What do you think of when you hear the term branding?
Do you think of logos? Signs? Maybe promotional products, posters, or other printed materials? Or do you just think of a business itself? All these things and more are part of branding.
Why is branding so important? Does it matter, or can you just put off branding your entire business until you’ve got a larger consumer base? Branding is incredibly important to all companies and makes a huge impact on clients, even if most people don’t realize it.
Now, what exactly is branding?
It is the combination of core values, beliefs, messaging, visual representations, and written materials used to communicate with a company’s customers. This includes the company’s mission, copywriting, logos, brochures, letterheads, websites, commercials, company merchandise, etc.
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Branding is important for many different reasons, some of them more obvious than others. For example, Jeff Bezos said, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.” Understanding that notion, companies can’t force customers’ feelings. They are merely able to influence and shape “people’s” opinions. Below are a handful of critical reasons to properly present your company, and all should be evaluated when branding or rebranding.
Help Tell Your Clients What You Do
The first part of branding most people see is the logo for a company followed by a tagline. A good logo and/or tagline combo serves as a symbolic representation of the company. It allows people to recognize the business in just a few seconds. This focal point along with the rest of your branding strategy drives home the message of what you do.
Differentiate Your Business from the Competition
Stand out! Great branding helps tell your clients what you do concisely, but also makes sure you don’t resemble your competitors too much. Too similar messages and designs can cause confusion and may lose customers in the process. David Brier states, “Branding is the art of differentiation.” That definition is spot on!
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Become Easily Recognizable
The combination of colors, shapes, imagery, and other design elements used in your brand help customers recall your company easily. A curved checkmark is easily recognized as the Nike symbol. The color red is associated with Target and McDonald’s. A blue oval means Ford. All these associations are made in a split second due to branding. Striking symbols, colors, and/or words presented consistently to people will become easily recognizable, and at best synonymous!
Show Your Personality
Every brand has a personality to help reach and connect with current and prospective customers and clients. It’s best to offer your story and show your true colors, or someone else will do so, to fill that void. Branding helps share the specific personality traits in messaging through language choices and tone of voice. Then visually, through colors, shapes, and other design elements that are used throughout visual messaging. For example, red is a bold color. A red triangle in branding could show a bold and driven company that is decisive. Or a red square in branding could show a bold company that is strong and steadfast. These elements, along with proper copy, could work together throughout a brand to continually showcase the proper personality to customers.
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Add Legitimacy to Your Company
A visually cohesive brand tends to look much more legitimate than a brand that uses five different design styles. Sometimes this can be very subliminal, too. People tend to feel good listening or viewing well refined brand elements but can feel uneasy when experiencing disjointed ones. They may not even be able to place why. So, it’s imperative for your company or brand to aim to nail your messaging and visual identity, from the outset. Additionally, branding can help show that professional thought and consideration went into creating the materials your business uses to talk to clients and customers. This can mean quite a bit to prospects receiving their first impressions.
Build Trust Through Consistent Branding
Branding is a part of everything from the messaging, colors, logo, and business cards down to the posters, website, and direct mail a company sends. Everything that is sent out by a business should sound and look like it belongs with the rest of the brand identity. Consistency helps with recognition for starters, but also provides a layer of trust in the brand name. Anytime a big-name company decides to go through a rebrand, they have to carefully balance their previous messaging and design with the new brand strategy, to prevent upsetting their consumer base. For example, GAP tried to rebrand their logo from the classic white letters on a blue background, to black letters in a different typeface on a white background with a little blue box in the upper corner. People were so upset by this change, that the company went back to their old brand styling to appease their customers. People psychologically prefer a level of consistency.
It should be evident…Branding really does matter.
Co-Authored by Ari Smedley
Brian Butkowski is the Owner of Bomb Image as well as Brand Advisor & Designer. He makes it easier for clients to deliver the right message to their customers, by Demystifying Branding & Marketing. Because of this, his clients gain better connection and engagement with their customers – which results in greater revenue.
With over two decades of experience guiding small businesses, Brian plans, produces, and executes tactics that utilize clients’ brands, logos, and messaging. He prides himself on being an objective facilitator, utilizing proven processes to draw out clients’ “right answers,” to achieve their branding and marketing goals.
