5 Things to Consider When It Comes to Company Branding and Your Business

Your brand will directly determine how your customers perceive your business. A good brand gives personality to your company. Branding consists of your logo, your tagline, your company’s voice, and its mission and manifests itself in every physical location, printed document, website, advertisement, and social media post your company owns.

It’s not surprising then how branding can make or break a business. Part of why Apple dominated the MP3 player market in the iPod era was strong brand recognition. The advertisements for the colorful iPods emphasized their clean design and ease of use, boosting their success over competing Walkman players of the time.

In fact

• 77% of buyers make purchasing decisions based on brand recognition.
• 82% of investors mention brand recognition as a major factor in investment decisions.

Solid branding can also raise your sales, facilitate customer referrals, and enable consistent advertising. But building a good brand is an ongoing effort that takes time. Read on for the most effective branding strategies to boost your business.

Find Your Target Audience

Even the fastest runner can’t win a marathon without knowing where the finish line is. Company branding is all about helping you find the exact audience demographic you want to appeal to and build your brand image around. To get started, determine the following about your target audience:

• Age range
• Gender
• Location
• Income
• Education level
• General interests
• Any issues they face

Get specific, as starting with a niche demographic first before expanding into a more general audience is much easier for a small-to-medium-sized business.

Find Your Mission

Your company branding must reflect your company’s mission statement. When building your brand, think about why your company exists. What does it offer that can help the people in your target demographic? Consider more than just a list of features. Ask yourself which of your offerings fix which specific problems your customers may experience.

Find Your Competition

Being aware of what your competitors are doing with their company branding is another important step. Observe the branding strategies of competing firms and make changes to your own accordingly.

• Don’t copy other brands lest your own won’t stand out.
• Instead, differentiate. Show how your business is the better alternative. Let your brand express how much better your customer service is, how much more money your customers will save, or how much time will be saved compared to the competition.
• And observe the results your competitors achieve through branding. What appears to be the most effective and ineffective way to generate a personality?

Find Your Company Branding

At this point, it’s time to start crafting a persona that matches your firm’s mission and intentions. Consistency is vital in raising brand recognition, so keep the branding constant throughout your firm’s social media posts, advertisements, documents, and products.

• The Logo. The logo is literally the face of your company. Because the human brain processes images 60,000 times faster than words, the logo is almost always the first impression for your company. Hire a professional designer to help you create it.
• The Tagline. A short, sweet, catchy, and memorable tagline will help attach your brand image to the minds of consumers. Almost everyone knows a popular insurance company’s radio jingle “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there!”
• The Social Media Presence. In your tweets or Facebook posts, use a tone that matches your company. Are you casual or professional? Are you focused on high tech innovations or more traditional tasks? Do you appeal to a general audience or an exclusive group?

Social media is especially important. 71% of consumers are more likely to buy from a brand that they follow on social media.

Find Your Future Endeavors

As mentioned, branding is an ongoing process. In order to avoid overexposure and keep your company fresh in the minds of consumers, consider rebranding in the future. Rebranding can occur when you want to:

• Shake off an old image. Microsoft, for example, rebranded the default Windows web browser to Microsoft Edge after its predecessor Internet Explorer received a lukewarm reputation.
• Respond to changing demand by appeal to a new demographic.
• Keep your image up-to-date as your company evolves and outgrows its original branding.

Be careful though. By rebranding, you risk losing the appeal and reputation of your original company branding, so consider market conditions carefully before deciding to follow through.

Montreal Graphic Design – Company Branding Made Easy

Sometimes you need a professional’s touch when it comes to your company branding. That’s where we come in. If you’d like help building your brand, nurturing its identity, designing business cards, logos, brochures, and everything else, contact us today.

We provide a wide-range of print, web, and graphic design services that will help your brand standout.

Questions? No problem. Get in touch with a member of our team today.