What Is Branding & How to Build a Lasting Impression
While branding is often considered in terms of visual identity – name, logo, design, packaging, and so on – it has evolved enormously over the years.
Now, marketing specialists are approaching branding as patterns of familiarity, meaning, value, and reassurance. That is, branding is how a business or organisation sets itself up to be perceived by an audience over numerous interactions for long periods of time.
To make a lasting impression, businesses must recognise and leverage the many layers of branding – from ensuring an active online presence and consistent product quality to reliable customer support and authentic interactions.
Find out more below.
What is Branding?
Branding is an ongoing process. People, markets, and businesses are forever changing, and brands need to evolve to keep pace. Most of all, branding is built on a culture of trust, which is something you can’t force – rather, it is something you must nurture.
How an organisation cultivates a distinct identity in its target consumer’s minds can be attributed to a wide range of activities. It all starts with a company name and logo, built around key values and a unique selling point. But it doesn’t stop there.
If you want your brand to be immediately recognised and publicly distinguished from others as a trusted, authentic, and reliable provider of your products and services – you must continuously communicate your personality, connect directly with your customers, and outshine your competition.
How to Define Your Brand: Key Components of Branding
Branding doesn’t end after you’ve picked your company name and designed your logo. After all, it’s the way people view you that determines what you are, and it’s up to you to ensure you’re getting the right message across at every point of interaction.
Key components of branding often include:
- Company name
- Logo & slogan
- Design
- Unique selling proposition
- Value for customers
- Mission statement / company promise
- Personality & voice
- Company values
- Company story
All these components will make up your brand guidelines – the rulebook for running your business to ensure consistency every time you deal with your staff, customers, and other key connections.
This applies to your entire organisation – your office stationery, website, customer service, product quality and delivery, social media presence, marketing materials, podcasts, blogs, and wherever else a person could build an impression about your company.
How to Craft a Memorable Brand Identity
Visual Elements
Once you’ve chosen your name, you can build up your visual elements – your logo, typography, colour palette, imagery, icons, and packaging. These should be applied consistently across your organisation to boost engagement with and recognition of your company wherever your branding is seen.
Visual elements might be seen on your:
- Packaging
- Website
- Social media
- Signage
- Merchandise
- Office stationery
- Marketing materials
- Event products
- And more!
Storytelling Elements
Most of your storytelling elements will be found on your website, especially under the “About Us” section. Here you can let your customers and connections know about your company, its story and history, and how you got to be where you are today.
This is an important part of letting your target audience get to know the real you, creating a sense of credibility and authenticity around your brand. Your website is also a great place to communicate your values and goals, so customers know where you stand on the issues that matter to them – such as ethical production and sustainability.
Who you are should also carry through to your printed products, whether you’re promoting services, asking for reviews, offering discounts, delivering goods, or simply networking. This means honing your unique tone of voice and the messages you want to get across in all your content.
Online Presence
Leaving a good impression and maintaining a positive perception of your brand often relies on nurturing your online presence to connect more closely with your audience.
Through online campaigns, social media posts and interactions, blogs, podcasts, video series, infographics, reports, and many other engaging digital outlets – you can reinforce your company’s personality and expertise to position yourself as a leader in your industry and instil trust in your potential customers.
Quality Service
Ultimately, the biggest contributor to how your brand is perceived is the service you offer and how you do it. By consistently providing high-quality products, genuine customer support, and on-time delivery, you instantly grow a reputation for being a reliable and trustworthy option within the market.
After a customer’s first experience with your company, an important factor for sticking with you is how they’re rewarded for their loyalty. Do you offer discounts and special offers for returning customers? Are you running regular promotions or giveaways to show your thanks? How your brand is perceived comes down to the last detail.
Over time, you’ll gather those all-important reviews, testimonials, and recommendations – whether published online or spread via word of mouth. Once one person has an opinion of your company, you can guarantee they’ll influence others for or against it. That’s why it’s crucial to hit the mark every time or be open and honest during the times you don’t.
Importance of a Strong Brand
What is branding? As we’ve seen, branding is an ongoing process that never stops and is crucial to ensuring success for your company.
A strong brand will help you:
- Increase business value
- Improve customer loyalty
- Generate new customers
- Enhance employee pride & satisfaction
- Create trust within the marketplace
- And much more!
At FWD Motion, we support clients from the initial concept through to the final solution, campaign delivery, and analytics. Our experienced creative team are ideally positioned to empower your brand and drive results for your business.
Get in Touch
For more information about how our creative services can help you nurture your brand and build a lasting impression, please get in touch for a chat and a quote.
02/08/2024