When someone says the word “brand” it sounds a little like a term belonging to something in a galaxy far far away. One immediately thinks of companies like Nike, Coca Cola, Starbucks, or Target, but you may not realize that you, your business, organization, or company are already, even unintentionally - a brand.
So before we get started, let’s find out what the word “brand” actually means in the marketing world. According to Entrepreneur.com. a brand is a name, symbol or design that identifies and differentiates a product from other products.
Have you ever wondered why you recognize certain company symbols without seeing their name? For instance, a cut-out apple silhouette means Apple Corporation, a little red haired girl with pigtails means Wendys, and those enormous golden arches signify McDonalds. These quick identities came from years of powerful marketing campaigns that prompt immediate recognition along with a familiar response when we see them.
A Brand Separates You from the Amateurs
Professionalism is key to separating you from the fly-by-night. According to Hubspot there are approximately 63,000 searches per second on Google with the average person conducting 3-4 searches per day. So the question is do you want to get found? The easiest way for people to quickly and easily find your organization is by the brand; namely a logo, brand colors and a consistent theme. Most of us are actually trying to locate a company by its logo - why because there are potentially dozens for businesses with the same or a similar name so your logo is your brand that immediately separates you from the pack.
2. A Brand Gives You Instant Recognition
Have you ever scoured the internet trying to find a specific company only to realize that multiple businesses had the same/similar? Then when you couldn’t find it you gave up? That’s what happens in a sea of public personas with similarities. I mean, who has time for that anyway? But without a stand apart look in the social media ocean, potential customers will give up before they ever find you. A good example of consistent recognizable branding is the RoomsforRentBlog. Writer Bre Doucette pulls all her public pages together cleanly and seamlessly. The look is dependable and provides her audience with quick access and maximum engagement. Your brand should be on your website, social media pages, YouTube channel, podcast show, email campaigns, and more. Why? Because access equals sales, which equals growth.
3. A Brand Produces Clarity for Your Audience
It’s been proven that people only follow clarity. If the message is confusing, people quickly move on. Therefore, it should not take more than 15 seconds on your website (or anywhere) for a customer to figure out who you are and what you do. Make it clear, make it concise, make it memorable. In the Imaginasium article titled “8 Reasons to take Your Branding Seriously” author Kaleb Schad said, “Companies with clear stories are valued higher by customers and investors.” The truth is that well branded messaging not only makes your company easy to find and follow, but it will also result in higher engagement rates.
4. Branding Creates Emotional Connection with Your Audience.
Donald Miller of Business Made Simple trains his juggernaut marketing coaching force with a simple ethos that marketing is what you sell and branding is how people feel about what you sell. Think about the warm fuzzies you get from a Hallmark commercial. Or, how about the sense of empowerment you get from Nike’s “JUST DO IT slogan?” Those companies are successful because they have an emotional connection with their customers. Therefore you want to connect with your audience emotionally long before they ever purchase anything. Once you have a brand voice, you can then create your marketing around emotions your customers can relate to and eventually they will trust your brand enough to buy a product.
Conclusion
If you are just getting out the gate you may need to hire someone to create a logo for you. Sites like Fiverr or LogoGenies will make one for a minimal amount compared to a designer. Or you can just create a free Canva account and surf their thousands of logo templates to customize your own. Either way, get a logo, a memorable tagline, and color scheme done and plaster it everywhere you have skin-in-the-game. Then watch and see how branding takes your business to the next level.