Branding is an integral part of every company; it’s how clients come to know and love, or hate, their services. It encompasses everything about the company, its culture, its mission statement, right down to the language used in its corporate emails. So when first starting out, it’s important to make sure that everything matches across the board so that the image that’s portrayed is consistent. When a company is consistent, clients are much more inclined to be trusting.
So, what are the best things to do to ensure that your branding goes beyond logo image and follower count? By hitting the following point
Define Your Brand
Make sure that you know what your brand stands for and what it’s promising to its customers. Your brand should tell them what they can expect when they interact with the company and its products or services. Your brand sets you apart from your competition but don’t go overboard. The most successful logos are the simplest ones, like Twitter. That little bird is recognisable all over the world and you want to make sure that you’re giving your brand that kind of possibility.
The foundation of your brand will be the logo you choose. This should be consistent across all media, including your website, packaging and any promotional materials as well as your email communications.
Create a Strategy
This goes beyond just adding your logo to your website, packaging etc, and will encompass the how, what, where, when and whom, you will communicate and deliver your messages to. It’s also important to do research on the channels where distributing your brand will make the most impact. Going through channels that are useless and won’t promote your brand as much as possible to the right audience will only slow down the process.
You’re aiming for a strong, catchy message, one that people will instantly recognise and think of your brand when they see it.
Review Often
Review your brand every six months to make sure that all areas are still consistent. Do staff know the type of language they should be using in email communications? Has new staff been added to manage promotions? Do they understand the message you are trying to portray? Do they know the brand backwards and forwards so they’re always on top of their game?
Use these questions to help further determine your brand when reviewing it:
- What is your mission?
- Products and Services – What are their benefits and features?
- Do you know what your customers or prospects think of your company?
- What qualities do you want associated with your company? What do you want your customers or prospects to think of when they see your brand?
If you’re easily able to answer all of these questions then you’re on the right track. If not, go back and find out the answers. Invest your time in improving customer and company relations if need be.
The post is written by Ilan Nass, a regular contributor to Dazeinfo. He is a tech enthusiast, who like to profile tech companies. He is an editor at Fueled – an iPhone and Android app development company based out of Chicago.
