What Does Your Branding Say About You?
What does your audience think of you? Do they think you/your business are fun? Serious? Exclusive? More important, what do you want your audience to think about you/your business? This is where your branding comes into play. Before we discuss what your branding says about you, let’s explore what branding actually is.
What is branding?
“In a nutshell, branding is the process of researching, developing, and applying a distinctive feature or set of features to your organization so that consumers can begin to associate your brand with your products or services.” – Hubspot
It involves crafting a unique combination of visual elements, messaging, and experiences that set you/your business apart from its competitors. The stronger your brand, the stronger your recognition and loyalty among your target audience.
Simply put, your brand is a way of showcasing how you want to be seen in the world. It’s how you want to be recognized and remembered in this world.
Or, as Jeff Bezos says, “Your brand is what other people say about you when you’re not in the room.”
When We Talk About What Your Branding Says About You, We Are Looking At The Overall Impression You Create.
What are your values? Your brand’s mission?
Why does your brand exist? How does it add value for your target audience?
What’s the story behind your brand?
Why should people choose you (or your offer) over other options?
To create a stand-out brand, develop a narrative that answers all these questions and communicates your brand’s journey, values, and vision.
But before that, you need to ensure your audience positively resonates with that narrative. To do that, you need to dig deep into your audience and understand their needs, preferences, and pain points.
Once you know your audience, you can develop a connection with them by ensuring your narrative is relatable and emotionally engaging. But your branding doesn’t stop there.
To Create A Brand That Stands Out, You Need To:
Ensure your visual elements, including your logo, color schemes, typography, and imagery, are cohesive and follow the same narrative.
Understand your brand’s personality and create your messaging and visuals around that.
(source: Hubspot)
3. Maintain branding consistency across your website, social media, emails, and other customer touchpoints. This will help build brand recognition and trust with your target audience. Make sure to use the same messaging, color palette, logo, font, and other design elements across all platforms.
4. Identify and emphasize what makes your brand unique. Highlight features, benefits, or values that set you apart from competitors.
5. Consistently deliver a quality customer experience along with excellent products and/or services.
6. Stay current with industry trends and innovate if needed. You don’t want to be the business that looks dated or becomes irrelevant in the eyes of your customers.
7. Be willing to adapt your brand to meet changing consumer expectations.
8. Build brand advocacy by encouraging customer reviews, testimonials, and user-generated content.
9. Use analytics to measure the effectiveness of your branding efforts. If you feel like you’re missing the mark, go back to the drawing board.
Most importantly, you need to be authentic, transparent, and genuine in your interactions and actions you take. Think about it. Would you buy from a brand that does what it says or from someone who doesn’t follow their own values or is dishonest?
When you have branding that supports your mission, it becomes easier for you to authentically communicate your values, establish a strong identity, and connect emotionally with your audience. Making it easier to make a difference in the world. This requires a combination of strategic planning, creativity, and consistency.
On a Mission Brands is dedicated to helping mission-driven entrepreneurs and organizations capture and captivate their target audience with beautiful, engaging, and memorable brands. Specializing in branding, copywriting and design, our team of heart-centered marketers goes above and beyond to build brand visibility for our clients. If you're ready to take your brand to new heights, let’s chat.
