When you start a business, there are a lot of things that you need to consider to make it bloom, especially in today’s competitive market. Out of the various things, branding is an important element and probably the most important one. Nowadays, businesses and corporations tend to spend a great fortune for branding and it has proven to be one of the best ways for a company to grow and succeed. From Adidas and KFC to Calvin Klein and Apple, branding lies at the heart of their success (apart from quality products, of course).
Branding is not just about a slogan and a picture. It encompasses the company’s aspirations and relays it to the audiences. But if you are still thinking that a company should not indulge themselves in branding then let me tell you, why you should!
- Branding promotes your product value
- Branding improves a company’s reputation
- Branding helps a company to be unique and stand out from the rest
- Branding develops trust among your customers
- A good brand allows you to stay tough in a strong market.
- Branding helps to emotionally attach your customers to your company
- Branding gives an identity to the company
#1. Branding promotes your product value
No matter, how good and reliable your products are, without proper branding, it might get pushed away from other similar products resulting in a decreased value. Why? Because the present market is really tough and people are more likely to choose products which are more recognizable. Plus, if your products are already good, then proper branding is surely going to add some more value to it.
#2. Branding improves a company’s reputation
Advertising is also a form of branding. It is about letting other people know what your company and your products actually represent. Good branding lets your audiences know all about this and improves your overall recognition. If your brand is easy to recognize then people will purchase your products or services more readily.
Just think about the logo of Apple for example. It is very simple but memorable and powerful enough to leave an impression on the audience. Whenever people come across its logo on any product or place, they immediately relate it to the Apple Company and to what the company represents.
#3. Branding helps a company to be unique and stand out from the rest
For a company, unique branding seems to be more important than the uniqueness in products or services as it’s almost impossible to find a product that is alone in its category. No matter, what your products or services are, the chances are that hundreds of companies with similar products or services or at least ideas will already exist in the market. But if you brand your business in a different and unique way, it is going to leave a great impression on people.
Therefore, if you want your product and your company to be recognized and represent itself as a unique piece then branding it, is very important.
#4. Branding develops trust among your customers
Your company’s brand displays its values, its aspirations, and moreover its customer experience. Your brand represents your promise to your customer. So, basically what this means is that, if your brand is poor then people will not take you seriously. This will also affect your service value. If your brand is strong then people will feel comfortable about your product or service and your reputation will grow too.
#5. A good brand allows you to stay tough in a strong market.
A strong and consistent brand adds more value to your product or service. It also creates a strong persona and clarifies your ambitions. This will eventually help you get loyal customers and will allow you to charge more for your brand than other similar unbranded products.
Take the example of Coca-Cola. Although there are various soft drinks in the market that are very similar to Coca-Cola, people tend to choose Coca-Cola almost every time, even when it costs more. This is because Coca-Cola has built powerful brand equity. Even if the product qualities of other brands are at the same level, Coca-Cola always has an edge over its competitors.
#6. Branding helps to emotionally attach your customers to your company
When people like a particular brand, they tend to choose it every time. It does not matter even if there are other similar and cheaper brands out there because people tend to emotionally attach themselves to the brands they like.
Similarly, if a particular brand is able to transfer an extrinsic quality to the perception of people from another famous persona the people get drawn to that particular product and emotionally attach them to it. The best examples for this are all sports companies, like Nike. Nike associates its products with star athletes from various backgrounds. When people see their favorite athletes playing wearing Nike products, they tend to look out for Nike products themselves whenever they are trying to buy a sports gear. This is because customers tend to transfer their emotional attachment from the athlete to the product.
#7. Branding gives an identity to the company
You might have noticed, different companies offering similar products have different slogans and logos. This is because their logo or slogan is part of their identity; it represents what the company stands for. And if you have a strong and attractive logo or slogan, people remember and recognize it.
Look at the following slogans for example.
- Impossible is Nothing.
- Between love and madness lies obsession.
- Born to perform.
- I’m lovin’ it!
All these slogans are of different companies and they represent different products. But I am sure that we all know to whom these slogans belong too, right? These slogans belong to Adidas, Calvin Kelvin, Jaguar, and McDonald respectively.
Logo, slogans, graphics, etc. are all part of branding and branding based on strong ideas, speaks the loudest and travels the farthest. A good brand will always reach wider audiences and help the company flourish. This is why it is very important to have a good brand.
Direct selling