Today’s article will be about one of the key components of almost any economic system: branding. When we ask ‘What is branding?’ some business people tend to say that it’s the cherry on the top. A pretty accurate analogy since branding is usually here to crown every other initiative as a final touch or showcase. That being said, it’s also an entire field on its own.
So let’s take the time to better understand it by first defining it. Then let’s grasp its importance and why it’s creating such a buzz in so many sectors. Finally, our article will provide you with some current branding strategies.
What Is Branding?
Let’s be straightforward and start by giving a branding definition. We are saying ‘a definition’ on purpose because ours is just among many other possible ones. Nevertheless, there’s a consensus about what is included in branding activities. Branding is the process of forging a specific image of a company, product, or individual in the eyes of the public. It comprises all the marketing efforts that aim at shaping people’s perception of what one is trying to sell or promote.
So, for example, if it’s about a company, the branding strategy will be oriented toward demonstrating the value and uniqueness of that company. Yes, pretty much what we see and hear in all those advertisements that populate our daily lives. At the same time, it goes beyond that. We will unveil how in the next sections of our article.
Why Is It Important?
Here comes our second central question. What’s all this enthusiasm surrounding branding activities? Why do business people care so much about them without hesitating to spend fortunes at times? Some elements of the answer were already present in the first part when we discussed the branding meaning. We may summarize them as follows:
Branding Creates and Enhances Value
For whom? Well, for the company, product, or individual being promoted, but for anyone involved. Efficient branding strategies have a positive effect on leverage and reputation. Whatever is being branded gets out of anonymity and gains recognition. This is not only a fantasist matter of prestige that remains only on paper. No, on the contrary, there may also be an extremely tangible, concrete impact on the financial value. In fact, that’s the whole point in many cases. A solidly branded company also becomes an attractive investment opportunity. Just think about stock markets and the priority big brands get within them.
Branding Creates Staff Satisfaction
Remember when we said that branding was good for anyone involved? That includes employees. Honestly, isn’t it more fulfilling to work for an established brand? Or at least in a company that cares about its image? Such pride is also likely to result in more productivity.
Branding Attracts and Retains Customers
Let’s face it: As potential or actual customers, we are much more attracted to solidly branded goods. Branding is one of the essential factors that help us decide on our purchases or other meaningful actions. Furthermore, it creates loyalty. We tend to stick with brands that keep up their innovative efforts.
Branding Generates Trust in the Business World
Without branding, the marketplace would be much more chaotic because it’s also there to create certain stability and coherence.
What’s Inside a Brand?
Broad questions with even broader answers. Very simply put, branding includes anything that you conduct in the name of building your company/entrepreneur identity. Various key elements can represent your brand and branding strategies:
- Your company name and logo
- Your tagline
- Your specific niche and the relationships you have with it
- Your own experience and story
- Your business partners
- Your promotional products (usually illustrating/supporting your main products)
- Special events around your brand (press conferences, release parties, etc.)
- Other distinguishing features like your preferred colors, fonts, typography
Namely, any detail that helps the public differentiate you from others and confers a specific business identity.
Branding Strategies for Your Business in 2023
What is branding well for if we don’t know how to properly manipulate it? It’s not enough to define brand generalities. We should also know what works best nowadays and see how to integrate it into our daily business activities. So now we will present a sort of panorama of the latest tendencies in branding. We suggest you examine each of them to decide what suits your ongoing projects best. The list is not exhaustive by any means. Luckily enough, there are many other branding types around that you could decide to explore. Our goal here is to only focus on those that are currently benefiting from extra attention these days.
Social Media Branding
Without any surprise, this is one of the most representative branding examples of our times. We even venture to say that if you had to choose only one, here’s what you should keep. Probably nothing has been so omnipresent in people’s everyday life until the advent of social media, so much so that one can’t help feeling almost scared of this evolution from time to time. No matter what, social platforms certainly offer an ideal environment to increase your brand’s visibility. Their limit is the sky, as they say. Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, TikTok, Snapchat, Youtube… Choose your ‘weapon(s)’ according to your preferences, sector, and branding style. For example, you can start by learning how to start a YouTube channel for business. As usual, study your target audience carefully to determine which networking service(s) they prefer.
What makes those services great is their versatility. You can experiment with various formats, from stories to live events. This is also where you will find influencers and potential collaborators, probably in the easiest way. Many people are connected to their social apps 24/7, so establishing and keeping in touch shouldn’t be a problem.
Interactive Branding
This may or may not be a part of social media branding. It’s rather a general approach to adopt regardless of which marketing tools you are using. It’s important to understand that the days when the audience was just a passive receptacle are long gone. Nothing is unilateral nowadays. Customers want to be active participants in any process related to marketing. They prefer brands that pass them the mic over, caring for their opinion. And what is branding without the support of the audience, right?
You have a multitude of possibilities here. Aside from more typical calls-to-action (CTA), you may organize contests, giveaways, challenges (separately or all-inclusively, like challenges awarded with special prizes), etc. Surveys are still popular, not to mention user-generated content. The idea is to use any medium possible to increase the engagement rate.
Logo Variations
Your logo is one of the central pieces of your overall branding marketing. It must be the fruit of a careful reflection process. If you don’t have one already, start working on it immediately. You can hire a digital agency or a designer to craft one for you. You can even ask your audience to design one, for example, by organizing a logo contest. Let us remind you, though, that this last option can be risky and require a long time.
If you already have one, great. Now the thing is to make it adaptable to different interfaces and environments. For example, you may use a simplified version for mobile devices. You can even reduce it to an icon if it remains recognizable. Indeed, your logo is one of the elements you will use to trigger people’s memories. Whenever seeing it, they must immediately think about your company and brand. Hence the importance of having a ‘good’ one. Good in that it must be satisfactory for you and your audience.
No-Name Branding
This option is not for the faint-hearted and is rarely suitable for beginners. Plus, it may not seem logical to everyone, and one may get questions like ‘What is branding without even a name?’ But each their own.
Notwithstanding the importance of branding in our lives, we must, at the same time, admit that there’s always a risk of saturation. People may get bored of repeatedly seeing the same brands with the same (or very similar) ads. After all, we are talking about humans, not machines. If you have enough confidence in your products and/or services, you could try to promote them without revealing any name in your campaigns. Think about those ads that show only goods without any obvious clue or sign about the brand behind them.
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Now here’s the tricky part: People should be able to recognize your brand anyhow. Pretty recently, there was this famous tortilla chips brand that showed an excellent example of no-name branding. The company used several triangular objects (including tortilla chips) throughout its ads without openly displaying its name. On the other hand, the company in question was already benefitting from decades of fame. So the risk was quite minimal.
How could you follow in the footsteps of the above example? The most common way is to focus on a flagship product already known by the public. You can also try this tactic with other products that share noticeable similarities with your flagship one.
Hashtag Branding
A whole subsector in itself, undoubtedly. Who could deny the communicational role of hashtags during these last decades? When designed and chosen ingeniously, they can transmit more impactful messages than entire walls of text. Plus, they can allow you to reach up to 12% more people through your posts. So don’t wait any longer to create your ones. Since we are mainly talking about product and company branding here, it’s obvious that your hashtags should be related to your business.
So what is branding with hashtags? Well, it’s incorporating them into every possible component of your marketing plans, beginning with social media. Don’t forget that those platforms are like the birthplace of hashtags. Make yours unique yet easy to remember. Encourage your audience to use them whenever they comment on or share anything related to your brand. Aside from a snowball effect that will boost your recognition, you will also gather additional information on how people perceive your business.
Go Green Branding
Say what? Well, branding can be eco-friendly too. Global warming and other environmental disasters have profoundly reshaped many business sectors along with the audience’s mindset. Efforts for increased sustainability are not marginal and isolated initiatives anymore. On the contrary, they have started controlling new trends and marketing campaigns. So it may be the right time to check your consciousness regarding those matters. Believe us, the market and prospects will highly appreciate it.
It all starts with using more natural ingredients, recyclable products, and similar ecological efforts. Then you have to let the public know about those efforts through campaigns that are designed accordingly. Don’t shy away from informing the public about the steps you are taking to contribute to the ‘healing’ of the planet. Make your branding turn green.
Data-Driven Branding
We could also name this one “academic”. Really? Yes. It’s not about turning nerd all of a sudden. But you need to keep in mind, though, that many people are fond of numbers and statistics. This gives them reassurance and even a sense of safety. It may also be because they have a more scientific mind.
So what can you do here? Why not start by using the analytics at your disposal? Track and gather the main metrics and share them through your marketing campaigns. Yes, even growth rates. This will ensure more transparency for your company while also boosting your credibility in the eyes of the consumers. This approach will also have positive effects on your marketing ROI. You may have some secret recipes that you’re not willing to share. However, when it comes to data and numbers, keeping them for yourself is nothing but counterproductive. So just go for it and invest in data-driven branding.
Branding in Short
The main question that motivated this article was: What is branding? We tried to expose the main lines of this complex business concept by breaking it down into essential aspects. The first thing to do was define it while demonstrating its importance to the business world. Then we named some typical components that contribute to forming a brand. And since branding is inseparable from the era it exists within, we also had to overview the latest tendencies in 2022. So what’s next now? Well, simply your initiatives. Your brand belongs to you, and that’s a huge advantage for giving it the direction you want. Good luck.
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