Creating a Consistent and Professional Brand Identity
Brand identity needs to be high on the agenda of every business owner, and a successful company must create a consistent and professional brand image. Business branding needs to be innovative, and in the digital world of consumer feedback, it is essential brand performance is monitored and strengthened.
Branding strategies have moved on from just creating the perfect logo; it’s now essential to incorporate your website’s design and user experience, and you must also consider multi-platform targeting and consumer driven social media sites.
The Importance of Consistency and Professionalism
Your business needs a consistent brand identity to help customers easily identify your company and its services. A professional brand identity, consistently applied, can also help build trust and customer loyalty.
A strong brand presence can drive product sales – take GoPro, for example, which has taken standard camera kits to new heights by building on the idea of sharing life’s moments and experiences. By designing the camera hardware to expressly achieve that, the company demonstrated an expert knowledge of consumer trends and took full advantage of people’s desire to share their life online.
An understanding of the benefits branding can bring is the first step in achieving brand consistency: keeping your brand professional at all times requires hard work and attention to detail, and without sufficient motivation, this is an uphill task. Create a list of the objectives you are aiming to achieve, including factors such as market positioning. You must also clearly express what your business stands for and establish a sense of authenticity and authority around your business.
Settle on a Brand Guide and Communicate the Thinking Behind It to Your Employees
Consistent branding can only be achieved with thorough planning and by making a comprehensive record of the strategy. Your brand guide will explain the mission behind your identity and contain details on everything from colour schemes and typefaces to writing styles. By combining all of your brand requirements in a single source, you can make sure everyone has easy access to the expectations set out in your branding platform.
Even the most carefully planned branding strategy can struggle to come to life if only select staff members are behind it. Share your brand identity to everyone in the business by explaining the benefits of consistent and professional branding and make sure the brand guide is widely distributed and easily accessible. Brand identities can be strong team-building factors and can become very powerful when also driven by organisational culture.
Think Past the Strict Definition of Branding
You can go beyond what logos, typefaces and colour schemes can achieve by building a consistent and professional story around your brand. A well thought out content marketing strategy is essential for this objective.
Content marketing involves adding articles, images or videos to your website, which will encourage repeat visitors and shares on social media sites. To build a more expansive picture of what your business stands for, you can work with a website content creation company to create engaging and unique material. This option can also be useful if you do not have the resources in-house to implement an effective content marketing strategy.
Customers consider a range of factors when they make a buying decision, and though price and quality are strong factors, the perception of your company – your brand identity – will influence buying decisions. It is the overall impression and success of branding that allows your business to command a price premium over competitors, and branding efforts such as content marketing can be an essential part of this.
Finally, Consult Your Customers for Feedback
No brand is successful if it does not appeal to their target audience. Experts will tell you that it is crucial to test your branding strategy with your target market – interviewing customers, offering surveys, and leaving the door open for feedback both online and offline. This approach will help you to identify the values you share with your customers – 64% of consumers say they have a brand relationship because of these shared values. If you can incorporate these shared values within your brand identity you will enjoy greater customer engagement, which in turn means more coverage on social media sites, loyal customers, and an advantage over the competition.
We hope you found the above promoted content as entertaining and helpful as we did!
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