The Important Role of Branding in Marketing
Photo by Nick Adams on Unsplash
When you think of branding, what’s the first thing that comes to mind?
Is it flashy business cards with turn key design?
Product packaging etched with a trendy logo?
A website with functionality that anticipates your every move?
While all of those bells and whistles can be important in developing your brand’s visual aesthetic, there is much more to your business’ branding than what meets the eye. Yes, that pun was intended.
In fact, branding is not just about what elements look like from the outside. Branding is an entity of layers that make up an overall perception of what your brand is truly about.
In short, branding is incredibly important and should not be overlooked by any company that wants to succeed.
Let’s discuss the importance of branding in marketing and how you can spruce up your identity with a few simple steps.
The Important Role Of Branding In Marketing
Establishes A Point of Recognition
The most obvious way that branding works within your marketing strategy is through visual recognition. This is established at the conception of your brand before it hits the market. And, it’s where you come up with the logo, color schemes, font styles, overall mood, how your website will look and what type of packaging you will use.
Your visual branding acts as the starting point for all marketing initiatives. In fact, it’s a pretty big deal to craft your visual identity as a business. As once it’s out there in the world and consumers start to recognize it, it’d be unwise to change or alter it in any way. So, take your time building your visual branding - as the precedent you set will be associated with your business through its lifespan.
Why is visual branding important in marketing? It allows the customer to recognize and identify your brand instantly. Let me give you an example. Sit and think about the branding of your favorite drink. Can you picture the color of the container? The font used on the can or bottle? What about the packaging? You should have a pretty clear picture in your head of what the drink looks like without it even being in front of you.
That type of quick recollection when a consumer thinks about a brand is why visual branding is incredibly effective in your company’s marketing strategy.
Evokes Strong Emotions & Feelings
While branding has a lot to do with how we see a business, it also has abstract elements that play into the larger identity of a company. Point and case, good branding evokes emotion and connection.
As a business, you need to be thinking about what kind of emotions you want your customers to feel when they think of your brand. Do they feel joyful & carefree? Are they energetic & excited? Are they passionate and powerful? Confident & determined? Emotions are a powerful tool that can truly dictate the way a consumer interacts with your business.
Here’s another example:
As a sportswear brand, your goal is to make people feel like they can accomplish anything. That by wearing your clothes they can get up, go and achieve their fitness goals. All they need is to start.
What brand evokes this sense of emotion and feelings in their customers?
If you guessed Nike, you’d be right. With their tagline: Just Do It. They don’t beat around the bush to help people feel excited about their fitness goals and active lifestyle. They want you to feel empowered and confident to just get out there and go, without any hesitation.
See how powerful a branded tagline can be when appealing to the consumers emotions? That’s why when you’re building your branding, you need to find how your business can ignite your customer’s feelings to make them connect and identify with your goal and mission.
Acts As The Voice Of Relatability
Branding is ever-present in the way a company communicates with its customers. We’ve covered the basics of visual identity and tag lines that evoke emotion, but what about the way branding can set and establish a face for your brand?
The face of your brand can be anyone you choose. It can be your founder, a character you create or it can be the power of your community. Whichever works best for you, will determine how you engage in thoughtful communication with your consumers.
Here are a few examples:
For years, McDonalds used Ronald McDonald as the face of their brand. His purpose? To appeal to children and families as the fun, wholesome and friendly place to eat. Although they have since moved away from that marketing strategy, it was impactful for years and everyone associated the face of Ronald McDonald with golden arches, hamburgers and a happy family.
Do you know Flo from Progressive? Unless you’ve been living under a rock or don’t own any form of media, I’d say she’s hard to miss. Years back Progressive established Flo, a friendly woman, as the face of their less than exciting service of insurance. Even though their company isn’t something that necessarily makes customers happy, the use of Flo as a marker of positivity has made the brand more approachable and memorable.
Lastly, let’s talk about a brand that focuses on community. Outdoor Voices is an activewear brand that is popular for making workout clothes that you can wear anytime, anywhere. With their slogan of “Doing Things,” they focus on the idea that their brand is about movement, whether it’s exercise related or not. Now, OV doesn’t have a spokesperson or brand face. Instead, they chose the route of community as the face of their brand. Showcasing OV customers on their social media, utilizing UGC, working with influencers and creating a website dedicated to recreation called The Recreationalist. Their focus on community as the voice of their brand is incredibly effective to their overall marketing strategy.
Builds A Lasting Connection
Lastly, branding as a cornerstone of your company’s marketing allows you to build a lasting connection with your consumer. Remember the exercises we did above? Where I asked you to visualize a brand based on their visual elements and emotional tag-lines? Your ability to recollect and quickly identify the business is why branding is so incredibly important and powerful.
From the point of conception to the overall longevity of your brand, the identity you create will be the driving force of recognition and connection for your consumers. This is why interlacing the elements of visual branding, emotions and feelings and a voice of relatability is essential to building and maintaining a brand that consumers will recall time after time.
As a business owner, your goal will always be two fold: to attract new customers and keep your existing customers happy and satisfied. By utilizing strong branding techniques you will be able to draw in new business and build a memorable identity for consumers who already know and love your product/service.
In short, branding is the glue that connects your business to the lifespan of your customers. So, if you want to be a company that withstands the test of time, ensure that your branding is integrated into every single layer of your marketing strategy.
______
Are you a brand that could use some advice on your current branding? Drop me a comment below with your company’s website and I’ll give you my thoughts!