Many people consider branding to be a visual identity given to a company to advertise its products and services. This was an accurate definition of branding till some time back. Today, however, branding means so much more. Today, branding is not only limited to visual identity of a product, including name, logo, packaging, design, etc, but has evolved to a much larger scope.
Branding makes a memorable impression on the customers and gives them a sense of expectance from your products. Branding also helps a company distinguish itself from others and clarifies what exactly you offer. When you build a brand, you represent your business, ethics, visions and give an idea to the world about how you wish to be perceived.
Today, not only visual identity of the product or service, but many other factors play an important role in building the brand such as reputation, advertising, customer service, visuals and social responsibility. All these elements together work to create a unique and attention-grabbing brand profile.
What is Branding?
Branding is a very vast concept and to get the correct definition that encompasses all its factors is not possible. A definition of branding may not do justice and may not be able to clarify all that it truly encompasses.
Branding is the never-ending process of identifying, creating and managing the total assets and actions that give a shape to the perception of a brand in the stakeholder’s mind.
This particular definition of “branding” does the most justice to the term. Here is a rough breakdown of all the factors that together explain branding:
• Never-Ending Process
Branding is a never-ending and never-stagnant process. The people, trends, businesses and markets keep changing and so the brand keeps evolving.
• Identifying, Creating, Managing
Identifying means to identify your potential clientele, create your brand strategy to place your self accordingly and then constantly manage your advertising, visual identity, ethics, brand value, costs, pricing, marketing and other factors to influence and manage your position in the clients’ minds.
• Assets and Actions
These together mean the visual identity, products, content, services, customer support and such other factors that help in projecting your brand image in the stakeholder’s mind.
• Perception
This can be translation as the reputation of your brand in the stakeholder’s mind. The cumulative action of the above three factors together help to create or destroy the perception of your brand.
Why is Branding Important?
Today, branding your business is very important because it enhances the overall impact of your company. It changes how people perceive your brand and increases your brand value. But, if not done properly, it can even wrongly impact the perception of your business.
It is important to consider branding from the very beginning of your business launch as it helps to create a reputation right from the beginning. Traditional marketers think that branding a costly marketing strategy, but this is not true. When done properly, it can cater to any budget or requirements.
If you are still not convinced, here are some points explaining why branding is important:
• Branding Increases Your Business Value
If you want to create a business that has a positive and impressive impact on the stakeholder’s minds, then it is essential to get into branding. It gives the company more leverage and helps it to grab a firm place in the industry amongst severe competition. If you are successful in creating a strong brand, then it can directly or indirectly influence your pricing, price premium or shares. When you give financial weight to your brand, you are, in a way, implementing branding of your business.
• Branding Ropes in New Clients and Customers
Today, we live in a brand conscious world. A good brand will have no issues in getting customers and getting more affiliate or referral business. Once the brand is established, word-of-mouth publicity helps in getting a wide clientele and customer base. The reputation of a brand preceded it and once the perception of a brand has been established, propagation cannot be controlled. If the perception is positive, new clientele and customer-base is inevitable.
• Improves Loyalty and Pride in the Customers and Employees
If a business has managed to establish itself well, finding loyal customer base and employees is not tough. A good brand will easily pull in efficient workforce as many will want to be associated with a good brand. For example, today many people will go to extreme extents just to get a job in Google. Similarly, owning an Apple iPhone has become a symbol of status in many countries.
• Branding Creates Trust in the Marketplace
Once a brand is well-established, people take it for granted that the products and services will be flawless. Good branding creates trust in the marketplace for both, wholesalers, retailers and customers.
These are some of the various benefits and uses of branding for your business. So, keep these in mind and figure out your budget for branding your business right from the beginning.
If you are seeking reasonable and high-quality branding services for your business, then you can contact TossUp Media. We are your number one partners for branding services. We offer all kinds of branding services including visual identity, content creation, blogs, articles, social media handling, SEO, video creations and more.