In this article we discuss five essential ways to brand your business. This will not only help to increase your profits but enhance your business profile. Branding your business is one of the most important steps you can take to promote your business's success. We will examine niche innovative ways to develop your brand within your business premises such as personalised clocks and mirrors.
Firstly, we need to define exactly what a 'brand identity' is. Essentially it is creating exactly the right impression and atmosphere around your business to encourage trust, desire and even a sense of community. It is a combination of consistent visual elements that affect your consumer's emotions which influences their decision to purchase from your business. It is more than a logo, business card, letterhead, or envelope but brings with it a psychological aspect. As a result, brand associations like thoughts, feelings, perceptions, images, experiences, beliefs, attitudes, and so on can become linked to you brand.
Tip 1. The first thing you need to do when considering your brand, is consider how you can lift the bar, by thinking beyond your actual products and services, and adding a greater sense of purpose behind what you do.
To do this you need to challenge your consumer by getting them to venture outside their normal perimeters. By buying your brand, it should enable them to feel more fulfilled and enhance their self-expression and personal identity. By way of example Nike successfully challenges their consumers to do their best in sports and fitness. Their slogan 'Just do it' allowed their consumer to raise the bar and achieve what is almost the unachievable.
So if you sell T-shirts, you are not only selling the T-shirts, but the 'lifestyle' the product brings with it. Your brand should therefore make a simply T-shirt allow your consumers to feel more confidence, more attractive and have more self-esteem.
Tip 2. When deciding on how to brand your business you need to analyse the outward depiction of your brand this includes your logo, business card, letterhead, and envelope trademark, communications, and other visual appearance. This is controlled by you and reflects how you as the owner wants your consumer to perceive your brand. Your customer's perception of your brand i.e. their mental picture of your company's image may be somewhat different.
Your role will be to seek to bridge the gap between your 'brand image' that which your customers see, and your brand identity. To ensure this, you need to have an effective brand name that builds a connection between the 'brand personality' as it is perceived by your target audience and your actual product/service. It should therefore reflect your demographic audience and be easily recognizable. This will allow it to be differentiation from your competitors. You should always check the consumer's perception of your brand, as it should evolve to take into consideration consumer trends.
Tip 3. As a marketer you must have a strong focus on what your brand will achieve for its intended consumer. It is therefore crucial to bring in line the expectations behind the brand experience with your good and services. You should therefore make a promise to your consumers that buying your brand, will provide important added value, not obtainable from your competitors. An example of this is arguably the world's largest cosmetic company L'Oreal. L'Oreal knew that it had to add value to its products as it was more highly priced than its competitors. Hence the slogan 'because your worth it.' By formulating a brand promise which conveys to customers what you stand for, and reflecting this thorough your products or services, you can enhance your business brand.
Tip 4. Use Social Media Sites such as Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, Digg and many others, to reinforce your brand by building large list of contacts and supporters that can help to spread the word about your brand.
Tip 5. Use every available way to reinforce what you have to offer your marketplace. Start with finding clever, innovative and affordable ideas to generate your brand from within your business premises. The recognition and perception of a brand is highly influenced by its visual presentation. So when customers visit any place of business, the colour scheme, decor and signage should work in harmony to create exactly the right impression and atmosphere promoting your companies ethos.
One way to achieve this is by using a centrepiece such as a promotional clock or mirror depicting your company brand. This will help provide a powerful way of creatively setting the theme and reinforcing your brand messages. Personalised clocks and mirrors that use your promotional photo, logo and copy will be viewed frequently within business settings, such as reception areas. Branding in this highly effective way will help to convey the important business ideas you would like to get across to your customers, whilst promoting your company's brand.
Using functional advertising tools, such as promotional clocks or mirrors with an interactive design approach will allow you to tailor and customise your branding message, and can also allow you to up-sell your goods and services in a way which is untapped by most business owners. This method of promotional branding forms a clever and cost-effective way to add value to your business brand.
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