08 Oct
Branding

5 MAJOR BENEFITS OF A STRONG BRAND

THERE ARE ENDLESS BENEFITS OF BUILDING AND MAINTAINING A STRONG BRAND. HERE ARE FIVE OF THE MAJOR BENEFITS YOU CAN EXPECT TO SEE WHEN YOU HAVE A STRONG BRAND:

  1. Customer recognition. Having a strong brand works to build customer recognition. This means when a customer is shopping for a particular product or considering a company to perform a service, they recognize your company in the running. Consumers are far more likely to choose a brand that they recognize over something unfamiliar, even if they don’t know a great deal about your company at the time.
  2. Competitive edge in market. Your brand is what differentiates you in the marketplace. When customers recognize and back your brand, it helps lend a competitive edge to your company. The more recognition you receive and the more you build your brand, the more you will find that your brand elevates and is competitive with other well-known brands.
  3. Easy introduction of new products. When you already have a strong brand and loyal customers, it is often easier and less expensive to introduce new products or test them out before you further invest in them. If you have a loyal brand following, your customers will often be interested in your new products and even anticipate them being released.
  4. Customer loyalty and shared values. The recognition and elevation that a strong brand builds upon all lend to greater customer loyalty. Customers are attracted to brands that they share values with. When you build a strong brand, you need to convey these values to build an emotional connection with customers. Brand loyalty often lasts a lifetime and even transfers to future generations.
  5. Enhanced credibility and ease of purchase. Having a strong, well-known brand enhances your credibility with customers, your industry, and the marketplace as a whole. As you build your credibility, you also build recognition, loyalty, and competitiveness. Everything goes hand-in-hand, and you’ll find that your credibility has a direct connection to customers ease of purchase. We want to buy from companies we like, know, and trust. If you’re brand is credible, you’re far more likely to get the sale.
02 Oct
Branding

5 BENEFITS TO HAVING A GREAT LOGO

The success of any business is largely down to image. Having a great logo is imperative to making a good first impression and to building a rapport with your target audience.

HERE ARE 5 REASONS YOU NEED A GOOD QUALITY LOGO REPRESENTING YOUR BRAND:

Recognition

A logo is one of the first things you notice about a business and a brand. People’s memories largely work by remembering an image first, and name second, so having a strong, noteworthy logo is imperative when it comes to making sure you stand out amongst the competition. A good logo that stays in customers’ memories will help a business achieve longevity.

Tip: Second to your logo’s color and composition is a tagline. Adding a tagline or slogan to sit alongside your logo motif can help make your brand more memorable. It can also help highlight your service or product more effectively.

Representation

Vitally, your logo should reveal your type of work or your product and give a clear idea of what your business does. Whether traditional or abstract, a motif indicating and epitomizing your business is essential to helping customers identify what you do. If you prefer abstract logos, and therefore your product or service is less noticeable, then ensure that the colors chosen fit your brand psychology and business feel.

Consistency

A sense of uniformity with your logo can have a big impact of the reputation of your brand. Having a good quality logo that is timeless and classic will give your brand authenticity and reliability. Even if you haven’t been around for years, a well-designed logo can make your business look professional, reliable and trustworthy.

Brand your products

Another way to give the impression of longevity and dependability is to get your brand out there. A good logo placed on other products or merchandise can enhance your brand’s trustworthiness. Promotional products are a great way to bring in business for a fairly low cost. Choosing to give out pens or bags with your logo on is a great way to market – every time your prospect uses the product, your logo will be right in front of them, reminding them of your business.

Outshine your Competitors

With so many brands on the market, it is essential that you have a good quality logo to put out there so you can stand out amongst your competitors. Online marketing has never been so important and effective, and a striking logo that sits well on your website, social media and marketing can really make a difference when it comes to advertising and looking professional.

01 Oct
Branding

5 REASONS WHY BRANDING IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Many small businesses make the mistake of overlooking branding efforts because they think of themselves as a business and not a brand. Brands, they think, are the big fish in the pond with huge budgets and national recognition. Resigned to their supposed small-fish status, small businesses do little more than come up with a fun logo and some flashy business cards.

But branding is important for businesses of all sizes because it increases their value, gives employees direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier.

HERE ARE 5 REASONS WHY BRANDING IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS:

Branding Creates Trust

When a company presents themselves in a professional way, and when there is social proof that their products and service are quality, prospects will trust that company and feel more comfortable giving it their hard-earned money.

Branding Improves Recognition

While your logo should not be the be-all-end-all of your branding efforts, you should still put the time and effort into coming up with a professionally-designed, memorable logo. Not only should your logo be memorable, it should give the desired impression of your company so when people see it, they instantly think and feel what you want them to think and feel.

Branding Supports Your Marketing Efforts

Marketing is an important component of your brand. The mediums and channels chosen as well as the demographic targeted helps to build your brand. Be careful of too narrow of a marketing focus, or you’ll risk being “pigeon holed” and lose your ability to expand into new markets. Then again, too broad of a marketing focus could lead to an inability to create a definable impression of your company in consumers’ minds.

Branding Motivates Employees

Anyone can hire employees, but only a strong brand can hire motivated employees that are inspired to carry your vision and mission forward. When your brand feels pride, your employees do as well. Having a strong brand is essential for employee morale and productivity.

Branding Generates New Revenue

Branding is one of the best ways to get referral or word-of-mouth business. And again, this is why it’s important that your logo, marketing, and reputation work cohesively to form an indelible impression on consumer minds. Think about it, you can’t tell your friend about the amazing golf clubs you just bought if you can’t remember the brand.

25 Sep
Branding

WHY BUSINESS LOGO DESIGN IS SO IMPORTANT TO YOUR ORGANIZATION?

One of the major reasons for more and more businesses intending to have unique logos is its usefulness in making an impression. We all know how important it is to make a first impression on the people we meet. This is true also in the business. Business owners from startups to larger scales, ascertain a good impression on the target audience.

Every business has a logo to represent its values and attributes in the market and public. But not all the logos are capable of taking the business effectively to the people. Design of a logo usually plays a major role in the marketing of an organization and its business in the ever-competitive market.

HERE ARE SOME POINTS WHY BUSINESS LOGO DESIGN IS SO IMPORTANT TO YOUR ORGANIZATION:

01. Brand Identity

Mads.my reveals that logos are the most effective branding tool to build your business’ brand identity in the market. If your logo can convey your business message effectively and in an impressive way, it can help you easily create a unique identity. It will also help you build a strong persona for your business.

Do not forget that logos appear on all prominent marketing tools including websites , business cards design, stationery, leaflets, and brochures amongst a host of other marketing collateral. With its wide presence everywhere, your target audiences start associating your logo with the high-end quality of your products and/or services. Quite naturally, logos remain the strongest way to build a strong identity for your brand.

02. Recognition

Every organisation works towards getting recognition from prospects and consumers. Companies usually seek recognition for their high standards of services and products and yearn that their consumers and prospects take their business seriously.

Your creative logo design plays a crucial role in getting recognition to your business’ high-quality products and services. In addition, a professional logo remains integral when it comes to creating a sense of professional assurance amongst consumers. Your logo helps increase the brand recall value. This means that consumers can immediately recognize your business upon seeing your logo.

03. Professionalism

Another advantage of logos is that they show the professional approach of your brand in conducting its business. Usually, people associate a high-quality logo with the quality of services provided by a particular company. A fair share of buyers strictly associates themselves with a trusted business.

They want to associate with a company that has a great logo, website design, and other marketing materials. These marketing tools convey a strong message of assurance and quality. An eye-catching yet professional logo is therefore important to have in order to signify your business.

04. Outshine Competition

Professionally created logo design helps in catching people’s attention easily. This is a great help in grabbing a good market share in the long run. Remember that consumers associate quality of logo design with the quality of your products or services. So, the logo can be a way to have a competitive edge in the market over your business rivals. All the major global players have a great logo for the sole purpose that it helps them take care of their competition effectively.

What that precisely means is that your great business logo design will be an additional factor in driving your customers. For example, your merchandise design is an impressive piece of work that you want to sell. Now, if you put a memorable logo of your company on the product, it is bound to attract the customers even more.

24 Sep
Branding

4 REASONS YOUR COMPANY NEEDS A GOOD LOGO

Grass, a tree, and solid block lettering—these elements make up the vast majority of landscaping logos. If your logo looks like everyone else’s—how will your customers remember you? And how will new customers find you?

A good logo is critical for a successful business—especially in a trade as competitive as landscaping.

HERE ARE FIVE WAYS AN OUTSTANDING CORPORATE IDENTITY WILL HELP YOUR COMPANY SUCCEED:

1. Great Logos Make Great First Impressions
Before your sales person knocks on the door, before your truck pulls up, and even before they call you, potential customers consider your logo when they decide whom to trust.

Wayne Stuetz, founder of The Sodfather Landscaping in White Plains, New York, understands how that first impression gives them an edge. “People are always asking for a t-shirt with my logo on it. My logo is very memorable, and once a person has seen it, it’s hard to forget.”

When people can easily remember your logo, you have a competitive edge.

2. Attract New Customers
Your customers see hundreds of logos a day—and they know a good logo when they see one. By sending the right message to potential customers, your logo helps them choose you over the competition.

The Lawn Rangers, in Pearland, Texas, have seen the fruits of a good logo. “When customers initially see the logo on our estimate sheets, trucks and website, they feel good about us,” said co-owner Aaron O’Donley. “And unless there’s something you can show potential customers to convince them their expectations will be met, they will turn to the competition. Our logo helps us persuade them.”

3. Stand Out from Your Competition
Flip through the phone book and you’ll quickly see that potential customers have plenty of landscaping company choices. You’ll also notice very few logos stand out from the crowd. Differentiating yourself from your competition is critical in winning the battle for customers.

The Lawn Rangers do that with color. Instead of the usual greens and blues, they use a warmer color combination that stands out. Original uses of colors, words, shapes, and fonts can set your logo apart from the rest.

4. Keep Loyal Customers
Good service is the key to keeping your customers. But what happens when a competitor moves in with shiny trucks, clean-cut employees, a professional look and promises to match your service? If your company image isn’t as good, your customers may be tempted to try the competition.

Don’t put your business in that position. “A great logo convinces high-end customers who look for a loyal, long-term relationship to choose you over the next guy, who is probably waiting around the corner,” adds Stuetz.

20 Sep
Branding

WHY IS BRANDING IMPORTANT?

First and foremost, a unique brand can have a huge impact on your business by giving you a competitive advantage over your rivals and helping you acquire and retain customers at a much lower cost.

In eCommerce, where new businesses (and therefore, new competitors) are springing up every day, an established brand can be an invaluable asset in bringing customers back time after time and generating profit. Regardless of whether you’re investing time and effort into crafting a compelling brand or paying no attention to it whatsoever, your business still has a brand, however, it may be completely different to how you intended to be seen.

By carefully constructing your brand through stories, relationships, marketing messages and visual assets, you have the opportunity of shaping your customers’ expectations for your business and creating a unique bond that goes beyond the buying-selling relationship.

Brands that manage to take a step further and establish a special, long-term emotional connection with their customers become lovemarks. Essentially, lovemarks draw on three key elements: mystery, sensuality, and intimacy. Mystery is infused by tapping into dreams and the powers of inspiration, building on the value of icons and myths, and exploring the ideas of past, present and future. Sensuality relies on the five senses to locate touchpoints with consumers, whereas intimacy is achieved through empathy, passion, and commitment. Transitioning from a strong brand to a lovemark can have a tremendous impact on your business, as you not only create customers for life, but they also become your greatest evangelists, promoting your products/services and driving continuous sales for you.

07 Sep
Branding

6 REASONS WHY A STRONG BRAND IS IMPORTANT FOR YOUR SMALL BUSINESS

Beyond just a memorable logo, good branding increases the value of a company, provides employees with direction and motivation, and makes acquiring new customers easier. So what exactly is a brand?

The short answer is: everything.

A brand represents the sum of people’s perception of a company’s customer service, reputation, advertising, and logo. When all of these parts of the business are working well, the overall brand tends to be healthy. On the flip side, we all probably know a company that offers excellent products or services, but has a tarnished brand due to poor customer service.

LET’S TAKE A LOOK AT THE IMPORTANT WAYS A STRONG BRAND IMPACTS YOUR BUSINESS:

1. Branding Improves Recognition

One of major components of your brand is your logo. Think of how we instantly recognize the golden arches of McDonalds or the simple, but powerful eagle of the USPS. As the “face” of a company, logo design is critical because that simple graphic will be on every piece of correspondence and advertising. A professional logo design is simple enough to be memorable, but powerful enough to give the desired impression of your company.

2. Branding Creates Trust

A professional appearance builds credibility and trust. People are more likely to purchase from a business that appears polished and legitimate. Emotional reactions are hardwired into our brains, and those reactions are very real influencers.

3. Branding Supports Advertising

Advertising is another component of your brand. Both the medium chosen and demographic targeted for advertisements builds a brand. Too narrow an advertising focus, and a company risks being “pigeon holed” and losing their ability to expand into new markets. Too broad a focus, and the company fails to create a definable impression of the company in the minds of would be customers.

4. Branding Builds Financial Value

Companies who publicly trade on a stock exchange are valued at many times the actual hard assets of the company. Much of this value is due to the branding of the company. A strong brand usually guarantees future business. Whether a company is in the position to borrow funds for expansion or rolling out to an IPO, being perceived as more valuable will make the process advantageous for the owner of the payday loans online company. The greater a company’s devotion to build its brand value, the better the financial return from its efforts.

5. Branding Inspires Employees

Many employees need more than just work— they need something to work toward. When employees understand your mission and reason for being, they are more likely to feel that same pride and work in the same direction to achieve the goals you have set. Having a strong brand is like turning the company logo into a flag the rest of the company can rally around.

6. Branding Generates New Customers

Branding enables your company to get referral business. Would it be possible for you to tell a friend about the new shoes you love if you couldn’t remember the brand? A large reason ‘brand’ is the word used for this concept is that the goal is an indelible impression. As the most profitable advertising source, word of mouth referrals are only possible in a situation where your company has delivered a memorable experience with your customer.

The most profitable companies, small and large, have a single thing in common. They have established themselves as a leader in their particular industry by building a strong brand.

17 Aug
Branding

7 COMPONENTS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE BRANDING STRATEGY

We’ve broken down seven essential components of a comprehensive brand strategy that will help keep your company around for ages

7 COMPONENTS FOR A COMPREHENSIVE BRANDING STRATEGY INCLUDES :

1) Purpose

How can you define your business’ purpose? According to Business Strategy Insider, purpose can be viewed in two ways:

  1. Functional: This concept focuses on the evaluations of success in terms of immediate and commercial reasons — i.e. the purpose of the business is to make money.
  2. Intentional: This concept focuses on success as it relates to the ability to make money and do good in the world.
2) Consistency

The key to consistency is to avoid talking about things that don’t relate to or enhance your brand. Added a new photo to your business’ Facebook Page? What does it mean for your company? Does it align with your message, or was it just something funny that would, quite frankly, confuse your audience?

In an effort to give your brand a platform to stand on, you need to be sure that all of your messaging is cohesive. Ultimately, consistency contributes to brand recognition, which fuels customer loyalty.

3) Emotion

People have an innate desire to build relationships. Research from psychologists Roy Baumeister and Mark Leary best describes this need in their “belongingness hypothesis,” which states: “People have a basic psychological need to feel closely connected to others, and that caring, affectionate bonds from close relationships are a major part of human behavior.”

Not to mention, belongingness: the need for love, affection, and being part of groups, falls directly in the middle of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, which aims to categorize different human needs.

Find a way to connect with your customers on a deeper, more emotional level. Do you give them peace of mind? Make them feel like part of the family? Do you make life easier? Use emotional triggers like these to strengthen your relationship and foster loyalty.

4) Flexibility

In this fast-changing world, marketers must remain flexible to stay relevant. On the plus side, this frees you to be creative with your campaigns.

You may be thinking, “Wait a minute, how am I supposed to remain consistent while also being flexible?”

Good question. While consistency aims to set the standard for your brand, flexibility enables you to make adjustments that build interest and distinguish your approach from that of your competition.

In other words, “effective identity programs require enough consistency to be identifiable, but enough variation to keep things fresh and human,”. If your old tactics aren’t working anymore, don’t be afraid to change. Just because it worked in the past doesn’t mean it’s working now.

Take the opportunity to engage your followers in fresh, new ways. Are there some out-of-the-box partnerships your brand can make? Are there attributes about your product you never highlighted? Use those to connect with new customers and remind your old ones why they love you.

5) Employee Involvement

As we mentioned before, achieving a sense of consistency is important if you wish to build brand recognition. And while a style guide can help you achieve a cohesive digital experience, it’s equally important for your employees to be well versed in the how they should be communicating with customers and representing the brand.

6) Loyalty

If you already have people that love you, your company, and your brand, don’t just sit there. Reward them for that love.

These customers have gone out their way to write about you, to tell their friends about you, and to act as your brand ambassadors. Cultivating loyalty from these people early on will yield more returning customers and more profit for your business.

Sometimes, just a thank you is all that’s needed. Other times, it’s better to go above and beyond. Write them a personalized letter. Sent them some special swag. Ask them to write a review, and feature them prominently on your website. (Or all of the above!)

7) Competitive Awareness

Take the competition as a challenge to improve your own strategy and create greater value in your overall brand. You are in the same business and going after the same customers, right? So watch what they do.

Do some of their tactics succeed? Do some fail? Tailor your brand positioning based on their experience to better your company.

15 Aug
Branding

6 TYPES OF BRANDING YOU SHOULD KNOW

Branding is the process of developing a unique name and identity for a product or business. Branding ensures awareness and credibility for a brand, creates customer loyalty, among other advantages.  Building a brand takes time and involves a lot of resources. It is however an important marketing tool for stimulating recognition.

A product, service, person or place that is branded automatically develops a personality as well as reputation. Businesses and individuals can as such take advantage of the various types of branding that are available.

LET’S TAKE A QUICK LOOK AT A FEW TYPES OF BRANDING THAT BUSINESSES AND INDIVIDUALS CAN LEVERAGE ON:

  1. Product Branding:

This is the most common and easiest type of branding. Product branding is a symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products. Product branding is very easy noticeable when you walk through a supermarket filled with different products as most products are branded with a unique colour, design and logo.

  1. Personal Branding:

This type of branding is very common among politicians, athletes and celebrities. Personal branding makes it possible for famous people to reflect a good image of themselves to the public. Politicians for instance use personal branding to create a good impression and convince voters that they are right for an office.

  1. Corporate Branding:

This type of branding is used by businesses interested in creating and maintaining a good reputation. Corporate branding thus cuts across an organisation’s services, products, employees, corporate culture as well as corporate social responsibility. Every activity carried out by an organisation has a positive or negative effect on its reputation A wrong decision can in fact have an adverse effect on the corporate brand.

  1. Geographical Branding:

This type of branding is used for specific services and products that are peculiar to a particular region. Geographical branding is commonly used in the tourism industry. Various countries and regions try to brand things that make them different from other areas. Landscape, cuisine, tourist centres within a popular region are usually advertised and eventually become associated with the region.

 

  1. Retail Branding:

Retail branding is mostly used by industry giants to increase the interest of consumers and make product sales outpace the competition. A lot of money is spent to develop unique brand images that convince consumers to select their brand instead of others. Retail branding however requires a lot of planning. The right strategy needs to be adopted to ensure its success.

 

  1. Co-Branding:

Co-branding is a type of branding that associates the brands of two or more companies with a specific product or service. It can also be described as marketing partnership between two or more brands such that the success of one brand rubs off on the other. Co-branding is effective in building business, increasing awareness and breaking into new markets.

Besides the aforementioned, there are other numerous types of branding that businesses can take advantage of. The most important thing is to ensure that your approach to branding suits your business objectives.