Do you want people to recognize your business from the moment they see your logo or motto? Here are 8 incredible branding strategies to help you get there.
How important is a brand? Well, it’s not uncommon for companies to pay upwards of $50,000 to nail down branding help.
And it’s for good reason. A strong brand pulls clients in and keeps them coming back for more.
But having a pretty logo isn’t enough, especially in the digital world. A good game plan is the key to landing customers and bringing in cash.
Not sure the best route for brand building? Don’t worry, we’ve pinpointed eight incredible branding strategies that have been proven to work.
First, Why Bother with Branding Strategies?
A good brand can make or break a company. Apple, a multi-billion dollar business, has been pegged as one of, if not the, premier marketer for the past decade.
And some studies have shown the company’s brand recognition hit 100% after polling thousand-member pools of millennials.
Is it a coincidence? Probably not.
Brands can be designed to fit classic human behavior. We have an innate need to put things into categories.
When it comes to a brand, whether we know it or not, we see symbols and connect them to ideas or feelings. That means brand building is a must. But creating a brand is only half the battle.
A solid brand development strategy is the only way to hook clients and keep them engaged.
Here are eight incredible brand development strategies.
1. Eying the Audience: Getting Cozy with Customers
Knowing the specifics of customers is a must in brand building. It not only helps connect companies with people who actually want a product, but it can also weed out the people who just aren’t interested.
It’s an important distinction.
Take social media for instance. More than 60% of people will unfollow a brand on social media. That’s some serious disconnect between company and customer. It’s also a big waste of time and money.
To be effective, a good brand building process always keeps the consumers in mind.
Once that customer is identified, don’t worry about the outliers in the rest of the population.
2. A Classic Approach: Knowing Thine Own Brand
It’s tempting to be everything to everyone when it comes to building a brand. But that’s the best way to let branding power slip away.
By knowing the advantages and best messages of a product, a company is able to reach people on an emotional level. In fact, 64% of clients say they built trust with a brand because they had the same values.
If a company knows exactly what messages they want to push, clients who trust that message will bond with the brand.
And that’s how loyal consumers are born.
But developing a brand also relies on how messages are presented.
3. Consistent Messaging: Being Solid as a Rock
Consumers get turned off when a brand is inconsistent. Once a company knows its message, it pays to keep it focused.
The strategy plays off a well-established idea. The rule of seven, an age-old marketing staple, says a message needs to get to the customer seven times before they make a move.
Simply put, if the customer is getting mixed messages, the brand probably won’t stick.
Beyond being consistent, there are other winning strategies that hone in on the how.
4. Gluing Eyes to the Page: Being a Storyteller
People love stories. Science shows humans are wired to seek out tales.
For marketers, the payoff comes by weaving key messages into interesting stories. This keeps the audience engaged and reinforces the brand at the same time.
By crafting company messages in a form humans love (the story), marketers can connect with clients. And they can give them a reason to hang out on the company platforms.
Still, there are ways to make sure all those platforms are being used.
5. Relying on Good Teammates: Being Willing to Go Pro
Hooking up with expert branding agencies can help unify a company’s message and develop a brand through a bunch of different channels.
Blasting out a brand from different angles is essential. In some cases, putting a brand out consistently on several platforms has spiked sales by more than 20%.
Working with marketing pros can kick messaging out and boost profits.
More and more, those pros are moving to digital trends to harness clients.
6. Going SEO: Getting in the Customer’s Head
SEO is a way to match a customer’s needs with a product, using the words and terms clients prefer. It’s a way of getting ahold of people in a vast digital world.
And that’s exactly where the action is taking place.
Search engines are the starting point for online interactions 93% of the time.
Companies have found success by hooking up with SEO experts. This strategy of focusing on SEO uses clients’ own words to boost a brand.
There are also wise strategies for marketers with a budget.
7. Making the Most of Money: Paying for Clicks
Businesses are seeing big returns by investing in digital ads. In 2017, Google tools accounted for almost $300 billion in revenue for companies.
Wise marketers are building brands by investing in online ads. This strategy is usually set on a pay-per-click basis and meets clients where they are shopping: online.
It only makes sense to take the brand development process online.
Still, there are strategies focused on keeping customers active once they are exposed to company content.
8. Content Marketing: Making Subject Matter Matter
Marketers who push content tools, like blogging, to the top of the priorities list multiply their investments by thirteen.
By focusing on strong quality, marketers are able to make their messages more visible. Since search engines reward the best content, exposure jumps.
It’s also a great chance to control how many messages are being seen by dropping SEO into blog posts or other online content. And it’s easy to get blogs started and begin churning out quality content.
There are lots of step-by-step guides online that map out the process of building killer content.
The Big Picture: Play to Marketing Strengths
These eight branding strategies don’t need to stand alone. Great marketers will combine them to fit their own game plans.
Want to learn more? Check out our blog for ways to create a successful content marketing strategy and more top tips for brand building.