Marketing experts are constantly expressing how important it is for businesses to create and build a strong brand that customers can identify with and trust in. On first impressions, you might think this is only true for a large multinational business that has millions of customers and thousands of employees, but this thinking could not be further from the truth. Whether it’s a large multinational company or a small budding start-up, creating a strong brand is essential.

But what do we mean by ‘brand’ exactly? To put it simply, the brand of a business is a combination of all of the elements that create the impression of how a customer will perceive that company. It is the logo, website, the company’s values, products, marketing, social media presence, image and can include their customer service too.

On that note, let’s discuss why it is so important to have a very strong brand, even as a small business:

A strong brand is easily recognised.

Think about how easy it is to recognise a well-branded product, let’s say an Apple laptop or Nike trainers for example. With either of these brand names, a consumer does not have to think twice about the purchase, as they immediately know what the product is going to deliver. With Apple, the customer knows that they’re getting a reliable, modern laptop that is durable, fast and has all of the latest features. Likewise, when choosing a Nike product, customers know that they’re getting a high quality product from one of the biggest names in the industry.

A strong brand creates trust.

As humans, we instinctively trust a well-known brand much quicker than we would a brand that we had never heard of before. This can be due to having a positive experience with this brand before or hearing recommendations from other people who have had experience with the brand. The trust factor is there when it comes to big brand names, and once that’s established, companies can expect to see their sales go through the roof.

A strong brand makes a company memorable in the eyes of customers.

Just imagine you sell a great product; let’s say a pair of sunglasses for example. Your customers love them and keep on getting lovely compliments about them, and are constantly recommending your products to their friends. Although this is great and what you want to happen, these people will not turn into customers unless your brand is strong and memorable. In fact, they will simply forget the name of your company and maybe even choose one of your competitors to buy from.

A strong brand creates value for your business.

Once you have built up a strong brand for your business, you can expect it to have a massively positive impact on the value of your company over time. And the more recognisable and popular your brand is the better it will be for the value of your business. In short, establishing a strong brand will mean that your products will be sold at a higher retail value and your company will be worth more when, and if, you decide to sell it.

These are just some of the many reasons why it is so important for businesses of all sizes and natures to have a strong brand. Consumer traits are changing all of the time, but a strong brand remains to be one of the best ways for a company to truly connect with its customers.

It is a reality of business that it does not matter how good your product or service is; if nobody knows about it you cannot sell it. As obvious a statement as this seems to be, new business owners continually fail to give enough attention to promotion.

Branding is a particularly important aspect of promotion. It is what helps you develop recognition and differentiate yourself from the competition. Your brand is not just your business’s name, it is the personality of your company and how you want your business to be viewed as a whole.

Any brand is made up of a number of different elements that will be determined by the nature and character of your business. Here we will look at five of these elements, how they work together and how to combine them into a successful and engaging brand.

Value Proposition

The Value Proposition does not necessarily mean that you offer better value than your competitor. The Value Proposition is essentially the feature of your product that your customer will value. This might be the quality of the build of the product, a unique feature that your product has or the level of customer support you provide.

The Value Proposition helps to distinguish your brand in the marketplace. It is important to find a way of establishing your Value Proposition with your customer.

Ethos

Ethos and Value Proposition sometimes overlap. The Ethos of your business represents a core value that motivates you to sell your product. It might be that you simply want to provide the best customer service or the highest quality product. It might also be more abstract and appeal to a different target market, for instance you might want to make your product from recycled or natural materials.

Whatever the Ethos of your company it should inform your brand identity. Figure out what audience your particular Ethos will appeal to and develop a way to convey that Ethos to them clearly and simply.

Voice

Voice is one of the more difficult aspects of your brand to establish. It should convey the personality and character of you and your business but at the same time needs to maintain an appropriate level of professionalism and not alienate or put off a large portion of the target market. However, a too impersonal Voice may prevent people from identifying with your brand at all.

Logo

Most of the other branding elements mentioned are somewhat flexible and can be adapted as the business changes. The job of the Logo however is essentially to stay the same. This means it is important to get it right the first time. Hiring a professional to help in its design is the best way to do this.

The Logo needs to encapsulate many of the other elements of the brand into one single design. The character of the voice, the ethos of the business, the value proposition of the product all need to be communicated through the logo design to some degree.

Engagement

All of the effort you put into your business’s branding is ultimately directed towards one goal: Engagement. Each element of your branding has to work to engage your target market in some way. This will result from familiarity with your brand, through its logo, direct marketing, online presence, word of mouth and many other factors.

In developing your brand it is also important to engage directly with your target market. By finding out where your target customers are, whether online or in the real world, you can develop a relationship with those customers on a personal level.

Becoming involved in online discussions, supporting customers who have been let down by competitors and establishing collaborative projects with customers are just a few simple ways in which a business can use Engagement to develop their brand.