Years past, a company’s brand consisted of its logo, business name, the accompanying slogan or some combination of these factors. That was what separated companies within a market segment from one another.
Today, the concept of branding is quite different – and in some aspects, more complicated. Now, the idea of marketing is intimately linked with a company’s marketing strategies. A good marketing strategy will help your brand identity, and a solid brand presence will aid your marketing practices.
So, let’s have a look at exactly how your business’s branding can affect the results of your marketing strategies.
Brand Identity – What Does it Do?
Your branding strategy has a task far more important than just getting your target consumers to choose your offerings over the competition. Its purpose is to establish your business as the only one that can provide a stable solution to their issues or desires.
In short, the purpose of your brand identity is to establish your company as one to look to for a solution when facing a problem. The hallmarks of a solid brand include:
- Delivers a message successfully.
- Establishes the company as a credible problem-solver in the industry.
- Connects with its consumers and establishes lasting relationships through its offerings.
- Subtly influences and motivates prospective customers into patronizing their business.
- Establishes trust by nurturing consumer loyalty.
If a business fulfills a majority of these points, it can be considered a solid brand identity.
The Need to Connect with Your Customers
Building a successful marketing strategy requires understanding your customers’ likes, wants, and desires. That is where branding comes in. By using effective branding techniques at every point of contact, you can ensure that consumers will find a way to build a connection with your business.
To understand this concept, suppose that your business is a living being. Your brand identity connects to the multiple ways of communicating with its audience. It describes its purpose, what it hopes to achieve, and what it offers in return to the consumers.
This entire scheme aims to connect and establish relationships with our customers. Once a consumer starts to identify with your brand, you have a way in on the path to convert and retain them for life.
Unlike customers of yesteryears, customers today are more emotionally invested in the brands and businesses they patronize, including in the B2B world. They look for companies that hold the same values and work towards the same goals as they. To influence them into becoming your customer, you need to connect with them on an emotional level.
The Brand That is Superman
Let’s take an example from popular fiction. Superman is one of the most well-known characters of all time of comic books. His iconic symbol is the most popular among a variety of superhero logos. And while many people around the globe might not know the character on sight, they will recognize that symbol.
That is because the logo stands for hope, which can be considered Superman’s USP if he was a business. Wherever there’s darkness and evil, Superman is the last hope for the people. This brand identity connects with consumers on a different level, resulting in its massive popularity.
How Marketing Relies on Your Brand Identity
Now let’s come to the primary aspect of the topic. How exactly do the concepts of branding and marketing affect each other?
Suppose your company produces portable batteries for various items. Your marketing team promises customers that your product lasts the longest out of all the options available. If your claim is proven to be accurate, then your brand identity will be deemed credible. However, if you fail to do so, customers will stop trusting you, affecting your brand negatively.
When we develop a marketing plan, your branding guidelines serve as a set of instructions to help the marketer understand your business objectives and your actual deliverables. While your marketing only has to last until the consumer buys your product, your branding goes far beyond, establishing the relationship for repeat business.
To ensuring the customer’s return, you need to ask yourself the following questions:
- Did my offering serve its purpose as expected by the consumer and the company?
- Did we deliver on the quality we promised? Did we exceed it?
- Was there anything that detracted from a positive customer experience?
If the answers to all three are in favor of your brand, your branding and marketing strategies are on their way to converting a lead into a customer.
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