Your company may have great products and/or services, but first and lasting impressions – especially in this age of technology, are what count.
The likelihood is your potential clients will come across your business following a recommendation. In more recent times, searching the Internet is the most common form of research for new service providers or products, whilst the high street is starting to become more obsolete. Regardless of our your audience may find you, building the right brand identity can help differentiate you, making you stand out from the competition and become recognised in your market place for all the right reasons.
Building a trusted brand
Right or wrong, the fact is companies that are perceived to be high quality can outsell better products or higher quality services. Trusted brands nearly always win business and retain existing customers. Heinz Baked Beans are a classic example of this. In a blind taste test, a generic supermarkets own brand may win, but take the blindfold off and the chances are the taster will still walk away with a tin of Heinz!
As well as an eye-catching and memorable logo, a brand must encompass your business’ values. In essence, it needs to have its own personality and a tone of voice that’s identifiable throughout all your marketing communications and collateral. It must be appealing to your target market, distinguishing itself as a premium or budget product/service offering. Ultimately your brand should instil trust and aid customer retention.
Sell what makes you different
A good way of promoting your main USP (Unique Selling Point), is in the form of a tagline associated with your brand. A great example of this is L’Oreal Paris’ ‘Because you’re worth it’, this plays on the consumers want to be desirable – worth it… this tagline isn’t so much about the product itself but what it brings to the person using it, thus making the brand stronger in it’s market positioning against other famous cosmetic brands.
Now it’s easy to talk about the big brands that everyone are familiar with, but remember branding is equally as important to small businesses. If you are a self employed gardener or a small accountancy firm, your brand is your reputation and whether you know it or not every business has a brand, the question is does your brand work for you or against you?
If you’re a new business looking for the right branding to deliver the right message or an established business looking to improve your brand image and evolve with the times – we can help! Get in touch for an informal, no obligations chat.
