Why Is It So Important Businesses Nail Their Branding
Determine who you are and what your brand is, and what you're not. The rest of it is just a lot of noise.” – Geoffrey Zakarian
We may think of branding as a relatively recent marketing idea, but it’s been happening for hundreds of years. Ancient civilisations used engraving to identify their pottery, whilst medieval printing houses began the use of watermarks to distinguish their products. After the Industrial Revolution, companies could brand individual products and some of the most recognisable names in the world, such as Coca Cola, were born.
What do we mean when we talk about branding? For many of us, branding is ‘the logo’ - we can instantly recall the font of a Coca Cola bottle or the Macdonald’s golden arches. Branding includes things like logos, but it means the way you promote your business through design and advertising. It’s the way you sell the personality of your company.
In the modern world, where advertising and marketing dominate the world of business, having a great service or product is essential in the world of business, but it can only get you so far. Businesses are investing more time and money into their branding than ever before. It’s because they know that even though we don’t always do it consciously, we judge organisations based on branding.
Why is it so important that businesses nail their branding? In this blog, we explore a few of the reasons why the right look is more important than ever.
Instant recognition
This is the ultimate purpose of branding and the difference between good branding and bad branding. Good branding will get you recognition and make your business known to potential customers. This means that things like your logo need to be spot on - simple enough to be memorable but powerful enough to truly represent what your business is about. According to Forbes, colour improves brand recognition by up to 80%, so choose yours wisely.
Business branding can be achieved through your company logo, website, colours, the communications you send out, your product packaging, sponsoring and partnerships. All these combine to tell people your organisation’s story and express what it is that separates you from the rest. Since business branding needs a perfect logo to get the right message across, business owners ought to take it seriously. Commonly practised ways to get a great logo these days is by either using logo design contest sites or hiring a graphic designer.
Build customer loyalty
Brand building isn’t just about having a nice logo, it’s about forging relationships. A professional looking brand builds trust. If your product delivers on the promise of its branding, it will build a loyal and committed customer base. Brand loyalty often greatly outweighs loyalty people have to a particular product. According to the Harvard Business Review, shared values account for 64% of brand relationships, so every single interaction counts.
Build employee loyalty
Beyond being an essential tool for marketing to your customers, effective branding can have a great impact internally within your organisation. It can be something which your employees stand for which helps them understand the purpose of your business.
Good branding can also help to bring employees to your business in the first place. Great branding as an employer will bring the top talent to you, and help your audience understand why they should work for you.
Stand out from the competition
Think about something you buy every week from the supermarket, and think about why you choose that particular product over its competitors. While for some you may have made your choice based on price or quality, there’ll be products you always buy because you are - again consciously or unconsciously, loyal to that brand. Your product's packaging should relate to a customer and it will be for that reason why they pick you above all your rivals.
Grow your business
Having a valuable brand directly correlates to profits for your business. Brands are ever-evolving, with even the world’s most successful businesses changing their branding over time. That’s because they know that to remain successful they can’t afford to full behind, and so must move with the times.
When you are creating branding for your organisation, you’ll need to ask yourself if it’s truly reflective of your brand’s values. Does it catch the eye of a potential customer? Will this be branding that customers will come to trust?
It can help to think of branding as an employee of your business, with their job role being to create a real and lasting impression, internally and externally.
Whatever your brand ends up becoming, Colour Graphics are here to help you to produce products that show your brand in its best light. We have over 25 years in the industry and we are renowned for our exceptional print quality, high levels of customer service and flexibility plus the fact we have always been at the forefront of technology.
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