The Power of Branding

Why is Branding Important?

Branding goes beyond simply a logo or graphic component.

When you think of your brand, you truly want to consider your whole client experience every little thing from your logo design, your website, your social networks experiences, the method you address the phone, to the means your consumers experience your team.

Branding is one of those topics that everyone has heard of, but few seem to fully understand. Some people think it’s all about a logo, or judicious use of colors. Some think a product’s name is the key to branding. But branding is a complex subject that requires a lot of thought and planning.

Believe it or not, if you get a single element of branding wrong, it could severely impact your overall success. Many companies have failed or succeeded based almost solely on their branding.

Branding is especially important when you are competing in a heavily flooded market. For example, in the fast food realm, branding is arguably more important than the actual food, because without good branding, very few people will ever even try your food.

You see, branding isn’t just about the visual. It’s also about the other elements that one can’t necessarily see at first glance. That’s what we’re going to take a look at in this guide so you can understand some of the different elements.

Vision:

Your company’s vision and voice is one of the most important aspects of the branding process, because it becomes the very foundation of your brand strategy. You must know your vision and voice before you can develop any type of cohesive branding.

What, specifically, does your company represent? Are you trying to change the world? Are you trying to solve a specific problem? Are you trying to educate or enlighten? Your company’s purpose must be reflective of its vision.

Let’s say you sell internet marketing educational products. Your overall mission is probably to educate individuals on various methods they can use to increase their traffic and/or income. This provides you with the opportunity to brand yourself as an educational company, but you must delve further into your company’s vision before you can begin the process of branding.

For example, do you plan to sell your products at a high price point to appeal to wealthier clients? Would you prefer to sell a greater volume of products to help a larger number of people at a lower price? Questions like these help you decide on your company’s vision, and your branding will be far different if you’re marketing to the first group than if you were marketing to the second.

For example, if you intend to market to wealthier customers, you might choose a name and overall branding that reflects that. You might use words such as “elite” in your branding, and use colors and imagery that reflect status and wealth.

If you intend to market to the masses, you might still want to include hints of wealth and status in your branding. After all, you are marketing “how to make money” type products in this example. But you’d want to have a wider appeal to let people know they don’t have to spend a fortune to buy your products.

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Voice:

Your voice is related to your vision, because it will be the image you convey to the public regarding your vision. It’s the mannerisms your employees will use when relating to the public—through social media, videos, promotional material, customer service, etc.

Will you be funny and lighthearted? Will you be professional and serious? You need to convey your company’s vision through your voice.

If your vision is to help people recovering from abuse, you obviously would want to have a serious tone to most of your posts, but also one that conveys hope for the future.

If you’d like to get an idea of how this works, you can take a look at the Facebook and Twitter feeds of various companies in the same field to see how they convey their company’s mission through their voice.

Let’s take fast food as an example.

You may notice that a company like Chipotle (who refers to itself not as “fast food” but as “fast casual”) is a little lighthearted at times, but also focuses on social issues. This is because Chipotle prides itself on serving food that is mostly GMO-free, healthier than other restaurant chains, and socially conscious.

Other restaurant chains tend to be more playful and silly. Burger King, for example, has a reputation for being silly and fun on their social media accounts, and they have a ton of followers and a lot of engagement as a result. People love the fun approach, and it fits with their overall brand.

Your voice must be consistent with your vision and your overall brand. Any disconnect and you will lose engagement and lose customers.

USP

Another important element of branding is finding your company’s Unique Selling Proposition, or USP. Some people call this the Unique Selling Point. Either way, your company (and individual products) must have something that sets you apart from the competition—something they don’t or can’t offer—to differentiate you from your competitors.