Regardless of the size of your company, branding is more important than ever if you want to remain foremost in people’s minds and keep awareness of your business high. It’s especially critical to allocate an effective branding budget – and stay committed to it.
Impressions of your business are formed through people’s personal experiences interacting with your company, and these impressions form the core of your brand. That’s why it’s crucial to always present a positive image and create favorable perceptions that differentiate your business from competitors.
Since many business owners are extremely busy with day-to-day responsibilities, we thought you’d appreciate these branding basics that are easy and inexpensive strategies to help you develop your brand and keep your company, and yourself, visible.
Define Your Brand
What are your own perceptions of your business? Write a preliminary one-page description of your company that really drills down to what it’s all about. Get an outsiders perspective — the people who interact with your company— and ask about their perceptions about your business, what they may like and dislike, and how they compare your company to competitors.
When you’re done writing the description and it is accurate, stay 100% committed to it.
Stay Visible
You must keep your business visible to reaffirm your value with customers and clients. That way they’ll recall your brand and reward you with more business. It has been widely reported that before a consumer purchases a product they need to be exposed to a brand 17 times. 17 times is a lot but it’s an essential process that brings recognition, familiarity, credibility and loyalty to your brand.
Social Media
Social media tools like Facebook, Twitter, Google +, Pinterest and blogs are great ways to create conversation about your business with consumers and talk about what you can offer to help meet their needs. But be careful with ‘over-promotional’ language and tone. This could turn potential prospects off. Be genuine, and provide people with valuable and entertaining information.
Brand Stewards
Branding extends from your employees too. Interactions with customers, clients, even suppliers, are an integral part of your employees serving as brand ambassadors for your company. Positive experiences strengthen a brand – and a strong brand always impresses. Coach your employees on brand consistency and its importance so your customer retention numbers stay strong. It’s an important process that is frequently neglected but its ROI can be huge.
Make Consistency the Priority
Carefully examine every component of your brand: logo, stationery, advertisements, website, email signature, the way you answer the phone — everything – and make sure they’re consistent with what you want your image to be. It’s an important step and the one most often overlooked, because consumers always connect consistency with credibility. Stay committed to your branding efforts and you’ll be remembered and rewarded.
Need help defining or refining your brand’s design?
Trillion helps businesses position themselves intelligently and design their brands. If you have any questions for us, contact us here or just give us a call at 908.219.4703.
