Why Branding Matters
A lot of business owners believe that having a logo is what makes a ‘brand’, but branding is SO much more than this (though a dope logo is a must) and is a critical part in how your business is perceived.
Branding is the process of creating a lasting perception in the minds of potential and current consumers. You brand is a persistent, unique business identity that should be carefully intertwined with the personality of your WHO your business is and what you wish to present to the world.
Branding done properly can pay off big! Here are 5 benefits of creating a good brand.
🎯 Memorability
A brand serves as a vehicle for your business to build a good reputation. It’s hard for customers to share how awesome your company is if they can’t remember the name or logo! Choosing an effective and simple name and logo helps reinforce your brand and make it memorable so that it is easier for your customers to spread the word. Memorability can come from using and sticking with an unusual color combination (like purple & yellow), distinctive behavior (every customer gets offered champagne while they shop), or a clever mascot! Develop your own unique branding identifiers and nail them to your company name in the minds of your public. Reinforcing the business identity with refrigerator magnets, tote bags, datebooks, coasters, key rings, water bottles, etc. helps to keep YOUR local business in front of people’s minds so they can easily refer you to others.
🎯 Loyalty
When people have a positive experience with a memorable brand, they’re more likely to buy that product or service again than competing brands. People who closely bond with a brand identity are not only more likely to repurchase what they bought, but they also buy related items of the same brand, to recommend the brand to others and to resist the lure of a competitor’s price cut. The brand identity helps to create and anchor consumer loyalty.
🎯 Familiarity
Branding has a big effect on non-customers too. Psychologists have shown that familiarity induces liking. Consequently, people who have never done business with you but have encountered your company identity sufficient times may become willing to recommend you even when they have no personal knowledge of your products or services. Seeing your ads on local buses, having your pen on their desk, reading about you in the Hometown News, they spread the word for you when a friend or colleague asks if they know a [insert your service] and that’s what you do.
🎯 Extensions
With a well-established brand, you can spread the respect you’ve earned to a related new product, service or location and more easily win acceptance of the newcomer. For instance, when a winery with a good reputation starts up regional winery tours, then adds foreign ones, each business introduction benefits from the positive perceptions already in place.
🎯 Lower Marketing Expenses
Although you must invest money into creating a brand, once it’s created you can maintain it without having to tell the whole story about the brand every time you market it. For instance, a jingle people in your area have heard a zillion times continues to promote the company when it’s played without any words.