. Like us, would our customers think we are positioned differently, would they quickly know it is us, and how would it impact their them?
We know it is every company’s dream to attain such heights but how to make it happens has always been a difficulty.
Whether you are a small business that is putting ideas together or a big company that wants to beat competitions, there are well thought out and implemented ways that would help you build a reputable brand that would make you stand out and be relevant to your audience.
Studies show that 94% of consumers say they are likely to be loyal to a brand that offers complete transparency and is consistent in their dealings. So although, as RONEL, we refreshed our brand, we stayed consistent all through. Our logo for one has not changed since its creation because a lot of thought went into it and our core offering has not changed, just evolved with trends and clients’ desire. This is also one of the reasons why every company dreaming of attaining greatness needs a strong and consistent brand identity.
Understanding Branding: What it is and what is not?
To define branding, we must first understand what a brand is and is not? Most people like to pit logos and brands as the same thing and libel a brand as a logo or identity. Though a logo is an important part of branding, it oversimplifies the true meaning of branding. A brand is not your logo, identity, trademark and it’s also not your product. Such a simplistic definition take away the feeling, personality and voice of an organisation or product.
What is A Brand?
Brand definition according to Marty Neumeier – The Brand Gap is a person’s gut feeling about a product, service or company. It’s a gut feeling because people are emotional and intuitive beings. It’s a person’s gut feeling because brands are defined by individuals, not companies, markets, or the public.
A brand is a product, service, or concept that is publicly distinguished from other products, services, or concepts so that it can be easily communicated and usually marketed. A brand name is the name of a distinctive product, service, or concept.
What is Branding?
The Process of Building a Strong Brand is called Branding.
Branding is the process of creating and disseminating the brand name. It is the expression of a brand. Branding can be applied to the entire corporate identity as well as to individual product and service names.
The truth is that branding is an important aspect of every business, especially a new one. It is what will make your business become not just another business in your industry or niche, but the business that offers something uniquely and memorably. Branding sets you apart from the competition.
The collective of these is what we term as:
Brand identity
A brand identity is made up of what your brand says, what your values are, how you communicate your product, and what you want people to feel when they interact it. Essentially, your brand identity is the personality of your business and a promise to your customers.
As Jeff Bezos says,
“Branding is what people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
Your product leaves an impression on your customers long after you’ve made the sale. Brand identity is the process of shaping that impression.
Maya Angelou wrote the following:
“People will forget what you said, people will forget what you did but they will not forget how you made them feel.”
Whenever your brand identity elements are shown, they should be regular in their appearance, use, feel, colour scope and a whole lot more. It should always have a memorable experience.
How To Create Brand Identity
Here are six things you should consider as part of your branding process when developing a brand identity or choosing the brand elements for your business or organization. Because these give consumers information about your brand, service, or product that furthers their positioning and image.
Let’s take a look at 5 Things you should consider as Part of your Branding Process
- Memorability – The brand identity elements you choose should be memorable and attract the attention of your customers to make them remember and recognize your brands.
- Likability – Ask yourself, Do customers find the brand identity element is it attractive or interesting?
- Avoid brand identity elements that are constrained to a specific medium (like mobile, or print) or don’t translate well across your customers’ languages and cultures.
- Durability: Choose brand identity elements that can stand the test of time and the fickle nature of trends and tastes.
How to Create a Brand Identity
- Research your audience, value proposition, and competition.
- Design the logo and a template for it.
- Integrate language you can use to connect, advertise, and embody on social media (Brand Messaging)
- Know what to avoid.
- Monitor your brand to maintain its brand identity.
What Is Brand Equity?
Brand equity as Crowdspring says is the brand’s value (determined by consumer perceptions of a brand).
- A healthy part of the market value of the most renowned companies in the world (Apple, Amazon, Samsung) is tied to their brand equity.
- Companies can create brand equity for their products by making them memorable, easily recognizable, superior in quality and reliability.
- Evaluate how people see your brand and your brand identity
- You can measure Your Brand health in numerous ways, including brand reputation, brand awareness, brand equity, brand positioning, and brand delivery.
What is brand building? Step by step
The definition of brand building is to generate awareness about your business using strategies and campaigns to create a unique and lasting image in the marketplace.
Positive image + standing out = brand success.
Now how do you build an effective brand?
A strong brand identity gives companies a competitive advantage.
1. Research On Your Target Audience
To start, you need to do critical market research on your audience, who are you targeting, and what are their preferences, how can you reach them. This would help you to be able to craft your content and ideas directly to them. When people ask what you do: answer them directly with your brand mission statement.
As a business owner, An easy way to do that is to create A Buyer Persona
Buyer personas are fictional, generalized representations of your ideal customers. They help you understand your customers (and prospective customers) better and make it easier for you to tailor content to the specific needs, behaviours, and concerns of different groups.
The strongest buyer personas are based on market research as well as on insights you gather from your actual customer base (through surveys, interviews, etc.).
Read more on Buyer Personas { Buyer Persona Template }
2. Research On Your Competitors
Another step that would help you grow your brand is to research your competitors. Research on people doing exactly what you want to do and think of How you can do it better. Knowing what your competitors are doing would keep you on guard and inspire you to do more.
Additionally, an in-depth competitor analysis – including a review of competitor websites, search engine optimization, brand identities and advertising. This informs you as to who you would compete with for market share, how to differentiate, and what strategies to employ.
[Create a Competitor Spreadsheet? Download here ]
3. Pick a Focus Personality
Your Brand should not just be for everyone and everything, especially as a beginner. You should have exact people you are targeting
It’s important to find your focus and let that inform all the other parts of your brand as you build it
What’s your positioning statement?
Shopify describes A positioning statement as one or two lines that stake your claim in the market. This is not what you would put on you’re your websites and business cards, They are just statements that would help answer questions about your brand and help you create your brand’s tagline.
Here is what Your positioning statement can be like…
We offer [PRODUCT/SERVICE] for [TARGET MARKET] to [VALUE PROPOSITION].
Unlike [THE ALTERNATIVE], we [KEY DIFFERENTIATOR].
For example, We are an online Restaurant that helps people order and get food delivered to them right at their doorstep for which is convenient and accessible. Unlike other food delivery brands, we don’t charge for the delivery, you only pay for your meals.
Be able to select words that represent your brands, if your brand was a person, you should be able to choose what resonates with your audience and make you stand out
4. Choose Yor Business Name
What are you naming your business, what name are you going to give your business, Well, it depends on what you want the business to be about, so you decide whether the name matters or it doesn’t.
Note: a brand is so much more than a name. The personality, actions, and reputation of your brand are really what give the name meaning in the market.
A company’s name is one of it’s biggest commitments and it would impart almost everything you do. From your Logos to your domain name to your registration and even trademark, your name is a key contributor. It would be everywhere This includes logo design, web design, print design, product design, packaging design, and business names.
You can also consult Branding Agencies that can help you
For example, Ronel offers design (logo design, Posters, website design, apps, print design, product design, packaging design), and naming services.
You can brainstorm to get names or Use What we found on Shopify
● Make up a word, like Pepsi.
● Reframe an unrelated word, like Apple for computers.
● Use a suggestive word or metaphor, like Buffer.
● Describe it literally (caution: easy to imitate), like The Shoe Company.
● Change a word by removing letters, adding letters, or using Latin endings, like Tumblr (Tumbler) or Activia.
● Create an acronym from a longer name, like HBO (Home Box Office). ● Combine two words: Pinterest (pin + interest) or Snapple (snappy + apple
5. Craft and Write Your Tagline
Your slogan should be something catchy. A tagline is a short, catchy (and often clever) phrase that’s meant to grab your audience’s attention, drawing them to your brand.
The more popular a brand becomes, the less clear its tagline needs to be. Juggernauts like Nike and Apple have built their brands to a level where generic taglines like “Just Do It” and “Think Different
How to Write a Tagline Here are five quick tips for crafting your brand’s tagline
- Keep it clear. — Don’t make your tagline so poetic that people have to guess what you do.
- Keep it short. — People skim marketing materials; lean into their short attention spans.
- Make it simple. — Your audience should be able to easily repeat your tagline back to you.
- Be clever. — People remember clever taglines …try to get yours stuck in their heads.
- Use visual supports. — Use imagery (photos, videos, graphics) to further connect the dots for your audience.
- Just like a good tagline, we’ll keep this section short.
6. Create a Brand Logo
When you think of a brand, What comes to mind? Visuals?
Exactly, visuals probably come to mind first, it has a way of making you see the brand in a way.
Coming up with a logo is one of The most exciting (perhaps the most important piece) of the brand-building process, is to create and craft a brand logo and tagline for your company.
The term Logo is short for Logotype, design-speak for a trademark made from a custom-lettered word (Logos is Greek for Word).
A trademark can be a logo, symbol, monogram, emblem, or other graphic devices. A trademark is not the brand itself. It’s merely a symbol for it.
{Read more on how to Create a Logo}
Keep in mind that this logo will be on everything that has to do with your business. It would become your identity, business card, and the visual recognition of your promise.
Consistent use of your company logo from the dimension of the colours, consistent typeface across all online and offline channels, consistent customer service, and consistent use of the tonality-personality behind the brand – these all play a vital role in brand identity.
Therefore be willing to spend time to invest in creating your logo because that would be the visual representation of your business
This particular step may be the one where you need help with creative execution.
Digital Presence
7. You need a Website
Having a website and online presence helps you to market your brand and small business online. A website is also relevant because it helps to establish credibility as a business.
It is a place where everything you have you do would be outlined. Customers would be very easy to locate you and get in touch with you
Websites usually provide a map and directions to the company’s shops or offices for visitors to find their location easily.
A good Website User Experience should be considered. Your website is the most important marketing tool you have for business growth and brand building.
Not only does the user experience have to be exceptional to convert, but your messaging needs to tell your brand story. A story that captivates your audience.
It’s important to have all the right pieces in place when first launching your website, from domain name registration to web hosting, to the right content management system (You can either use WordPress or Wix).
When you have a content management system with databases and plugins, it’s best to have web hosting that specifically caters to the platform.
This showcases Clearpath’s value to customers.” Based on the branding effort, Quaintise has helped Clearpath increase web traffic more than 20% per month.
COPE saw a 100% increase in newsletter subscribers, a three-fold increase in web traffic and had more than 10 major media placements during this past year.
8. You need to create a Strong Social Media Pressence
To build strong social networks, you need to have a solid Social media presence. Look at the main social media accounts your target audience follow and are receptive to. Create an account on all these platforms to promote your business.
This will help inform your voice on social media and the structure of all your creative, visual and written contents to your audience
As FreshSparks says:
Every brand should be represented consistently across all social media networks via the posting of relevant, high-quality content. With social media, your aim for consumers is first to gain trust.
How are your competitors doing especially with engaging your target audience on social media? Can you do better? Then do it. Look at what they do and make it better.
What Social Media Can do for your Business?
- Social media platforms would increase your brand awareness; You need to be on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Linkedin, Youtube, Reddit, Pinterest and all other platforms. This Should be Part of your Marketing Strategy
- Many social media sites offer integrated polling as well.
- Direct Referral Traffic To Your Site Or Blog. Social media marketing can assist in sending customers directly to your site. It’s unlikely that all of your traffic will come through search engines. Social media channels allow for more diverse inbound traffic streams
- For Referrals – Ask anyone you know who may have useful points of contact for you – your co-workers, friendly customers, your social media network – they may be able to connect you with perfect interview candidates.
- To help you translate your brand identity into marketing (including digital marketing, social media marketing, and offline marketing), we want to share examples of companies that do a great job telling brand stories through their marketing.
9. Have a Defined Content marketing Strategy
A well-defined content marketing strategy will help you better connect with your target audience and support them through their customer journey building brand trust to ultimately result in conversions.
Content marketing isn’t that difficult. It’s the practice of using your brand’s stories to connect with people. By sharing interesting stories, you help educate or entertain people. You provide them with something of value while giving them a sense of who you are and what you’re about. Then later; if the folks you’ve educated or entertained require your services, who do you think they’re going to want to buy from? You of course
What Does Content Marketing Involve
- Have Great Contents on your Digital platforms
- Work on your SEO and Digital Content Marketing Strategies
- One of the most effective long-term ways to increase brand awareness and generate relevant organic traffic to your website is search engine optimization (SEO) and the right content.
- Brand content can be in the form of infographics, video, podcasting, case studies, whitepapers, lead magnets and more.
10. Capitalize On Email Marketing
Email Marketing If you want to establish direct links and strong with your customers, then try email marketing.
Email marketing is the act of sending a commercial message, typically to a group of people, using email. In its broadest sense, every email sent to a potential or current customer could be considered email marketing. It involves using email to send advertisements, request business, or solicit sales or donations
If set up properly, email marketing will deliver measurable ROI of your investment campaigns. And advertising campaigns
Having been tested and tried for years with success, email marketing is a sure bet on your marketing campaigns.
Think of your email marketing list as your most close-knit community, and treat your subscribers as such.
11.Establish a brand mission statement
The mission statement defines a purpose for existing.
Alternatively, if the company you want to start has a cause at its core (e.g., if you’re starting a small business), you can also write this out as a mission statement that makes a clear promise to your customers or the world.
This also keeps you on track and helps you maintain focus, you can always look back at it and see if you are doing well.
12. Practice All your branding Expertise Across All Your Business
The brand-building process never stops. You need to apply your branding across your business, it gives you a strong brand story. A brand story that represents who your business is and what you stands for. It sets the stage for every interaction customers to have with your brand, in-store and online.
Your brand should be visible and reflected in everything that your customer can see, read, and hear
13. Evolve and Grow as the World Changes
You can’t be where you are forever, new things would keep coming and you need to try them. As the years go by, you would get to know what works for you and what doesn’t so it’s fine if you change your approach. That would mean you understand your customers and know what they want.
Rebranding?
When a lof things change around you, You can consider rebranding you do it right. Rebranding can be a great way to refresh your brand by incorporating modern aesthetics into your existing company’s identity.
Make sure you are conveying your rebranding efforts clearly so that your customers don’t end up confused or otherwise estranged from the brand they know.
Make sure your audience is informed and aware to prevent your rebranding efforts from causing frustration.
The process can seem intimidating and very nerve-racking, but we’ve been through it many times with our creative partners (and through our rebranding processes), so we know first hand what mistakes to avoid, and how to make it easier on everyone.
We are ever ready to help you achieve your goal.
14. Put Your Customers First In Everything You do
You can pull customers in the right direction, make a great first impression, and manage your reputation, but you can’t control the individual perceptions that exist in each person’s mind (say, if they had a bad customer service experience)
Be ready to give your customer support, assist them so they would understand how your business grow. This is an essential element of your branding process and you need your customers to say good things about
Customer Experience is very important, so make sure you have a positive customer experience because that is what would keep them coming.
15. Consider Paid Advertising
With paid advertising, businesses pay the owner of ad space in exchange for use of that space. The price paid for the ad space is often settled through a bidding process between marketers and the ad space owner.
The categories vary, it includes pay-per-click (PPC), pay-per-impression (PPI), and display ads. Building a successful paid advertising campaign for your brand comes with a unique set of challenges but with experts like Ronel Agency, Ghana’s number one digital branding agency, we can help you through it.
Promotional (standard/seasonal) Non-promotional (blog) Newsletter Welcome series Drip campaign Cart abandonment (eCommerce) Email is king when data proves that email marketing efforts have an average ROI of $44 for each $1 spent!
Branding is easy when it is done right. Work, grow and be consistent with your brand and you would be able to achieve all you want.
