Reinventing the Market - How To Build A Strong Brand Identity?

How To Build A Strong Brand Identity
Brand identity is critical for building a successful business enterprise that will endure and thrive. In addition to logos and slogans, nowadays consumers recognize companies by their values and what they stand for.

While many business professionals view financial backing and a solid business plan as the most important elements to have, that is not enough. Before your business can begin the hiring process or order their first set of business cards, you need to think about your brand identity.
“Businesses grow and stay on top because consumers align with their values.”
Nike, Apple, and Coca-Cola stand out in the crowd as leaders with strong brand recognition. Consumers recognize these corporate giants by their slogans, colors, and logos. What’s even more important, they know their messages and values, and these resonate with consumers.

One thing that got them there is listening and observing - they take cues from the world around them and how things are changing, and they take an active role to be part of those positive changes. This is an enviable position for any business to be in.

Here are a few strategies that have shown success for many businesses:

Market And Competitor Research Stay The Basis

Market and competitor research has been a starting point for sales and marketing departments for quite a while now, and this will not change anytime soon. What many businesses fail to understand is that not everyone within your industry is your enemy.

Just because another business is in the same industry, it doesn’t mean that they are automatically a competitor. Unless you are competing for the same customer, then you are not in competition with one another.

Your focus should be on those businesses who target the same consumer base. This will help you identify what works and what doesn't for those competitors, and it will reveal areas that they are struggling with.

For example, if your major competitor is struggling with slow delivery rates, then you will want to focus on having better and faster delivery rates as part of your brand identity to gain an edge over them.

You Will Have To Choose Your Values Wisely

The key to establishing a brand identity lies within your strengths. Identify your strengths and what you want customers to associate you with, and sing it from the mountaintops.
  • Are you fast with your delivery?
  • Is your customer support fast and super friendly?
  • Do you offer personalized experiences and regularly engage with your followers on social media?

Any of these can be your strength. This can make the process of identifying key strengths somewhat complicated - which ones are the best picks?
“If you are having a hard time identifying your strengths and values, write a brand manifesto for clarity.”
A manifesto will serve you as a guide that can be consulted every step of the way. Your marketing department and all other employees can consult it to easily align their approach to the values and messages you want to associate with your branding.

This way, you will create a consistent identity across all channels - an omnichannel experience. Consistency is key for effective branding.

You Should Offer Your Own App

Mobile apps are getting a lot of attention from marketing managers and consumers alike. About 40 percent of mobile generated sales transacted by the largest 500 sellers originate from mobile apps. Based on this information, company managers should make it a priority to create a mobile app.

But why would you want to have your own app? You have a mobile-friendly website, isn’t that enough?
How To Build A Strong Brand Identity
It all comes down to consumer preferences, really. Most of us shy away from purchasing items through mobile browsers, even if the site is mobile friendly. An app makes it easier for customers to purchase because it’s made specifically for their phone’s OS.
“A mobile app the perfect medium for delivering promotion and discount advertisements to increase purchases, essentially keeping the brand name in front of your customers.”
This is why it’s important to do it right on the very first try. Unless you have a staff member with the technical skills to help guide you through this process, you might stumble into some pitfalls along the way.

Now there’s a lot of guides out there about mobile app development, but most of them are dealing with the technical stuff. You should focus on the business side of things and find out what steps you need to take as a business owner.

Focus Your Resources On Creating Excellent Brand Art And Copy

Your brand art and the copy must reflect your image and make it easy to see what you're selling. Consistency is critical for a unified message.
“If a consumer goes to your landing page and can't quickly figure out what your company does and why they should seriously consider buying from you, they will never convert to customers.”
The copy and content should be "spot on" so that potential buyers immediately know who you are. This is not the place to cut corners if you want to be successful. Hire the best artists and writers you can afford to be sure your message is attractive and aligned with your brand identity as expressed in your manifesto.

Establish Creative Decision Timelines

You have to set some hard deadlines for creative decision-making or you risk getting into a possible scenario where you are always looking for something better. Without a "drop dead" deadline, it is too easy to spin your wheels.

Set clear, creative goals upfront to get the process off to a good start. Creative talent needs autonomy to achieve the best results. All team members should feel empowered with a common goal to do their best work and follow the established timeline.

Train Employees To Become Brand Ambassadors

Your employees should be your first brand ambassadors. Since your employees interact with your customers in many cases, they need training so they can fully understand the brand identity.

Company leadership must make training employees about brand identity a priority to be sure that they fully understand the role they have in promoting that image.

In Business, Image Is Everything

Consumers have more choices than ever before to select the company they want via digital introductions. That explains why brand identity is so important and why sales success will be linked directly to your company's ability to promote a strong, brand identity.

AUTHOR_NAMEAbout the Author:
Ashley Wilson is a digital nomad and freelance writer from San Diego, California. When she is not busy baking cupcakes, Ashley loves writing about business, digital marketing, and finance. Connect with Ashley via Twitter.
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