- Irwin Soh
[Part 2 of 5] 6 Compelling Reasons To Invest In Branding
Previously in part one, we have established that a brand is a customer's gut feeling about a product, service or company as quoted by Marty Neumeier. Within this context, we will continue to explore more on branding in this part two of this series and reveal the first reason to invest in branding.
What Does It Mean To Do Branding?
Branding is a strategic action taken to define a business and express it in different forms to connect to people. It is also an ongoing process where the goal is to identify and express the attributes, i.e., look & feel, behaviour, sound of the brand accurately, evoking the intended feelings whenever people interact with the brand touchpoints, i.e., website, social media, photography, video, brochure, etc.
Every element within those touchpoints has to be scrutinised. Even something that seems as simple as the font can convey different meanings and feelings.
Which descriptor matches the font?
Elegant & Classy
Scholarly & Established
Candid & Lively
High Tech & Contemporary
Answer: 1 — Scholarly & Established | 2 — Candid & Lively | 3 — High Tech & Contemporary | 4 — Elegant & Classy
Is It Not The Same As Marketing?
Marketing focuses on how best to promote the value of the business's products and services through various communication channels for maximum exposure. Its purpose is to increase sales in a short term. Branding has the same scope but focuses more on defining and expressing the business. It also has a purpose to increase sales but more of a long term strategy.
In general, branding seeks to resonate and connect to target audiences while marketing hasten the process by grabbing as many audiences' attention as possible.
Website Example
Through the application of UI/UX design, typography, colours, imageries or any appropriate media format, the design of the website expresses the brand attributes and seeks to resonate and connect with its target audiences. Once it is hosted online, it serves as a powerful marketing tool to reach out to a huge number of people and help increase the chance of grabbing the attention of the target audiences.
The distinction between the two is important in understanding the definition of branding. Now, we can finally talk about the compelling reasons to invest in branding.
Reason 1 - Attracting Your Ideal Customers
As business owners, we have an ideal type of customers in mind. The ideal customer holds similar if not same, thinking and values. He/she believes in our brand purpose and culture. Attracting such customers greatly increases business opportunities and allows us to develop meaningful relationships with them. This also helps to build brand loyalty, a priceless value in a competitive market space.
How Does Branding Help?
In a standard branding project, we kickstart the process by defining your brand. Through a variety of methods such as brand research, discovery workshops and interviews, we seek to clarify every single defining aspect about your brand core i.e., values, vision, mission, story, personality, etc. The goal is for your customers to understand and resonate with your brand. Thus, it is necessary to first define your brand as clear as possible with no confusing messages.
The next exercise involves exploring the demographics and psychographics of your ideal customers. A group of key decision makers, each in different aspects of the company, i.e., marketing, sales, finance, customer service, operations, etc., will be guided by a facilitator to highlight your customers' pain points and challenges. The highlighted points represent opportunities for your company to connect with them by removing or reducing their problems. A comprehensive exercise may also unearth invaluable insights in refining your products and services to be the right fit and solutions for their problems.
Overall, it may be said branding provides you the direction in attracting the ideal customers to your business. And this concludes our part two of this series and we will explore more on the second and third reasons in part three.
Stay tuned to next week for our [Part 3 of 5] 6 Compelling Reasons To Invest In Branding!
Content Page Click below to read others
[Part 1 of 5] - Introduction + Definition of A Brand [Part 2 of 5] - What Does It Mean To Do Branding + Attracting Your Ideal Customer [Part 3 of 5] - Closing Sales Efficiently + Increasing Value Of Your Products & Services [Part 4 of 5] - Saving Time & Cost On Marketing Efforts + Boosting Credibility [Part 5 of 5] - Growing Your Brand Equity + Conclusion + Summary
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