Why is Branding Important?
What is branding?
A lot of entrepreneurs and small businesses assume branding is all about your logo, colours and the look of your website. But it goes a lot deeper than that.
Indeed, branding is your logo, font and colours, but it is also the personality of your business. The way you deal with customers, how you present yourself online with your website, social media and your product or service.
“Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
It is what makes your business different. How you stand out in the crowd and the experience that you give your customers. The values you show in your day to day business speak volumes and represent you, your staff and your company.
Ensuring that you have your brand well defined connects your customers to you. When trust is built through your brand, customers will be more likely to relate to your business. This results in loyalty and increase of using your services.
What is brand identity?
Brand identity is the visual element of your branding.
Your website, stationery, business cards, logo and anything else the public sees must be consistent and support your brand. You want to entice new customers as well as building trust with exisiting customers. It is all about creating a well-loved brand.
Defining your brand
Craft your story - you are the face behind the brand - you represent your business.
People generally are curious about how you got started, the challenges you faced, who you admire and what your goals are.
Stories are what emotionally tie us. They connect us to our customers and build trust.
Values
The values of a company communicate what you believe in. By standing by what you believe in as a brand you appeal not just to customers who share your values but to staff as well.
Your values should be meaningful, actionable, well defined and timeless. If you don't have these for your business now is the time to put these together. Think about what your business believes in, what do you value and what do you stand for.
Consistency across your brand
Consistency across your brand builds trust with your customers. It's getting to know your business and knowing what to expect.
Your tone of voice should be consistent across all forms of communication from customer service to social media and your website. You don't want to give your customers mixed signals if your tone is not consistent.
Think about some brands you are familiar with. How do you feel when you see their logo? Or go to their website? What are some of the words you would use to describe their business?
“If you don’t distinguish yourself from the crowd, you’ll just be the crowd.”
-REBECCA MARK
The easiest way to work out your brand is to come up with your USP (unique selling proposition.) If you have one, that is great! You are nearly done! If you don't have one, don't worry, working it out can be fun. I want you to think about:
Who is your target market?
What is it that you do?
What makes you different from others?
This is a quick and easy way to work out your USP. It shouldn't be more than a few sentences. But is should clearly outline, who you are, your target market and what makes you special. Why should a client pick you over your competitor?
Once you have come up with your USP - use it! Pop it on your website by weaving it into your web copy. Have it on the front page of your website so visitors can see what makes your business the one they should pick.
It also gives you copy to use in your meta tags and descriptions to build SEO on your website.
As you can see there are a lot of things to think about when building the brand for your small business. Ensuring you are true to your unique selling proposition and consistent across your brand will have your business putting its best foot forward in giving your customers an experience to remember.
If you would like to find out how a copywriter can assist with strengthening your brand - drop me a line. I would love to find out more about your business.