Author: Sam Molony

Starting a company is one thing, but sustaining it to the heights of success and growing every year is another journey. When a company has finished developing its products and choosing the specific niche to target, it should have a solid branding plan.

Statistics show that a successful brand-building strategy can help organizations achieve an average of 23% more market share and 19% higher customer lifetime value.

Companies need a strong brand identity to explain who they are and what makes them different from their competitors. As a result, customers will perceive your business the way you choose. Using customer feedback tools to get real info will help your brand-building process immensely. Therefore, branding can help you define what the audience needs to know and believe about you.

A successful brand-building process will help outperform the competition and plays a vital role in creating customer loyalty.

What is brand building? 

Brand building is a process used to create and establish an association between a business or product and its intended audience. 

The goal of brand building is twofold: first, to increase brand awareness and visibility so that more people are familiar with the brand; second, to build an emotional connection between the brand and potential customers by creating positive associations.

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What does it take to build a strong brand identity? First, a business can implement several marketing strategies to establish a perception and leave a positive lasting impression on the target audience. Here are two well-known examples:

Example # 1: NIKE

Nike released the “Find Your Greatness” campaign in 2012, which was a perfect fit for its image. They used examples to show their audience that their products are also for recreational athletes.

Nike made sure to remind their customers that everybody can be an athlete in their unique way. However, not everyone can identify with elite athletes’ difficulties, so Nike built a brand to help the average person feel prosperous and resilient.

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Example # 2: Apple

The tagline “Apple makes technology so simple that everybody can be a part of the future” is at the heart of the current Apple brand strategy.

The genius of Apple lies in its capacity to simplify complex technologies, enabling customers to get greater use out of their Apple products.

The Apple brand strategy even influences their physical stores. For example, Apple sales representatives train to steer clear of any “tech lingo.” Instead, they have a Genius bar where you may get help with tech issues. They also encourage customers to play with their products while browsing.

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7 steps to develop a brand identity

Once you understand the brand-building process, it’ll be simple to figure out how to create a solid brand identity. The most crucial and advantageous steps are the following:

1. Prepare a statement of purpose

When making existential judgments regarding a brand, keep the explicit purpose in mind. Customers today are more honest than ever, and competition is rampant across all industries. So now isn’t the time for a company to struggle with its identity. 

When employees know an organization’s mission, they’re more likely to understand its motivations and objectives. In this stage also companies may consider measuring Employee Net Promoter Score and then take the right steps to increase employee retention and increase business processes as well.

Here’s how you can write a purpose statement:

Step 1: Conduct a market analysis and look for shortfalls

Carry out deep research on your target market and competitors. First, study your competitors keenly and notice their unique selling propositions. Then, analyze their weaknesses and turn them into your strengths.

Step 2: Dive deep into understanding your target market.

Try to understand what the target market’s needs and wants are. One way to find out your customers’ desires is by reading the user reviews of your competitors. This way, you’ll know what they value the most in a specific product or service. For example, if they value a personalized customer experience above all else, you may want to enable them to customize products to fit their needs.

Step 3: Have a clear vision 

You must have a clear company vision for your brand to attract decent investors and stakeholders and develop a good team. For instance, Facebook’s vision has been to bring the world closer. Speaking about smaller companies, such as andcards, their vision is to inspire a happier experience for people who use coworking spaces for work.

Start developing a business proposal to close the gap between the company and potential customers. A strong proposal will clearly state your value proposition and convince internal stakeholders to buy in.

If you wish to close an e-commerce client, your e-commerce proposal should outline the strategic implementation of an online storefront, streamlined user experience, secure payment gateways, and effective marketing strategies to maximize reach and conversion rates.

Step 4: Get feedback and improve

Gather in-depth information on your competitors, target market, and vision at hand, and ask your seniors and potential customers for feedback. You can do this by employing inbound call center solutions that would take care of gathering this feedback that will help with your customer care strategy. This way, you’ll be able to improve areas of your brand that may be lacking. 

Step 5: Format your statement and use the same version everywhere

Once you’ve developed a statement that represents your brand’s vision, format it and ensure you use the exact format everywhere. For instance, your brand messaging should be the same on your website and publications.

2. Identify the target audience

A target audience is a set of customers you intend to target with marketing campaigns to increase sales for a specific good or service. Categorize these customers by their demographics, interests, and purchasing patterns. 

These can include, among other things, their location, age, work status, degree of education, and annual income.

A clearly defined target audience is the primary entity for any high-growth, high-profit business. Understanding its target audience makes it easier for a company formation to market to its target customers, so its brand-building strategy is more likely to succeed.

3. Competitor analysis

In creating a brand identity, it’s critical to understand how competitors portray themselves to customers and how those customers view them. So, consider what your most significant competitors are doing well and what they still need to do. Then, develop a foolproof brand strategy accordingly.

The significant benefit of competitor analysis is that it helps you avoid many mistakes your competitors might have made. Simply avoiding those pitfalls can amplify your brand’s growth potential. 

Moreover, you can learn from the systems and strategies of your competitors, so you know precisely how to outrun them. You can also go through their customer reviews to dive deep into their weaknesses to make them your strengths and steal the market. 

4. Spend on graphic design

A company’s visual identity, aka visual branding, including its logo, color scheme, typography, and other components that serve as its “face,” is what most people see when they think of branding. It’s time to depict your message with the fundamentals of graphic design now that you’ve clarified your heart and message. You can make use of procreate paper texture brush and other unique tools to create meaningful visuals. Remember that brand consistency is key. All visual elements you put out into the world, from website design to custom mailing bags, represent and advertise your company. Keep a uniform color palette, theme, touch, and feel.

Take Apple, for example; its white logo represents purity, simplicity, and pristineness. These are the exact qualities that Apple talks about when advertising its products. Tesla also uses the white color in its logo design to depict the purity of its items. The symbols of both these brands are widely recognized and set them apart from their competitors. 

Most users of Apple picture durability and sleekness when they see its logo. These examples are enough to depict the importance of a brand’s graphic design. 

5. Work on brand narrative

A brand narrative is a concise story connecting a brand with its customers. It’s essentially a way for brands to communicate their values and how they align with the wants and needs of customers. 

To break it down, you can use a brand narrative as a set of storytelling elements that make your products appealing to your audience. That said, a strong brand narrative consists of many essential details like the addition of a personality, conciseness, and connection with customers. 

Most of its slogans, like “save money, live better” and “lowest price store,” depict its low pricing, which appeals to everyday buyers. Using storytelling tactics like these, Walmart emotionally connects with its customers to increase its sales potential.

6. Promote and outreach

Developing a brand identity requires marketing your brand to your target audience. There are many ways to do that, like social media ads, email marketing, customer referrals, influencer marketing, and traditional offline marketing materials, including business cards, brochures, billboard advertisement, and mailers. You can also leverage both offline and online marketing strategies by generating QR codes and incorporating them into your physical promotional materials, thereby creating a seamless bridge for customers to interact with your digital content. For captivating brochure designs, the PhotoADKing brochure template is an ideal choice. With its professionally crafted layouts, stunning imagery, and customization options, businesses can create visually appealing promotional materials that make a lasting impact

It’s best to develop a dedicated marketing expert team to help market your business. If that’s not possible, hire a single digital marketer, at the very least, and start with a single marketing platform. Social media platforms like Facebook are a great place to start. But, if you wish to start with multiple platforms, you can use social media automation tools.

7. Adapt according to market conditions

Your consumer choice is constantly changing. Therefore, you must keep an eye on ‌market conditions. Look up the latest market trends and use them to benchmark your company’s current performance. 

Prepare your insights and then plan your strategies according to customer behavior.  Businesses with adaptive business strategies strive to achieve long-term goals continually while adapting those goals as needed.

You don’t necessarily have to follow market trends to adapt to consumer behavior, but you can always be a trendsetter. 

Importance of creating brand building 

Developing your brands secures you from competitors who are after your success. They may offer similar or comparable products or services, but they won’t be able to copy your sense of originality. Without it, they’ll have no trouble imitating your success and claiming it for themselves.

1. Helps to establish trust
   

Every buyer wants to buy products from a reputable and well-kept brand. Branding helps a company gain credibility in the marketplace by building a professional appearance and a brand voice. When an audience sees a logo with an appealing design and color, or with a fun bubble font, they become more confident and trusting of the company. 

2. Recognition

Companies can make a unique logo or slogan to distinguish a brand. Additionally, it can be beneficial in boosting the company’s recognition. Potential customers are more likely to choose a brand they’re familiar with than a company unknown to them.

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3. Creates recurring customers
   

Strong branding will generate customer loyalty. Loyal customers will support you in the good and evil and bring additional customers to your company. Having recurring customers means you won’t have to run email marketing campaigns to keep getting business actively. Moreover, when you have loyal customers, your chances of getting good user reviews skyrocket, helping you grow your business. 

4. Helps with employee recruitment
   

Businesses with a positive market reputation and a reliable recruitment management system are more likely to attract talented candidates. Working for such a reputable company gives them a sense of empowerment. Additionally, it helps your organization with more smooth hiring processes due to the availability of high-profile candidates. Always take into account the average salary you are planning for that position and not forget to generate a paystub for each month. 

5 Effective branding techniques 

Branding isn’t just marketing but a solid process to establish the clarity of your company among the target audience. You have to choose different techniques to ensure that your branding covers all aspects of the marketing. 

1. Personal branding

Personalization is the new marketing trend. People like to connect personally. Personal solid brands for experts are beneficial to businesses. When experts market your product or services, people tend to believe more, which is undoubtedly more convincing.

This relationship may significantly impact a company’s brand and business development possibilities. Ideally, a marketer needs to personalize the whole customer experience from personalizing websites to the whole brand.

2. Product branding

Product branding applies branding strategy ideas to a specific item or product. Product branding aims to make a particular product stand out and build brand awareness. Symbols or images are essential to product branding since they help buyers recognize your product immediately. Just make sure to use a tool to remove background and use the images or symbols wherever you want.

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3. Co-Branding

Co-branding is a technique for branding that links businesses. It creates a marketing alliance between two or more companies. This partnership enables brands to influence one another favorably and may lead to a brand expanding its audience.

4. Service branding

Service branding businesses try to deliver exceptional customer service. They strive to improve their clients’ experiences by providing excellent customer service. Customer requirements are at the forefront of service branding.

Mountain Dew is an excellent example of service branding. You can picture its graphic design, brand colors, logo, and personality even when you only hear its name and any of its products aren’t there. Similarly, you can picture Google’s vision of making information available in one click, even when you don’t have it open on your smartphone or computer. 

5. Business Branding

Business branding is a company’s philosophy to promote itself to the public and its personnel. It is a crucial value of the business.

Every company interaction point with potential, existing, and past customers should reflect the firm’s mission, personality, and core values.

Essential components of a brand 

While you’re at it, complete all the essential elements of the brand. Then, before you begin executing the strategy, you need to define the following. 

1. Brand identity

Your brand identity consists of all the elements that influence how your customers picture your brand. For instance, consumers worldwide recognize Nike’s trademark swoosh logo and tagline, “just do it.”

Remember, your brand identity will determine how your customers will remember your brand. So, make sure it leaves a positive effect on their psychology. 

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2. Culture

Your company culture refers to the beliefs and values of your organization, which highly influence your brand image among your customers. Alongside ideas, your brand’s culture also consists of your organization’s environment, workspace, systems, processes, and user experience. 

For instance, Apple believes in making the finest products available on Earth, which anyone can recommend to their loved ones with their eyes closed. As Apple has been quite successful in depicting that, most users feel comfortable with buying anything Apple releases as it’s launched. 

3. Differentiation
   

A company’s unique selling point is the differentiation of any brand. Your brand will stand out from the competition through differentiation with a clear USP. Since consumers experience new brands constantly, they must learn how to classify them all mentally.

4. Vision

Vision refers to your company’s future. Simply put, it defines how you want your company, its team, services, values, and services to be perceived. For instance, Facebook’s vision was to bring the world closer through the internet, which was incredibly appealing to users. To date, almost 3 billion users have connected through Facebook. As you might expect, having a clear vision gives your customers a reason to follow your brand and be loyal to it. 

Wrapping up 

In the end, remember to test your theories too. Remember that every successful brand has its own successful branding strategy. Don’t hold back because of hard-core techniques. 

Google, Amazon, and Apple are the finest examples of following their branding trends when designing their marketing strategies. So, look up to the directions and guides, and be the trendsetter.

When Google came onto the scene, marketing changed forever. Before then, marketing efforts focused largely on online paid advertising. Afterward, an entirely new form of marketing came into existence: content marketing. 

Today, content marketing is one of the best long-term investments you can make in your business. Here, we’ll tell you why. 

What Is Content Marketing?

Content marketing is a form of marketing that focuses on creating and sharing online content that is intended to connect with a target audience and generate interest in a brand. Generally, ranking high on Google is one of the primary goals of content marketing. 

Unlike traditional marketing, content marketing typically isn’t so blatantly promotional. Instead, the goal is typically to inconspicuously build a connection between your target audience and your brand by posting educational software development services or otherwise useful content on your website, even though it isn’t about your brand specifically. The content itself can be anything from informational blog posts to videos to social media posts. 

For example, a credit card company might post an article about how to manage your finances that targets the keyword “personal finance.” Although the article may not mention the company at all, by providing a useful article to its target audience, the company subtly builds a connection. If it’s able to rank highly for the keyword, it will also drive traffic to its site.

10 Long-Term Benefits of Content Marketing

Now that we have a better understanding of content marketing, let’s take a look at some of the long-term benefits it can provide. 

1. Increase Your Organic Search Traffic

One of the main reasons brands invest in a content marketing program in the first place is that it can help websites rank higher on Google, which drives organic search traffic. In short, the idea is that you write content that targets certain keywords, and if the content is good enough, it will rank highly, and people will end up on your site when they search for that topic. 

Unlike other forms of marketing, this is an entirely long-term endeavor — content simply does not rank highly on Google overnight. So, while a content marketing strategy won’t help you much in the short term, if you keep at it over time, you can develop a strong revenue stream from all the many (hopefully) high-ranking articles you produce. 

2. Achieve a Higher Domain Authority

Domain authority (DA) is a metric developed by Moz that attempts to predict how a website will rank in the search engine result pages (SERPs). A DA score can be anywhere from 0 to 100, and the higher a website’s score is, the more likely it is to rank highly on the SERPs. 

A website’s DA score is based largely on how many high-quality external backlinks it has — in other words, how many other sites link to it. By rolling out content, you can avoid pain points by building out backlinks, and improving your DA over time. Eventually, this can have a compounding and recursive effect: your content improves your DA, your DA helps your content rank, the high ranking content helps improve your DA, and so on, all culminating in more visitors to your site and more conversions. 

3. Build a Better Brand Reputation

When you produce content, you’re creating articles and guides that help people with problems they have. It should go without saying that when you help people and provide them with something of value for free, they start to like you. 

If you have a strong content marketing strategy in place that produces truly valuable content, your audience will come to trust your brand, and your reputation will improve. 

Additionally, a company like Sortlist can help you team up with a brand reputation management agency that can provide valuable tips for your strategy.

4. Improve Brand Awareness

As we’ve mentioned, one of the main purposes of content marketing is to improve your site’s ranking in the SERPs. Naturally, if your site ranks highly on Google, more people will find your brand, and your brand awareness will grow. 

But there’s a second aspect: if you produce truly great content, your audience might share it themselves. In other words, content marketing gives you a chance to go viral — and few things build brand awareness like viral content.  

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5. Increase Trust Among Your Audience

No matter what product or service you’re buying, you always want to know that the company you’re buying from knows what they’re doing. Content marketing gives your business an opportunity to prove just that: by creating high-quality and informative content, you can demonstrate to your audience that you’re truly experts in your field. 

The end result is that your audience will come to trust you as an authority, and that can lead to more conversions. 

Pro tip: If you’re really looking to capture the voice of your audience and resonate with them, you can listen in on customer call recordings, take notes, and apply this feedback to your written and video content. Sharing short videos on Instagram and other social media channels can also contribute to establishing and sustaining a strong level of trust with your audience.

6. Generate More Leads

For many businesses, organic search engine marketing is one of their top lead generation avenues. For example, a local plumber may rely on searches for “plumber near me” to get business. On the other hand, a field service scheduling software brand that creates content for those in the plumbing industry may rely on searches for topics like “plumber salary“.

By creating a content program, you increase the chances that your business will rank highly on Google, and that means you increase the probability that someone will click on your site. With the right content program, you can also engage with your audience via different channels. For instance, by using WhatsApp marketing strategies, you can reach your target audience in a more personal and engaging way. This can help you build relationships with your customers, generate leads, and boost sales.

From there, it’s a great idea to use an email marketing service to sign them up for your email list and offer some type of free estimate or download and then use automation tools to send them numerous emails to bring them through your marketing funnel until they convert.  

7. Get More Conversions

In the same way that content marketing can generate leads, it can generate conversions as well. Think of it like this: if your website’s conversion rate stays the same, but you generate more traffic to it through SEO, the raw number of conversions will increase. 

Of course, content marketing can also increase your conversion rate itself. By tailoring your content around solving your customer pain points, it allows you to build trust with your audience, creating shareable content, and provide value to your customers. This makes leads more likely to convert. 

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8. Become a Thought Leader

Not all web content is geared towards SEO. Instead, some businesses prefer to take a thought leadership approach — they craft content that provides unique insights into a field and demonstrates that the writer is an expert. 

This type of content is particularly useful in B2B contexts and is often written for platforms like LinkedIn. Over time, putting out thought leadership content can turn your brand into an authority and build trust among your audience. 

9. Invest in a Cost-Effective Marketing Strategy

Content marketing is perhaps the most cost-effective way to market your business. Unlike paid advertising, you can start creating content with zero upfront investment: just open up a word processor, write an article, and post it to your site. To help you with this, try investing in some Kanban software that will allow your team members to work on the content and organize it to ensure that no deadlines will be missed.

Beyond the low startup costs, great content can continue generating revenue over long periods of time — an article you write that ranks highly on Google can serve as a revenue source for years, whereas a paid ad will stop generating profits as soon as you stop paying for it. 

10. Develop Customer Loyalty

If you consistently produce high-quality content, people will take notice. If your content is good enough, you can expect to build a following over time.

For example, a food company that posts new and creative recipes to its blog can develop a loyal fanbase that regularly visits its site, each visit serving as a conversion opportunity. Similarly, a web development agency that makes tech tip videos for YouTube can develop a loyal following, and when one of its fans needs a website, they’ll know who to reach out to. 

Key Takeaways

Content marketing is a marketing strategy that is focused on long-term benefits. Over time, and as you learn more about your buyers’ journeys,  a solid content marketing strategy can increase web traffic, increase conversions, build brand trust, awareness, and loyalty, position a brand as an authority, and create a dedicated following. 

Although the results won’t come overnight, the benefits of content marketing can last for a long time and provide a high return on investment.